In March 2017, Narendra Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) to victory in state elections, among which he gained parliamentary election of Uttar Pradesh(state in northern India), known as the weather vane of Indi...In March 2017, Narendra Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) to victory in state elections, among which he gained parliamentary election of Uttar Pradesh(state in northern India), known as the weather vane of Indian elections. Back in 2014, the BJP had already won a simple majority in Lok Sabha(the lower house of parliament), bringing an end to more than 30 years of coalition government. Now, the BJP is exhibiting stronger presence as a one-party-rule at both federal and local levels, with no counter-balance from the Indian National Congress, local parties, or left wing parties now or in the foreseeable future. This increases the likelihood of Modi's re-election as prime minister in 2019. Obviously,Indian political development is characterized by complexity, accidental factors and intrinsic logic, which will definitely exert great influence on the future of India.展开更多
As a new field in the Discourse Analysis, Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) is increasingly arousing more attention of linguistic scholars at home and abroad. However, in the field of the concession addresses, the s...As a new field in the Discourse Analysis, Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) is increasingly arousing more attention of linguistic scholars at home and abroad. However, in the field of the concession addresses, the studies on this kind of political text are limited. The winners of presidential election always draw much attention from the world and their speeches, for example, presidential inaugural address has been a hot study topic of linguistics. Nevertheless, the losers of presidential election are always neglected by the world and the study on concession address is scarce and rare. Therefore, the meaning of study on the concession speech helps fill the gap of the discourse analysis. This thesis applies the PDA under the framework of appraisal theory to analyze five concession speeches with a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study aims to complement CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) to emphasize positive social construction of political discourse.展开更多
This paper assesses electoral participation and studies the determinants of such participation, focusing on presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire. We use a dataset on elections in Africa and a survey financed by th...This paper assesses electoral participation and studies the determinants of such participation, focusing on presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire. We use a dataset on elections in Africa and a survey financed by the European Commission and conducted by the Ivorian Center of Social and Economic Research (CIRES) in 2005. We find a decline in voter turnout since 1990 for both presidential and parliamentary elections. We also find that the probability of voting varies across ethnic groups and significantly increases with education levels, interest in politics, satisfaction with democracy and satisfaction with government but decreases with insecurity during elections. Moreover, we show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between age and the probability of voting. This probability is higher for men than women and for workers and retirees compared to unemployed, but it is low for students. Concerning the vote choice, we find that relative to the "program and party" criterion, the probability of choosing the candidate on the basis of his individual characteristics decreases with age, insecurity, satisfaction with democracy while it increases with satisfaction with government and with secondary, university or Koran education level.展开更多
文摘In March 2017, Narendra Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) to victory in state elections, among which he gained parliamentary election of Uttar Pradesh(state in northern India), known as the weather vane of Indian elections. Back in 2014, the BJP had already won a simple majority in Lok Sabha(the lower house of parliament), bringing an end to more than 30 years of coalition government. Now, the BJP is exhibiting stronger presence as a one-party-rule at both federal and local levels, with no counter-balance from the Indian National Congress, local parties, or left wing parties now or in the foreseeable future. This increases the likelihood of Modi's re-election as prime minister in 2019. Obviously,Indian political development is characterized by complexity, accidental factors and intrinsic logic, which will definitely exert great influence on the future of India.
文摘As a new field in the Discourse Analysis, Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) is increasingly arousing more attention of linguistic scholars at home and abroad. However, in the field of the concession addresses, the studies on this kind of political text are limited. The winners of presidential election always draw much attention from the world and their speeches, for example, presidential inaugural address has been a hot study topic of linguistics. Nevertheless, the losers of presidential election are always neglected by the world and the study on concession address is scarce and rare. Therefore, the meaning of study on the concession speech helps fill the gap of the discourse analysis. This thesis applies the PDA under the framework of appraisal theory to analyze five concession speeches with a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study aims to complement CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) to emphasize positive social construction of political discourse.
文摘This paper assesses electoral participation and studies the determinants of such participation, focusing on presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire. We use a dataset on elections in Africa and a survey financed by the European Commission and conducted by the Ivorian Center of Social and Economic Research (CIRES) in 2005. We find a decline in voter turnout since 1990 for both presidential and parliamentary elections. We also find that the probability of voting varies across ethnic groups and significantly increases with education levels, interest in politics, satisfaction with democracy and satisfaction with government but decreases with insecurity during elections. Moreover, we show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between age and the probability of voting. This probability is higher for men than women and for workers and retirees compared to unemployed, but it is low for students. Concerning the vote choice, we find that relative to the "program and party" criterion, the probability of choosing the candidate on the basis of his individual characteristics decreases with age, insecurity, satisfaction with democracy while it increases with satisfaction with government and with secondary, university or Koran education level.