This thesis focuses on the topic of active citizenship in democratic societies. An emphasis is placed on the clarification of the role of the citizen as an engaged actor who has the right to influence political processes and decision-making at the local level. Democracy is seen from a variety of angles in the theoretical part, particular attention is given to participatory democracy and deliberation. The practical part is devoted to the research that was carried out in the Dutch city Utrecht, where the specific tools used for engaging citizens in policy- making were investigated together with motivations of public officials as well as citizens to support civic participation. This thesis attempts to provide a picture of the functioning of democratic principles in Utrecht with reference to an example of good practice. Keywords democracy, democracy at the local level, participatory democracy, citizenship, participation, deliberation, tools of civic participation, civic participation, political participation

Don't Frack With Denton chronicles the ground-breaking movement to ban hydraulic fracturing in the city of Denton, Texas by combining observational location shooting with extensive sit-down interviews and carefully negotiated subject-filmmaker relationships to create a safe and comfortable space for thoughtful reflection and criticism of a complex social movement who's activities span several years and many individuals. The result is a long-form documentary that is unapologetically in solidarity with this movement's goals while simultaneously maintaining enough editorial independence and critical distance to allow the activists themselves to honestly evaluate their decision-making, tactics and interpersonal relationships in ways that will provide insight and instruction to similar movements around the country and the world.

La participation des personnes s’identifiant comme Autochtones aux institutions démocratiques du Canada (que ce soit par le vote ou par le fait de se présenter à des élections) est un sujet peu traité par la littérature scientifique. Longtemps interdite et encore critiquée par un certain nombre d’auteurs influents de la pensée décoloniale, elle connait depuis quelques temps un certain essor. La participation électorale des Autochtones vivant en réserve y est au-dessus de 50% depuis deux élections fédérales. Nous y constatons également une augmentation du nombre de candidats autochtones depuis 2008 et l’élection d’un nombre toujours plus élevé de députés autochtones à chaque élection depuis 2011. Ce renouveau participatif nous donne une occasion sans précédent de dresser un portrait de la relation complexe qu’entretiennent les Autochtones aux institutions démocratiques canadiennes et de s’interroger sur la signification de cette participation. Cette thèse par article propose à la fois une réflexion théorique et une analyse empirique en ce sens. Dans un premier article nous traitons dans une perspective théorique de la tension normative entre la participation au sein des institutions coloniales et la volonté d’autodétermination des peuples autochtones. Nous arguons que l’importance accordée à cette tension dans la littérature dépend de la conception adoptée de l’autodétermination. Dans le deuxième article nous étudions le comportement électoral des Autochtones à partir de données quantitatives. Nous soulignons l’importance du vote affinitaire afin de comprendre les préférences des électeurs autochtones. Dans le troisième article, nous traitons de la représentation des intérêts autochtones par les députés s’identifiant comme Autochtones élus sous la 42ème législature. Une analyse qualitative des interventions en chambre nous permet de souligner qu’au-delà des dimensions partisanes, les députés autochtones mettent davantage de l’avant les enjeux autochtones et le font aussi différemment, ce qui confirme le lien entre la représentation descriptive et substantive des intérêts. Nous concluons cette thèse sur le fait qu’il serait hasardeux de réduire, comme certains le font, ce renouveau de la participation des Autochtones à une forme d’assimilation ou d’acceptation de la citoyenneté canadienne. Notre thèse permet au contraire de souligner le caractère multidimensionnel de cette participation, qui s’inscrit selon nous dans un registre plus large d’activisme politique visant à défendre des identités distinctes et des intérêts propres aux peuples autochtones. / The political participation of those who identify themselves as Indigenous peoples in Canada's democratic institutions (whether through voting or running for election) is a subject that has received little attention in the scientific literature. Long banned and still criticized by many influential authors, today the political participation is a political reality. The electoral turnout of Indigenous peoples living on reserve has been above 50% since three federal elections. We also see an increase in the number of Indigenous people candidates since 2008 and the election of an ever-increasing number of Indigenous people as Members of Parliament (MPs) in each election since 2011. This phenomenon gives us an unprecedented opportunity to draw a portrait of Indigenous people’s complex relationship with Canadian democratic institutions and make sense of its signification for Canadian citizenship. This thesis by articles explores these issues from both a theoretical and an empirical perspectives. In a first article, we theoretically deal with the normative tension between Indigenous individuals’ electoral participation and self-determination. We argue that the normative tension between the two largely depends on one’s conception of self-determination as a political project. In the second article, we use quantitative data to study the electoral behavior of Indigenous peoples. We argue that beyond partisan considerations, the electoral behaviour of Indigenous communities is heavily influenced by affinity voting. In the third article, we deal with the representation of indigenous people’s interests by indigenous MPs elected under the 42nd legislature. Our qualitative analysis of speeches in the House of Commons suggests that Indigenous MPs do tend to address indigenous-related issues more frequently and do so differently than other MPs. We conclude that, contrary to many of its critiques, the participation of Indigenous communities in Canadian democratic institutions cannot be reduced to a form of assimilation or a straightforward acceptance of the rules of Canadian citizenship. This renewed engagement should instead be located within a broader political movement and collective agency in defending and promoting distinct Indigenous peoples identities and interests.

With disasters increasing in frequency and costs each year, this study seeks to explore ways greater public participation can assist emergency managers in their mission to keep communities safe. Specifically this study examines the policy process and administrative functions of emergency management to illuminated the benefits and hindrances involved in greater participation. This study conducted a qualitative analysis of governmental documents, disaster case studies, international research, as well as political science and administrative doctrines, to arrive at its conclusions. The results of this study reveal that the public is a largely untapped resource in the emergency management field. Engaging the public dialogically in early policy stages and emergency management phases is essential to successful inclusion for both administrators and communities. Specifically, public inclusion creates expanded knowledge, shared learning, personal responsibility, and increased social capital. Faced with the growing threat from disasters, emergency management can create communities that are both more resilient and sustainable by increasing public participation.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have extremely high rates of young adult users. Facebook.com report.s that more than half of its users are of college age. Due to the increasing number of political figures and political information on SNS, this study analyzes the relationship between SNS and political engagement. Specifically, this study seeks to determine if adults' consumption of political information on SNS leads to higher levels of political engagement. Political engagement is broken down into three different variables: political knowledge, political interest, and political participation. This study draws its data from a sample of 355 undergraduate college students. Data was collected through a volunteer self-administered survey questionnaire. Three sections respectively measured political engagement, social networking site dependency for political information, and demographic information. Data were collected from a junior college and a private university in Northern California. This study found a positive relationship between SNS dependency for political information and political interest and participation. In other words, individuals who depend on SNS for political information have higher levels of political interest and participation. There was no significant relationship found between political knowledge and SNS dependency. These results suggest that SNS may help foster political engagement in young adults.

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Most researchers and democracy theorists who define what democracy is or should be, agree that civic participation is the core of a democracy. Without citizen participation, there would be no democracy. The broad participation in political processes symbolizes the idea of political equality. A high level of political participation among citizens is usually seen as a sign that democracy is functioning satisfactorily. Unfortunately, today's political reality, on the other hand, shows that actual democracy does not reflect the democratic ideal models. The economic and social gaps in society largely explain how participatory activity is distributed among the citizens. The purpose of this master's thesis, which is a case study, has been to study the political equality in the e-proposal process within Linköping municipality. This means that the socio- economic representativeness among the proposers has been studied between the years 2016 and 2021. Furthermore, the geographical spread of the proposals has been studied between the years 2016 and 2018, together with the political priority areas of the proposers.  A web survey was conducted to gather information on the proposers’ socio-economic conditions. In total, the survey was answered by 207 respondents. This survey has contributed to either verifying or falsifying the research hypothesis. The hypothesis states that it is mainly socio-economically resourceful individuals who submit Linköping proposals. In summary, the study shows that it has been particularly resourceful individuals who have submitted Linköping proposals. Furthermore, the proposals are intended to be implemented in areas where the socio- economic standard is relatively high. The study has also shown that the proponents to a large extent (80.9 percent) have requested initiatives that relate to urban planning issues and culture and leisure. Finally, the results of the study illustrate that the approvals mainly refer to socio- economically strong areas. In conclusion, the empirical results of the study have contributed to the hypothesis being verifiable, as it has mainly been socio-economically resourceful individuals who have submitted Linköping proposals.

If democratic society is to avert the dire straits that may come from decreasing levels of political participation and civic engagement, all potential explanatory factors must be explored. The purpose of this paper is to i) elucidate how the modeling and self-efficacy mechanisms of social learning theory affect individuals’ decisions to participate politically or not, and ii) assess the applicability of the relatively unutilized social learning theory in studies on political socialization and participation, respectively. By conducting a study composed of life history interviews, the paper aims to contribute to the research field by providing new explanations on how and why participatory behavior occurs in individuals, potentially filling a research gap by using and developing the previously unutilized social learning theory. The study finds that the proposed social learning theory mechanisms appear to have some explanatory power in the context of individuals’ political participation and asserts that social learning theory may very well be applicable in similar future studies as a complement to other explanatory factors.

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