In the wake of massive protests in 2019, Chile embarked upon a massive project to rewrite the constitution. This process was started by a plebiscite in which the citizens voted on whether or not...Show moreIn the wake of massive protests in 2019, Chile embarked upon a massive project to rewrite the constitution. This process was started by a plebiscite in which the citizens voted on whether or not they wanted a new constitution, and who would be writing it. In 2022 another plebiscite sealed the fate of the resulting proposal. Direct democracy also ushered in the return of democracy and the end of 18 years of dictatorship. It is also often presented as a solution to declining rates of participation in elections. This thesis will make a start into exploring the relationship between participation and direct democracy. By contrasting interviews with several experts to the existing literature it provides a tentative overview. The findings point towards direct democracy not having a strong influence by itself on political participation. There are however several positive signs with regards to participation.Show less
In corporate consociationalism, power-sharers are pre-determined, which in some cases ended up in differentiation of citizens into constituent groups and Others. In Bosnia and Herzegovina,...Show moreIn corporate consociationalism, power-sharers are pre-determined, which in some cases ended up in differentiation of citizens into constituent groups and Others. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, individuals who don't affiliate as Bosniak, Serb or Croat, are therefore categorized as Others. Given that the right to stand for presidential elections or a seat in the House of Peoples is reserved for constituent peoples, Others are excluded from that right. The following thesis analyzes why this exclusion remains despite international efforts to reform the Bosnian Constitution until this day. Investigating the case from 2005, the beginning of the first reform negotiations, to 2018, when the last general elections took place under discriminatory conditions. Proposing a causal mechanism of four steps, I argue that the issue lies in the general approach of corporate consociationalism, in which cooperation is unlikely due to the institutionalization of often hostile ethnic groups. Finally, in this thesis, it becomes clear that the link to this issue is the abuse of the veto-right in Bosnia, making cooperation and negotiation on complex political problems nearly impossibleShow 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
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
This academic work deeply analyses the hybridity between online and offline political participation in Western Europe. This is made through the application of new critical theory and the latest...Show moreThis academic work deeply analyses the hybridity between online and offline political participation in Western Europe. This is made through the application of new critical theory and the latest political and philosophical works of Chantal Mouffe and Zygmunt Bauman. The aim of this work is to portray its case study of #EndTamponTax as the exemplification of new waves and forms of political hybridity affecting the Western European polities.Show less
The idea, mechanism, process and the outcome of petition in rural China is an interesting subject to research, which brings out some fascinating aspects of peasant’s grievances redressal in the...Show moreThe idea, mechanism, process and the outcome of petition in rural China is an interesting subject to research, which brings out some fascinating aspects of peasant’s grievances redressal in the contemporary state-society relationship in the Chinese countryside. This research, while interrogating various theoretical strands on peasants’ participation and protest, and undertaking fieldwork in the Shanxi province attempts to understand and explain why and how the peasants act in a particular way in the context of specific situations, and how does the state negotiate and respond to their grievances in an effective ways thereby preventing the emergence of discontent towards the system and reinforcing its own credibility and legitimacy.Show less
The main goal of this thesis is is to look for an answer to the question ”what motivates citizens to engage in politics using Facebook”. The thesis will discuss which benefits citizens are getting...Show moreThe main goal of this thesis is is to look for an answer to the question ”what motivates citizens to engage in politics using Facebook”. The thesis will discuss which benefits citizens are getting when they opt to political participation over social network sites, specifically Facebook. In order to answer this question so a survey was conducted, which examined the relationship between political participation on Facebook and three topics factors. The first was resources for political participation that citizens use or need to sacrifice if they want to engage with politics. The second was the sense of internal and external political efficacy, with which citizen estimate their ability to understand and discuss politics, along with the openesss of the political system for new idea. The third and last one was, self presentation of political impressions, how individuals presesnt their political identity to their peers. The survey found that Facebook does not overwhelmingly reduce costs of participation, and that citizens who engage in politics on Facebook would not necessarily assume that their activities would bring change in policy. However, citizens who do carry on political participation on Facebook may expect a high sense of internal political efficacy and would use Facebook not so much for changing government policy, but as a mobilizing tool, and as a stage for one’s display of an idealized political impression.Show less
