The main idea behind this thesis is to explore how exactly legitimacy has influenced Chile’s instability, and how this lack of legitimacy has led to protests and crises. The central question to...Show moreThe main idea behind this thesis is to explore how exactly legitimacy has influenced Chile’s instability, and how this lack of legitimacy has led to protests and crises. The central question to this thesis is as follows: “What is the role of legitimacy in the social uprising in Chile in October 2019?”. The question is answered by analyzing relevant topics such as legitimacy, governability, the transformation of a military dictatorship to democracy, challenges of a democracy, the concertación and social movements. Resulting in the following conclusion: legitimacy played a big role in the social uprising in Chile. As was found for this thesis, Chile has faced many problems with neoliberalism, social movements, as well as with legitimacy. Legitimacy, therefore, is only one of the many factors leading up to the crisis in Chile. Chile will continue to draft a new constitution that will hopefully unite Chile once again.Show less
After Al Smith became the Democratic standard-bearer at the Democratic National Convention of 1928, Raskob was entrusted with the important position of chair of the Democratic National Committee ...Show moreAfter Al Smith became the Democratic standard-bearer at the Democratic National Convention of 1928, Raskob was entrusted with the important position of chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Having a Catholic presidential nominee was unprecedented in the white, Protestant politics of the 1920s United States, and Smith doubled down on this by granting the Catholic capitalist Raskob an influential position in the Democratic Party. This led to a storm of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant bigotry that began raging in the Southern and Western states, once Democratic strongholds. But their Catholicism was not the only unprecedented aspect of this political team, as Smith and Raskob were both also adamantly opposed to Prohibition. Raskob even was a board member of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) in 1928 and played a crucial role in affecting Smith’s views on this issue, as this thesis argues and proves. Smith and Raskob shared the belief that it was anti-Catholic bigotry and opposition to immigrant communities that had been heavily influential in creating the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the one that banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors within the country. Their ideas proved to be correct. In fact, when the Eighteenth Amendment was enforced through the famous Volstead Act of 1920, Catholic, immigrant, African-American, and lower-class communities in urban areas were disproportionately targeted. These ethnic and religious aspects of American Prohibition helped shape and cement the alliance of Smith and Raskob and impacted both Republican and Democratic voting blocs greatly when Smith ran for president in 1928.Show less
France is known for the continuous adaption of its Constitution and has lived through five successive Republics. The current Fifth Republic exists since its creation in 1958 by Charles de Gaulle....Show moreFrance is known for the continuous adaption of its Constitution and has lived through five successive Republics. The current Fifth Republic exists since its creation in 1958 by Charles de Gaulle. However, it has been severely criticized for amongst other things: the personalization and extensive powers of the President; the unclear division of the executive; and the limited powers and unrepresentativeness of the parliament. During the 2017 presidential elections in France, centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon both extensively used these structural deficiencies in their campaigns, and promised a democratic revolution through far-going constitutional and institutional reforms. This research aims to assess whether these criticisms undermined citizens’ support for the political system, and consequently affected the democratic legitimacy of the Fifth Republic. The theoretical framework of system support as established by Pippa Norris and David Easton provides the conceptual framework, and helps to distinguish between diffuse and specific system support and its differing implications for state legitimacy. A political discourse analysis is performed on six speeches of Macron and Mélenchon in order to identify how they framed their propositions. Moreover, the effects of these speeches is determined through an analysis of the media coverage, as to interpret the potential implications for state legitimacy.Show less
This thesis attempts to point out that whenever Shinzo Abe’s vision for Japan is discussed, he seems driven by emotions and new, grander agendas. While he has the Japanese interest at heart, his...Show moreThis thesis attempts to point out that whenever Shinzo Abe’s vision for Japan is discussed, he seems driven by emotions and new, grander agendas. While he has the Japanese interest at heart, his approaches to matters often make it seem as though the state’s best interest is not necessarily something on Abe’s political agenda. This thesis attempts to contextualize Shinzo Abe’s current political strategies in order to find out whether he holds ulterior motives, and questions whether his current course a matter of pride and nationalism or whether there is actually an unseen strategy involved by providing marked examples of the prime minister's past actions in the face of controversies, the constitution, and current political affairs.Show less
The Japanese government has enacted a series of new laws and correlating policies, molded in galvanizing rhetoric of 'adhering to the rule of law in an international context' and a 'pro-active...Show moreThe Japanese government has enacted a series of new laws and correlating policies, molded in galvanizing rhetoric of 'adhering to the rule of law in an international context' and a 'pro-active contribution to peace', justifying the gradual change of its passive stance on cyber-security into a more aggressive one. Yet, in the cyber-realm, the rule of law in an international context is not a static all-encompassing concept; it is filled with normative voids, and constantly in flux, similar to the ever-evolving interpretations behind the rationale of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, and the extent to which this allegedly legitimizes shifts in the underpinning security landscape. This thesis provides an insight into the actions conducted by the Japanese government, the significance of their rhetoric, and reveals underlying patterns in the construction of their narratives, by analyzing how political discourse shapes the security landscape, how this affects the (de-)evolution of law, and vice versa. It demonstrates that opposing views on the lethality of cyber-operations contribute to the splintering of international law, hereby creating leeway for the Abe-administration to utilize these lacunae as a rhetorical tool to shift the paradigm of Japan's domestic law. As I argue here, however, there is little rationale that stems from international legal concepts to justify connecting cyber-security to Abe’s vision for general security reform.Show less
This thesis will examine Abe’s push to constitutional reinterpretation and how the political left reacted to his argument by focusing on the following question: did the Japanese left-wing political...Show moreThis thesis will examine Abe’s push to constitutional reinterpretation and how the political left reacted to his argument by focusing on the following question: did the Japanese left-wing political actors reconsider their view on Article 9 and Japan’s current defense attitude? If the extreme political left of Japan has altered their stance on Abe and his push for reinterpretation, it means that the whole debate on Japanese defense policy is changing altogether. Therefore, Shinzō Abe might have had an impact on how Article 9 and Japan’s defense posture are perceived by the political left-wing. This will be analyzed through the model of securitization, as defined by the Copenhagen School of Security Studies. By applying this framework, this thesis will show how Abe attempts to securitize the issue of Japan’s national identity through addressing Japan’s defense capabilities and how the left-wing responds by counter-securitizing the issue of pacifism within national identity. The second goal of the thesis is to present the validity of the Copenhagen School’s framework by showing its applicability to the case of Japan’s constitutional reinterpretation. First, we shall analyze the literature on both Shinzō Abe’s reinterpretation attempt and the securitization model. Secondly, we will examine the nature of Abe’s push to constitutional reinterpretation by analyzing a book he wrote before he became prime minister and a book he wrote while he was prime minister. In this way, we can establish whether his stance has changed on reinterpreting the constitution. Then we will explore if and how Abe’s attempt for reinterpretation has reshaped the views of the political left in Japan. The effect of Abe’s push to reinterpret the constitution on popular opinion will be exposed by analyzing the phenomenon of counter-securitization by Japanese left-wing activists. We will look at in what manner the attempt has affected the left-wing in their rhetoric by examining scholarly articles on the subject. If this is the case, we might conclude that the Japanese extreme left is currently in the middle of a shift towards middle left.Show less
