The theme of my thesis is "Civic engagement though the eyes of political parties youth wings." I chose three specific associations, which cover the classical political spectrum. The goal of the thesis is to discover what kind of relationship these young people have to civic engagement. Civic engagement is represented by the new type of engaged NGOs. I also wanted to know what was their motivation to join the youth wing and if their opinions about civic engagement corespond with the Party point of view. In the theoretical part I introduce concepts of political participation and civic engagemant connected with the third sector and political parties. In the empirical part is presented the analysis with the findings. I used qualitative research strategy and data were obtained mostly trom interviews. In the end the findings are summarized and connscted with the theoretical framework.

This study examines political engagement among Syrian students at the University of Jordan who are either refugees, asylum seekers or children of Jordanian mothers. By adopting Ekman and Amnå’s conceptualization of political participation and analysing 15 semi-structured interviews, I find that the Syrian students are both engaged in manifest and latent forms of political participation. The engagement is mostly canalised through individual activities rather than collective activities. Most importantly, the engagement is less common in domestic issues than non-domestic issues. When the students are engaged in domestic issues, it is mostly in latent forms of political participation and in private activities not risking revealing their opinions to the general public. Interestingly, I find that the students are interested in Jordan public affairs but that this interest is not transformed into political action aiming to affect Jordanian political decisions. The pattern of political participation in several ways corresponds with the students’ perceptions of risks. The Syrian students associate political engagement in Jordan with perceived risks such as being deported back to Syria or facing racism. Respondents expressed that they were not politically engaged because of the risks that it could entail and engagement in activities connected to Jordan public affairs seems to be perceived as more of a risk compared to being engaged in non-domestic issues. This seems to be particularly true for activities carried out in public. My findings are important as they shed light on political engagement in authoritarian contexts in the Global South and among marginalised non-citizens.

Brazil is in the 132nd position in the ranking for female parliamentary participation according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s latest report (2019). Black women are the ones least involved in national politics. In the state of São Paulo 94 state Deputies were elected in 2018, of these only 11 are women and only 3 are black. This research looks at black female political participation in Brazil, focusing on political engagement in the state and municipality of São Paulo. It employs black feminist theory to investigate the hindrances for black women’s political participation. Intersectionality and political science theories were used as part of the theoretical framework. The research question explored was: “What are the obstacles for black female political participation in Brazil?”. This question is connected to larger issues of gender, race, class, political representation and participation. Semi-structured interviews with black women engaged with institutional politics were conducted, followed by a thematic analysis. The research found four main obstacles preventing a greater participation of black women in politics. The issue of visibility, that is, having enough social capital to gain attention from voters, prevents many black women from receiving support by their political parties. Having a network is also said to be important for those starting in politics, as it can give them the necessary visibility to grow in their political parties. Political education is considered an important tool to have a successful candidacy and is currently overlooked by political parties. Finally, financial investment is said to be underprovided to black female candidates. The interviews show that the obstacles presented are linked to structural racism and sexism within the political parties and in society. Despite their personal investment and engagement, black women are often demeaned. They are perceived as not capable of being good politicians. The oppressions they suffer for their race, gender and class are also experienced in the political arena. They are often silenced as political subjects, but they keep fighting back.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the influence of media ownership on media depiction of anti-government protests in 2019 organized by a civic organization Milion Chvilek (Million Moments for Democracy) in daily newspapers Lidové noviny and Hospodářské noviny through a comparative content analysis. Lidové noviny is a part of MAFRA media group owned by current Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš with his ownership share placed in a trust managed by his wife and other close associates. Daily newsprint and other publications in this media group found themselves in a situation where they had to report about protests focused on their de facto owner. A public debate centered around Andrej Babiš's possible conflict of interest has been ongoing since his entry into politics. Babiš's strong position in the media industry is one of the debate's focal points. According to his critics, this position could enable him to manipulate public mood which would provide him with an unfair advantage in the political arena. On a selected sample of articles about 2019 protests published in the above-mentioned newspapers, this media analysis strives to unveil to what extent the coverage, tone and space for commentaries from politicians and other public actors in Lidové noviny differ from Hospodářské noviny, which is deemed most...

Sexuality-driven political participation refers to the political engagement of people of sexual minorities. While progress has been made in understanding the motivation behind their political participation, this study seeks to address the limitations of the existing literature which are designed explicitly to work in democratic contexts where engagement can bear fruit and for mostly quantitative inquiries which imply homogeneity and fail to map out the heterogeneity in the meanings of sexual minorities’ political participation. To fill these gaps, this thesis aims to answer the following question: how do sexual minorities make sense of their political participation in an increasingly undemocratic context? To explore the plurality of meanings that sexual minorities attach to their political participation in a context where democracy is under threat and homophobia is persistent, I conducted in-depth individual interviews and focus groups with 16 politically active LGBT+ citizens in Hungary. Through qualitative meaning-centred content analysis and with the help of deductively developed analytical lenses, I found that while existing theories can explain to a great degree the meanings that sexual minorities attached to their political participation in increasingly undemocratic contexts, this thesis also sheds light on the multifaceted drivers of political engagement. This includes not solely social identity and discrimination but also a broader pursuit of justice, civil liberties, democracy, and empathy. Overall, the paper makes an important contribution to a more in-depth understanding of the political participation of LGBT+ citizens, highlighting the complex and multifaceted motivations behind their engagement.

Ce mémoire vise à approfondir les débats sur la participation politique des Autochtones au Canada, en particulier les jeunes. Les recherches sur le sujet concluent que la participation électorale est plus faible chez les personnes autochtones et que cette différence est encore plus marquée chez les jeunes. Si plusieurs raisons peuvent expliquer ces plus faibles taux, les études soulignent en particulier le cynisme et l’aliénation causés par les politiques coloniales. À première vue, on pourrait donc penser que les jeunes Autochtones représentent une catégorie dépolitisée et désengagée d’individus. Pourtant, nous montrons dans la présente étude que le portrait est plus complexe. Grâce à des entrevues conduites auprès de six jeunes Anishinaabe de la communauté de Timiskaming First Nation, nous pouvons affirmer que s’il y a bel et bien un certain cynisme et un désengagement chez ces jeunes face à la politique comprise de manière formelle, comme la participation électorale, l’implication au sein d’un parti ou même la participation au sein de leur conseil de bande, cela ne veut en aucun cas dire qu’ils sont passifs ou dépolitisés. Ces jeunes sont fortement impliqués au niveau communautaire et dans le processus de revitalisation et/ou de protection culturelle de leur communauté. Même si ces jeunes n’articulent pas nécessairement ces actions comme étant de nature explicitement politique, elles témoignent d’une volonté d’agir sur la communauté qui relève bel et bien de l’engagement politique. Sur la base de cette étude, nous invitons donc à nuancer les travaux qui concluent au désengagement des jeunes Autochtones. / This thesis contributes to the debates on political participation of Indigenous youth in Canada. Existing research shows a significantly lower electoral participation rate among Indigenous individuals, especially Indigenous youth. This low participation rate is explained, among others, by a high level of cynicism and a sense of alienation resulting from colonial policies that discouraged political engagement among Indigenous peoples. We may therefore think that Indigenous youth are depoliticized and disengaged. This research shows a more complex reality. Thanks to in-depth interviews with six young Anishinaabe members of the community of Timiskaming First Nation, we conclude that they are indeed somewhat cynical concerning formal modes of political participation, such as voting, joining a party or even working for the Band Council of their community. However, they are also strongly involved in community work and in cultural revitalization and protection activities. Even if these youths do not consider such activities as political, they do testify to a desire to change their community that is arguably political. This study therefore provides a more nuanced portrait than existing studies on the political disengagement of Indigenous youths.

This study addresses the relationship between social capital and political action in the Middle East. The research uncovers indicators of how social capital correlates with democratic action. Using data from the 2005 World Values Survey, the examination centers on indicators of trust and membership in civic organizations and how they relate to political action in the region. The paper concludes with discussion of how trust-building and reciprocity can be interpreted within the political context of the Middle East, and how the relevance of social capital will be an unavoidable consideration in the transition away from autocracy in the region, especially when considering recent events.

Modern protest movements rely on digital activism on social media, which serves as a conduit for mobilization. In the social media landscape, internet memes have emerged as a popular practice of expressing political protest. Although it is known that social media facilitates mobilization, researchers have neglected how distinct types of content affect mobilization. Moreover, research regarding users’ perspectives on mobilization through memes is lacking. To close these research gaps, this study investigates memes in the context of climate protest mobilization. Based on the four-step model of mobilization, a survey of users who create and share memes related to the Fridays for Future movement on social media (N = 325) revealed that the prosumption of climate crisis memes increases users’ issue involvement and strengthens their online networks. These factors serve as crucial mediators in the relationship between users’ prosumption of climate crisis memes and political participation. The results suggest that mobilization through memes is effective at raising awareness of political issues and strengthening online discussion networks, which means that it has strategic potential for protest movements. By looking at memes from the perspective of their creators and examining a specific type of social media content, this study contributes to the literature on digital mobilization.

Referendums are enigmatic in their sense as consolidating— or erosive tools of representative democracy; nonetheless, an upswing in the referenda from below was recently highlighted in the literature. Thus, how local referendums from below are mobilized and whether they affect trust in local government is a significant question to be answered, which mandates bridging social movements to tools of deliberative democracy. Similarly, little is known about urban social movements and local patriotism as tenon and its mortise in a sub-national referendum. Therefore, this paper set sail from the role of local patriotism within collective action and aimed at exploring how locals are mobilized to petition a local referendum regarding the liquidation of a cityscape. Within an exploratory holistic single-case study design, I used QCA to analyse the data gathered through semi-structured interviews with members of The People’s Initiative for the Airport Future and various peculiar secondary data. The evidence was compelling in depicting the respondents’ solid spatial belonging— and an unmistakable altruistic stance towards Västerås manifested through political participation. Along with other conclusions, the evidence advocated a persuasive presence of local patriotism, a tendency to resort to unconventional political participation, and a fragmented trust in local government among the respondents.

Sweden is a member of the European Union and Sweden’s turn-out in the elections to the European Parliament is low compared to its own national elections. Earlier research in the field of didactics in civics regarding the EU have mostly focused on aspects of civic education such as which subject content teachers teach and what knowledge they test their students on. Even today, textbooks are an important part of shaping education. This study has focused on how the EU is presented in textbooks for civics in Swedish upper secondary school, specifically the course “Samhällskunskap 1b”. The aim was to research the political knowledge about the EU presented in textbooks and research how the presented political knowledge can contribute to political participation.  The study utilizes two different theories, the first is Maria Jarl’s definition of the participatory democratic process and the second is a categorical instrument constructed by Peter Wall used to analyze political knowledge. The method used is both a qualitative content analysis and a comparative analysis. The categorical instrument used stipulates that political knowledge contains three dimensions, polity, policy, and politics. Each dimension has several variable categories attached.  In the study, four textbooks written for the civics course “Samhällskunskap 1b” were analyzed, in accordance with the developed methodological framework. The results of the study found that each of the textbooks contained all three dimensions of political knowledge. However, the dimensions were not equally present in the content with an imbalance favoring the polity dimension which encompassed more than half of the observed variable categories in each of the textbooks. The politics dimension was also found to be relatively non-existent in each of the textbooks with coverage as low as 2% in one of the textbooks. Thus, the conclusion is that the political knowledge regarding the EU in the textbooks is far too one-sided to provide a satisfactory contribution to political participation. We also confirm that a similar focus on the polity dimension regarding the EU exists in textbooks which can also be found in the content teachers teach. This might have several implications for future political participants in Sweden and thus also Swedish democracy.