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Drug-Related Violence and Party Behavior: The Case of Candidate Selection in Mexico

Description: This dissertation examines how parties respond and adapt their behavior to political violence. Building a theoretical argument about strategic party behavior and party capture, I address the following questions: How do parties select and recruit their candidates in regions with high levels of violence and the pervasive presence of VNAs? Do parties respond to violence by selecting certain types of candidates who are more capable of fighting these organizations? Do parties react differently at di… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Pulido Gomez, Amalia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

When Race Matters: The Influence of Race on Case Clearances in Capital vs. Non-Capital Homicides in Texas

Description: Texas leads the nation in the number of executions carried out since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Race was a key factor in the 1972 moratorium, and though the Supreme Court allowed for its return under new statutes, race continues to plague the capital punishment legal system. In this study, I examine the influence of race on case clearances in capital and non-capital homicides in Texas, using the extra-legal and non-discretionary theories from existing clearance literature. I fin… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Samaniego, Rebekah
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Friends of the State Courts: Organized Interests and State Courts of Last Resort

Description: Why do interest groups participate in state courts of last resort by filing amicus curiae briefs? Are they influential when they do? This dissertation examines these questions using an original survey of organized interests that routinely participate in state supreme courts, as well as data on all amicus curiae briefs and majority opinions in over 14,000 cases decided in all fifty-two state supreme courts for a four year period. I argue that interest groups turn to state judiciaries to achiev… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Perkins, Jared David
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Trade Negotiations in Agriculture: A Comparative Study of the U.S. and the EC

Description: This study applies Destler's institutional counterweights to Putnam's two-level analysis, substituting Liberal Institutionalism and Realism for internationalism and isolationism, in a comparative case study of the roles played by the U.S. and the EC in multilateral trade negotiations in agriculture under the aegis of the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade during the first half of the Uruguay Round. Using game theory as an analytical tool in the process, this present study demonstrates that… more
Date: December 1994
Creator: Gordon, H. William (Harold William)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Journalist as Legislator

Description: The focus of the study is the way which members of the press corps in the Texas Capitol influence policy-making through their friendships with legislators and through the news stories which they write. Methods of study included questionnaires to reporters and to legislators, interviews with members of both groups, and review of news stories written about the regular session of the 64th Texas Legislature. Respondents reported that journalists were used as "expert consultants" in legislative stra… more
Date: December 1975
Creator: Linn, Travis
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Montesquieu, Diversity, and the American Constitutional Debate

Description: It has become something of a cliché for contemporary scholars to assert that Madison turned Montesquieu on his head and thereafter give little thought to the Frenchman’s theory that republics must remain limited in territorial size. Madison did indeed present a formidable challenge to Montesquieu’s theory, but I will demonstrate in this dissertation that the authors of the Federalist Papers arrived at the extended sphere by following a theoretical pathway already cemented by the French philosop… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Drummond, Nicholas W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Why Be Friends? Amicus Curiae Briefs in State Courts of Last Resort

Description: While there has been a substantial body of research on interest group activity in U.S. federal courts, there has been comparatively little analysis of interest group engagement with state courts. Given that state courts adjudicate the vast majority of cases in the American legal system and very few cases are appealed to the Supreme Court, understanding why organized interests participate in these courts is of great importance. The present study analyzes interest group involvement as amicus curi… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Perkins, Jared D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Texas Failure: A Critical Study of Pollution in Texas

Description: "The Texas Failure sets forth the thesis that environmental problems are essentially a product of political decisions and that in Texas the political system has failed to respond to environmental problems because it is dominated by polluter-oriented special interests. The argument advanced is that polluter-oriented interests are well protected by state politicians in both the legislature and regulatory agencies of state government. The thesis is organized around an analysis of such political fa… more
Date: May 1973
Creator: Chidgey, John Thomas
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Electoral Behavior in Texas from 1944 Through 1972

Description: "This report concludes that the evidence from the analyses seems to support the following propositions in regard to Texas electoral behavior. (1) The 1956 election year was a critical election year in Texas. (2) A pattern indicative of an underlying economic liberalism-conservatism was present in Texas voting patterns from 1944 through 1956, but not after. (3) The Mexican-American and German counties experienced political realignment in 1956 which continued through 1972. (4) The counties afford… more
Date: August 1973
Creator: Dickenson, Martha Kay
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Toward a Causal Model of Texas City Manager Policy Role Orientations

Description: The purpose of this thesis was to develop and test a causal model of Texas city manager policy role orientation. The first chapter contains a selective review of major works concerning the city manager and the council manager plan. From these works, research perspectives and variables thought to affect managerial policy behavior were identified. A policy role orientation typology was constructed from nine role questions. Four "types" of managers were identified. After a review of the characteri… more
Date: May 1974
Creator: Smith, Russell Lane
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Urbanization and Republican Growth in the South, 1950-1968

Description: This thesis tests the hypothesis that increasing urbanization in the South is positively correlated with rising Republican voting in presidential and gubernatorial races. A measure of urbanization was derived by subjecting socio-economic data from three censuses for all southern counties to factor analysis. This measure was regressed against Republican percentages of presidential vote in 1952, 1960 and 1968, and against GOP percentages in governor's races closest to the census years. The coeff… more
Date: December 1975
Creator: Hughes, Dorene
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Leadership and Mexican-American Politics: A Study of Two Texas Cities

Description: "In an attempt to determine the effectiveness of the political leadership provided by members of an ethnic group, this thesis investigates the Mexican-American electorate in San Antonio and Laredo, Texas. Three variables were studied: the leaders, the followers, and the circumstances under which both operate...Data for this investigation were gathered through personal interviews and from voting records complied by the county clerks of Bexar and Webb Counties. "--leaf 1.
Date: August 1971
Creator: Pinon, Fernando
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Professional Public Relations and Political Power in Texas

Description: "The problem with which this investigation is concerned is the determination of the role played by public relations professionals in Texas politics. This exploration of modern campaign technology relies on a survey of related literature, published and unpublished, and on personal interviews conducted in 1968-69 with candidates for public office, party workers, public relations experts, campaign managers and consultants, and media specialists involved in the Texas Democratic Gubernatorial primar… more
Date: December 1970
Creator: Mansfield, Michael W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Job of City Manager from Two Points of View

Description: The purpose of this study is to define more clearly the task of the city manager by examining the following perceptions of his role: 1) The city manager perceives himself as being an administrator, leaving the political realm to the city council. 2) The city manager is a policy-maker perceiving that his job includes providing objectives and goals for council and community. He uses his knowledge and experience to create an atmosphere within which various alternatives can be presented with full a… more
Date: December 1973
Creator: Blackburn, Audley
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Fair Park Expansion: A Case Study of Political Bias and Protest in Urban Politics

Description: A participant-observer approach is utilized in a case study of Dallas, Texas, homeowners who organized to challenge city acquisition of their property for the expansion of the Fair Park State fairgrounds. From this study, a model of protest and political bias in urban politics is conceptualized. It is hypothesized that some individuals and groups are unable to place their demands, regardless of the extent of their organization and mobilization, on the governmental agenda. This inability to gain… more
Date: August 1974
Creator: Davies, Elizabeth Durham
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Effect of American Political Party on Electoral Behavior: an Application of the Voter Decision Rule to the 1952-1988 Presidential Elections

Description: The purpose of this study is to examine two major psychological determinants of the vote in presidential elections - candidate image and party orientation. The central thesis of this study is that candidate image, as measured here, has been a greater determinant of electoral choice in the majority of presidential elections since 1952 than has party orientation. One of the vices as well as virtues of a democratic society is that the people often get what they want. This is especially true in the… more
Date: August 1990
Creator: Lewis, Ted Adam
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

American Response to Military Coups among Her Allies: Greece--The Colonels' Coup

Description: The focus of this thesis is Greece after the 1967 Colonels' Coup. After an analysis of American responses to military coups among allies since 1949, the Greek situation is explored in depth. Emphasis is given to Congressional and Executive infighting and bureaucratic interpretations of policy. The two presidents who dealt with the Colonels are studied for personal reaction. Sources include the New York Times and its Index, the Department of State Bulletins, current Greek history books, Congress… more
Date: December 1977
Creator: Frith, Roger W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Canadian Supreme Court Decision-Making: The Personal Attribute Model in Explaining Justices' Patterns of Decision-Making, 1949-1980

Description: This study has two purposes: first, to test the validity of the personal attribute model in explaining judicial voting behavior outside its original cultural context; second, to explain the variation in justice's voting behavior in the Canadian Supreme Court. For the most part, the result arrived in this study supports the validity of the model in cross-cultural analysis. The result of multiple regression analysis shows that four variables, region, judicial experience prior to appointment, poli… more
Date: December 1985
Creator: Sittiwong, Panu
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Power Politics in a Federal Agency: a Policy Study in Federal Aid Programs for Students in Higher Education

Description: This paper determines relationships between three elements of the American policy process: legislature, agency, and administrative clientele. It concerns interrelationships between these elements and their affect to agency functions. A model is constructed; revealing the policy process, illustrating behavior patterns responsible for normal functioning and failure of policies and programs. The model develops through study of a single policy area. Supplemental data are provided from a survey. T… more
Date: May 1977
Creator: Allen, Robert Lloyd
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Comparison of Thailand's Relations with the United States and China, 1965-1975

Description: This thesis compares Thailand',s relations with the United States and China from 196541975, The realist as-sumes that the structure of power in the internationall system determines overall relations between states' First, this study describes the power situation in southeast Asia in 1965, The next steps are concerned with the study of Thai-U, S. relations and Thai-Chinese relations, The thesis finds that Thailand's relations with the United States and China are determined by the structure of po… more
Date: August 1978
Creator: Charoenratha, Benjavan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Indo-Soviet Relations: The Implications of Soviet-United States Rivalry in the Indian Ocean, 1968-1976

Description: This study presents an overview of Indo-Soviet relations in light of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. competition for a favorable position in relations with India. Both superpowers consider better relations with India to be crucial to the furtherance of their interests in the Indian Ocean region. The study provides background information on Indo-Soviet diplomacy, with emphasis on the period 1968-1976m during which the Soviets gained their greatest influence in the region. This period also represents the nadir… more
Date: December 1978
Creator: Wannitikul, Udsanee
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

An Assessment of the Attitudes of the Personnel of Welfare-Oriented Governmental Agencies Toward the Poor

Description: This study explores and assesses the attitudes of the personnel of welfare-oriented governmental bureaucracies toward the poor. To fulfill these goals, a treatment and a control group were selected to compare their attitudes toward this group. They were measured by a disguised-structured instrument using the survey approach. It was found that the majority of respondents in both groups have a pro-poor attitude but it is more prevalent among the bureaucrats than among the students. In light of th… more
Date: August 1979
Creator: Valverde Rocha, Maria de la Luz
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Polish Debt and American Policy

Description: This study is concerned with the relationship between the accumulation of Poland's massive hard-currency debt, from 1970 to 1983, and changes in American economic and political policy toward Poland. Prior to and during the 1970s, a tacit American policy of promoting economic and political ties with Poland can be discerned. But the domestic problems Poland exacerbated by mismanaging its debt to the West and the consequent declaration of martial law in 1981 led to the current discriminatory Ameri… more
Date: May 1984
Creator: King, John Christopher
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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