Party government in the United States,

Mode of access: Internet.

The Blue Dog Coalition: Impact of a Single-Issue Caucus from the 104th to the 110th Congress

The Blue Dog Coalition is an informal organization of legislators within the House of Representatives that strives to influence policy on fiscal responsibility, attract the attention of the electorate, They are a group that elicits wide range of reactions covering the length of the political spectrum, but despite this, their claims of special defense of fiscal conservatism within the Democratic Party have gone relatively undocumented by the academic community.This project has integrated a party literature with a caucus literature, in the attempt of building a novel framework for research. Work on polarization, the significance of parties, the purpose and history of caucuses all have been fused in such away that the Blue Dogs have created an opportunity to test broad congressional questions on a caucus-microcosm scale. Three important questions have emerged from the many possible avenues of exploration on the topic: How does admission into the Blue Dog Coalition effect voting behavior - measured by interest, ideology, and party unityscores? How does party leadership delegate prestigious committee assignments, a traditional indicator of partisan favor and influence, towards Blue Dogs? Can we use the Blue Dog Coalition as an indicator of fiscal conservatism? To each of these questions, a number of interesting results emerged. Blue Dogs, in the 104th scored higher in conservative interest group scores, more towards the center in ideological methods, and lower in party unity Dogs began to behave closer to their Democratic counterparts. In addition, membership on these select committees rose from a very small number to greater proportional parity within the Democratic Party. Perhaps most interesting, the Blue Dog Coalition does behave as a significant, independent predictor effect on NTU scores, a variable used to demonstrate fiscal conservatism. This research has shown, first and foremost, that it is useful and practical to applyold arguments within the party literature to a smaller, caucus level of analysis that is relatively untouched by the political science field. For the Blue Dogs, specifically, we have tested the validity of their claims in an attempt to reach broader questions ofdemocratic responsibility and electoral clarity. This work, and other work I have drawn upon, has barely scratched the surface on Blue Dog Democrats and other caucuses of comparable influence and popularity, and there remains a wealth of research material onthis caucus alone to be explored by scholars in the field of congressional politics.

Racionalidades e ambiguidades da organização instituto federal: o caso do Rio Grande do Norte

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Educação (área de especialização em Organização e Administração Escolar).

Incentives and pharmaceutical reimbursement reforms in Spain

The aim of this paper is to assess whether cost-containment has beenaffected by recent pharmaceutical reimbursement reforms that have beenintroduced in the Spanish health care system over the period 1996-2002,under the conservative Popular Party government. Four main reimbursementpolicies can be observed in the Spanish pharmaceutical market after1996, each of them largely unintegrated with the other three. First, asecond supplementary negative list of excluded pharmaceutical productswas introduced in 1998. Second, a reference pricing system wasintroduced in December 2000, with annual updating and enlargement.Third, the pharmacies payment system has moved from the traditionalset margin on the consumer price to a margin that varies according tothe consumer price of the product, the generic status of the product,and the volume of sales by pharmacies. And fourth, general agreementsbetween the government and the industry have been reached with costcontainment objectives. In the final section of this paper we presentan overall assessment of the impact of these pharmaceuticalreimbursement policies on the behaviour of the agents in thepharmaceutical market.

From protest to powerlessness : a Marxist analysis of the Ontario NDP /

Using Marxist state theory as an analytical framework, this thesis explains the problems faced by the Ontario New Democratic Party government (1990-1995) in implementing a social democratic agenda. Not only was the government constrained in its ability to implement progressive policy, but it was also pushed to implement a Social Contract (involving legislated wage cuts to public sector employees) that alienated the party's base of support, making it more difficult for the party to organize in the future. Although this study relies predominantly on a reinterpretation of existing research on the topic, some primary research is used in the analysis, including interviews with members of the labour movement and former MPPs and analysis of the news media's treatment of the party/ government. Historical and class analytical perspectives are used to explain the evolution of the ONDP's structure and policies, as well as to assess the relative strength of the working class and its ability to support a social democratic political agenda. It was found that the ONDP' s unwillingness to develop a long term plan for social democracy, and its inability to act as a mass party or to build a strong working class movement, made it more difficult for the party to succeed when it formed the government. Moreover, the class nature of the capitalist state, along with pressure exerted by a well mobilized capitalist class, worked to limit the government' s options.

Societal cleavages and institutional change in Canada : retention, reform and removal of nominee councils

En concevant que toute société a deux clivages dominants, l’un social et l’autre partisan, cette thèse développe une théorie sur le changement institutionnel. L’hypothèse initiale, selon laquelle les groupes sociaux créés par le premier clivage agiront pour restreindre le changement institutionnel et que le changement aura lieu lors de l’émergence d’un groupe partisan capable de croiser le clivage social, fut testée par les processus traçant les changements qui furent proposés et qui ont eu lieu au sein des conseils nominés en Amérique du Nord britannique. Ces conseils furent modifiés un bon nombre de fois, devenant les chambres secondaires de législatures provinciales avant d’être éventuellement abolies. La preuve supporte l’hypothèse, bien qu’il ne soit pas suffisant d’avoir un groupe partisan qui puisse croiser le clivage qui mène le changement : un débat partisan sur le changement est nécessaire. Ceci remet aussi en cause la théorie prédominante selon laquelle les clivages sociaux mènent à la formation de partis politiques, suggérant qu’il est plus bénéfique d’utiliser ces deux clivages pour l’étude des institutions.

Análisis de la postura de la oposición política respecto a la discusión del Estatuto de la oposición en Colombia. Estudio de caso: Polo Democrático Alternativo (2006-2012)

La discusión del Estatuto de la Oposición entre el gobierno de Juan Manuel Santos y el partido de oposición Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA), alrededor de garantías, como el acceso a los medios de comunicación, derecho a réplica, seguridad, financiación, entre otras, permite analizar la postura del PDA en estas discusiones, teniendo en cuenta su desarrollo histórico como partido y la configuración del régimen, en un país donde se tergiversa y malinterpreta la labor de los partidos que se declaran en oposición.

O mito da inclusão produtiva: o discurso ideológico de cidadania, inclusão social e crescimento econômico do estado brasileiro de FHC à Dilma

A presente dissertação de mestrado tem por objetivo central analisar a concepção de inclusão produtiva, caracterizada por ações de qualificação da força de trabalho vigoradas com maior frequência a partir da Presidência de Lula da Silva, em 2003, e orientada pelo Ministério de Desenvolvimento Social e Combate à Fome (MDS) como tentativa contraditória de promoção do desenvolvimento econômico e enfrentamento à pobreza no Brasil. Os objetivos específicos visam identificar em que momento a inclusão produtiva passou a ser disseminada pelo Governo Federal Brasileiro; investigar os documentos oficiais do Governo Brasileiro, bem como de organismos internacionais que se referem à noção de inclusão produtiva; e analisar os documentos oficiais apreendendo as categorias que explicam a concepção de inclusão produtiva para o MDS. Para tanto, o percurso metodológico de análise do objeto de estudo, dar-se pela pesquisa qualitativa, norteada pelas pesquisas bibliográfica e documental. Assim, busca-se apreender a concepção de inclusão produtiva a partir da análise de 13 (treze) documentos e informações das paginas eletrônicas das instituições como o MTE, a CEPAL e o MDS. Os resultados da pesquisa permitem inferir que a inclusão produtiva incorporada pelo governo petista (Lula da Silva e Dilma Rousseff) é sustentada pelo discurso ideológico de cidadania, inclusão social, crescimento econômico, protagonismo, desenvolvimento de capacidades que integram a noção de qualificação/educação profissional como mediação da inserção laborativa da população pobre no mundo do trabalho. Portanto, essas categorias têm tendência em escamotear o desemprego estrutural, a exploração do trabalho, as desigualdades sociais e promover por meio do ajustamento da população às demandas do capital e, ainda, para que aceite sua posição dentro da sociedade: a de superpopulação necessária à acumulação capitalista.

Uma análise do Programa “Bolsa Creche” no Município de Piracicaba/SP

Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar informações, ainda que preliminares, sobre o processo de implantação da Lei Municipal nº 5.081, sancionada em 19 de dezembro de 2001, no município de Piracicaba pela gestão do Partido dos Trabalhadores cujo texto outorga parcerias entre os setores público e privado. Neste trabalho entende-se por implantação a ação desencadeada pelo governo para introduzir, inserir e estabelecer uma determinada proposta no campo educacional, no caso em estudo, a proposta refere-se ao Programa “Bolsa-Creche”.

Entrando na partida: a formulação de políticas de comunicação e cultura para jogos digitais no Brasil entre 2003 e 2014

Pós-graduação em Comunicação - FAAC

Czechs Look Back on 1989, a Revolution Betrayed: A Reflection on the Mythology of the Velvet Revolution

Twenty-five years ago today the Velvet Revolution kicked off in what was then Czechoslovakia to bring an end to the one-party government of the Communist Party. This exclusive translation of a feature from the Czech journal A2 Cultural Bi-Weekly explains that the events of 1989 were about more than just Václav Havel, a playwright and leader in the revolution who was elected president in 1990. A generation of unfulfilled promises later, Czechs are struggling to revive the spirit of not only democracy and humanism, but also socialism. This article originally appeared in Ricochet, November 17, 2014.

The Key party in the catalan government

This paper analyzes the different compositions of the catalan governing coalitions during the current democratic period, and offers some predictions about the coalitions that can be expected in the future. During this period, in catalan politics, there have been two main political issues over which the different parties have taken positions: rightist versus leftist with respect to economic policy, and sovereign versus centralist with respect to the power distribution within the state. I find that for any allocation of parliament seats there is a key party: a party that has a clear advantage in terms of being able to decide the composition of the governing coalition. I show the features that allow a party to become the key party and those that affect the size of the advantage of the key party.

Policy Making in Divided Government. A Pivotal Actors Model with Party Discipline.

This article presents a formal model of policy decision-making in an institutional framework of separation of powers in which the main actors are pivotal political parties with voting discipline. The basic model previously developed from pivotal politics theory for the analysis of the United States lawmaking is here modified to account for policy outcomes and institutional performances in other presidential regimes, especially in Latin America. Legislators' party indiscipline at voting and multi-partism appear as favorable conditions to reduce the size of the equilibrium set containing collectively inefficient outcomes, while a two-party system with strong party discipline is most prone to produce 'gridlock', that is, stability of socially inefficient policies. The article provides a framework for analysis which can induce significant revisions of empirical data, especially regarding the effects of situations of (newly defined) unified and divided government, different decision rules, the number of parties and their discipline. These implications should be testable and may inspire future analytical and empirical work.