The purpose of this paper is to attempt to identify if different levels of young members of parliament have a noticeable effect on young voters. This is done by examining electoral turnout and trust in parliament through statistical analysis using Denmark and Sweden as comparative cases. This paper is grounded in recent studies and research into young voter behaviour and relevant factors for political participation, it also takes into account the increasing volume of argumentative writings on increasing representation of young voters in official offices such as parliaments. The data used for the statistical analysis is the European Social Survey, specifically round 9. In 2018 both Sweden and Denmark were at the end of government periods and therefore the data takes into account a period of differing levels in young members of parliament. The findings of this study confirm differences between young voters of Sweden and Denmark, trust does not differ despite different levels of young members of parliament between Denmark and Sweden but electoral turnout does and young age is much less important for young voter turnout in Sweden compared to Denmark. Which could be related to the different levels of young members of parliament.

203 12 Dissertation Summary Dissertation title: Democracy in the Lack of Interest: the Effects of Remote Internet Voting Implementation in the Electoral Process of Selected Countries Name and Surname: Karel Sál Field of Study: Political Science Place of Work: Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague Dissertation Supervisor: PhDr. Petr Jüptner, Ph.D. No. of Pages: 203 No. of Appendixes: 30 Year of Defense: 2016 Keywords: internet voting; remote internet voting; electoral turnout; crisis of democracy; theory of participation; rational choice theory; Estonia; Switzerland; France; Norway; Spain. Abstract: The dissertation thesis named Democracy in the Lack of Interest: the Effects of Remote Internet Voting Implementation in the Electoral Process of Selected States reflects the phenomenon of the last decade - incorporation of new media into the political process. Internet voting is one of the discussed and suggested solutions of the so-called crisis of democracy, which could possibly stop the negative trend of diminishing voter turnout in advanced western democracies. The entire academic debate can be summarized into one question: It is possible, that the way of ballot casting can affect the voter turnout in that scale, that we can recognize a significant-positive...

In this thesis I explore a novel context sensitive conceptualisation of civic duty according to which the conduct (or misconduct) of elected officials affects whether eligible voters feel either a duty to vote (DTV) or a duty to abstain (DTA). Specifically, I argue that under conditions of corruption the norm of electoral accountability may override peoples’ sense of DTV in which case they instead feel a DTA. This context sensitive account is contrasted with a Kantian account of civic duty according to which eligible voters feel a duty to always vote, regardless of contextual factors. The empirical results provides tentative support for the claim that corruption not only decreases eligible voters’ sense of DTV but also increases their sense of DTA. This thesis thus contributes not only to the advancement of the conceptualisation of civic duty in relation to voter turnout, but its results also has important implications for how the rational choice perspective approaches the cost/benefit analysis commonly associated with the voting decision. In the latter case these results indicate that abstainers too may act out of duty and can therefore be assumed to gain positive utility from their abstention. However, the possibility that abstention (just as voting) yields unique costs and benefits has to my knowledge never been acknowledged in the rational choice literature on voter turnout. I therefore conclude by presenting a novel suggestion of how the potential costs and benefits of abstention can be incorporated into the calculus of voting.

Perseguendo politiche comuni per gli Stati membri, l'Unione Europea si è trasformata da unione puramente economica ad unione politica. Tuttavia, per quanto riguarda quest'ultimo aspetto, è stato fatto poco. Lo scetticismo è venuto a caratterizzare il clima politico dell'Unione Europea e l’elevata eterogeneità nei termini degli Stati membri hanno causato difficoltà nel processo decisionale. Questa tesi si concentra sulle politiche europee da tre aspetti: la legittimità, che si riferisce al sostegno politico dei cittadini, il comportamento di voto e di partecipazione dei cittadini. Una delle questioni principali della ricerca riguarda l’esistenza delle basi per la genesi di veri e propri partiti politici europei, come via d’uscita dalla crisi di legittimità dell'Unione Europea. Ci si chiede poi quali sono i principali fattori che influenzano la partecipazione alle elezioni del Parlamento Europeo, dal momento che esso è l'unica fonte diretta di legittimità. Infine, si studiano le cause del gap in affluenza per le elezioni europee e nazionali, guardando la quota di voto del partito. L'argomento principale per l’esistenza dei partiti pan-europei è quello di difendere gli stessi interessi e valori su scala europea. I risultati empirici sottolineano che la polarizzazione di classe sociale, è già presente nei primi 12 Stati membri dell'UE, e anche nei nuovi Stati membri, mentre nelle elezioni del Parlamento europeo gli elettori votano sinceramente. In conclusione: l'Europa soddisfa la base per la creazione di partiti pan-Europei che difendino vere e proprie politiche europee, mirate ai gruppi sociali che rappresentano, come una possibile soluzione per la crisi di legittimità. / By pursuing common policies for its Member States, the European Union moved from being a purely economic union, to being a political one as well. However, little has been done to tackle the latter aspect. Skepticism has come to characterize the political climate of the European Union and high heterogeneity in terms of Member States has induced difficulties in the decision-making process. This thesis focuses on the European Politics from three aspects: legitimacy, which refers to citizens’ political support, voting behavior and turnout. One of the main research questions we address is whether or not the basis for the existence of true European party politics exists, as a way out of the European Union legitimacy crisis. Then, we ask what are the main factors that influence electoral participation in the European Parliament elections since it is the only source of direct legitimacy. Lastly, we investigate what are the causes for the turnout gap across European and National elections, looking at the party vote share. The main argument for pan-European to exist is to defend the same values and interests European-wide. Empirical results point out that social class's polarization already exists in the initial 12 EU Member States, as well as later entries, while in the European Parliament elections voters cast their vote sincerely. We conclude that Europe fulfils the base requirement for the creation of true European politics, party politics and social groups' targeted-policies being a possible solution for the legitimacy crisis.