Inspired by the increasingly high visibility of British Muslim NGOs (BMNGOs), by the lack of research on their discourses and by the growing salience of frames theory within the mainstream NGO sector, this thesis offers a significant and original contribution by exploring, describing, and analysing the discourse of two BMNGOs carefully selected as case studies: Islamic Relief (IR) and MADE (Muslim Action for Development and the Environment). The primary aim of the thesis is empirical, driven by the research question: ‘what frames seem to be at work in the discourse of BMNGOs?’ Through an in-depth analysis of a range of public documents produced by the two case studies (e.g. annual reports and websites), the thesis identifies and analyses the main frames used by IR and MADE to articulate three key aspects of their discourses: i) organisational identity; ii) mobilisation efforts; and iii) conceptualisations of their supporter base. Guided by this overarching research question, the thesis offers an original and interdisciplinary insight into the nuances of the case studies’ meaning systems, thereby showing their complexities and resonance with multiple narratives and ideational repertoires. The emerging ‘thick descriptions’ of IR and MADE represent, in and of themselves, the main results of the study, which is intended to enable readers from different disciplinary backgrounds to gain a nuanced insight into BMNGOs’ discourses. At a secondary level, the thesis also pursues the theoretical aim to start exploring how the frames identified in the study inform the two research sub-questions: ‘how to think about BMNGOs?’ and ‘how to think about British Muslim civic engagement?’ Several observations are put forward in this regard. Taken together, these suggest that IR can be understood as a faith-based organisation that simultaneously draws on a range of heritages and increasingly offers opportunities for active citizenship among British Muslims within the framework of what is broadly characterizable as a ‘NGO-led order’. On the other hand, the thesis suggests that MADE can be understood as an exemplar of the current era of ‘loose activist networks’, more precisely as a ‘Muslim lifestyle’ social movement organisation that promotes among British Muslims a multifaceted form of civic engagement inspired by an Islamic ethical framework.

This thesis is about the lives and civic engagements of Afghans in Germany and the UK. It shows how Afghans living in these two countries relate to Afghanistan, and to what extent they engage in transnational action aimed at promoting change there. In particular, it explores the emergence of diasporic communities and how members exercise agency as development actors in Afghanistan. The research rests on a qualitative case study conducted among Afghan populations in Germany and the UK. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were primary methods of data collection. Relational sociology is used to capture emerging social identities, patterns of social organisation and forms of social engagement. A first notable finding is that Afghan populations abroad are fractured and cannot be seen as a united diaspora. People tend to coalesce in narrowly defined subgroups rather than under a shared national identity. Second, Afghanistan remains a crucial reference point, notwithstanding fragmented social organisation. Home country attachments tend to be tied to a desire for change and development in the country. Third, despite these shared concerns, transnational engagements are typically carried out by small groups and directed towards confined social spheres. Although people may take action in the name of an imagined Afghan community or an imaginary Afghanistan, this imagined community does not provide a basis for social mobilisation. Thus Afghans do not act as a cohesive diaspora. Fourth, transnational engagements are often a response to the specificities of the social environments in which people are embedded, notably their host countries. The findings show that a relational approach can specify how different dimensions of people’s social identities drive social action and are shaped in interaction with various elements of their social context. Such an actor-centred perspective helps to improve our understanding of how members of diasporas come to engage with their countries of origin.

Immigrant incorporation in the United States has been a topic of concern and debate since the founding of the nation. Scholars have studied many aspects of the phenomenon, including economic, political, social, and spatial. The most influential paradigm of immigrant incorporation in the US has been, and continues to be, assimilation, and the most important place in and scale at which incorporation occurs is the neighborhood. This dissertation captures both of these integral aspects of immigrant incorporation through its consideration of three dimensions of assimilation – identity, trust, and civic engagement – among Latin American immigrants and American-born Latinos in Little Havana, a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Miami, Florida. Data discussed in the dissertation were gathered through surveys and interviews as part of a National Science Foundation-funded study carried out in 2005-2006. The combination of quantitative and qualitative data allows for a nuanced understanding of how immigrant incorporation is occurring locally during the first decade of the twentieth century. Findings reveal that overall Latin American immigrants and their American-born offspring appear to be becoming American with regard to their ethnic and racial identities quickly, evidenced through the salience and active employment of panethnic labels, while at the same time they are actively reshaping the identificational structure. The Latino population, however, is not monolithic and is cleaved by diversity within the group, including country of origin and socioeconomic status. These same factors impede group cohesion in terms of trust and its correlate, community. Nevertheless, the historically dominant ancestry group in Little Havana – Cubans – has been able to reach notable levels of trust and build and conserve a more solid sense of community than non-Cuban residents. With respect to civic engagement, neighborhood residents generally participate at rates lower than the overall US population and ethnic subpopulations. This is not the case for political engagement, however, where self-reported voting registration and turnout in Little Havana surpasses that of most benchmarked populations. The empirical evidence presented in this dissertation on the case of Latinos in Little Havana challenges the ways that identity, trust, and civic engagement are conceptualized and theorized, especially among immigrants to the US.

While in Western democracies the study of the impact of Internet on civic and political participation is very popular, in the Czech Republic this type of study is still at the beginning. It is merely focused on the impact of Internet on voter turnout and political campaigning. However the study of the impact of the Internet on civic and political participation from the indivdual level is still missing. Because of that te aim of this study is to analyze the impact of Internet use on political and civic participation. Based on my research I analyzed the internet activities and main factors that influence participation. The results of this study show that Internet is not going to be a panacea for political participation.

The aim of the thesis is to study personal identity development of the participants who move from active civic engagement within the civil society to active political participation within the political sphere at the reginal level. The thesis focuses on personal identity and the method of its construction through life stories. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with terms such as civic engagement, political participation and concepts based on narative identity. The second part contains a research methodology. Specifically is presented which presents the narrative approach with the use of narrative interview as a research method. The third part is based on deals with the research itself. The research works with a specific case based on political and socio-historical context of the city of Usti nad Labem. The data is obtained in the form of narrative interviews with local policiticians. The results of the research have shown that there are three different ways in which the actors are self- presenting their identity in relation to the environment. It was the identity of the politician, the identity of the activist / active citizen and the identity of the politician joined with the identity of the activist. Personal identity has completely changed in the case of one person, one person has changed...

The diploma thesis focuses on impact of civic engagement on health care system. It studies to what level this participation helps health care system transformation and change of a relationship between patients and political and professional authorities. It's aim is to provide a critical sociological analysis and explain social processes accompanying patients' engagement by using examples. Patient organisations - an institutionalised form of civic society with a potential to evoke social change - get into scope here. The ambition of this thesis is to show the applicability of the reflexivity concept to the area of health care, to enrich this analytical framework by multilevel approach to the health care system and therefore add to the discourse around civic engagement phenomenon by a systemic and structured view of dynamic relationships between patient organisations and health care system. The findings of the author are based on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with patient organisations representatives and available documents. The author emphasises the ambivalent impact of civic engagement which on one side reinforces individual transformations of micro, meso, macro and meta levels of health care system and also acts as a catalyst of wider sociocultural changes. On the other hand, it is accompanied...

This diploma thesis deals with the influence of Pionýr membership in the mentioned years on civic engagement, after the Velvet revolution in Pardubice region. The theoretical part will introduce theories of democratic and non-democratic civil society, the theory of opportunities for participation, the theory of disillusionment, or the theory of post-communist civil societies, on which the work will be based. In the second, empirical part, the organization Pionýr itself, the types of individual memberships, activities, organizations and more, will be defined. Subsequently, a quantitative analyse will be demonstrated by the method of narrative analysis and in-depth interviews with respondents, in each attempt to find a connection, between a former membership in Pionýr and civic engagement after the Velvet revolution. The aim of the work, is to find out whether the experience with civic engagement in a non-democratic regime, positively or negatively affects the involvement of the people even after the Velvet revolution within the democratic regime. Range: 81 pages; Key words: democratic civil society, non-democratic civil society, Pionýr, civic engagement, political engagement

The main topic of this thesis is the support of youth participation in the Czech Republic and related national youth policy, as defined in the National Youth Strategy for the years 2014- 2020. The aim of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate the process of creation, implementation and evaluation of this Strategy. Furthermore, the fulfillment of the strategic goal SC8, which focuses on the support of active involvement of young people, is evaluated. The thesis also includes an analysis of key actors, an informalized analysis of discourses related to youth policy and international comparison. Aims of the Strategy 2014-2020 were fulfilled through several implementation tools. The main tools were state grant programs for work with children and youth for NGOs, subsidy programs at the regional level, the Erasmus + program and cooperation with the NN LAG Czech Republic. The analysis of the Strategy evaluation process showed that the real process differed in some respects from the original plan. Monitoring of the fulfillment of strategic goals of the Strategy 2014-2020 should be provided by thematic groups, which, however, disintegrated during the validity of the Strategy. The deadline for the overall evaluation of the Strategy was postponed to June 2021. The biggest problem of the Strategy 2014-2020 was...

Mass media has always played the key role in democratic process. They are not only the indicator of its right functioning, but also the iniciator. From historical point of view is obvious, that technological progress and changes in the way of informing people were related to the political area. But with the increasing role of media, they changed their position from pure mediators of informations to the main actors of social and political life. The ‚old' media, such as newspapers, radio and television, are therefore partly responsible for commercialization of the public sphere and also for its depolitization. With contribution of the globalization effect on today's world, which causes besides other things the weakening of the nation state, there are only a little of the key democratic aspects left. Some find the solution in the ‚new' media represented by the Internet and social media, which are more interactive so they could get the citizens back to the game. And right in the increase of civic engagement see the theorists the potencial for creating a new democratic order based on high-level participation. KEY WORDS Mass media, Democracy, Public Sphere, Civic Engagement, Internet, Social media, Participative Democracy, Deliberative Democracy

The past few years have seen the emergence of new types of civic engagement. Citizens are now more capable to organize themselves than ever before and this creates a new pattern of social mobilization that has not previously been the centre of academic focus. This work analyses the particular case of the Romanian winter protests of 2012 in an attempt to prove that current mainstream theories of resource mobilization and framing do not fully explain the emergence of unstructured movements. The results aim to pave the way for a new theory of civic engagement that fits the newly observed realities and could be generalized to explain all forms of structured or unstructured participation to collective action.