This dissertation looks at how enhanced political participation opportunities can increase individual liberty and improve public-sector reform efforts. It blends political theory with contemporary concerns for individual well-being and government accountability. To do this, several research methodologies are used, including normative, qualitative process-tracing, and quantitative analysis. First, the dissertation draws insights from ancient and modern political philosophy and the political thought and example of Jane Addams in 19th Century Chicago. It begins with Josiah Ober’s work on civic dignity, which he defines as “equal high standing” among citizens, marked by “non-infantilization and non-humiliation.” This definition is a useful starting point but somehow seems thin for a concept of such import. In exploring the wisdom of Tocqueville’s “schools” of democracy and Jane Addams’ notion of fellowship, I expand the definition of civic dignity to include “having a sense of ownership.” In other words, being dignified as a citizen in a self-governing political community should include having a seat at the proverbial table where one can speak and be heard. This means that political participation opportunities would ideally carry low transaction costs while maximizing the substance that can be contributed. Through Addams’ experience at Hull House, the settlement house she co-founded, I highlight how these opportunities for meaningful political participation are indispensable to individual civic dignity, and by extension, individual liberty and well-being. Second, civic dignity is viewed through a different lens, namely the role it can play when incorporated successfully into policy design and implementation. Arguably, a self- governing political community’s greatest asset is the collective knowledge and lived experience of its citizens. But current political participation mechanisms and policy designs do not do a good job leveraging that resource, and many individuals may find themselves unofficially shut out. Using process-tracing methodology, a case study explores resettlement projects targeting the urban poor in Mandaue City, the Philippines. The case study results demonstrate that deepening democracy (by incorporating civic dignity into the policy design and implementation) not only benefits individual liberty, but can also produce better outcomes and contribute to anti-corruption efforts. Taking civic dignity into account during policy design and implementation is not merely a “feel good” option; it is a strategic option that allows the political community to leverage local knowledge by enlisting the participation of those individuals or groups closest to the problem or challenge at hand. While this finding is not entirely novel, it is far from standard practice. Domestically and internationally, the coercive force of government and/or the “tyranny of experts” is too often the default approach for policy design and implementation. Third, the theoretical and practical explorations of civic dignity are used to construct a measure for civic dignity. In a data driven world, reliable and valid measurement is key, and if the concept of civic dignity is going to gain currency, then validating a scale to capture it is essential. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), survey items are examined to determine which items map onto the latent factors that comprise civic dignity. A 22-item four-factor solution that maps onto the four components of civic dignity is presented. The newly minted Civic Dignity Scale is then compared against measures from political science and psychology literature that are theoretically related but distinct from civic dignity, such as political efficacy and self-determination, to test for construct validity. Spearman correlations yield reassuring results, showing statistically significant strong positive correlations as hypothesized. Finally, the relationship between the Civic Dignity Scale and political participation is analyzed for further construct validity. A Poisson regression model shows that for every one unit increase in an individual’s civic dignity, the likelihood that one would participate in political activities also increases. While a confirmation factor analysis is needed for further scale validation, the EFA and subsequent analyses do codify and deepen our understanding of civic dignity. In the future, a fully validated Civic Dignity Scale would enable reformers like Addams and those in Mandaue City to legitimize and track their efforts empirically.

[pt] O debate argumentativo na sociedade antecede e renova o espírito vinculante das cartas constitucionais. A busca por uma fundamentação da normatividade dos princípios constitucionais requer, mais do que o peso que se pretende atribuir ao papel da jurisdição constitucional, que se identifique a relevância da deliberação democrática no processo de formação do sentimento constitucional pelos cidadãos da polis, que são, ao mesmo tempo, destinatários e agentes criadores das diretrizes políticas fundamentais. A maior contribuição dos estudos elaborados em torno da democracia deliberativa reside, pois, na percepção da inestimável relevância das relações intersubjetivas entre os membros da comunidade durante o processo político, o conhecimento de suas dificuldades e limites, assim como a verificação de seus méritos. Neste rumo, é oferecido um vasto campo favorável à aproximação entre as teses contrapostas dos liberais e republicanos, tornando possível a coexistência teórica e prática entre a realização efetiva da soberania popular e a proteção dos direitos fundamentais, tendo sempre em vista a supremacia da dignidade humana, como elemento informador e balizador de todas as atividades ínsitas à vida em sociedade. / [en] The argumentative debate inside society antecedes and renews the bonding force of the constitutional charts. The search for a justification of fundamental rights and principles requires, more than the weight that one might wish to attribute to the role of constitutional jurisdiction, that the relevance of democratic deliberation be taken into account in the process of the formation of a constitutional feeling by the people of the polis, which are at the same time addressees and creators of the fundamental political directives. The most important contribution of recent studies concerning deliberative democracy reside, in fact, in the perception of the utmost relevance of the intersubjective relations between all members of the affected community during the political process, the knowledge of its difficulties and limits, as well as the verification of its merits. In this direction, a vast field is offered for the convergence between opposed theories such as those of liberals and republicans, paving the way for the effective application of popular sovereignty and human rights protection, while considering the supremacy of the value of human dignity as the informative and orientative standard of all activities inherent to life in society.

對於比較政治領域，威權政體的「選舉」開放，是否真的會使公民出現自主性參與，一直是學界極為關注的命題。檢視當前中國城市基層選舉，可以發現，參與帶動的「有限政治改革」，其效果仍難以預料。因此，本研究主要探討，轉型中政權選舉的制度效應，會對選民個體的「政治功效意識」與政治行動帶來何種影響。我們並嘗試從政治功效意識的研究範疇，提出「防禦性」與「認同性」兩種概念分類，「防禦性」功效意識是由於選民的維權心態激發的投票參與意願，「認同性」效能感是由選舉動員浮現的群體認同投票意識。我們假設，個體同時經歷過「認同性」與「防禦性」兩種功效意識的形塑過程，但又受到個人的「政權支持」程度影響，不可能出現兩種功效意識同時上升的情形。而個別心態傾向會影響後續的政治行動，會有「退出」、「呼籲」、「忠誠」三種行動抉擇。「退出」是不再進場參與投票，「呼籲」走向過激的政治反抗，「忠誠」則是向黨國輸誠。 針對上述假定，本研究以上海2006、2009年兩次居委會換屆選舉為研究個案。根據作者田野調查發現，經過選後，防禦性功效意意識較高的選民，最終採取「抗議」的政治行動；認同性功效意識較高的選民，雖部分仍表態黨國「忠誠」，但多數參與者卻由於選舉過程無法滿足，浮現「失望」，呈現參與「退出」的情況。因此，「『高認同性』功效意識選民退出－『高防禦性』功效意識選民呼籲」，構成了社區基層選舉存在著普遍的「集體行動困境」，但值得注意的是，這種選舉失望走向從「退出」的行動選擇，卻也可能最終又走回「呼籲」的過激行動。就此觀之，中國的基層民主發展，或許會是面臨集體行動困境之後，走向突發轉折的非預期性後果。

ABSTRACT Jean-Michel Lafleur Title of the dissertation: Political Transnationalism and the State The first part of the thesis consists in a review of the literature and a conceptual discussion about the concept of immigrant transnationalism and immigrant political transnationalism. This discussion shows that a series of gaps currently exists in the research on the links between the emigrants and the home country. Two of such gaps are underlined in the thesis. On the one hand, it remains difficult to determine why states decide to extend political citizenship to their citizens abroad. On the other hand, the influence of the state on its emigrant community seems neglected for the benefit of a post-national vision of citizenship. These are the gaps that this thesis is trying to address. The second part of the thesis presents in three case studies the results of the empirical research conducted in Italy, Belgium and Mexico. Some elements of migration history introduce each case and is then followed by an extensive analysis of the debate on the extension of political citizenship (especially the right to vote from abroad). A special focus is put on the role of internal actors (political parties, administrations) and external actors (migrants, associations). In the third part of the thesis, the author conducts a comparative analysis of the three cases. By doing so, the reasons why states extend political citizenship to citizens residing abroad appears clearly. It also leads to reject the post-national vision of citizenship supported by some scholars. After the presentation of the four variables pushing to act as they do in the field of external political citizenship, the thesis concludes by opening up new research tracks in the field of political transnationalism. RESUME DE LA THESE EN FRANçAIS Jean-Michel Lafleur Titre de la thèse (traduit) : Le transnationalisme politique et lEtat Titre original de la thèse: Political Transnationalism and the State La première partie consiste en une revue de la littérature et une discussion conceptuelle sur les concepts de transnationalisme et de transnationalisme politique dans le champ des études migratoires. Cet exercice met en lumière une série de lacunes dans la recherche actuelle sur les liens entre les émigrés et le pays dorigine. Deux de ces lacunes sont particulièrement mises en évidence. Dune part, il a y la difficulté de dégager les raisons poussant différents états à travers le monde à étendre la citoyenneté politique à leurs citoyens établis à létranger, et cela, en raison du faible nombre de projets de recherches comparatifs. Dautre part, le rôle de lEtat semble négligé dans la littérature existante en raison de la prégnance dune vision post-nationale de la citoyenneté dans nombre détudes sur les liens entre pays dorigine et émigrés. La deuxième partie est constituée de la restitution des données empiriques collectées dans trois pays: Belgique, Italie, Mexique. Chacun des cas détude est introduit pas une brève introduction au profil migratoire du pays. Ensuite, il est procédé à une analyse du débat sur lextension de la citoyenneté politique entre acteurs internes (partis, administrations, pouvoir judiciaire) et externes (migrants, associations). La troisième partie consiste en une analyse comparative des trois cas détude. Il ressort de cette analyse que quatre variables poussent les états à étendre la citoyenneté politique externe. Chacune dentre elles est examinée dans une dimension comparative. Le travail de thèse conclut en soulignant lapport de la dissertation au champ de la recherche sur le transnationalisme dans les études migratoires et ouvre une série de pistes pour des recherches futures.

以學者Pamela Paxton對於「女性參與民主」的形式作為本研究的主軸──依照參與程度劃分了「正式的代表性」、「書面上的代表性」、「實質上的代表性」這三種層次。作者藉由Paxton的研究成果作為研究途徑，並參考文獻資料、統計數據、新聞報導，及國際組織之研究報告，對俄羅斯婦女參與國家杜馬運作的情形進行分析與研究。 本論文的內容劃分成三大部分：首先概括性從全球各區域及後共歐洲國家的國會女性代表現況作為開頭，再以Paxton對於「女性參與民主」的形式來檢視俄羅斯國家杜馬當中的女性代表參與程度。第二部分將以「微觀」的角度來探討歷屆國家杜馬女性代表的背景研究，包含：當選年齡、教育程度及職業背景、委員會的選擇，以統計數據及表格的方式來探討其特性及變化趨勢。最後的部分，探究了國家杜馬女性代表的貢獻與困境，當中以提升婦女權利的法案制定與列出表現傑出的女性代表以肯定女性代表的貢獻；再由「選舉制度與政黨」與「政治文化」兩種面相來探討俄羅斯婦女投身於國家杜馬選舉時所面臨的困境。 整體而言，俄羅斯國家杜馬當中的女性代表需要更積極性的替廣大的俄羅斯女性制訂出對她們有益與利的相關法案，並且也需要積極地改變父權觀點，進一步改變傳統的角色定位，以能發揮影響俄羅斯政治圈及社會的力量。 / The main approach of the thesis is Pamela Paxton’s research for “women's representation in democracy”. In Paxton’s view, there are three levels of different degrees of representation: formal representation, descriptive representation, and substantive representation. With the purpose to analyse the the contempoary situation and trend of Russian women’s political participation in State Duma, so this thesis is composed of literatures, statistics, Russian news websites, and reports from international research institutions. This thesis is divided for three main topics: At first, the article starts from general introduction of global and Post-Communist Europe women political participation in the parliaments. The second part is with “microcosmic” way to review the background of female deputies of State Duma from the first convocation (in 1993) to the sixth convocation (in 2011), inclusive of age, the educational level, occupation before being elected, and committees choosing. The final part discusses contributes and predicaments of Russian female deputies of State Duma. Generally speaking, the female deputies of State Duma have to be more positive to legislate for bringing benefits to a large number of Russian women. Moreover, they also have to be more positive to overcome the viewpoint and redirect the gender role from traditional political culture of patriarchy society. Therefore, the female deputies of State Duma will have more influences on the Russian politics and society.

Ce mémoire traite de la construction d’un espace social citoyen à partir de l’analyse du travail d’intervention de deux organismes locaux situés à Trou du Nord (Haïti). Il s’agit d’explorer les manières dont les membres se représentent et s’approprient leur statut de citoyen. Pour mettre l’emphase sur les mécanismes associatifs et sociaux qui interviennent dans la construction de ce que nous nommons "espace social citoyen", nous avons mené une recherche qualitative dont la charpente interprétative est conçue avec l’aide des outils théorico-pratiques de la politique de participation (Barber, 1997) et l’intervention sociale collective (Lamoureux, 1991). Nous avançons l’hypothèse centrale que les pratiques associatives sont le vecteur de la construction d’un espace social citoyen à Trou du Nord. Cette hypothèse centrale est soutenue par deux hypothèses opératoires portant sur les conditions d’exercice de citoyenneté et l’affirmation individuelle de l’appartenance des membres à l’espace commun. Nous avons recueilli quatorze entretiens semi-directifs effectués avec les membres de l’Assemblée Populaire Veye Yo Trou du Nord (APVT) et du Rassemblement des Militants Solidaires de Trou du Nord (RAMSO). Les résultats de la recherche indiquent que les membres de ces deux organisations manifestent une grande volonté de contribuer au développement de leur localité et au «mieux-être» de la population. Leur implication directe dans les affaires politiques et sociales s’accompagne des exigences pour que l’État prenne en charge ses responsabilités vis-à-vis de ses citoyens. Cette liberté d’action repose sur le partage de leurs expériences individuelles et sur une grande connaissance des divers aspects des réalités locales auxquelles sont confrontés quotidiennement les citoyens. Ces deux groupes sont conçus comme des espaces de sociabilité, des lieux publics et dynamiques issus de l’activité commune et des divers types d’interactions au niveau local. Toujours d’après l’analyse, les membres de ces deux groupes interviennent sur un problème d’ensemble collectif au niveau local sans pour autant négliger leurs propres intérêts. Ils s’inscrivent dans le jeu de marchandage électoral et apprennent à leurs membres à se comporter comme une communauté d’intérêts et d’actions, elle-même inscrite dans l’ensemble des interactions, des processus et des dynamiques de résolution des problèmes au niveau local. Un tel constat vient à la fois valider certaines de nos hypothèses tout en révélant les limites de l’idée de la construction d’un espace social citoyen. D’une part, la volonté de contribuer au «mieux-être» de la population, la nécessité de prendre la parole, d’exprimer les problèmes collectifs et individuels, le souci d’avoir un contrôle sur l’action des dirigeants élus sont autant d’enjeux qui leur ont permis de passer de leur vécu particulier à une vision plus large des intérêts collectifs et à la définition des tâches qu’ils estiment correspondre au rôle citoyen qui leur incombe. D’autre part, leur positionnement dans le champ politique notamment au moment des élections les fait apparaître comme des groupes partisans, c'est-à-dire qu’ils ne sont pas toujours dans la construction de l’intérêt général. Nous concluons que ce double aspect s’avère nécessaire aussi bien à la construction de l’espace social citoyen qu’au fonctionnement démocratique au niveau local. Car, en plus de se définir comme citoyens et d’affirmer leur appartenance communautaire, les membres développent les capacités critiques face aux gestes et actes posés autant par les dirigeants locaux que par l’État haïtien lui-même. Ils acquièrent aussi les habilités de participer, même dans les interstices, aux jeux sociopolitiques faisant partie du processus de renforcement de la citoyenneté et d’un système démocratique en construction. / This master thesis focuses on the construction of a social citizen from the analysis of the intervention of two local agencies located in "Trou du Nord" (Haiti). It is exploring ways in which members will represent their ownership and represent their citizenship status. We put emphasis on the social mechanisms and associations involved in building what we call "citizen social space". We have conducted a qualitative research from the works of Barber (1997) on practical policy participation and those of Lamoureux (1991) on collective social action. We assume, as central hypothesis, that associative practices are the main vector for construction of a citizen social space in "Trou du Nord". This central hypothesis is supported by two secondary one interested on the operating conditions for the exercise of citizenship and the affirmation of individual members belonging to the common area. We have made fourteen semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the "Assemblée Populaire Veye Yo Trou du Nord (APVT)" and the "Rassemblement des militants solidaires de Trou du Nord (RAMSO)". The results indicate that members of both organizations show great willingness to contribute to the development of their locality and "wellbeing" of the population. This freedom of action is based on sharing their individual experiences and their extensive knowledge of the local realities faced daily citizens. Both groups are designed as spaces of sociability, as public and dynamics places reflecting the various types of local interaction. According to the analysis, members of both groups get involved in resolving collective problems at the local level without neglecting their own interests. They are part of the game of electoral bargaining and teach their members to behave as a community of interests and action, itself contained in all interactions, processes and dynamic resolution of problems local level. Those findings validate some of our hypothetical assumptions and reveal at the same time their limits. On the one hand, the willingness to help with the wellbeing on the population, with the need for the people to speak out and to express their collective and individual problems, with the desire to have control over the elected leaders actions, are all issues that allowed the groups to pursue broader collective interest and to define themselves as a citizen social space. On the other hand, their position in the political arena especially at election time makes them appear as groups of supporters, that is to say they are not always in the construction of the general interest. We conclude this dual aspect is necessary both for the construction of a citizen social space and that of democratic citizen at the local level. In addition, those two groups help citizen to assert their sense of belonging to a local community. They help them also to develop capacities to criticize actions taking by both local and national leaders. They help them also to acquire the skills to participate – even though in the interstices – at the sociopolitical games as part of the process of building citizenship and a democratic system under construction.

Since the emergence of the Internet, scholars have had mixed opinions regarding its role in influencing levels of political participation. Two frameworks, the mobilization and the reinforcement theses, were created from these opposing views. The introduction of social networking websites (such as Facebook) offers new platforms with which to test these opposing theories on. This study investigates the Facebook group ―Canadian‘s against Proroguing Parliament,‖ to determine: 1) what the members' motivations were for participating in the group, 2) whether the group attracted formerly marginalized voices to participate on the group, or simply reinforced those who were already active in the political process, and 3) whether the participation of members on the group translated into offline or real world political participation. The findings suggest that the group‘s members had a variety of reasons for joining the group. As well, the findings suggest that the group both mobilized reinforced its participants. Finally, the data indicates that in some instances, the group‘s members translated their online participation into real world political activity. / 171 leaves ; 29 cm

婦女的政治參與是促進性別平等的重要條件。中國的經濟改革帶來了在該國的社會和經濟部門大量的改進。然而，權力，政治文化和經濟的原因與其他社會文化因素相結合的政權的壟斷，導致婦女在中國的政治生活中連續的統治。本研究結合使用的輔助研究方法與合理的數據量涵蓋1977至2013年的婦女在選擇的最高政治機構的存在。該研究發現，女性在整個政治委員會代表性不足，但最糟糕的政府高層官員（精英）和黨的機構。這意味著，在國家層面，政治仍然是男性領域，有超過黨的機構也存在著一個嚴峻的陽剛壟斷。婦女被真正發現，如議會，他們的存在只是作為在中國共產黨的利益高於性別平等或行使平等權利的真正意義上滿足全球重要的還是國內需求的來源（男人之間和女性）在確定他們的社會事務。 / Women’s participation in politics is an important requirement for gender equality. China’s economic reform has brought massive improvements in the social and economic sectors of the country. However, the regime’s monopoly of power, political culture and economic reasons in combination with other socio-cultural factors has resulted to continuous domination of women in China’s political life. This study has employed a secondary research approach in combination with a reasonable data quantity covering 1977 to 2013 on the presence of women in selected top political institutions. The study finds out that women are under-represented across the political board but worst in top government (elite) and party institutions. This means that, at the state level, politics remains a domain for men and there exist a stern masculine monopoly over party institutions also. Where women are genuinely found, such as the parliament, their presence only serves as a source of meeting an important global or domestic requirement in the interest of the Chinese Communist Party than a true sense of gender equality or exercise of an equal right (between men and women) in determining the affairs of their society.

Univ., Diss.--Wuppertal.

Freie Univ., Diss--Berlin, 2004. / Literaturverz. S. 285 - 296.