<p>This thesis studies three kinds of debate formats. Those are DN Debatt, SVT Debatt and Ring P1. The focus lies in the interrelations between these forums and how they interact with theri audience. Since debate is an essential tool for political and democratic practice, it is vital to study the movements and the realtions between these media formats. Some of the questions in this study are: What happens with a debate topic when it moves between the formats? In which way are the formats democratic and what does their communicative forms mean for political practice and citizen participation? The study shoes how the interpretation of a specific term can expand during a debate. The expanding of interpretations is possible in the space between all the conditions that control the debate as a medium; both structural and interactional.</p>

Within the growing field of surveillance studies, national identity cards and related issues have become an important research topic. Most research in this field, however, does not consider the role of media in the development of surveillance. This research examines the history of mediated public debates about identity cards in the U.K. In the U.K, since the Identity Cards Bill 2004, National Identity cards have been widely debated across the British national newspapers once again after several heated historical debates in WWI, WWII, and the 1990s. It is this thesis s purpose to analyze the role of the British national newspapers in generating support and resistance in the development of British national identity cards in the past one hundred years, respectively in 1915, 1919, 1939, 1951, and from 1994 to 2008. This thesis also seeks to find out the continuities and changes in the way British national newspapers influence the repeated introduction and withdrawal of identity cards over time. Specifically, by employing the methods of content and frame analysis, the thesis examines the actors involved in the mediated debate of British national identity cards, their argumentation, the frames underlying the argumentation and the themes appeared in the debates, in order to find out to what extent the British print media supported or opposed the identity cards over time.

Austin is the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World,” and its commitment to the practice of musical performance has created a unique environment for musicians and audiences. In particular, this paper focuses on the history of music in public places in Austin. This creative identity has helped encourage growth that creates stress on cultural and social relations. The conflict over amplified music is one front where this opposition plays out. Currently, the Austin noise ordinance is a decibel-based, quantifiable measurement, but everyone involved must make a greater effort to communicate and compromise in the social sphere. To cultivate a thriving live music scene, a strong commitment from venues, musicians, residents, and city hall is necessary. / text

This thesis provides a sociological exploration of the politics of new agricultural technologies in the United Kingdom. It addresses some of the key issues involved in these politics, as well as how they are discussed and fought over. Conceptually it addresses these questions by focussing on issues of risk, science and governance. In doing so, this thesis situates the politics of GM crops and foods in relation to wider normative concerns about the cultural values, relationships and institutions shaping agriculture, and British society more generally. Empirically, this thesis applies a qualitative methodology, primarily relying on data generated from a series of in-depth interviews. Through these interviews active participants in the debate were able to express a variety of opinions about the risks and benefits of agricultural biotechnology. The interview data is further supplemented by some documentary evidence, particularly as relates to several government led initiatives addressing agricultural debates in terms of contestations over risk and knowledge. Key chapters in this thesis look at the way in which the debate over GM crops and foods has been shaped by perceptions of the role and values of the life-industry, science and the Government in developing and regulating biotechnology. Finally, this thesis also addresses how society, and practices of governance in particular, are able to accommodate these political issues in managing risk and regulating technological change.

Esta dissertação descreve e analisa o debate público sobre o projeto do Pontal do Estaleiro entre as esferas pública, política e midiática. O terreno referente ao Pontal do Estaleiro se tornou uma polêmica durante a revisão do Plano Diretor de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Ambiental de Porto Alegre. Este projeto monopolizou um debate entre novembro de 2008 e agosto de 2009, ao sair do escopo da revisão do plano diretor e solicitar alteração da Lei Complementar 470 de 02/01/2002 (LC 470/2002) para permitir edificações residenciais em espaço de orla às margens do Guaíba. A polêmica rendeu duas aprovações do projeto, veto do prefeito e audiências públicas na Câmara de Vereadores. Acabou resultando em deliberação pública através da realização de uma consulta à população. O trabalho aborda a circularidade das questões nas cinco principais fases do debate, a partir das especificidades de cada instância. Na esfera política, analisaram-se os movimentos de accountability (prestação de contas) em notícias publicadas pela Câmara de Vereadores e Prefeitura Municipal nos respectivos sites. Na esfera pública, foram identificados os argumentos da arena de interlocução através da observação participante de uma audiência pública, duas reuniões do Fórum de Entidades e de entrevistas realizadas no dia da consulta pública. Na esfera midiática, foram examinadas as questões enquadradas nas principais coberturas jornalísticas sobre o Pontal, realizadas pelos jornais Zero Hora, Correio do Povo e Jornal do Comércio. Concluiu-se que as esferas realizam diferentes tipos de comunicação no debate. A esfera pública substanciou os principais argumentos que foram discutidos no debate público. Juntamente com a esfera política, foi mais permeável à circulação de questões em debate, mas ambas não conseguiram agendar a esfera midiática na exposição argumentativa. Assim, a mídia se mostrou menos permeável aos argumentos reduzindo a amplitude do debate público. / This thesis describes and analyzes the public debate on the development proposal for Pontal do Estaleiro between the public, politics and media spheres. Pontal do Estaleiro’s property became controversial during the revision of the Master Plan for Urban and Environmental Development of Porto Alegre. This project was the main focus of a debate between the months of November 2008 and August 2009, when it left the scope of the Master Plan review and a change of the Complementary Law 470 of 01/02/2002 (LC 470/2002) was requested in order to allow residential buildings to be built on the coast of Guaíba Lake. The controversy was such that the project had two approvals, the mayor's veto and public hearings at the City Council. It eventually was resolved through public deliberation by a query within the population. This work addresses the issues of circularity in the five main stages of the debate considering the specificities of each instance. In the public sphere, the arguments of the arena for dialogue were identified through participant observation of a public hearing, two meetings of the Forum of Entities and interviews done during the public consultation. In the political sphere, the movements of accountability were analyzed in reports published by the City Council and City Hall on their websites. In the media sphere, issues framed in the main news coverage on the Pontal made by Zero Hora, Correio do Povo and Jornal do Comércio were examined. It was concluded that the spheres carry different types of communication throughout the debate. The public sphere has substantiated the main arguments that have been discussed in public debate. Along with the political sphere, it was more open to the circulation of issues under discussion, but both failed to influence the media sphere's agenda towards the explanatory argument. Thus, the media showed itself less susceptible to arguments, reducing the extent of public debate.

Esta dissertação descreve e analisa o debate público sobre o projeto do Pontal do Estaleiro entre as esferas pública, política e midiática. O terreno referente ao Pontal do Estaleiro se tornou uma polêmica durante a revisão do Plano Diretor de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Ambiental de Porto Alegre. Este projeto monopolizou um debate entre novembro de 2008 e agosto de 2009, ao sair do escopo da revisão do plano diretor e solicitar alteração da Lei Complementar 470 de 02/01/2002 (LC 470/2002) para permitir edificações residenciais em espaço de orla às margens do Guaíba. A polêmica rendeu duas aprovações do projeto, veto do prefeito e audiências públicas na Câmara de Vereadores. Acabou resultando em deliberação pública através da realização de uma consulta à população. O trabalho aborda a circularidade das questões nas cinco principais fases do debate, a partir das especificidades de cada instância. Na esfera política, analisaram-se os movimentos de accountability (prestação de contas) em notícias publicadas pela Câmara de Vereadores e Prefeitura Municipal nos respectivos sites. Na esfera pública, foram identificados os argumentos da arena de interlocução através da observação participante de uma audiência pública, duas reuniões do Fórum de Entidades e de entrevistas realizadas no dia da consulta pública. Na esfera midiática, foram examinadas as questões enquadradas nas principais coberturas jornalísticas sobre o Pontal, realizadas pelos jornais Zero Hora, Correio do Povo e Jornal do Comércio. Concluiu-se que as esferas realizam diferentes tipos de comunicação no debate. A esfera pública substanciou os principais argumentos que foram discutidos no debate público. Juntamente com a esfera política, foi mais permeável à circulação de questões em debate, mas ambas não conseguiram agendar a esfera midiática na exposição argumentativa. Assim, a mídia se mostrou menos permeável aos argumentos reduzindo a amplitude do debate público. / This thesis describes and analyzes the public debate on the development proposal for Pontal do Estaleiro between the public, politics and media spheres. Pontal do Estaleiro’s property became controversial during the revision of the Master Plan for Urban and Environmental Development of Porto Alegre. This project was the main focus of a debate between the months of November 2008 and August 2009, when it left the scope of the Master Plan review and a change of the Complementary Law 470 of 01/02/2002 (LC 470/2002) was requested in order to allow residential buildings to be built on the coast of Guaíba Lake. The controversy was such that the project had two approvals, the mayor's veto and public hearings at the City Council. It eventually was resolved through public deliberation by a query within the population. This work addresses the issues of circularity in the five main stages of the debate considering the specificities of each instance. In the public sphere, the arguments of the arena for dialogue were identified through participant observation of a public hearing, two meetings of the Forum of Entities and interviews done during the public consultation. In the political sphere, the movements of accountability were analyzed in reports published by the City Council and City Hall on their websites. In the media sphere, issues framed in the main news coverage on the Pontal made by Zero Hora, Correio do Povo and Jornal do Comércio were examined. It was concluded that the spheres carry different types of communication throughout the debate. The public sphere has substantiated the main arguments that have been discussed in public debate. Along with the political sphere, it was more open to the circulation of issues under discussion, but both failed to influence the media sphere's agenda towards the explanatory argument. Thus, the media showed itself less susceptible to arguments, reducing the extent of public debate.

This thesis studies three kinds of debate formats. Those are DN Debatt, SVT Debatt and Ring P1. The focus lies in the interrelations between these forums and how they interact with theri audience. Since debate is an essential tool for political and democratic practice, it is vital to study the movements and the realtions between these media formats. Some of the questions in this study are: What happens with a debate topic when it moves between the formats? In which way are the formats democratic and what does their communicative forms mean for political practice and citizen participation? The study shoes how the interpretation of a specific term can expand during a debate. The expanding of interpretations is possible in the space between all the conditions that control the debate as a medium; both structural and interactional.

Ce projet étudie la réalisation d’un marché d’énergie éolienne en France. Les marchés d'énergie éolienne sont souvent désignés comme des «marchés politiques» : D'une part, l'énergie éolienne réduit les émissions de CO2 et retarde les effets de la production d'électricité sur le changement climatique. D'autre part, comme bien économique, l'énergie éolienne se dit souffrir «d’handicaps» technico-économiques (les coûts élevés, la production fluctuante et imprévisible, etc.). Par conséquent, en raison de sa performance comme bien économique, il est argumenté que la survie de l'énergie éolienne dans le marché est fondée sur différents instruments, dont certains que je qualifierai de «prothèses». Cette thèse s’interroge sur deux de ces prothèses : Le tarif d’achat et les Zones de Développement Eolien (ZDE) comme ils sont négociés et mis en pratique en France, ainsi que la manière dont ils affectent la réalisation des marchés de l'énergie. / This project studies the making of a market for wind power in France. Markets for wind power are often referred to as ‘political markets: On the one hand, wind power has the potential to reduce CO2-emissions and thus stall the effects of electricity generation on climate change; and on the other hand, as an economic good, wind power is said to suffer from (techno-economic) ‘disabilities', such as high costs, fluctuating and unpredictable generation, etc. Therefore, because of its performance as a good, it is argued that the survival of wind power in the market is premised on different instruments, some of which I will refer to as ‘prosthetic devices'. This thesis inquires into two such prosthetic devices: The feed-in tariff and the wind power development zones (ZDE) as they are negotiated and practiced in France, and also the ways in which they affect the making of markets for wind power. Theoretically, this dissertation mobilizes a constructivist approach according to which markets are seen as socio-technical assemblages, stressing the heterogeneous and distributed character of their constituent elements. Furthermore, the approach allows questioning the deadlocked delineation between politics and economics, a delineation that appears to underlie the idea of the political market. Based on fieldwork in France, the core of this thesis is made up of two analyses; firstly, the definition of a feed-in tariff is empirically followed as a process of valuation in which value is seen as the outcome of irregular and costly activities, rather than the identification of an inherent value.To study how value, here in the form of a price, comes about in the case of wind power, five different empirical traces are followed with each one representing a distinct approach to valuation. These valuation proposals involve qualifying and disqualifying wind power, e.g., from CO2-reducing to CO2-emitting, and they span a range of controversies. The second analysis addresses the ZDE-device. It follows the device along two phases; namely, its conception and its emerging practice in a specific case, the territory of Pays de la Serre. The first phase is discussed as a politicization of wind power, a distinct framing of location in which the possibility for local opposition is enforced. The second phase, i.e. the practice of the device in Pays de la Serre, is better described as an economization of the landscape, a process of translating the territory according to one-dimensional layers. In their final presentation, these layers are accumulated and black-boxed, and the criteria for their construction disappear.

Sweden and its relationship with the former state church Church of Sweden and religion, is complicated. The country has been described as one of the most secular countries in the world, and yet one of the longer recurring public debates has been on the topic of whether schools’ end of year ceremonies should take place in local churches or not. The peak of this debate coincides with newly defined regulations from the Swedish National Agency for Education regarding what is considered appropriate and inappropriate religious features in school and its ceremonies. The aim of this study is to investigate how Swedish citizens contribute to this debate and to illuminate what different intents and purposes they associate with the end of year ceremony in church. The research questions asked were: What themes occur in the opinion pieces written by Swedish citizens in the years 2010–2012? What or which purposes do they ascribe to the end of year ceremony in church within these themes? In what ways can these intents and purposes be seen and understood through Grace Davie’s” Vicarious religion” and religion as a public utility? The study was conducted by performing a qualitative content analysis on 28 articles published in public debate or opinion pieces in Swedish regional press through the years 2010–2012. The result was then analyzed with Grace Davie’s theory” Vicarious religion” and the notion of religion as a public utility within that theory. The results and analysis showed that the citizens had different understandings of the political decisions that concerned the end of year ceremony, which in turn led to different opinions on the purpose of the ceremony taking place in church. The differences in opinion showed that the Swedish people considered religious features and locales as either going against the school’s non-confessional policies and the freedom of religion, or as a necessity to fulfill a culturally traditional or educational role. The citizens who want the end of year ceremonies to take place in church and potentially include religious aspects can be understood as participating in vicarious religion in the sense that they defend continued access to religious locales and features as part of education and tradition, and by consequence, religion as a useful public utility.

This PhD thesis concerns language and racism. The aim is to explore how racism is reproduced in interaction in public debates on immigration, integration and refugee policy. From a constructivist pragmatic perspective, language is considered as a practice that composes and makes sense of our social world and all the phenomena and individuals that we perceive in it. Racist discourses discriminate against and privilege people by categorising them according to notions of cultural, ethnical, racial, religious and national differences. The thesis has two main themes: 1) the linguistic reproduction of, and response to, racist discrimination and privileging in interaction, and 2) the role of language in various public arenas, and the norms and conditions for participation in these arenas. The thesis comprises five studies. Study I examines racist discourses and conditions for participation in an online newspaper comments section. Study II examines how the phrase “politically correct” is used and negotiated in the same comments section, and how its usage leads to the reproduction and normalisation of racism. Another comments section is the focus of Study III, in which discriminating and privileging categorisations of Muslims, Islam, Swedes and Sweden are analysed. Study IV examines an anti-racist forum on the social networking site Instagram. In the study, the reproduction of norms of whiteness is analysed, as well as power relations that are evoked, sustained and transformed in interaction. Finally, Study V is an analysis of linguistic, visual and material reproductions of political positions and racist discourses in a debate among party leaders on Swedish television. The thesis demonstrates how normalisation of racism is accomplished in interaction, and how reproduction of hierarchically structured difference and bigoted stereotypes are performed, and challenged, through language. The medium, combined with the user’s speech acts, set up the norms and conditions for participation, and for the discursive processes that reproduce the relations and structures of power.