This study examines the impact of African Youth Activists (AYAs) at last year's Conference of the Parties (COP27). Despite being disproportionately affected by climate change, marginalized groups,...Show moreThis study examines the impact of African Youth Activists (AYAs) at last year's Conference of the Parties (COP27). Despite being disproportionately affected by climate change, marginalized groups, such as AYAs, often face challenges in having their voices adequately heard due to underlying structures that favor countries and non-governmental organizations from the Global North. The Political Opportunity Structure can be used to examine whether AYAs have opportunities to make a difference in a system. This involves evaluating whether there are entry points for new actors to enter the political process and whether the existing mechanisms within the system effectively accommodate and integrate new perspectives. To explore this, the study conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with AYAs to investigate how the existing power relations at COP impact their participation. The perception of AYAs on power relations and their opportunities for intervention provide insights into their reality and how they navigate the structural aspects of the political process. The findings of this research can be used to find places to intervene in the UNFCCC- system and improve activists' work at COPs in the future.Show less
Like other nineteenth-century reform movements in Great Britain and the United States, the vegetarian movement sought to bring about lasting change. It intertwined with other movements as disparate...Show moreLike other nineteenth-century reform movements in Great Britain and the United States, the vegetarian movement sought to bring about lasting change. It intertwined with other movements as disparate as abolitionism on the one hand and eugenics on the other. However, the change it sought was not merely institutional or social. The type of reform vegetarians advocated was at its heart something that progressed on an intimate, individual level. Changing the food one ate meant changing one’s relationship to history, tradition, culture, religion—one’s daily routines, carried out with family, in the intimacy of domestic spaces. But it also involved changes to one’s habits as a consumer, whether that meant sourcing (or creating!) new foods, growing one’s own, or even foraging in the forest for edibles. And since the foods we eat are the building blocks of our embodied selves, vegetarianism represented a fundamental change to the very substance of the human body. Because it intruded deeply into the personal realm, involving the universal daily act of eating, the discourse on eating vegetables was larger than the vegetarian movement itself, touching not only other reform movements, but facets of culture connected to class, gastronomy, colonial ties, gender and religion, to name but a few. A strange feature of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century vegetarianism—given its name—was that in many ways it was more about not eating meat than it was about eating vegetables. It is perhaps for this reason that although vegetarians had plenty to say about the virtues of vegetables, studies of vegetarianism tend to lack nuance when they situate these arguments beside what others were saying about eating vegetables, focusing largely on reactionary statements and missing other strands of discourse around vegetable eating within the mainstream. Therefore, my research takes this wider view, examining British and American vegetarian, vegetable and other cookbooks to situate the vegetarian imperative towards plant-based eating in the context of contemporary attitudes towards vegetables themselves, whether connected to vegetarianism or not.Show less
Inspired by social movements emerging across the globe such as the Occupy Movement in the United States, this master thesis investigates the influence they have on youth political socialization....Show moreInspired by social movements emerging across the globe such as the Occupy Movement in the United States, this master thesis investigates the influence they have on youth political socialization. Keeping in mind the context of western democracies and the privileged easy access to digital media and social networks, this dissertation investigates the effects of the different aspects of new social movements on youth and to what extend this can influence their participation in the political life. The literature review will go over the following topics composing the theoretical framework of this work: the civil society and public participation in western democracies on a broad level, social movement theory, the role of new social media and digital platforms in politics, and finally an overview of the literature on youth’s political participation. In order to investigate the incentives pushing younger demographics to engage in social movements such as the ones previously listed, this thesis will ask the following research question: how technology-enabled youth engage in new social movements? In attempt to answer this question, I argue that (1) new social movements are mainly structured and organized through digital platforms, using social networks to mobilize more people, and (2) young citizens in western democracies use the internet and digital platforms as an information tool and feel disconnected from the traditional political actors. This thesis will be simply structures: the first chapter will consist of an introduction of the issue addressed here. The second chapter will encompass the literature review, going over the existing literature on the framework mentioned before and the limitations it presents. The third chapter will analyse the effects of civic engagement on youth and will be followed by a case study on Occupy Wall Street, examining the role of youth and technology in that movement. The last chapter will consist of the conclusion.Show less
This thesis investigates the relation between political disaffection and the rise of non-institutionalized political participation among the Mexican youth in the case of the #YoSoy132 movement....Show moreThis thesis investigates the relation between political disaffection and the rise of non-institutionalized political participation among the Mexican youth in the case of the #YoSoy132 movement. Theory on political disaffection, social capital and political participation together with the modern political history of Mexico and the #YoSoy132 movement are extensively analysed in order to examine the following hypothesis: in the case of the #YoSoy132 movement, political disaffection resulted in an increasing desire among the youth to participate in politics in order to oppose the Mexican regime. Since these youngsters badly distrust political parties and institutions, they are seeking unconventional ways to engage in politics. By producing new forms of social capital, the movement was able to grow and exert influence and power on politics while staying on the side lines to not become part of the “bad” practices of the Mexican government.Show less
Since December 2012, with the political comeback of Prime Minister Abe Shinzō, Japan has been shifting its domestic policy in a more conservative direction, while at the same time opting for an...Show moreSince December 2012, with the political comeback of Prime Minister Abe Shinzō, Japan has been shifting its domestic policy in a more conservative direction, while at the same time opting for an assertive foreign policy involving a more resolute and proactive defense stance. Notwithstanding the political victories reported by the Abe government on both fronts, internal opposition to the new bills has been strong and widespread, involving not only the opposition parties, but also the LDP’s coalition partner Kōmeitō and public opinion. A wide range of protests and political activities have been held in Tokyo and in other major cities throughout the country against the government’s policies; among them, those organized by the group known as SEALDs have generated the greatest interest in the media and in the public. Because SEALDs’ relevance in the wider context of civil society in Japan has not been fully investigated yet, this thesis seeks to analyze SEALDs from a comparative perspective, with a view to clarifying the social and cultural roots of the group, and its originality in the context of contemporary Japanese social movements. Such a study would shed light on the political implications of the activities of SEALDs and on their potentiality to affect policymaking and public participation in civil society in contemporary Japan.Show less
In the last few years, the question of land expropriations has become a major source of discontent in Taiwan. Even if these kinds of policy have had a long history, it is particularly in the last...Show moreIn the last few years, the question of land expropriations has become a major source of discontent in Taiwan. Even if these kinds of policy have had a long history, it is particularly in the last decade that they have triggered rural unrest, causing a dramatic increase in rallies and protests against seizures and inadequate compensations. As a result, land grabs are perceived as one of the biggest threats to the stability of the entire system. This thesis analyses the case of the rural social movement in Dapu Village in Taiwan’s Miaoli County, well known for the high number of people involved and the court victory against the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and the Miaoli County Government. In doing so, it argues that in order to evaluate the outcomes of a social movement it is also necessary to take into account other factors such as the nature of the issue, the perceived opportunities and threats, and the interactions between the movement’s actors and the authorities. As such, this thesis begins by exploring the reasons for land conflict, describing how neoliberalism impacted on Taiwanese land governance to create two different but simultaneous forces driving the process: the central government’s need (and right for public interest) to expropriate land in order to create developmental zones, and underfunded local governments’ power in the reallocation of lands, ultimately leading to cases of corruption and misallocation of resources. Following this, through the application of political opportunity structure and resource mobilization theories, this thesis will answer the main question: how did the social movement and the authorities mobilize their resources during the conflict over land grabs in Dapu? In doing so, a more nuanced view of the conflict’s outcomes will be gained as well as a deeper insight into the overall successes and failures of the movement.Show less
This thesis analyzes the development of social movements in China since the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's reforms. A comparison of the democracy movements of the 1980s and the labour movements of...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the development of social movements in China since the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's reforms. A comparison of the democracy movements of the 1980s and the labour movements of the 2000s is the central focus of the paper with special attention given to the role of the media, and social networking, in the development of these movements. It is argued that both movements share the strikingly similar grievances and methods of organization, and that the media, despite its continuing liberalization, continues to play only a marginal role.Show less
