A hora da alfabetização: atores, ideias e instituições na construção do PAIC-CE

The objective of this thesis is to understand how a certain social condition becomes relevant enough to be regarded as an issue worthy of government action and how certain proposed initiatives prevail while others are discarded. More specifically, the goal is to discuss public policy for education and check whether the analytical models employed are significant enough to explain how the literacy issue became part of the policy agenda of the government of the State of Ceará in Brazil, and how the Literacy Program at the Right Age (PAIC) developed over time. From the empirical perspective about public policy for education in Brazil, this is a relevant case when one takes into account that, historically, the literacy policies are focused on teenagers and adults, implying a lack of specific initiatives towards children at the proper age of learning to read and write. In order to understand what drove this issue to the top of the state government agenda, this thesis is primarily based on the literature about public policy analysis, with focus on the agenda setting process and development of proposals. A hybrid approach is used, combining analytical tools from Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model (1995), the Advocacy Coalition Framework by Sabatier and Jenkins Smith (1993) and the historical new institutionalism lens. The research method is qualitative and based on the single case study method. The data set was assembled from institutional PAIC-related documents, tachygraphy notes from sessions at Ceará’s State House of Representatives, press clippings, academic studies and interviews with key participants from several organizations. The conclusion of this thesis is that, given the complexity of the case in point, the combination of the three analytical methods is adequate and necessary to understanding the multiple drivers for this issue to have entered Ceará’s state government agenda and the design of the PAIC itself. Particularly relevant are the ideas and the policy entrepreneurs, the processes of problem recognition for the composition of a wide coalition and for the specification of alternatives, and the path dependence of the education policy in Ceará. This study adds, as a result, to a better understanding of the stages that make up the agenda setting in public policy, in particular in the field of education.

A hora da alfabetização: atores, ideias e instituições na construção do PAIC-CE

The objective of this thesis is to understand how a certain social condition becomes relevant enough to be regarded as an issue worthy of government action and how certain proposed initiatives prevail while others are discarded. More specifically, the goal is to discuss public policy for education and check whether the analytical models employed are significant enough to explain how the literacy issue became part of the policy agenda of the government of the State of Ceará in Brazil, and how the Literacy Program at the Right Age (PAIC) developed over time. From the empirical perspective about public policy for education in Brazil, this is a relevant case when one takes into account that, historically, the literacy policies are focused on teenagers and adults, implying a lack of specific initiatives towards children at the proper age of learning to read and write. In order to understand what drove this issue to the top of the state government agenda, this thesis is primarily based on the literature about public policy analysis, with focus on the agenda setting process and development of proposals. A hybrid approach is used, combining analytical tools from Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model (1995), the Advocacy Coalition Framework by Sabatier and Jenkins Smith (1993) and the historical new institutionalism lens. The research method is qualitative and based on the single case study method. The data set was assembled from institutional PAIC-related documents, tachygraphy notes from sessions at Ceará’s State House of Representatives, press clippings, academic studies and interviews with key participants from several organizations. The conclusion of this thesis is that, given the complexity of the case in point, the combination of the three analytical methods is adequate and necessary to understanding the multiple drivers for this issue to have entered Ceará’s state government agenda and the design of the PAIC itself. Particularly relevant are the ideas and the policy entrepreneurs, the processes of problem recognition for the composition of a wide coalition and for the specification of alternatives, and the path dependence of the education policy in Ceará. This study adds, as a result, to a better understanding of the stages that make up the agenda setting in public policy, in particular in the field of education.

Mídia à luz do desejo: cartografias dos processos da mídia livre contemporânea brasileira

This paper aims to understand the specifics of the network communication and the logic of articulation of social insurgencies in contemporary inferred from the rizome concept coined by Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze and the multitude as preach Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. To do so, it raises the processes and practices of political bodies, reaching lines and common strategies of operation. Unless the specifics, it is possible to draw a continuous and rizomatic communication that traverses both bodies enrolled in institutionalized democracy, as the spanish movement-party Podemos and the greek coalition Syriza, as the autonomous collectives, such as the Movimento Passe Livre, fighting for universal public, free and quality transport, and the free media initiatives Media Ninja and Catarina Santos, willing to understand the social movements. The constitutional amendment of this model of communication networking seems to be the desire to radicalization of democracy, the bias of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, as a strategic and common struggle. Indeed, speaking specifically of free media, they are built from here processes that take place in understanding the agency of the bodies as relevant to political action toward the radical democracy project, and the use of free softwares, the communicator-protester agency, the performance, the collective experience.

O ensino de arte pós-moderno na arte de Daniel Francisco de Souza

This thesis presents a research that links cultural history and visual culture in a sociobiographical approach. It gives a “political treatment” to the educational experience in the transition of art teaching from the modern to the postmodern. By taking into account my experiences as an educator and the poetic practice in Daniel Francisco de Souza’s visual art, I propose a dialogue with his art and a series of visual narratives this artist/student produced at the time of his education and recently. Such visual narratives were taken as research source and research subject. They were created in a rural setting in dialogue with formal art teaching in two phases: 1992–6, when Daniel Fran cisco attended elementary school in the rural area of Uberlândia, MG; and 2008–10, when he attended Visual Arts graduation at Federal University of Uberlândia city. I analyze historical processes related to art and teaching, from the early sixteenth century to the present times, to realize residues in students’ poetic experiences. I relate Brazilian educational public policies with experi- ences in that rural school. I try to show the extent to which our educational practices triggered experiences — from ones common to intense ones — and promoted forms of “emancipation-knowledge” or “regulation-knowledge” and how the “selective tradition” was and how art predetermined history images gave way to everyday visual references, pointing to the “broad field” of visual culture. I make an effort to show Daniel Francisco’s work as an adult by tak- ing it according to different approaches. In a poetic reading, first, I emphasixe the material and the symbolic in his art. In a second look, I approach his work through the intertwining experiences of three characters from different times and places that participated in the making of his art: the artist farmer, the artist teacher and the teacher researcher. I assume the existence of a mutual cultural incompleteness in these three characters; which means that parts of their “structures of feeling” built on the interrelationship among them are part of the artist’ work as a historical content decanted. Thirdly, I demonstrate how the artist sees his place as a key re ference to his poetic creation. His work does not reflect the rural bucolic as something untouched. In showing the difficulty in distinguishing the archaic residual, I identify emerging issues in his work. I conclude that the artist — Daniel Francisco — and the researcher — myself — present maverick features: both are scavengers; their productions approach the working with scraps in art and in the academy; even momentarily, they live in exile in the warmth of the borders or the edges, from where one sees the center clearly. In these spaces, when certain structures and normative codes enter into coalition, they fragment pre-established strategies and stimulate the creation of survival tactics.

Les fêtes d'Hébée, ou, Les talents liriques: ballet

mis en musique par M. Rameau, et réprésenté pour la premiere fois, par l'Académie royale de musique, au mois de may 1739.

Les coalitions politiques et l'orientation du changement économique et politique aux États-Unis : la Grande Dépression et la Grande Récession comparées

Ce mémoire s’intéresse au concept de crise, économique et politique, comme source de changement idéologique et politique. Au travers de l’étude de l’austérité économique, il sera possible d’identifier des différences majeures entre deux épisodes de troubles économiques importants, la Grande Dépression et la Grande Récession. Alors que la Grande Dépression est caractérisée par une double crise, économique et politique, la Grande Récession, elle, demeure un choc essentiellement économique. L’absence de contagion dans le système politique explique la ténacité d’une idée comme l’austérité, de retour depuis la révolution néolibérale des années 80. L’austérité économique s’est adaptée et s’aligne maintenant aux intérêts d’une frange importante de la coalition démocrate. La persistance de l’allure des coalitions politiques depuis le dernier grand réalignement témoigne de l’absence de transformation majeure du mode d’action étatique, ce qui constitue une différence importante entre les deux crises.

Election Forecasting under Opaque Conditions

Election forecasting models assume retrospective economic voting and clear mechanisms of accountability. Previous research indeed indicates that incumbent political parties are being held accountable for the state of the economy. In this article we develop a ‘hard case’ for the assumptions of election forecasting models. Belgium is a multiparty system with perennial coalition governments. Furthermore, Belgium has two completely segregated party systems (Dutch and French language). Since the prime minister during the period 1974-2011 has always been a Dutch language politician, French language voters could not even vote for the prime minister, so this cognitive shortcut to establish political accountability is not available. Results of an analysis for the French speaking parties (1981-2010) show that even in these conditions of opaque accountability, retrospective economic voting occurs as election results respond to indicators with regard to GDP and unemployment levels. Party membership figures can be used to model the popularity function in election forecasting.

The transition movement and food sovereignty: from local resilience to global engagement in food system transformation

The emergence of grassroots social movements variously preoccupied with a range of external threats, such as diminishing supplies of fossil energy or climate change, has led to increased interest in the production of local food. Drawing upon the notion of cognitive praxis, this article utilises transition as a trajectory guided by an overarching cosmology that brings together a broad social movement seeking a more resilient future. This ‘grand narrative’ is reinforced by ‘transition movement intellectuals’ who serve to shape an agenda of local preparedness in the face of uncertainty, rather than structural analysis of the global system. In this context, growing and producing food offers important multi-functional synergies by reconnecting people to place and its ecological endowments and serves to provide a vital element in civic mobilisation. Yet, local food could also become a means to build international solidarity in defence of food sovereignty and establish a global coalition opposed to the corporate agri-food agenda of biotechnologies, land grabbing and nutritional impoverishment.

Les coalitions comme stratégie de renouveau syndical : un cas aux Philippines

Cette recherche fait état de la crise du syndicalisme qui affecte la capacité d’action et l’efficacité des pratiques des organisations syndicales à travers le monde. Elle dresse un portrait complet des éléments de crise qu’elle décline sous les niveaux économique, politique et social. Cette recherche expose ainsi la nécessité d’un renouveau syndical pour porter précisément sur les coalitions, hétérogènes notamment, comme stratégie de renouveau syndical. Au plan analytique, elle évalue l’impact de l’identité et de la capacité organisationnelle d’une organisation syndicale aux Philippines sur son choix de se coaliser, mais aussi l’influence de ses objectifs et du contexte national dans lequel elle évolue. Les données empiriques pour mener cette étude proviennent principalement de près de 24 entrevues semi-dirigées, tenues auprès de représentants de l’une des plus grandes organisations syndicales des Philippines, de représentants d’organisations non syndicales alliées et de répondants externes à celle-ci. Premièrement, nos résultats montrent qu’une identité collective sociétale forte influence favorablement le choix de l’organisation syndicale étudiée de se coaliser. Elle confirme également le rôle essentiel de l’identité dans l’orientation de son action collective. Deuxièmement, nos résultats permettent de conclure qu’une capacité organisationnelle forte influence favorablement le choix de cette organisation syndicale de se coaliser, considérant qu’elle permet à celle-ci d’identifier les opportunités d’action, de mettre en œuvre de nouvelles stratégies et d’assurer la légitimité et la mobilisation des membres quant aux actions entreprises. De nos résultats ressort l’importance de l’éducation sur l’accroissement de la capacité organisationnelle et, particulièrement, sur la formation et le renforcement de l’identité collective de l’organisation syndicale étudiée. Plus encore, nos résultats exposent l’interaction entre les dimensions de l’identité et de la capacité organisationnelle : précisément, nous avons observé une relation de renforcement positif entre ces deux variables. Troisièmement, nos résultats mettent de l’avant l’interaction entre les différents niveaux de transformations résultantes de sa participation à différents types de coalitions. Ainsi dans le cas observé, l’obtention de transformation au plan intraorganisationnel permet à rebours d’obtenir des transformations au plan extraorganisationnel et vice-versa. Finalement, le contexte répressif des Philippines et les objectifs de l’organisation syndicale étudiée apparaissent favorables à son choix de se coaliser à différents niveaux (local, régional, national et international).

Sandcastles of hope? Civil society organizations and the working conditions of migrant farmworkers in North America

This research explores whether civil society organizations (CSOs) can contribute to more effectively regulating the working conditions of temporary migrant farmworkers in North America. This dissertation unfolds in five parts. The first part of the dissertation sets out the background context. The context includes the political economy of agriculture and temporary migrant labour more broadly. It also includes the political economy of the legal regulations that govern immigration and work relations. The second part of the research builds an analytical model for studying the operation of CSOs active in working with the migrant farmworker population. The purpose of the analytical framework is to make sense of real-world examples by providing categories for analysis and a means to get at the channels of influence that CSOs utilize to achieve their aims. To this end, the model incorporates the insights from three significant bodies of literature—regulatory studies, labour studies, and economic sociology. The third part of the dissertation suggests some key strategic issues that CSOs should consider when intervening to assist migrant farmworkers, and also proposes a series of hypotheses about how CSOs can participate in the regulatory process. The fourth part probes and extends these hypotheses by empirically investigating the operation of three CSOs that are currently active in assisting migrant farm workers in North America: the Agricultural Workers Alliance (Canada), Global Workers’ Justice Alliance (USA), and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (USA). The fifth and final part draws together lessons from the empirical work and concluded that CSOs can fill gaps left by the waning power of actors, such as trade unions and labour inspectorates, as well as act in ways that these traditional actors can not.

How Much Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts? Evaluating Interactions Between Complex Policies

This presentation focuses on methods for the evaluation of complex policies. In particular, it focuses on evaluating interactions between policies and the extent to which two or more interacting policies mutually reinforce or hinder one another, in the area of environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is increasingly gaining recognition as a complex policy area, requiring a more systemic perspective and approach (e.g. European Commission, 2011). Current trends in human levels of resource consumption are unsustainable, and single solutions which target isolated issues independently of the broader context have so far fallen short. Instead there is a growing call among both academics and policy practitioners for systemic change which acknowledges and engages with the complex interactions, barriers and opportunities across the different actors, sectors, and drivers of production and consumption. Policy mixes, and the combination and ordering of policies within, therefore become an important focus for those aspiring to design and manage transitions to sustainability. To this end, we need a better understanding of the interactions, synergies and conflicts between policies (Cunningham et al., 2013; Geels, 2014). As a contribution to this emerging field of research and to inform its next steps, I present a review on what methods are available to try to quantify the impacts of complex policy interactions, since there is no established method among practitioners, and I explore the merits or value of such attempts. The presentation builds on key works in the field of complexity science (e.g. Anderson, 1972), revisiting and combining these with more recent contributions in the emerging field of policy and complex systems, and evaluation (e.g. Johnstone et al., 2010). With a coalition of UK Government departments, agencies and Research Councils soon to announce the launch of a new internationally-leading centre to pioneer, test and promote innovative and inclusive methods for policy evaluation across the energy-environment-food nexus, the contribution is particularly timely.

Invited lectures from a spatial orientation symposium in honor of Frederick Guedry, Day 2

This report contains the invited lectures from day 2 of a Spatial Orientation Symposium in honor of the late Dr. Frederick Guedry, held at the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, Florida in November of 2010. The conference was sponsored by the Coalition Warfare Program of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. It was organized by Drs. Angus Rupert and Ben Lawson (USAARL) and hosted by Drs. Anil Raj and Ken Ford (IHMC). The lectures from day 1 are in Lawson et al., 2014. Day 2 includes lectures by Drs. Scott, Ben Lawson, Angus Rupert, Owen Black, Karen Atkins, Kim Gottshall, Anil Raj, and Måns Magnusson. The lectures focus on the structure, function and reflexes of the vestibular system, orientation perceptions, motion sickness, adaptation, and rehabilitation. This report also features banquet talks given by Drs. Lawson and Rupert, in which they honor Dr. Fred Guedry. Also featured is an interview with Dr. Guedry, conducted by a Navy historian, in which the reader can catch a glimpse into Dr. Guedry's wartime experiences and early days as a researcher.

Market reforms and privatisation in the English National Health Service

The article examines developments in the marketisation and privatisation of the English National Health Service, primarily since 1997. It explores the use of competition and contracting out in ancillary services and the levering into public services of private finance for capital developments through the Private Finance Initiative. A substantial part of the article examines the repeated restructuring of the health service as a market in clinical services, initially as an internal market but subsequently as a market increasing opened up to private sector involvement. Some of the implications of market processes for NHS staff and for increased privatisation are discussed. The article examines one episode of popular resistance to these developments, namely the movement of opposition to the 2011 health and social care legislative proposals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these system reforms for the founding principles of the NHS and the sustainability of the service.

The activity of the feminist online publications: challenges for the transmission of the feminist culture in Spain

Traditionally, big media corporations have contributed to hiding the women’s movement itself, as well as its main claims and topics of discussion (Marx, Myra y Hess, 1995; Rhode, 1995; Mendes, 2011). This has led the feminist movement to develop its own media generally print publications, usually, with a very specialized character and reduced audience. This is similar to what has occurred with quality main stream media, asthese publications have had to adapt themselves to a new communicatiion context, because of the financial crisis and  technological evolution. Feminist media has found in the Internet an excellent opportunity to access citizens and communicate their messages. , In view of this scene of change and renovation,  this article offers the results of a qualitative analysis focused on the experiences of four feminist online media sites edited in Spain: Pikaramagazine.com, Proyecto-kahlo.com, Mujeresenred.net and Laindependent.cat. Besides exploring the characteristics and content of these sites, the article pays attention to the virality of their contents spread through Facebook and Twitter. The onclusion estimates their social impact, insofar as they symbolize the specialization, diversification and dialogue promoted by the Web.

L'Asse Tripartito Italia-Germania- Giappone e la Cina

Germany, Italy and Japan were engaged in China from the turn of the 20th century to WWII. However, they formed an anti-Chinese alliance only at the final stage of their presence there, when Japan assumed an undisputed role of leader in the region. Despite its alliance with the Axis powers, Japan never implemented racial laws against the Jews in China. All of them took part in the Boxer Upraising suppression and received as a consequence extraterritorial rights and concessions. Moreover, Japan won the war against China in 1895 and transformed itself from a tributary country of China into an imperialistic power. It took possession of Taiwan and in the 1930s established a puppet government in Manchuria.Germany followed different route obtaining as indemnity for the murders of two missionaries the control of the Shandong province, which was later expanded thanks to the anti-Boxer coalition's victory. However, Germany lost all possessions when China entered WWI. The issue of Shandong was finally resolved at the Conference for Disarmament hold in Washington in 1921-2. Japan failed to gain ex-Germany territories. Finally, Italy arrived in the Far East at the turn of the century but was not very interested in the oriental colonialism to the same extent it was interested in Africa. Tianjin was its only concession in China, and it took almost a decade before a subvention to arrive from the Italian government for its development.In the 1920s and 1930s Germany and Italy engaged in successful diplomatic, commercial and military relationships with China. In fact, both were considered China's partners thanks to their experts at the service of the Chinese government. On the other hand, Japan position was opposite to them, because of its plans of aggression towards China which was to be transformed into “the natural extension” of the mainland. In 1935 Italy declared war on Ethiopia and abandoned the seat at the League of Nations. China interpreted the Italian aggression as the endorsement of Japan's politics towards China in Manchuria, and the relations between the two countries were broken off. After that Italy supported Wang Jingwei's puppet government during the Japanese occupation of China. Germany followed the same path in 1937, when it was evident that the Japanese were playing the leading role in the region, and decided to ally with Wang Jingwei too. Both Italy and Germany decided also to recognise the Manzhuguo and established diplomatic relations, definitively turning their backs on the old Chinese ally.The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis sealed the alliance among the three countries, and it confirmed Japan as the leading power in the region. Nevertheless Japan did not apply the racial law against the Jews in China.