Democratizing Democracy? Civil Society and Party Organization in Bolivia

The rise to power of movement-based parties is a new and expanding phenomenon. Existing theories predict these parties will become increasingly oligarchic as they govern nationally. The Bolivian MAS deviates from this conventional wisdom, as it has followed a remarkably different organizational trajectory that has facilitated grassroots impact and constrained elite control. Through a within-case comparative examination of MAS, this article identifies necessary conditions and explains mechanisms facilitating this outcome in the crucial area of candidate selection. Key to understanding how these parties operate is the organizational context in which they are embedded. Where civil society is strong, has mechanisms to arrive at decisions, and can agree on candidate selection, it can play an important role in resisting the oligarchization of allied movement-based parties

Movements, Parties, and Hybrids

For Symposium Absstract is not require

Sustainability And Integrated Reporting In The South African Corporate Sector

This article aims to determine if the adoption of Integrated Reporting by large private sector companies in South Africa has led to an improvement in the quality of sustainability-related information disclosed. This was done in two stages. The first stage comprised a literature review with the aim to develop an evaluation matrix that can be used to access the quality of the sustainability-related information being disclosed within Integrated Reports. During the second stage, empirical evidence was obtained by assessing the sustainability reporting disclosures made by the best performers according to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Sustainability Index. The Integrated Reporting process is still in the development phase with many companies only now developing methodologies to measure their various impacts. The study found that, although many companies are attempting or claiming to be creating Integrated Reports, the level of integration is still very low. Few companies have incorporated or understood the importance of environmental and social sustainability in achieving long-term success. It is hoped that this research will provide an evaluation matrix to assess the information disclosed within Integrated Reports as well as provide insights into the implementation challenges experienced by the early adopters in South Africa

Movements, Parties, and Hybrids

For Symposium Absstract is not require

Helicopter blade parameter extraction for purposes of radar target indentification

Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-159).The positive classification and identification of airborne targets beyond the visual range by using the reflected radar signal has become an increasingly valuable capability for the defence force of a country. The rotating structures on an airborne target cause additional Doppler modulation in the return signal, known as the micro-Doppler effect. Information on the rotating structures can be extracted from this effect. A technique based on time- frequency and tomographic analysis is introduced in this research to extract certain helicopter blade parameters which will aid in the identification of a helicopter. The proposed algorithm shows that (under certain conditions) it is possible to extract the number of main rotor blades, the blade length and the rotation rate of the helicopter's main rotor. These features can be used to determine the make and model of a particular helicopter

Sustainability And Integrated Reporting In The South African Corporate Sector

This article aims to determine if the adoption of Integrated Reporting by large private sector companies in South Africa has led to an improvement in the quality of sustainability-related information disclosed.  This was done in two stages.  The first stage comprised a literature review with the aim to develop an evaluation matrix that can be used to access the quality of the sustainability-related information being disclosed within Integrated Reports.  During the second stage, empirical evidence was obtained by assessing the sustainability reporting disclosures made by the best performers according to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Sustainability Index.  The Integrated Reporting process is still in the development phase with many companies only now developing methodologies to measure their various impacts.  The study found that, although many companies are attempting or claiming to be creating Integrated Reports, the level of integration is still very low.  Few companies have incorporated or understood the importance of environmental and social sustainability in achieving long-term success.  It is hoped that this research will provide an evaluation matrix to assess the information disclosed within Integrated Reports as well as provide insights into the implementation challenges experienced by the early adopters in South Africa

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, PARTIES, AND THE LEFT IN LATIN AMERICA: THE BOLIVIAN MAS (MOVEMENT TOWARD SOCIALISM) IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

There have been several important cases of movement-based parties that rose rapidly in popularity and were able to attain national power in new democracies. Existing theories predict these parties will become increasingly top-down organizations designed to preserve and enhance the power of party elites, a trend that is usually aggravated when parties govern nationally. The Bolivian MAS deviates from this conventional wisdom, as it has followed a remarkably different organizational trajectory that has facilitated grassroots impact and constrained elite control. Through a within-case comparative examination of the MAS, this study identifies necessary conditions and explains mechanisms facilitating this outcome in the crucial areas of candidate selection and national policy-making. The study finds that a set of historical legacies traceable to a party's origins and structural elements associated with the density of civil society heavily affect power distributions within governing movement-based parties. Both elements can facilitate the emergence of opposition among allied groups that can check power from within and keep open channels for agenda setting from below. The realization of this potential, as this study argues, depends heavily on the organizational strength, unity, and mobilization capacity of allied groups in civil society. The analysis reveals that movement-based parties are remarkably flexible organizations whose boundaries with allied groups in civil society tend to be fluid and empirically blurred. The empirical basis for this argument derives, first, from a wealth of qualitative data collected in Bolivia, where I conducted twelve months of fieldwork in different regions of the country. During that time, I conducted over 170 in-depth interviews with party elites at the national, state, and municipal levels, as well as with a wide variety of civil society actors, including union leaders, activists, opposition politicians, and others. Second, cross-national comparisons with the experiences of the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT) and the Uruguayan Broad Front (FA) improve the overall evidentiary base of this study. They also help to further support the theoretical claims about the importance of historical and structural factors for shaping the degree of power concentration in movement-based parties.Doctor of Philosoph

Incorporation “from below”: insights from Bolivia and Uruguay

Recent empirical research shows that if we look at the nature of party-society linkages the differences between cases in the “moderate” and the “radical” strands of the Latin American left are less stark than we initially thought. Uruguay’s Frente Amplio (FA), for instance, has more in common with Bolivia’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) than with Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT)—particularly in its degree of openness and responsiveness to the party’s social bases. In this article, we link this finding to broader macro political outcomes that are central in the study of Latin American political economy today. Bolivia and Uruguay are, in many ways, representative of broader regional trends of the early twenty-first century: both cases experienced a dramatic growth of the middle classes, the expansion of social programs benefiting large groups, notable declines in poverty as well as in social and economic inequalities, and the increased access of subordinate social groups to national decision-making. They have achieved, in short, significant progress advancing an agenda of incorporation, defined as the expansion of substantive citizenship rights. In this paper, we explain how party organizational attributes of the MAS and the FA, especially their strong societal linkages, have contributed to shaping such outcomes—which, despite similarities in their general tendency, vary in depth and scope across the two cases. We also trace how underlying socio-political pressures generated by each party’s organized social bases have constrained progress in areas that are crucial to sustaining important advances made in the past decade, such as labor, tax, education, and health reforms. This article draws on data collected through extensive fieldwork in Uruguay and Bolivia

DIAGNOSIS KESEHATAN KEPEMIMPINAN DI SEKOLAH LABORATORIUM PERCONTOHAN KAMPUS UNIVERSITAS PENDIDIKAN INDONESIA (UPI)

Penelitian ini berjudul “Diagnosis Kesehatan Kepemimpinan di Sekolah Laboratorium Percontohan Kampus Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI)”. Secara umum penelitian ini dilaksanakan untuk membuat suatu instrumen diagnosis kesehatan kepemimpinan yang bertujuan untuk mengatasi masalah kebingungan praktisi pendidikan dalam menganalisis manajemen sekolah dikatakan sehat atau sakit. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskriptif dengan pendekatan Research and Development (R&D). Instrumen terdiri dari sembilan dimensi yaitu 1) menyampaikan tujuan bersama; 2) memimpin dengan kepedulian; 3) mengevaluasi informasi; 4) hubungan dengan pihak internal dan eksternal; 5) menyampaikan visi; 6) melibatkan tim; 7) menganalisis resiko; 8) mengembangkan kemampuan; 9) mempengaruhi orang lain untuk mencapai hasil yang lebih baik. Teknik dalam menyusun instrumen dilaksanakan dengan empat tahap, yakni tahap awal berupa kajian terhadap teori yang mendukung, tahap pelaksanaan FGD, tahap uji konstruk dan tahap uji kegunaan instrumen yang disebar ke 13 SDN se-Kecamatan Sukasari Kota Bandung. Uji kegunaan instrumen diagnosis kesehatan kepemimpinan menghasilkan data penelitian dengan diolah melalui uji validitas, uji reliabilitas serta Weight Mean Score. Terdapat 51 item dalam instrumen yang diisi oleh setiap responden, didapat r tabel sebesar 0,388 dan uji reliabilitas sebesar 0,983. Adapun untuk gambaran kesehatan kepemimpinan di Sekolah Dasar Negeri (SDN) se-Kecamatan sukasari berada pada posisi “Sangat Sehat”, artinya kepala sekolah kerap melaksanakan perilaku kepemimpinan sesuai dengan instrumen yang diisi oleh responden dan sesuai perhitungan kecenderungan rata-rata Weight Mean Score (WMS) dengan total keseluruhan rata-rata dimensi sebesar 4,4 (kategori sangat tinggi). Kata Kunci : Instrumen Diagnosis, Kesehatan Kepemimpinan  --------- This research “Health Diagnosis of Leadership School at the School Laboratory of the Indonesia Education University (UPI)”. This research is done generally to make a health diagnosis of leadership school instrument. This research intends to overcome problem of education practitioner confusion within analyzing school management is called sick or healthy. The research method used descriptive method with approaching Research and Development (R&D). The instrument consists of nine dimensions are conveying common goals, leading with concerning, evaluating information, connecting with internal side and external side, conveying vision, involving the team, analyzing risk, developing ability, affecting people to reaching the best result. The technique arranged instrument is done by four stages. First stage is studied for supporting theory, FGD, construct test and instrument-used test which is distributed to thirteen sub-district Sukasari elementary schools in Bandung. Instrument-used test of health diagnosis of leadership school is processed by validity test, reliability test and Weight Mean Score. Those 51 items of instruments which is filled by the respondents. r-table is 0,388 and reliability test is 0,983. Description of school leadership health in sub-district Sukasari Elementary School is predicated “very healthy”. It means school always does school leadership planning activity suitable with the instrument which is filled by respondent. The calculation of trend weight mean score average is 4,4 (a very high category). Keyword: instrument diagnosis, health of leadership school

Pertinencia de las estrategias didácticas de aprendizaje para mejorar el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes del Curso de Principios de sociología, de la Carrera de Administración de Empresas, Facultad de Administración de Empresas y Contabilidad del Centro Regional Universitario de Veraguas

La investigación que se presenta se dirige a establecer la relación que existe entre las formas de estudio adoptadas por los estudiantes del curso de principios de sociología de la carrera de administración de empresas de la Facultad de Administración de Empresas y Contabilidad del Centro Regional Universitario de Veraguas, y el rendimiento obtenido según las calificaciones al final del curso. Es evidente que los niveles de aprendizaje significativo logrados y las estrategias utilizadas en el proceso están relacionados, ya que el conocimiento se genera mediante la combinación de conceptos, capacidades, habilidades y medios para el aprendizaje. También se puede afirmar que los estudios de nivel superior plantean exigencias a los estudiantes, que pueden ser respondidas a medida que se tienen las herramientas para afrontar dificultades, profundidad de relaciones y motivación adecuada. Todos estos factores se integran para producir el resultado satisfactorio de aprendizaje, conocimiento sostenido y posibilidad de avanzar a niveles más complejos. Por lo cual, lo valioso de este estudio radica en establecer cuáles son los nexos entre unos y otros, de manera que los estudiantes alcancen la comprensión y convicción de que a medida que aprovechen las herramientas adecuadas podrán acceder a rendimientos reales y de la calidad esperada