This study investigates the dual developments of Rwanda’s political and economic evolutions over the last 24 years, under Kagame’s presidency. A closer look is taken at the conditions and processes...Show moreThis study investigates the dual developments of Rwanda’s political and economic evolutions over the last 24 years, under Kagame’s presidency. A closer look is taken at the conditions and processes which have led to the current state of high economic growth, while lacking democratic rights and freedoms. Expanding upon the work of previous scholars, theories on both democracies and economics are used to answer the posed research question by means of theory-testing process testing. The latter include Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). The result of this research expands upon the body of research, focused on the current, rapidly progressing developments in Africa which has gained more international attention due to its recent rapid economic developments.Show less
This essay advances the discussion on immigrant integration by considering its three primary forms : civic, social and cultural, as previously conceived of by David Miller. Each form of integration...Show moreThis essay advances the discussion on immigrant integration by considering its three primary forms : civic, social and cultural, as previously conceived of by David Miller. Each form of integration is defined, as to clarify deliberation on immigrant integration. In order to render general deliberation more profitable, as well as the assessment of government policies on integration, this paper presents an urgent case for the creation of an index which may measure the past, current, and future situations of immigrant integration. All existing indices on integration measure government policies on integration, rather than the actual situation of integration. An estimate of the current situation of immigrant integration and subsequent manner by which to measure the occurrence is undertaken. An analysis of Maghrebian immigrant social integration in France will be utilized as a case study on immigrant integration in western democracies. A defense for the importance of civic and social integration is advanced. The conceptions of integration and prescriptive views that will be made are built upon the adherence to a republican model of democracy, a foundational element of western democracies.Show less
This paper contributes to the growing body of research on opposition fragmentation by asking whether the opposition’s format influences its publicly perceived performance and electoral success, as...Show moreThis paper contributes to the growing body of research on opposition fragmentation by asking whether the opposition’s format influences its publicly perceived performance and electoral success, as well as people’s satisfaction with democracy. Using regression analyses, I show that both the polarisation and the fragmentation of the opposition are associated with a decline in people’s attitudes toward them. Furthermore, an increase in opposition polarisation is associated with a decline in citizens’ satisfaction with democracy, while the fragmentation of the opposition shows the opposite effect. Lastly, the opposition’s polarisation and fragmentation show no significant effect on the governing parties’ vote share. Overall, the results of this paper suggest that investigating the format of the opposition gives insides not only into the public perception of opposition parties but also into citizens’ satisfaction with democracy.Show less
This thesis examines the role of war metaphors in the political discourse of extreme right political figures: Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy and how they shape the extreme right ideology of the...Show moreThis thesis examines the role of war metaphors in the political discourse of extreme right political figures: Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy and how they shape the extreme right ideology of the Make America Great Again Movement (MAGA). War metaphors are rhetorical devices used in everyday language to communicate abstract ideas using more broadly understood domains like war and promote societal salience. The analysis of militarism in society and politics is foundational to the Critical Military Studies discipline, however, there has been little engagement with the study of war metaphors and their influence on polarisation in democracies, which this thesis aims to address. The thesis performs a Critical Metaphor Analysis, which integrates the disciplines of Conceptual Metaphor Theory with Critical Discourse Analysis. The analysis of discourse considers a 3-month collection of tweets since 1 January 2024 to examine war metaphors in informal political discourse in the months nearing United States presidential elections. The analysis finds the employment of war metaphors to primarily manifest in three ways: language of attack, language of defence, and adoption of militarism and patriotism. These forms of war metaphors depart from the traditional use of war metaphors to motivate the acceptance of violence and promote a climate of affective polarisation. The prominence of war metaphors in MAGA discourse is observed to promote the acceptance of authoritarian politics and mobilise violent action, which all serves to erode democracy in an established liberal democracy like the United States.Show less
In this thesis the role of the concept of oligarchy is explored in relation to Brexit. News media articles are analysed to understand how the fear of oligarchic take-over for democracy was utilised...Show moreIn this thesis the role of the concept of oligarchy is explored in relation to Brexit. News media articles are analysed to understand how the fear of oligarchic take-over for democracy was utilised within the news before, during and after the Brexit vote in the UK. It is concluded that a strong discourse of oligarchic takeover of UK democracy was pervasive and drawn up by all sides of the Brexit debate and by all news outlets, regardless of their political allegiances. Notwithstanding some changes over the period between 2015-2023, a key finding is that the discourse of elites, and of oligarchic takeover of the UK, was in no way quelled by the Brexit referendum outcome.Show less
Education is one of the most important determinants of an individual livelihood. Not only does education contribute to the development of a nation, but it also fosters democracy through the...Show moreEducation is one of the most important determinants of an individual livelihood. Not only does education contribute to the development of a nation, but it also fosters democracy through the teachings of democratic values in schools and exposure to the benefits of civic engagement. Furthermore, the education system of a country is reflective of its ideology and can serve as a tool for the government to shape the view of its citizens. Literature on the relationship between democracy on education is vast, but most are based on quantitative measures. Thus, this research conducts a qualitative study in analysing the effect of the level of democracy on the inclusion of democratic values in the fundamental education law of each country. Employing a diverse case selection, qualitative content analysis method, and a deductive coding frame, this thesis finds that the effect of democracy on democratic values in education law has varying effects. A clear division based on the level of democracy is visible for democratic goals in the education law, but is less visible regarding participation, freedom, and equality. The findings of this thesis contribute to narrowing the literature gap and allow further understanding of the impact of democracy on daily life and human development.Show less
The thesis discusses the importance of political institutions in a democratic country and the challenges of fulfilling the criteria for a sound democratic process. Focused on the notion of...Show moreThe thesis discusses the importance of political institutions in a democratic country and the challenges of fulfilling the criteria for a sound democratic process. Focused on the notion of enlightened understanding, it emphasizes the need for democratic institutions to support the development of all democratic citizens while acknowledging intellectual differences among citizens. This thesis identifies an erosion of institutions responsible for the task of bringing about enlightened understanding. From here, this thesis delves into the recent emergence of Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) as a tool to assist voters in decision-making and discusses its potential and the potential of incorporating conversational agents within VAAs to enhance citizens' enlightened understanding. Moreover, this thesis argues for the integration of (CA)VAAs as an essential part of the institutional structure of modern democracies, given the ongoing corroding of traditional institutions. The thesis explores the concept of democracy, address potential issues, examine various institutional approaches, analyze technological advancements, and assess the implementation of (CA)VAAs.Show less
Malaria forms a severe health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. Various attempts have been made to combat the disease, but none have succeeded. To understand why this is the case, it is essential to...Show moreMalaria forms a severe health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. Various attempts have been made to combat the disease, but none have succeeded. To understand why this is the case, it is essential to research what political factors can contribute to eradicating malaria. Previous research has claimed that democracy has a positive influence on health outcomes. Nevertheless, very little is known about the causality between democracy and its influence on malaria. This thesis aims to close this gap by answering the following research question: Are democracies better at handling malaria than non-democracies? Several linear regressions are done to test different democratic mechanisms, following the electoral accountability-, public goods- and political trust theory. The overall research findings show a positive but small and insignificant effect on the influence of democracy on malaria. Thus, this thesis does not provide evidence that suggests that democracies are better at handling malaria compared to non-democracies.Show less
This thesis addresses these problems regarding collective decision-making in democracy, analyses the solution epistocracy provides, and argues that the solution proposed by epistocracy is not...Show moreThis thesis addresses these problems regarding collective decision-making in democracy, analyses the solution epistocracy provides, and argues that the solution proposed by epistocracy is not enough to create competent political individuals. Furthermore, I provide one possible solution for overcoming these problems with a political system based on multiple essential political virtues – a virtuecracy. This project consists of research on how and which political virtues can create and support a conception of a political citizen and voter that is competent enough to fill in the ‘virtue’ gap that Jason Brennan’s epistocracy creates.Show less
This paper explores the European Union's discourse in response to the #MeToo movement. To this aim, a qualitative exploratory study with a critical discourse analysis was conducted after in-depth...Show moreThis paper explores the European Union's discourse in response to the #MeToo movement. To this aim, a qualitative exploratory study with a critical discourse analysis was conducted after in-depth reading and manual coding of European Union preparatory legislative documents explicitly mentioning the movement. In addition, a sample of these documents was compared to similar papers before the movement to investigate whether it has influenced the formal discourse of the Union on gender-based violence and women rights. According to the results, the #MeToo movement has been used to go further and quicker on previous initiative already ongoing to fight against gender-based violence such as the Member States ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Even though prevention is at the heart of the European Union discourse in every document, it seems that after the #MeToo movement, there is a partial shift from exclusive prevention to more condemnation. However, the word perpetrator is almost absent compared to victim in all the documents analysed, even more in the ones mentioning the movement. Thus, we know what the European Union is urgently condemning but we do not know who. Moreover, progressive feminist discourses such as the rejection of patriarchal social order seem to have overtaken the arena of the European Parliament. Still, most of the perspective taken in the discourses and initiatives listed are symptomatologic treatment of the problem. Finally, the European Commission's texts differ from those of the European Parliament because of a significant economic cost-benefit approach to gender equality. This perspective could be described as a neoliberal discourse using feminist values of egalitarianism and empowerment for non-feminist purposes. This raises the question of gender equality for whom and especially for what?Show less
On what basis can we justify including or exclude our political future from formally participating in elections? This thesis ponders on what argumentative basis an update for German democracy is...Show moreOn what basis can we justify including or exclude our political future from formally participating in elections? This thesis ponders on what argumentative basis an update for German democracy is necessary and justified. More specifically, whether the legal voting age can be reduced from 18 to 16 in Germany. For this, a qualitative methodology was employed, by conducting multiple semistructured interviews with 16 and 17-year-olds. Alongside the literature review, this methodology helped understand the conceptualisations and operationalisations of existing arguments for and against awarding the right to vote to 16-year-olds and onwards. This thesis finds that the central arguments, namely the Normative, Political Understanding, and Maturity arguments are conceptualised and operationalised significantly differently in the existing literature and by the interview participants. Overall, however, a broad consensus on the limited quality of political education in German high schools has been identified and subsequently rendered 16 and 17-year-olds insufficiently prepared for political participation. Finally, this thesis concludes that the inclusion of potential beneficiaries in the assessment and decision of reducing the legal voting age to 16 is an imperative prerequisite to effectively and efficaciously updating our democracies. Likewise, the inclusion of 16 and 17-year-olds in this thesis has provided us with the insight and incentive to improve our political education and to improve our democracies as a whole.Show less
