On the Political Aspects of Unemployment: The Case of Election Results

Unemployment is related to economic, political and social aspects. One of the least analysed political aspects is the relationship that, from a partisan or ideological perspective, should exist between the election results and the aging level of the voters, which is to be reflected in different electoral costs of unemployment. This chapter updates previous work on the subject, using a spatial econometrics methodology to estimate the relationship between the levels of aging and the election results that were obtained in the most recent elections that took place in Portugal, i.e. the October 2015 legislative elections. The results confirm the hypothesis that the level of unemployment involves a higher (resp. lower) electoral cost the less (resp. more) aged is the electorate.

Da dominação à cooperação: a paz perpétua e a luta eterna entre nações

O presente ensaio tem por objetivo a construção de uma linha de pensamento sobre as teorias e a realidade das Relações Internacionais baseada na pluralidade de valores e na justaposição de ideias que designam e afetam as relações entre os atores internacionais, assim como, entender os reflexos que estes fatores têm nos desfechos destas interações resultantes em cooperação e conflito. Por meio de uma revisão bibliográfica são visitados alguns pensamentos sobre a formação dos estados nacionais e sobre as interações destes, produzindo conceitos relativos à ordem e ao equilíbrio em uma sociedade internacional, e aos fatores que afetam e são variáveis a existência dos estados. A designação teórica da realidade internacional desprovida de prescrições ou distorções ideológicas edifica neste ensaio valiosas linhas de pensamento, que podem contribuir significativamente para o desenvolvimento de proposições mais fidedignas a realidade do que a anseios específicos no campo das Ciências Políticas e das Relações Internacionais. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to construct of a way of thinking about the theories and the reality of International Relations based on the plurality of values and juxtaposition of ideas that mark and affect the relationships between international players. A further objective is understanding the influences of these factors in creating outcomes of cooperation or conflict within international interactions. Various thoughts and reflections on the formation of national states and their interactions have been examined by way of an intensive literature review, thus producing concepts concerning the order and equilibrium of an international society as well as the factors that affect and vary depending on the existence of states. Through the theoretical portrayal of the reality of international relations devoid of ideological prescriptions or distortions this study creates a number of lines of thinking, that could significantly contribute to the development of propositions more true to reality than specific aspirations within the field of Political Science and International Relations.