Since the turn of the 20th century, the United States has consistently seen lower voter turnout compared to other developed democracies. Initially, during the 1920s, this was viewed as a serious...Show moreSince the turn of the 20th century, the United States has consistently seen lower voter turnout compared to other developed democracies. Initially, during the 1920s, this was viewed as a serious social problem and produced widespread panic. By the 1990s, however, comparable rates of non-voting generated a more muted and even accepting response. This thesis thus argues that non-voting underwent a process of socio-cultural normalization during the 20th century. This process is historicized by tracing four distinct shifts in attitudes toward non-voting which ended up normalizing this American peculiarity.Show less
The aim of the current thesis is to map how the issue of democracy has developed on the agenda of the European Council. There seems to be an issue of democracy in the European Union, which lies...Show moreThe aim of the current thesis is to map how the issue of democracy has developed on the agenda of the European Council. There seems to be an issue of democracy in the European Union, which lies within the fact that it is difficult for voters to hold their representatives within the European Council accountable. However, the problem is unsolved as of yet, whilst dissatisfaction with the EU citizens grows. Using the Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium (PET), a dataset regarding the Council Conclusion based on the Comparative Agenda’s Project (CAP) is analysed. Results indicate the development of the issue of democracy on the agenda of the EU from the years 1975 through 2014 has been a development in line with PET, confirming the expectation. Comparative research with other EU institutions or other institutions outside of the EU, as well as research regarding if the issue of democracy is considered to be an issue by the European Council is recommended.Show less
This year marks the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen protests and their violent crackdown in 1989. Since then, many of the Tiananmen activists succeeded in leaving their home country and settling...Show moreThis year marks the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen protests and their violent crackdown in 1989. Since then, many of the Tiananmen activists succeeded in leaving their home country and settling in the U.S., choosing the country known as one of the most prominent advocators for democracy (Béja 2003:440). In the U.S., individual activists as well as organized groups have lobbied for their interest of democratizing China, forming a movement that is called Overseas Chinese Democracy Movement (OCDM). The OCDM organizations have played a major role in influencing bilateral relations between the U.S. and China (Chen 2014a:1). However, observers around the world have witnessed in recent years that governments have increasingly opposed democracy and rights organizations, constraining organizations’ activities by erecting legal barriers (Wolff & Poppe 2015:i). This phenomenon is called the “Closing Space phenomenon” (ibid.) and describes the growing resistance against democracy and human rights promotion. Closing Space has been mostly studied in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries, yet scholars have noted a similar trend in some democratic countries, including the U.S. (Celermajer & Avnon 2019:674). Thus, the question is whether the U.S. government still supports groups promoting democracy in China, or whether it has also started to oppose democracy and rights organizations such as those of the OCDM. Currently, there is a major research gap on a potential Closing Space in the U.S. This means that a potential increasingly hostile political and civil climate is not addressed nor understood by academia. This lack of knowledge can contribute to a fundamental erosion of civil society organizations which provide essential democracy and rights advocacy both within and outside the U.S. With regards to OCDM organizations1, increasing barriers to their work can lead to very tangible deteriorations of human rights in China. By investigating the Closing Space phenomenon in the U.S., we can better understand which challenges U.S. based human rights organizations face. With regards to the current power struggles between the central Chinese government and democracy activists in Hong Kong, as well as continuing human rights violations against Uighur minorities in Xinjiang, the question of democracy and human rights in China is more relevant than ever. Hence, OCDM organizations’ relentless fight for democracy and human rights in China is of utmost significance. By raising this research problem, the thesis aims to target two underserved bodies of literature: first, the Closing Space phenomenon in democracies such as the U.S. (Chaudhry & Heiss 2018), and second, theoretical research on the OCDM and its members (Chen 2018:110). Scholarly literature on civil society organizations reflects three major perspectives, namely Social Movement Theory, Political Opportunity Structure, and the Closing Space phenomenon. These research fields provide valuable insight, especially in understanding social movements as “collective efforts to pursue [common] interests” (Flacks 2004:135), viewing political opportunity structures as ‘filters’ between movement mobilization and the choice of strategies and movement impact (Kitschelt 1986:59, Teräväinen 2010:197), as well as the Closing Space phenomenon that sees the recent assertive pushback against democracy and human rights advocacy as a defensive reaction of mostly authoritarian leaders that fear popular uprisings (Carothers 2016:358, 364). Despite providing key insights, these bodies of literature do not provide a satisfactory understanding of current challenges faced by democracy and rights organizations in the U.S. This master thesis will address this research gap and contribute to an improved understanding of OCDM organizations’ struggles specifically and research on Closing Space and POS more generally. The thesis argues that the Closing Space concept offers a valuable advancement of POS theory as it overcomes the structural determinism of POS and acknowledges organizations’ individual differences and subjective interpretations.Show less
The reassessment of Global South contribution to International Relations both in the past and present time, is a crucial challenge for academic research nowadays, constituting an issue that is...Show moreThe reassessment of Global South contribution to International Relations both in the past and present time, is a crucial challenge for academic research nowadays, constituting an issue that is worthy of interest and analysis for its implications on History and International Relations. This work aims to decentralize International Relations and make it less Eurocentric. To do so, the author reassessed the role of Latin American thinkers and diplomats in Human Rights theorization in the 1940s, to show that crucial theoretical developments were made outside the Global North. In detail, this thesis argues that the region has actively participated in the construction of the language of human rights instead of simply receiving ideas and concepts from the Global North. It focuses on the Larreta Doctrine, a doctrine developed in Uruguay that tackled multilateralism, sovereignty and the violation of human rights. Eduardo Rodriguez Larreta, then Uruguayan Foreign Minister, theorized this Doctrine in 1945, in response to the dualism between sovereignty and international Rights protection hardly felt in the Latin American Region. So, Larreta thought that the idea that non-intervention in states’ domestic affairs is conditional to the respect for citizens’ fundamental rights. Moreover, the Uruguayan Foreign Minister stated that a precommitment regime and collective intervention are not a violation of sovereignty.Show less
A review of the literature on the political landscape of post-revolutionary Egypt identifies a widening gap between the elite. Scholars highlight the dominance of the Egyptian military’s business...Show moreA review of the literature on the political landscape of post-revolutionary Egypt identifies a widening gap between the elite. Scholars highlight the dominance of the Egyptian military’s business empire, a combination of high-ranking government officials and big corporations that together forms the elite. In 2011, the people of Egypt successfully overthrew an authoritarian regime paving the way towards a democratic state and a relieve of economic injustice. To date, the people of Egypt still find themselves in positions defined by inequality of opportunity, why? Contributing to critical scholarship, this thesis builds upon various scholars to gain insights into the different mechanisms and social drivers that keep the elite in a position of dominance and identifies areas in which the public can acquire political power. Three spheres of power; politics, economics, and media, are explored to highlight the social relations that are often hidden in organizational structures. This research provides a new answer to the question why, and how, the elite maintains its dominant position in a state that desires democracy and civil liberty. The implementation of a combination of theories examines the class division and distribution of power to answer this thesis’ main research question: Through which means can the people of Egypt gain political, media and economic power to achieve democratic governance? The findings of this thesis provide a contextualized account of the division of power in Egypt and give attention to the mechanisms that shape the relationship between the elite and the people.Show less
Elections provide the primary mechanism through which representatives are authorized to act. This dissertation asks which conditions the authorization must satisfy in order to have legitimate,...Show moreElections provide the primary mechanism through which representatives are authorized to act. This dissertation asks which conditions the authorization must satisfy in order to have legitimate, properly authorized representatives. In particular, it asks which design of the electoral system – the set of rules concerned with the aggregation of votes – best satisfies minimum conditions for authorizing legitimate representatives. The answer to this question lies at the interface of normative democratic theory and electoral design. It is, furthermore, both a response to and an extension of The Concept of Constituency by Andrew Rehfeld. Rehfeld is the first author to show that electoral design defines and shapes the electoral constituency, that group of people who authorize a representative. The objective electoral constituency – i.e., the group of voters who are eligible to vote for a particular representative – should be distinguished from the subjective electoral constituency – i.e., the group of voters who voted for a particular representative. This dissertation responds to Rehfeld by arguing that the purpose of authorizing legitimate representatives requires electoral design to define objective constituencies not as randomly and permanently assigned groups but rather as a single nation-wide group. This dissertation extends Rehfeld’s work by analyzing how three key components of electoral design – the electoral formula (plurality/majority/proportional), the ballot structure (categorical/ordinal vote) and the district magnitude (number of seats per objective constituency/district) – shape the formation of subjective constituencies that are successful in electing a representative of their choice. The analysis shows that, rather than a U.S.-like system with single-seat plurality/majority districts, the Dutch system of proportional representation with a nation-wide objective constituency is the most justifiable for the purpose of authorizing legitimate representatives.Show less
During the election campaign of 2002, Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002) was accused on multiple occasions of being undemocratic. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what democracy fundamentally...Show moreDuring the election campaign of 2002, Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002) was accused on multiple occasions of being undemocratic. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what democracy fundamentally meant to Fortuyn, by looking at his conception of democracy in the period 1980- 2002. Democracy was a key concept in his thinking and his concern for democracy was a red line throughout his intellectual development. How this democracy was to be achieved varied greatly, however, across Fortuyn’s political career. We can roughly distinguish three different periods in his views on democracy: social-democratic (1980-1988), neoliberal (1988-1995), and fundamentalist (1995-2002). The many changes in his views on democracy can be explained by contextual factors: he followed dominant political ideologies, was influenced by persons in his direct environment, and his views were often a rationalization of his own changing private experiences. That is not to say that Fortuyn was merely a passive product of that environment. He was an opinion maker, and talented at placing issues on the agenda. He also liked to create unrest, as he formulated conceptions of democracy that were on many aspects significantly different from mainstream Dutch political culture. It is difficult to see in Fortuyn someone seeking to bring about a crisis of liberal democracy; instead, the alternatives he envisaged was a representative democracy all the same, and he had far too much respect for ‘the democratic senses’ of the Dutch people, democratic values, and the rule of law. Though on two (brief) periods in his life he may have transgressed the boundaries of liberal democracy, the various periods of his political career may be regarded as having been characterized by a restless concern to achieve democracy rather than to overturn it.Show less
Study of the democratic developments in Suriname for the period 1987-2015. The primary sources for this thesis are interviews conducted by the author himself. Important subjects within the thesis...Show moreStudy of the democratic developments in Suriname for the period 1987-2015. The primary sources for this thesis are interviews conducted by the author himself. Important subjects within the thesis are: 1. The relationship between politicians and civilians in Suriname. 2. The relationship and balance of power between several institutions (media, electoral system, judiciary and religious organisations). 3. How strong was the presence of political opposition and political alternatives.Show less
In a deliberative democracy, policy making is justified by the rational public deliberation of all those affected. To this end, the state provides procedural guarantees for continuous rational...Show moreIn a deliberative democracy, policy making is justified by the rational public deliberation of all those affected. To this end, the state provides procedural guarantees for continuous rational deliberation and collective opinion formation, aimed at reaching a collective decision. Apart from of these procedural features, a deliberative democracy also heavily relies on the personal rational abilities of its citizens. This requires certain common abilities, like certain standards of argumentation, the freedom of discussion and the possibility of rational deliberation. The structural inequality argument specifically focusses on this ‘difference blind’ approach to individuals’ abilities. This critique argues that deliberative democracy is unable to address underlying unequal societal structures. Consequently, the outcome of rational deliberation is no longer constructed by ‘all those affected’ but only by individuals who are able to make their voice heard in the public deliberation. This thesis focusses on this critique, examines possible solutions, and argues that structural inequality can never be completely eradicated in democratic deliberation. However, by realizing political equality as the equal opportunity for political effectiveness, the practice of democratic deliberation should not be regarded illegitimate.Show less
This thesis shall examine two conceptions of justice, proposed by Rawls and Young respectively, and the society that flows from said conceptions, in order to evaluate them and conclude that they...Show moreThis thesis shall examine two conceptions of justice, proposed by Rawls and Young respectively, and the society that flows from said conceptions, in order to evaluate them and conclude that they are not able to resolve and prevent injustices. These philosophers are the focus of this thesis as they both attempt to measure and resolve injustice, with Rawls focused on equality and distributive issues whilst Young takes an approach based on resolving oppression by respecting group differences. Existing debates in political philosophy can largely be separated into two categories. Arguably the biggest debates are to be found in the category in which Young’s and Rawls’s work can also be found, revolving around the question of what the best possible society would look like. These discussions, however, assume that there is a satisfying answer to debates that fall in the other category, which includes all discussions surrounding the question of whether states are or can be good at all. By evaluating the societies proposed by Rawls and Young this thesis is situated in the first category of discussion, though avoids the assumption that a state is good or justifiable. Instead, this thesis will attempt to bridge the gap between the discussions by noting the injustices caused by these proposed systems of government, opening the door for the inclusion of anarchist philosophy in discussions about the best possible way to order a society.Show less
An introduction to the main concepts of evolution and cultural evolution, followed by a normative argument that provides a naturalistic justification to the democratic system in an open society....Show moreAn introduction to the main concepts of evolution and cultural evolution, followed by a normative argument that provides a naturalistic justification to the democratic system in an open society. The main line of argument can be summarized as follows: democracy as a system has internalized the main dynamics of the evolutionary process (being variation and selection) but then transposed to the context of cultural evolution through memes (instead of genes). Politics can be understood as the arena in which memes compete for the attention of brains, and copy themselves in the process and in which they are subsequently selected against the memetic background. The democratic system provides a stable system in which this can happen, which is most conducive to the original function of ethics (which is the avoidance/resolution of altruism failures), which in turn provides a justification for its adoption from a naturalistic point of view.Show less
This study investigates the question how migration has shaped the broader relationship between the EU and Egypt between the 2011 Revolution and 2019. It found that migration has profoundly affected...Show moreThis study investigates the question how migration has shaped the broader relationship between the EU and Egypt between the 2011 Revolution and 2019. It found that migration has profoundly affected the bilateral relationship, particularly in the fields of democracy, human rights, development aid and economic cooperation. An analysis of policy documents and (public) statements by officials from the EU and Egypt shows how migration cooperation has made it difficult for the EU to uphold its image as a normative actor. Egypt's efforts to limit irregular migration to the EU are mainly driven by its economic dependency on the EU.Show less
In this thesis, I will defend the epistemic and moral value of democratic government, and oppose claims that there are legitimate grounds to replace democratic elections or restrict universal and...Show moreIn this thesis, I will defend the epistemic and moral value of democratic government, and oppose claims that there are legitimate grounds to replace democratic elections or restrict universal and equal suffrage to ensure the epistemic value of political decision-making. If one takes the principles normative authority and legitimacy into account, then any restriction on equal voting rights on the grounds of elitism will result neither in a rule of government that is intrinsically better nor a rule of government that is superior in producing better outcomes than a democratic system.Show less
The democratic legitimacy of political representation is not obvious. In the literature, however, it is often treated as such, mostly because the alternative of direct democracy is deemed...Show moreThe democratic legitimacy of political representation is not obvious. In the literature, however, it is often treated as such, mostly because the alternative of direct democracy is deemed unfeasible. In this thesis, I approach this issue based on the fundamental critique of representation as made by Rousseau, according to which democracy and representation are mutually exclusive, and representative democracy thus a contradiction in terms. I compare Rousseau’s position, supported by a more modern argument by Hanna Pitkin, to an attempt by modern authors in defending representation, which started with David Plotke. I support Plotke’s ideas with those put forward by Nadia Urbinati and Mark Warren, and also look at a more extreme position as argued by Frank Ankersmit. Comparing these positions to the critique by Rousseau and Pitkin, it becomes clear that defence of representation is lacking democratic justification that can withstand Rousseau’s fundamental critique. Finally, I discuss a potentially strong argument at providing such a justification, based on arguments by Laura Montanaro and Clarissa Hayward, which emphasizes the constructive role that representation plays in the shaping of people’s interests. Until the representative turn provides a substantial argument that people do not have politically relevant interests prior to representation, I argue, Rousseau’s critique remains intact, and we need to be more careful in ascribing democratic properties to representative systems.Show less
In this thesis has been explored how and why Thomas Mann's view on democracy changed in the years 1914-1933. During the outbreak of World War One Thomas Mann was an enthusiastic supporter of the...Show moreIn this thesis has been explored how and why Thomas Mann's view on democracy changed in the years 1914-1933. During the outbreak of World War One Thomas Mann was an enthusiastic supporter of the German monarchy and its war efforts. Later on, he developed himself as one of the most fervent defenders of the democratic Weimar Republic. In this research is argued that despite these developments, he did not radically transform ('Wandel') his views, as is often argued, but that there is much continuity ('Kontinuität') in his thinking.Show less
