"The OAU was a state-centric system. It is only in the last years of its existence and in the transition from the OAU to the AU that discussions on modalities for facilitating civil society participation in its activiites commenced. The AU Act emphasises the need to build partnerships between governments and all sectors of civil society. Enhancing civil society participation is one of the AU's objectives and principles. To achieve this objective, the AU Act created the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) as an AU organ. ... Following this introductory chapter, the second chapter will analyse ECOSOCC's legal framework and structure in relation to its facilitation of civil society participation in the AU. ECOSOCC's legal framework's conceptualisation of civil society and the concerns it raises will be discussed. Linked to the conceptualisation of civil society is the role ECOSOCC will play within the AU institutional structure, therefore this will also be discussed. In addition, ECOSOCC's legal framework will be analysed to identify whether it is in line with associative or deliberative democarcy. An examination of how ECOSOCC can utilise its linkages with the other AU organs to channel civil society's views will also be carried out. The discussion of the ESC and UN ECOSOC and the lessons to be learnt from them will be done in the third chapter. The fourth chapter will set out the study's conclusions and recommendations." -- Introduction / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / Prepared under the supervision of Mr. Mohamed Habib at the Faculty of Law, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

<p><a>This study sought to identify obstacles and challenges that impact political participation and involvement among Latino voters. At the same time, it explored how the Latino Democrats of Allen County (LDAC), a constituency caucus in a primarily conservative area, could address such barriers to engage Latinos from the area politically (specifically in support of the Democratic party). Social Identity Theory provided a backdrop from which to examine the challenges and obstacles that Latinos face to participating in local government. By exploring these questions from the perspective of Social Identity Theory, I examined how a demographic in a primarily conservative area grapples with their political participation. Findings suggest that Latinos struggle with their participation due to lack of awareness about opportunity, low political efficacy, lack of trust in the political process and those that facilitate it, and lack of education about how the political process works. Literature on communication strategies and techniques used by organizations and groups with similar structures and goals provided a roadmap for constructing a functional and meaningful strategic communication plan for LDAC based on the findings from this study.</a></p>

This thesis examines the potential links between political behavior and the Prague metal scene. Many authors have suggested theories on links between music and politics, but there are few empirical studies on the topic. This thesis focuses on one genre of music in one space and cultural context: heavy metal music in Prague, Czech Republic. The literature on metal subcultures claims that they exist to perpetuate rebellion and transgression, and that members of these subcultures reject "politics"; however, metal is seen as political in some cases. Because of this, it is hypothesized that metal subculture members will have negative opinions on the political system and political participation, and will express support for anti-system parties or ideas. These hypotheses are tested through a qualitative thematic analysis of interviews and survey responses from 22 members of Prague's metal subculture. It is found that members of the subculture vote at a similar rate to the rest of the Czech population, and that the majority of participants identify as center-right or right-wing. The participants expressed ideas that were critical of the political system and of society discourses relating to politics. Furthermore, respondents viewed metal in Prague as apolitical, but felt metal could be political in some...

Voting in an election is the most basic and fundamental form of political participation in a democracy. Citizens are given the opportunity to elect legislators that take political decisions on their behalf. As immigration is increasing globally, many immigrants find themselves with this opportunity for the very first time immigrating from authoritarian regimes. Are immigrants from authoritarian regime able to adapt to their new political setting, or is there an observable difference in voter turnout based on the regime-type of the immigrant’s native country? There exist three branches of theories within the theoretical framework of political resocializa-tion: the theory of exposure, the theory of transferability and the theory of resistance. Previous research on the adaptability of immigrants from authoritarian regimes is often single case stud-ies that only analyse one of the three branches or analyse different forms of political participa-tion and have produced somewhat contradicting results. With empirical evidence remaining the relationship between voter turnout and regime-type is yet to be fully comprehended. By using data from the European Value Survey, this study tests all three theories of political resocializa-tion in 34 countries, to further generate insight into this matter. The results show that immigrants from authoritarian regimes are not less likely to vote in the national election of their new host country. The amount of exposure to the new host country, or whether the immigrant spent his “formative years” in the authoritarian regime are not statisti-cally significant to voting. Age, marital status, education and income are shown to be more statistically significant predictors to voter turnout, compared to regime-type.

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This thesis has attempted to understand and deepen our knowledge of political participationamong students in upper secondary education. The thesis has explored potential motives to participate, or not to participate, what strategies they would use if they were to hypothetically participate, and furthermore how their political behavior relates to their expectations on democracy. Data were collected through semi-structured interview with 16 upper secondarystudents which was divided into three focus groups. The results imply different reasons forwhy they would, or would not participate politically. The most prominent reasons were frustration, norms, and fear. These reasons are inhibiting them from participating politically. The strategies they would utilize if they would want to change something politically concernboth collective and individual forms of participation. However, individual forms seem to be preferred, especially when it comes to social media. The simplicity and its ability to mobilizewith small resources make social media an attractive alternative among these youths. Participation in elections is important for them as citizens since the election is regarded as their opportunity to change within the scope of democracy. Likewise, participation in elections is an act they expect from other citizens. The result indicates that these students’political passivity is not explained by their lack of trust in democracy. Passivity can rather be described in more optimistic terms where a political interest exists and is nourished continuously, but they do not consider themselves to have enough reasons to act.

This thesis is concerned with political communication and participation with political content on Facebook. Firstly, it aims to synthetise existing theoretical and empirical studies on this topic which was conluded by various political scientists as wel as experts of media and communication studies. It also introduces Facebook algorithm as it is considered to be an important factor influencing level of participation on Facebook. Through the analyses of data collected from Facebook's profiles of selected political actors, the thesis searches for patterns in their communication and brings closer attention to their participating audience.

In a time of decreasing participation in party politics across Europe, both protests and deliberation can be studied as means of expressing political opinion that have not seen the same decline. Traditionally, protests and deliberation have been considered mutually exclusive. This notion has later been challenged, indicating that these factors coexist in democratic societies.The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the complex causal relationship between protests and deliberative democracy in 30 European countries. This is investigated through the following research question: Do countries with high levels of protest activity also have high levels of deliberative democracy? Two contradicting hypotheses are established, where one considers protests and deliberation to be mutually exclusive while the second hypothesisconsiders them to be coexisting factors in democratic countries. To test the hypotheses, correlation matrices and regression analysis are used, adding relevant control variables (GDP per capita, population and income distribution) to the model. The results imply that protests and deliberation are not mutually exclusive, instead countries with higher levels of protest activity also have higher deliberation. However, this does not appear to be because protests itself drive deliberation, but rather that a confounding variable, measuring the percentage of national income that the bottom 40% holds, drives both protests and deliberation positively. The implications underline the importance of a more even income distribution to foster both more protests and higher deliberation. Further research to continue investigating these findings is encouraged.

Thesis advisor: Marc K. Landy / Education - and rural education - was on LBJ’s mind when he declared “War on Poverty” from the front porch of a family cabin in Inez, Kentucky. In 2021, Lyndon Johnson would find his Great Society did not fully come to fruition. In this work, I explore how responsive federal, state, and local bodies of government are to the needs of underresourced schools in Eastern Kentucky’s rural, economically distressed coal counties. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) scores demonstrate that Eastern Kentucky’s students are behind from the starting-line, thanks to economic, health, and developmental disparities. However, some school districts feature rates of improvement between fourth and eighth grade that exceed the national average, while others stay behind. This project’s central finding is that local investment is the variable most correlated with school improvement. Today, Appalachia remains a place where “working people, and those who wish there was work...battle for dignity and security, for themselves and for their children.” That battle for dignity and security, for better schools and better quality of life, has gone on for decades and continues today. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Scholar of the College. / Discipline: Political Science.

This thesis aimed at examining, in the middle of an intense sociopolitical crisis in the Greek landscape, how young users of alternative media in Greece reflect on traditional media, how they view alternative media and how they use them in order to mobilize, engage politically and acquire types of oppositional knowledge. In-depth interviews on Greek millennials indicated a cognitive-driven relationship to mainstream media while a generic tendency towards alternative media was notived, however, accompanied by a critical stance. Political participation was present on both ffline and online version, with an apparent inclination to online types through e-petitions and expressive forms of action, such as content sharing and posts on social media. Oppositional types of knowledge were identified through the millennials' responses, though, with a presence of reservedness and critique. The shift towards alternative media depicted the emergence of a concrete digital familiarization of Greek millennials who seriously engage to sociopolitical issues and at the same time preserve their doubts as far as credibility or objectivity of news are concerned. Future research could be conducted focusing on the content analysis of alternative media news platforms. Therefore, micro-organizational aspects, such as agenda-setting and news production along with ethical lines that are followed, would enrich the picture of alternative media landscape in Greece and maybe provide the motivation to examine the aforementioned conditions in other media systems, as well.