En 2004, la région Poitou-Charentes connait sa première alternance : l'équipe nouvelle affiche son intention de changer la politique régionale et présente « la démocratie participative » comme un choix de méthode d'action publique discriminant. En analysant conjointement les conditions d'importation et de mobilisation des idées et le travail de négociation, de mobilisation et de transaction entre les acteurs engagés à titre divers dans la production de l'action publique, nous mettons en évidence les dimensions idéologique, politique et institutionnelle de la fabrique de l'alternance, entendue comme le processus au cours duquel une équipe nouvellement élue tente de faire reconnaître son offre politique comme discriminante, de convertir l'organisation aux nouveaux objectifs qui lui sont assignés et de renégocier l'identité, les ressources et la valeur des porte-parole du territoire régional, institués par l'équipe précédente ; porte-parole avec lesquels et sur lesquels elle doit agir pour engager une action de transformation de la société locale et assoir sa position dans la compétition politique. En comparant trois dispositifs participatifs ("Budget participatif des lycées", "Jury citoyen d'évaluation de la politique régionale Transport et Mobilité" et "forum participatif sur l'eau"), nous analysons comment l'environnement régional, institué autour des politiques conduites par l'équipe précédente, se décompose et se recompose au cours de la mise en œuvre des procédures participatives qui mobilisent un public élargi de citoyens ordinaires. Ainsi, nous montrons comment ces instruments participatifs sont des vecteurs et des révélateurs d'une redéfinition du style politique et des catégories d'intervention publique régionaux. / In 2004, the Poitou-Charentes French region experienced its first political alternation. The new majority proclaimed its intention to transform local politics and displayed “participatory democracy” as a discriminating choice of public action methods. By analysing concomitantly the conditions of importation and mobilisation of political ideas and the process of negotiation, of mobilisation and of transaction which are taking place between the various actors involved in the production of public action, this works highlights the ideological, political and institutional dimensions of the making of the political alternation. The latter notion defines the process during which a newly-elected majority endeavours to make its political offer acknowledged as discriminating, to convert the institution to the new assigned objectives and to re-negotiate the identity, the resources and the value of the spokespersons of the regional territory. The new majority needs to work with and on these spokespersons, who had been promoted by the former political majority, in order to implement an action of transformation of the local society and assert its local political leadership. By comparing three ‘participatory’ devices ("high schools’ participatory budgets", "citizens' jury evaluating the ‘Transport and Mobility’ regional policy", and "participatory forum" on water issues), this work analyses how the regional framework, established around the policies run by the former political majority, are distorted and recomposed on the occasion of the implementation of these ‘participatory’ processes mobilizing a wide range of ordinary citizens. Thus, we show how these participatory tools are carriers and indicators of a re-definition of regional political style and categories of public intervention.

Pourquoi certains dispositifs participatifs brésiliens réunissent-ils principalement des acteurs habituellement peu participants ? Cette thèse s'attache à analyser une participation « improbable » à partir de l'étude des conférences municipales des femmes de Recife et de Londrina. A la différence des analyses « institutionnelles » qui placent le design des dispositifs en facteur explicatif des pratiques de participation, notre approche vise à mettre en évidence leur ancrage social et l'intrication entre le jeu social et le « jeu participatif ». L'hypothèse développée est que la mobilisation des déshéritées dans les conférences des femmes dépend principalement des enjeux propres à l'espace des quartiers populaires et, plus précisément, des luttes pour la représentation en leur sein. Cette thèse repose sur la combinaison de plusieurs niveaux d'analyse : une approche micro-sociologique d'abord, centrée sur les trajectoires et les pratiques de participation des habitantes et une approche méso-sociologique ensuite, visant à rendre compte de l'émergence de la démocratie participative au Brésil. Ces deux niveaux permettent de montrer que la participation des plus démunis aux dispositifs participatifs est le résultat d'une histoire singulière, au cours de laquelle la notion de participation a été associée à un territoire, les quartiers populaires, et des dynamiques individuelles et collectives de construction de leurs porte-parole légitimes / Why do several Brazilian participatory institutions gather people who usually do not participate? This thesis attempts to analyse an “improbable” participation through the case of women's municipal conferences in Recife and Londrina. Although several studies highlight the role of participatory institutions designs to explain why people participate, I argue that it is the intricacy between social and participatory games which explains this mobilization. My main hypothesis is that poor women's participation depends on issues specific to popular districts and more precisely on the competition for representation in those territories.This doctoral research combines two levels of analysis: a microlevel approach, first, based on the study of women's trajectory and their practices of participation; a mesolevel approach, then, which aims at analyzing the emergence of participatory democracy in Brazil. These two levels of analysis show that poor women participation is the result of a singular history, during which the category participation has been linked to a territory, the popular districts, as well as individuals and collective dynamics of construction of legitimate spokespersons within them

Despite stipulations in local government legislation that Municipalities should build the capacity of the local communities to enable effective public participation and to foster community participation in local government, little is known on how municipalities capacitate their people staying in the rural areas to participate effectively in the IDP process. This research study investigated, explored and analyzed capacity building programmes used by Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality to capacitate its people staying in the rural areas to participate effectively in the IDP process. The study was conducted through qualitative interviews with officials working and people living in two rural wards. An analysis of the interviews yields that Lepelle-Nkumpi municipality does not have a capacity building policy or strategy for promoting effective participation of people in the IDP process. The capacity building programmes used by the municipality are more focused on ward committees, ward councilors and project steering committee members than on traditional leaders, small businesses and other people staying in the rural areas. The municipality has planned training programmes for ward committees, ward councilors and project steering committee members and none for other people. Information sharing is done through ward committees, municipality and council meetings for all categories of citizens. People who practise subsistence farming are capacitated through agricultural research based interventions. Skills development programmes are used to enhance participation of project steering committee members in monitoring the implementation of IDP projects. The capacity building programmes are effective in making people aware of structures they can use to participate in the IDP process and to participate during IDP project implementation and to a minimal extent enhances people’s participation in monitoring the implementation of IDP projects. The Municipality’s capacity building programmes enhances people’s skills to participate effectively during implementation of IDP projects and not in the decision making during analysis, strategies and approval phases of the IDP process.

The aim of the study is to analyse the role of democratic school governing bodies in promoting school improvement in four High Schools in Pimville and Klipspruit locations in Soweto. The study presents two arguments, one is theoretical and the other is methodological. Theoretically, there is no clear-cut relationship between democratic SGBs and school improvement. Methodologically, the relationship between SGBs and school improvement can best be understood based on a critical analysis that specifies the context within which democratic SGBs promote school improvement. Such an analysis reveals the complex nature of the school dynamics within which SGBs have to promote school improvement. The role of SGBs is mediated by various local and global socio-economic and political factors. This study articulates these factors as inputs, context, complexity and mediation. Consequently, understanding the nature of the role of SGBs in promoting school improvement requires an elaboration of the specific articulation of these factors. Input factors important for school improvement include the school infrastructure, learning and teaching material, financial resources, quality of teachers and standards of teaching methodology as well as parental participation. The context and complexity factors indicate that school improvement efforts must appreciate the conceptual and historical contexts that shape the conception and practice of school improvement. SGBs emerge out of a particular historical moment. SGBs have features of both apartheid school boards and committees and the people‘s education‘s PTSA‘s. These features render the role of SGBs precarious because it is framed within contradictory ideological discourses. Other context factors are relationships within the school, leadership and socio-economic factors. Finally, the role of SGBs is mediated by how school improvement is understood in these schools, by legislation and the complex nature of school dynamics. The study concludes that schools do not operate outside of a history of unequal provision of resources and SGBs do not exist independently of the incessant conflict among social forces. Schools operate within a social context. When narrowly focused within the school and in isolation from the historical legacy, school improvement initiatives reproduce and perfect the features that define their context.

European Citizens' Initiative The main core of the thesis is the problematics of the European Citizens' Initiative, a tool relatively new that was put in place by the Lisbon Treaty and allows one million citizens from at least seven EU Member States to ask the European Commission to propose legislation in areas that fall within its competence. This thesis provides a detailed description of this instrument of participatory democracy, its historical foundations, its development and also the recent proposal for a regulation on the European citizens' initiative that aims to fill the gaps discovered during the period of its existence. It describes the formal and procedural requirements required for the successful submission of the initiative to the European Commission, particularly for registration, and thus the official launch of the initiative. It focuses on the forms of statements of support and the complication that it brought. The thesis also introduces some of the initiatives that have been organised since 2012, both successful and unsuccessful, including those that the Commission has refused to register. There is also an evaluation of the initiatives, the experiences and challenges that the organizers have met and especially the impact of the successful ones. The thesis points out particular...

O presente trabalho pretende discutir o tema da democracia a partir do pensamento de Axel Honneth, localizado no interior da tradição de pensamento que se convencionou chamar de Teoria Crítica da Escola de Frankfurt. Para tanto, realizará uma investigação cronológica dos principais antecessores de Honneth, com ênfase em Theodor W. Adorno e Max Horkheimer, como representantes da primeira geração, e em Jürgen Habermas, representante da segunda geração e orientador de doutorado de Honneth. Nesse percurso, o tema da democracia será examinado a partir das contribuições teóricas de tais autores. Objetiva-se, com isso, verificar, em primeiro lugar, a evolução desse conceito até sua consolidação na ideia de uma democracia participativa, concebida por Habermas e situada num contexto de crítica aos modelos tradicionais calcados na representação política. A partir daí, serão apresentadas as reflexões de Axel Honneth sobre o tema, a partir da categoria da Luta por Reconhecimento, que Honneth atualiza do pensamento do Hegel de Jena, em cotejo com autores da psicologia, com o fim de verificar se tais ideias correspondem a um modelo teórico novo de democracia ou se atendem, em específico, a preencher as lacunas da teoria habermasiana. Espera-se como resultado verificar tal indagação e, transversalmente, explorar as contribuições de uma abordagem calcada na Luta por Reconhecimento como uma maneira de lançar um novo olhar para os problemas da democracia contemporânea. / This paper will discuss the theme of democracy from the thought of Axel Honneth, locatead within the tradition of Critical Theory of the Frankfurt Eschool. To do so, carry out an investigation of the major chronological predecessors Honneth, with emphasis on Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, as representatives of the first generation, and Jürgen Habermas, a representative of the second generation of doctoral supervisor and Honneth. Along the way, the theme of democracy will be examined from the theoretical contributions of such authors. The objective is, therefore, verify, first, the evolution of this concept to its consolidation in the idea of participatory democracy, conceived by Habermas and set in a context of criticism of the traditional models rooted in political representation. Thereafter, the reflections will be presented by Axel Honneth on the topic from the category of the Struggle for Recognition, Honneth updates of thought that Hegel\'s Jena, in comparison with authors of psychology, in order to ascertain whether such ideas are a new theoretical model of democracy or to serve, in particular, to fill gaps in the theory of Habermas. The expected results verify this question, and across, explore the contributions of an approach grounded in the Struggle for Recognition as a way to launch a new look at the problems of contemporary democracy.

O presente trabalho se insere no campo sobre Democracia Digital e procura compreender o funcionamento das iniciativas de participação digitais que visam incidir na decisão política. Será argumentado que, na ausência de ferramentas de agregação e de níveis de representação, é através de um processo de tradução que o Estado é capaz de lidar com os grandes volumes de informação difusa provenientes dessas iniciativas. Ao longo do trabalho, serão explorados os aspectos que compõem o processo de tradução e será utilizado como exemplo empírico o estudo de caso sobre o Marco Civil da Internet. / This work falls within the field of Digital Democracy and intents to understand the functioning of digital participation initiatives seeking to produce effects on political decision. I argue that in the absence of aggregation- and representation-level tools, it is through a translation process that the state is able to handle the large volumes of scattered information from these initiatives. Throughout the work, the aspects that constitute the translation process and the empirical example will be a case study on the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet

O presente trabalho pretende discutir o tema da democracia a partir do pensamento de Axel Honneth, localizado no interior da tradição de pensamento que se convencionou chamar de Teoria Crítica da Escola de Frankfurt. Para tanto, realizará uma investigação cronológica dos principais antecessores de Honneth, com ênfase em Theodor W. Adorno e Max Horkheimer, como representantes da primeira geração, e em Jürgen Habermas, representante da segunda geração e orientador de doutorado de Honneth. Nesse percurso, o tema da democracia será examinado a partir das contribuições teóricas de tais autores. Objetiva-se, com isso, verificar, em primeiro lugar, a evolução desse conceito até sua consolidação na ideia de uma democracia participativa, concebida por Habermas e situada num contexto de crítica aos modelos tradicionais calcados na representação política. A partir daí, serão apresentadas as reflexões de Axel Honneth sobre o tema, a partir da categoria da Luta por Reconhecimento, que Honneth atualiza do pensamento do Hegel de Jena, em cotejo com autores da psicologia, com o fim de verificar se tais ideias correspondem a um modelo teórico novo de democracia ou se atendem, em específico, a preencher as lacunas da teoria habermasiana. Espera-se como resultado verificar tal indagação e, transversalmente, explorar as contribuições de uma abordagem calcada na Luta por Reconhecimento como uma maneira de lançar um novo olhar para os problemas da democracia contemporânea. / This paper will discuss the theme of democracy from the thought of Axel Honneth, locatead within the tradition of Critical Theory of the Frankfurt Eschool. To do so, carry out an investigation of the major chronological predecessors Honneth, with emphasis on Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, as representatives of the first generation, and Jürgen Habermas, a representative of the second generation of doctoral supervisor and Honneth. Along the way, the theme of democracy will be examined from the theoretical contributions of such authors. The objective is, therefore, verify, first, the evolution of this concept to its consolidation in the idea of participatory democracy, conceived by Habermas and set in a context of criticism of the traditional models rooted in political representation. Thereafter, the reflections will be presented by Axel Honneth on the topic from the category of the Struggle for Recognition, Honneth updates of thought that Hegel\'s Jena, in comparison with authors of psychology, in order to ascertain whether such ideas are a new theoretical model of democracy or to serve, in particular, to fill gaps in the theory of Habermas. The expected results verify this question, and across, explore the contributions of an approach grounded in the Struggle for Recognition as a way to launch a new look at the problems of contemporary democracy.

This study examines the practical application of Oxford Idealism to education reform and the adult education movement. According to Idealist philosophy, enlightened and active citizenship was the cornerstone of a participatory democracy. This thesis thus explores how Oxford Idealists used the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) to pursue the aim of cultivating good citizenship and forming a common purpose for the future society they wished to see emerging. The WEA, founded in 1903, embodied the Idealist vision by promoting its two-fold practices: first, it organised university tutorial classes to foster mutual learning and fellowship between intellectuals and workers; second, it campaigned for a state-funded 'educational highway', from nursery to university, so that every citizen would have the opportunity to receive the kind of liberal education which had hitherto been limited to upper and middle classes. By exploring the development of the dual initiative, this thesis examines the achievement and limitations of the Idealist project. In particular, it investigates whether and how this pursuit, in the long run, contributed to the rise of professionalism, a trend which has been ascribed to the efforts of Idealists but which in many ways contradicted the ideal of participatory democracy. In so doing, this thesis explains why the influence of Oxford Idealism-this highly moralistic philosophy which inspired a generation of intellectuals and politicians and lent a distinctive flavour to British public policy at the beginning of the twentieth century-gradually ebbed in the public domain.

Les projets d’aménagement urbain provoquent de plus en plus d’inquiétudes et de mobilisations spontanées, qui créent des tensions sur les conditions de prise de décision. L’action publique se heurte à des résistances tant dans sa conception que sa réalisation. Et dans un contexte où la participation citoyenne à l’élaboration des projets tend à devenir un nouveau mode de gouvernance, les riverains ne veulent plus que leurs rôles se limitent aux simples « pourvoyeurs » des avis. S’appropriant l’espace public et les dispositifs participatifs, ils aspirent non seulement à l’expression de leurs opinions, mais aussi à une confrontation des expertises. C’est dans ce cadre-là que s’inscrit le projet de la ligne B du métro dans la métropole rennaise. Ayant appris l’hypothèse d’une insertion aérienne du métro entre les deux étangs dans leur quartier – les Longs Champs -, les riverains se sont mobilisés pour exprimer leur désaccord. Compte tenu de l’ampleur de cette mobilisation, le maître d’ouvrage décida d’organiser une « concertation spécifique » à l’issue de laquelle le projet métropolitain a été retenu aux dépens des projets « habitants » et « urbaniste ». Notre thèse a pour objectifs d’examiner les collectifs d’ habitants des Longs Champs pour essayer d’appréhender la rationalisation organisationnelle dans une action collective orientée vers un objectif commun; explorer les enjeux sociopolitiques et infocommunicationnels des dispositifs participatifs ; interroger les modes de production des savoirs profanes dans une perspective de confrontation des légitimités concernant l’élaboration et la mise en oeuvre d’un projet d’intérêt général. / Urban planning projects lead to more and more waves of public concern and spontaneous mobilization, which lead to tensions surrounding the way decisions are made. Public action sees its conception and implementation be faced with obstacles. And in a context where citizens’ participation in the development of projects seems to be new mode of governance, residents no longer want their role to be limited to that of a simple “opinions provider”. Using the public space and participatory tools, they expect to be able to express their opinion, and also for different surveys to be confronted. It is whiting this framework that Rennes’s B line is being examined. Having learnt of the possibility of there being an overground portion of the line between two ponds in the Longs Champs district, the residents gathered to voice their disagreement.Because of the scale of the mobilization, the project owner decided to organize a “specific consultation” after which the metropolitan project was adopted at the expense of “residential” and “urbanist” projects. The objectives of our thesis are to examine the residents’ groups, to try and grasp the organizational rationalization of collective action aiming towards a common goal; to explore the sociopolitical and communicational issues of participatory tools; to question the production methods of knowledges in the perspective of confroncting legitimate opinions regarding the elaboration and implementation of a project of general interest.