This study is testing referendums and how democratic they are by studying the pros and cons. To help analysing my pros and cons I am doing a case study on the referendum in Catalonia 2017. The reason why I decided on this case is because it is the second time in a three years that the region is holding a referendum on independence, and to say the result has not been controversial would be equally controversial. To answer my questions What are the pros and cons with referendums? and In which ways are these visible in the referendum in Catalonia 2017? I have done a quick study on democratic theory and the possible ways of participation, the focus being on participatory democracy, in particular referendums. Referendums are a great way of letting the public decide on matters that will affect them. However the public’s lack of knowledge on politics and democracy may effect their ability to make wise decisions. For them to make the wisest decision it is necessary that the politicians educate the public on the alternatives and their consequences. There is no way of saying that a referendum is or isn’t democratic, it all depends on how it is executed.

L’objectif de ce travail est de chercher à comprendre comment des dispositifs participatifs génèrent des effets au niveau de la relation entre les représentants des pouvoirs publics et les représentants associatifs mobilisés autour des dispositifs mis en place dans le cadre du « Programme national de rénovation urbaine » en France et de l’« Initiative nationale pour le développement humain en milieu urbain » au Maroc. Cela permet de comprendre les points communs et divergents entre les deux cas étudiés.Cette recherche s’appuie sur le recueil d’environ 70 entretiens semi-directifs. Ceux-ci ont été réalisés avec des acteurs publics et associatifs impliqués dans le « PNRU » en France et dans l’« INDH en milieu urbain » au Maroc.Cette thèse montre que les dispositifs participatifs mis en œuvre dans le cadre du Programme national de rénovation urbaine et de l’INDH en milieu urbain, contribuent à transformer la relation entre les représentants des pouvoirs publics et les représentants associatifs. Ces dispositifs ont donné lieu à l’émergence de « professionnels » de la participation. L’enquête montre par ailleurs que les pouvoirs publics utilisent les ressources associatives pour produire de l’action publique dans les quartiers populaires. Dans ce cadre, les acteurs associatifs accomplissent des actions qui devraient être réalisées par des agents publics. / The objective of the present work is to understand the impact of participative mechanisms at the level of relationship between representatives of public authorities and representatives of the civil society mobilized around the procedures set up within the framework of the « National Urban Renewal Program » (NURP) in France and of the « National Initiative for Human Development » (NIHD) in urban areas in Morocco. This will enable us to elucidate the convergences and divergences between the two cases.The data of this research is based on 70 semi-structured interviews. They were conducted with public actors and members of the civil society involved in the « NURP » in France and the « NIHD in urban areas » in Morocco.In this dissertation I argue that the participative mechanisms implemented within the framework of the NURP and the NIHD in urban areas contribute to the transformation of the relationship between representatives of the public authorities and the association’s representatives. These mechanisms gave rise to the emergence of "professionals" of participation. The survey also argues that authorities use the associative resources to produce public action in working class districts. In this context, the associative actors carry out actions which should have been accomplished by public agents.

Les travaux sur la participation n’interrogent presque jamais la question de « l’effet secteur » (au sens de secteur d’action publique) sur la participation, de même que les particularités de la participation liées aux particularités du secteur. De même, ils questionnent peu les effets des pratiques participatives sur les secteurs d’action publique. Tout se passe comme si les secteurs d’action publique étaient interchangeables et réduits à n’être que de simples matériaux empiriques pour questionner la démocratie participative et son instrumentation. Partant de ce constat, cette thèse interroge l’effet sectoriel sur la participation, à travers l’étude de la participation dans le secteur sanitaire. Qu’est-ce que le secteur sanitaire, secteur d’action publique dominé par un haut degré d’expertise et de connaissances scientifiques, politiques et administratives, fait à la participation ? Quelles sont les spécificités de la participation sanitaire ? Pour répondre à ces questionnements, la thèse s’appuie sur une mosaïque de terrains dans l’optique d’avoir une vue suffisamment large et globale du secteur sanitaire, sans être « pris au piège » d’un terrain d’enquête qui serait trop spécifique pour être réellement représentatif du secteur. La thèse interroge à la fois les particularités de la participation sanitaire dans la littérature, à travers la socialisation d’un ensemble d’agents et dans une pluralité de configurations sociales. / Research on participation rarely looks to the impact of the « sector effect » (in the sense of sectors of public activities) on participation or sector-specific particularities in terms of participation. Furthermore, it rarely surveys the effects of participatory practices on different sectors of public activities. Everything happens as though every sector of public activity were interchangeable, with sectors reduced to simple empirical data used to study participatory democracy and how it is instrumentalized. In light of these observations, this dissertation examines the sector effect on participation by studying participation in the healthcare sector. What does the healthcare sector  ̶  an area of public activities dominated by a great degree of expertise and scientific, political, and administrative knowledge  ̶ do to participation? What are the particularities of participation in the healthcare sector? To answer these questions, this dissertation turns to an assortment of fields of inquiry, in order to establish a sufficiently broad and comprehensive overview of the healthcare sector and avoid falling into the “trap” of examining a single field that might be too specific to be truly representative of the sector. This thesis examines the specificities of participation in healthcare in academic research, in the socialization of a variety of people involved in the sector, and in a range of social settings.

An ongoing debate surrounds the question of whether digital media can promote participatory democracy. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama’s campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website promotes or discourages participatory democracy. For a rich analysis, the case study drew on various relevant theoretical perspectives, including the concepts of participatory democracy and digital democracy. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study found that my.barackobama.com promoted political knowledge and non-electoral participation, but failed to promote political discussion and community. Consequently, the recommendations highlighted the importance of an online public sphere. The findings of this case study add to the research literature about the political use of digital media, and they also add new information about Barack Obama’s digital media strategies.

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

This paper presents a study on how the Swedish EU committee has processed and implemented the Lisbon Treaty. More specifically, the eight article; provision on democratic principles. The eight article intends to increase the level of political participation among the citizens of EU. Therefore, the study also provides the perspective of the citizens of Sweden regarding whether they think they can affect the decisions made by the EU and also, whether they actually do participate in the democratic life provided by the EU. Through combining the work of the EU committee and the perspective of the Swedish people, the study contributes with a wide perspective that can understand how the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty has turned out. What this study has presented is that the work of the EU committee has been limited, which also reflects the Swedes’ engagement in participatory democracy. In addition to this, there are also split opinions whether they think they can affect the political decisions made by the EU.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / It is often argued that public participation is the cornerstone of constitutional democracy especially in countries such as South Africa with the history of segregation which was characterised by the exclusion of the majority of citizens from the decision-making processes of the state based on race, class and gender. As such, following the introduction of the various pieces of legislation in 1994, the dominant narrative was that the progressive laws that were passed would serve as a ‘panacea’ to the challenges of participatory governance in South Africa. It was inconceivable that 25 years into democracy, South Africa would still be grappling with the concept of public participation and the extent to which citizens could influence, direct and own decisions made by and with government especially at a local level. This study assessed the state of public participation in the Western Cape focusing on Beaufort Municipality in the Central Karoo District. It argued that public participation is a prerequisite for democratic governance and that the state could be deemed illegitimate if it does not prioritize the involvement of communities in its affairs. In this context, a particular focus was placed on the effectiveness of the ward committee system (as state sponsored mechanisms of public participation) in enhancing participatory democracy in Beaufort West Municipality. It refuted assumptions on the institutional arrangements made in the legislative framework governing public participation and ward committees – identifying and outlining some of the unanticipated consequences of these pieces of legislation. The study used qualitative research methods to collect data. Primary and secondary data was gathered to assess the state of public participation in the Western Cape with specific reference on the effectiveness of the ward committee system and the role of legislative and regulatory framework governing public participation, the institutional architecture and the roles of various stakeholders involved in public participation. The primary data was gathered through structured interviews and questionnaires while the secondary data was collected the analysis of the literature on public participation and ward committees including municipal reports, guidelines on public participation, legislation and policy frameworks. The research found that it is precisely the state sanctioned ward committee system that has contributed to the collapse of public participation in South Africa. The ward committee system was identified as a ‘poisoned chalice’ - so compromised that it has become an instrument to legitimise predetermined decisions of the politically connected elite, a rubber v stamp platform to comply with the policy and legislative framework. To address this problem, the study recommended a number of measures and interventions that could be introduced which entails the reconfiguration and overhaul of the legislative framework governing public participation and ward committees including the review of the role of politicians in public participation, training and capacity building, allocation of dedicated budget for public participation etc.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / It is often argued that public participation is the cornerstone of constitutional democracy especially in countries such as South Africa with the history of segregation which was characterised by the exclusion of the majority of citizens from the decision-making processes of the state based on race, class and gender. As such, following the introduction of the various pieces of legislation in 1994, the dominant narrative was that the progressive laws that were passed would serve as a ‘panacea’ to the challenges of participatory governance in South Africa. It was inconceivable that 25 years into democracy, South Africa would still be grappling with the concept of public participation and the extent to which citizens could influence, direct and own decisions made by and with government especially at a local level. This study assessed the state of public participation in the Western Cape focusing on Beaufort Municipality in the Central Karoo District. It argued that public participation is a prerequisite for democratic governance and that the state could be deemed illegitimate if it does not prioritize the involvement of communities in its affairs. In this context, a particular focus was placed on the effectiveness of the ward committee system (as state sponsored mechanisms of public participation) in enhancing participatory democracy in Beaufort West Municipality. It refuted assumptions on the institutional arrangements made in the legislative framework governing public participation and ward committees – identifying and outlining some of the unanticipated consequences of these pieces of legislation. The study used qualitative research methods to collect data. Primary and secondary data was gathered to assess the state of public participation in the Western Cape with specific reference on the effectiveness of the ward committee system and the role of legislative and regulatory framework governing public participation, the institutional architecture and the roles of various stakeholders involved in public participation. The primary data was gathered through structured interviews and questionnaires while the secondary data was collected the analysis of the literature on public participation and ward committees including municipal reports, guidelines on public participation, legislation and policy frameworks. The research found that it is precisely the state sanctioned ward committee system that has contributed to the collapse of public participation in South Africa. The ward committee system was identified as a ‘poisoned chalice’ - so compromised that it has become an instrument to legitimise predetermined decisions of the politically connected elite, a rubber stamp platform to comply with the policy and legislative framework. To address this problem, the study recommended a number of measures and interventions that could be introduced which entails the reconfiguration and overhaul of the legislative framework governing public participation and ward committees including the review of the role of politicians in public participation, training and capacity building, allocation of dedicated budget for public participation etc.

Ever since the beginning of the European project, there was an urgent need to make the EU more citizen-friendly and responsive to the needs of citizens. In view of the deficit of EU democratic legitimacy, supranational institutions saw participation-based democracy as a response to this challenge. This is why, from 2001 onwards, the Commission developed a new communication and information strategy to foster debate and dialogue between EU administrations and Europeans. Within this context, the EU created the Europe Direct information centres (EDIC) which are EU local offices aiming at communicating and promoting participatory politics. This study explores if the EDIC in the Spanish autonomous community of Cantabria pursues participatory democracy and, consequently, if this centre contributes to tackling the crisis of democratic legitimacy in the EU. An interview and surveys are conducted to delve into the experience of the director of the centre and examine the opinion of users with regards to participation, political interest, satisfaction with the service, and so on. The hypothesis underlying this research is that this service has the potential for enhancing the political involvement of the Cantabrian population. The results obtained in this study confirm this assumption and indicate that this service is on the right track to achieve full participation. Besides this, the results reveal that the EDIC can reduce illegitimate practices in the EU. This thesis, therefore, presents the EDIC as a competent centre to locally assist the EU in strengthening the quality of democracy. This thesis stimulates further research and opens up new horizons in the field of European democracy.

D’une manière générale, les théories du développement ne constituent pas seulement des modèles explicatifs du changement social mais représentent avant tout des modèles théoriques fortement imprégnés d’idéologie justifiant les axes d’action des programmes politiques de développement. Dans un premier temps, les théories proposaient aux pays du « Sud » le rattrapage du retard ou le gommage de l’ordre historique de domination internationale comme solution à l’énigme du développement. Dans un second temps, à la fin des années 1970, elles constituaient le moyen de garantir une forte croissance économique pour les Etats aussi bien du « Nord » que du « Sud » par l’application des PAS. A partir des années 1990, un nouveau corpus de théories du développement propose une forme d’action politique se distinguant des ajustements structurels, le développement local. Celui-ci se décline en trois grands axes d’actions : - le retour du politique en tant qu’institution de régulation économique et sociale à travers les idées de gouvernance et de démocratie participative ;- l’optimisation de la croissance économique et des services sociaux par la régulation politique ;- le développement local en tant que niveau de production et de régulation du politique, du social et de l’économique.Ainsi, que cela soit à l’échelle des théories scientifiques ou des programmes politiques, ces trois axes constituent les conditions sine qua non du changement social. Mais le fait de suivre ces axes conduit-il au développement local ? C’est à cette question que nous nous sommes efforcé de répondre par la mise en perspective de pratiques de développement local au niveau d’une ville d’un pays dit « du Sud », Bamako au Mali, et au niveau d’une ville d’un pays dit « du Nord », Marseille en France. / Overall, development theories are not only explanatory models of social change but are primarily theoretical models strongly imbued with ideology justifying the action axes of program development policies. Initially, the theories proposed for the 'southern' countries to “take off” or to wipe the historical order of international dominance as a solution to the riddle of development. In a second step, in the late 1970s, they were the means of ensuring strong economic growth for “North” and “South” countries by the application of SAPs. From the 1990s, a new set of theories of development proposes a form of political action distinct from structural adjustment: local development. It comes in three main action axes:- the return of politics as an institution of economic and social regulation through the ideas of governance and participatory democracy ;- optimization of economic growth and social services by political regulation ;- local development as a production and a regulation level of the politic, the social and the economic.Thus, whether at the level of scientific theories or political agendas, these three axes are the prerequisites of social change. But must these prerequisites be followed to lead the Local Development? This is the question that we tried to address through the perspective of local development practices in a city of a “South” country, Bamako, Mali, and in a city of a “North” country, Marseille, France.