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Political Organisation (political + organisation)
Selected AbstractsThe Creation of a Vocational Sector in Swiss Higher Education: balancing trends of system differentiation and integrationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 4 2003Juan-Francisco Perellon The article discusses the establishment of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education as a complement to the existing two-tier system of cantonal Universities and federal Institutes of technology. The origins of this new player, its missions and organisational features are discussed. This overall discussion is placed into the context of changing landscape of Swiss higher education policy characterised by increasing pressures for geographical reorganisation of the higher education sector under the auspices of a more direct role of the federal government. The article makes two points. First, it argues that the creation of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education combines two contradictory trends. On the one hand, this new sector tends to provide differentiation at the system level, through the creation of a new, more marked-oriented sector of higher education. On the other hand, system differentiation at the system level is threatened by increased demands for greater inter-institutional cooperation and system integration, emanating principally from the federal level. Second, the article also argues that the distinction between ,academic/scientific' vs. ,vocational/professional' education generally referred to when studying the emergence of non-university sectors in higher education, is not pertinent for the analysis of the Swiss case. Two reasons are brought forward to sustain this argument. First, this distinction reinforces an artificial binary divide, no longer relevant to assess the evolution of higher education institutions placed in a context of academic and vocational drifts. Second, the ,academic' vs. ,professional' opposition does not take into consideration the political organisation of the country and how this impacts on policy making in higher education; a crucial element in the Swiss context. [source] Labour Party: saved by the modernisers or modernised to be saved?JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2003Christos Rantavellas Abstract The paper treats politics as a complex process that embraces actual or potential interactions among constructed meanings of different social actors through various symbolic forms drawing on the specific socio-historical, political context. These symbolic forms can take the form of various kinds from everyday linguistic utterances to complex images and texts. It is suggested that there is a strong interrelationship between ,image' and political discourse and their symbolic value grows as long as they come from consistent communication among all the social actors participating in the political process inside and outside of the political organisation. Two historical examples from the British political landscape,the Labour election defeat in 1987 and the Labour leadership election in 1994,are examined so as to draw some useful remarks concerning the limitations in drawing the line between ,image' and political discourse and among processes considered either internal or external of the party. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications [source] One Love Too Many: The Undoing of Pauline HansonAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 2 2001Jennifer Rutherford This paper focuses on desire and its animating force in the Pauline Hanson One Nation Party. Examining the symbolic logic underpinning the rapport between Pauline Hanson and her constituency, it explores the connection between forms of love and forms of political organisation. Locating the implosion of One Nation within the context of Hanson's failure to sustain the love-bonds of a totalitarian leader with her/his followers, it argues that the lack of democracy within One Nation was not a cause of its failure. The desire animating One Nation was for an autocratic leader and the totalitarian structure of One Nation posed no obstacle to the movement's fortunes until love shifted the libidinal field. [source] Patronage and empowerment in the central AmazonBULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 4 2000Scott William Hoefle Abstract The shift from modern to post-modern politics in the Central Amazon is critically evaluated. While considerable empowerment of previously marginalised. Amerindians, rubber tapers and frontier peasants has occurred, patronage networks remain top down in their decision-making process, significant horizontal political mobilisation between different social actors has not emerged and grassroots political organisation has been stymied by authoritarian politics at the state level. Consequently, as empowerment is supposed to lie at the heart of building sustainable livelihoods in the Amazon, by this line of logic, the future of the region would seem to be seriously compromised. [source] Digital Rank-and-file: Party Activists' Perceptions and Use of the InternetBRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2004Wainer Lusoli Political parties are in a transitional phase. A declining, socially restricted membership, decreasing levels of activism and a shift towards more individualistic modes of political engagement threaten the linkage role that parties have played in modern democracy. The development of the Internet in a period of change has meant that it quickly became intertwined with debates about reviving representative political organisations. Using data from a survey of party activists in the UK (N = 4,770), this article answers questions about the perception and use of new media by party activists, the Internet's potential for members' participation and engagement and the penetration of the Internet in pre-existing political careers. In general, the article asks which role new media are playing in the transition of political parties. [source] | ||||||||||