A Continuum of Traversing Lines: Youth Political Participation in Gaia Online

This qualitative research project uses a Deleuzo-Guattarian theoretical framework to address the question: “How are the politically oriented social forums in Gaia Online experienced as a continuum of overlapping of lines, including molar lines, lines of flight, and molecular lines?” Although smooth lines of flight may occur in Gaia, there are always mechanisms that work to re-territorialize them as more striated molar operations. Conversely, while more striated molar lines may be evident in Gaia, there are also smooth lines of flight that attempt to deterritorialize them as smooth space. Founded in 2003, Gaia is a virtual community in which members use 3D avatars to socialize with others, create content, and play games. Deleuze and Guattari (1987) have defined space with three systems: on one end is state-oriented static space, on the other end is nomadic fluid space, and situated in the middle is molecular space which contains both smooth and striating elements. While state-oriented striated space is based on routines, rules, and specifications, nomadic smooth space is flexible, always changing, and full of possibility. Some of the smoother operations that are evident in Gaia include becoming other, decentred communications, desire as resistance, and lines of flight. Some of the more striated operations include social reproduction of gender norms/expectations, capitalist mechanisms, violence and intolerance linked to categories and binaries (racism/sexism/ageism), the regulation of desire, and the organisation of bodies.

The Political Economy of St. Catharines' Illicit Taxi Trade

The global restructuring of production has led to increasingly precarious working conditions around the world. Post-industrial work is characterized by poor working conditions, low wages, a lack of social protection and political representation and little job security. Unregulated forms of work that are defined as “irregular” or “illegal”, or in some cases “criminal,” are connected to sweeping transformations within the broader regulated (formal) economy. The connection between the formal and informal sectors can more accurately be described as co-optation and, as a subordinate integration of the informal to the formal. The city of St. Catharines within Niagara, along with much of Ontario’s industrial heartland, has been hard hit by deindustrialization. The rise of this illegal service is thus viewed against the backdrop of heavy economic restructuring, as opportunities for work in the manufacturing sector have become sparse. In addition, this research also explores the paradoxical co-optation of the growing illicit taxi economy and consequences for racialized and foreign credentialed labour in the taxi industry. The overall objective of this research is to explore the illicit cab industry as not only inseparable from the formal economy, but dialectically, how it is as an integrated and productive element of the public and private transportation industry. Furthermore the research examines what this co-optation means in the context of a labour market that is split by race.

Physical Activity and the Entanglement of Meaning Making for Females

This research takes a phenomenological approach through narratives to investigate the meanings females attribute to their experiences with physical activity. Nine females across the age ranges of 10-80 were asked to share three meaningful physical activity stories. These experiences could be positive or negative in nature as long as they were reflective of a meaningful experience for the participant. The aim of the research was to explore the types of physical activity experiences that females find meaningful. The results indicate that participants perceived the following to be meaningful within their experience: social support, benefits to personal health and well-being, recognition and acknowledgment, empowerment, body control, early positive experience and identity formation. Participants’ stories offered an enlightened understanding of the meanings active females associate with physical activity across their lifespans that perhaps can assist in formulating and developing strategies to encourage and promote involvement in physical activity.

The meaning of multiple medication use in adults: A qualitative study

Over half of prescribed medications are not taken as prescribed, resulting in health and economic consequences. Using constructivist grounded theory, 15 interviews were conducted to develop a theory on understanding the medication adherence choices of individuals, who were between the ages of 40 to 55, were diagnosed with a chronic condition, and taking three or more medications. The results indicate that participants are engaging in self-management strategies, with massive variance in adherence behaviours. Medications are sacrificed for personal and financial reasons, resonating with feelings of fear for the person’s current situation and future. Individuals are struggling with who they have become to who they once were, which becomes related to their medications. Finally, individuals are citing the impact of their physician; citing barriers to communication and Canada’s health care system. Participants’ experiences provided an understanding of the meanings individuals associate with their medications and how this impacts their decision-making.

Brock Essay - The Political Culture of Ontario

An essay submitted by Sean O'Sullivan to Professor W.A. Matheson, 25 April 1977. The focus of the essay is stable government, "As one of the chief, if not the predominant, force in giving Confederation its political shape, Ontario helped bring about a central government designed to promote, and dedicated to preserve, stability. In the governing of their own province, the people of Ontario have been faithful to that same goal of stability. Perhaps that steadfast attitude says more than anything else about the political culture of Ontario."

México, aztec, spanish and republican : A historical, geographical, political...

UANL

A political history of modern Europe : from the reformation to the present day

UANL

Principles of political economy

UANL

Lessons on political economy

UANL

The elements of political economy : with some applications to questions of the day

UANL

Does IMF Induce Political Business Cycles? An Empirical Analysis on Latin America's Indebted Countries.

Rapport de recherche

On the Political Economy of Sequential Reforms

This paper proposes an explanation for why efficient reforms are not carried out when losers have the power to block their implementation, even though compensating them is feasible. We construct a signaling model with two-sided incomplete information in which a government faces the task of sequentially implementing two reforms by bargaining with interest groups. The organization of interest groups is endogenous. Compensations are distortionary and government types differ in the concern about distortions. We show that, when compensations are allowed to be informative about the government’s type, there is a bias against the payment of compensations and the implementation of reforms. This is because paying high compensations today provides incentives for some interest groups to organize and oppose subsequent reforms with the only purpose of receiving a transfer. By paying lower compensations, governments attempt to prevent such interest groups from organizing. However, this comes at the cost of reforms being blocked by interest groups with relatively high losses.

Political Influence, Economic Interests and Endogenous Tax Structure in a Computable Equilibrium Framework: with Applicatioon to the United States, 1973 and 1983

A full understanding of public affairs requires the ability to distinguish between the policies that voters would like the government to adopt, and the influence that different voters or group of voters actually exert in the democratic process. We consider the properties of a computable equilibrium model of a competitive political economy in which the economic interests of groups of voters and their effective influence on equilibrium policy outcomes can be explicitly distinguished and computed. The model incorporates an amended version of the GEMTAP tax model, and is calibrated to data for the United States for 1973 and 1983. Emphasis is placed on how the aggregation of GEMTAP households into groups within which economic and political behaviour is assumed homogeneous affects the numerical representation of interests and influence for representative members of each group. Experiments with the model suggest that the changes in both interests and influence are important parts of the story behind the evolution of U.S. tax policy in the decade after 1973.

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INIFICATION OF GERMANY: 1815-1871. PART 1: THE ZOLLVEREIN AND RAILWAYS..

Rapport de recherche

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL UNIFICATION OF GERMANY: 1815-1871. PART 2: THE SHARE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN THE ECONOMY..

Rapport de recherche