Denna uppsats handlar om människors inflytande i kommunal planeringoch hur detta har påverkats av covid-19 pandemin. Frågan är viktig ur ett större perspektiv då förutsättningarna för ett socialt hållbart samhälle bygger på jämställdhet, jämlikhet och delaktighet i samhällets utveckling, vilket kan påverkas av pandemins restriktioner. Genom att kartlägga hur planeringsförvaltning på tre olika stora kommuner har förändrat sitt arbete med medborgardialoger under pandemin vill man förstå hur förändringarna har påverkat kommunikationen mellan planeringsförvaltning och medborgare. Insamling av empiri har skett via kvalitativa intervjuer där informanterna arbeter i direkt anknytning till planeringsprocesser på förvaltning och besitter kunskap och erfarenhet inom uppsatsens ämne. Resultatet av uppsatsen visar att samtliga planeringsförvaltningar har ställt om till ett helt digitalt arbeter i kommunikationen med medborgarna, detta har både positiva och negativa konsekvenser. Digitalt skapas mer flexibla och tidseffektiva möten, det öppnar upp för ett ökat deltagande framförallt hos yngre, samtidigt som det också skapar begränsningar för äldre och de som inte talar språket, det är också svårare att få in synpunkter från medborgarna över digitala möten. Fullständig digitalisering av dialogen med medborgarna tenderar till en ökad risk för envägskommunikation samt att vissa grupper exkluderas från deltagandet. / This essay is about people´s influence in municipal planning and how this has been affected by covid-19 pandemic. The issue is important from a larger prespective as the conditions for a socially sustainable society, builds on equality and participation in development of society, which can be affected by the restrictions of a pandemic. By analyzing how planning administration in three diffrent large municipalities has changed its work with citizen dialogues during the pandemic, they want to understand how the changes have affected the communication between planning administration and citizens. Empirical data collection has been done by qualitative inrerviews. Interviewees all works as civil servants with knowledge and experience in the field of municipal development and processes connected to it. Analysis in this essay indicates that all interviewed administrations have adapted digital platforms for communicating with citizens, resulting in both positive and negative factors. Digital platforms create flexible and efficient meetings, which opens up for increased participation, especially among younger people. At the same time as it also creates restrictions for the elderly and those who do not speak the language. It is also more difficult to get views from citizens during digital meetings, which can affect representativeness. Compared to physical meetings digital meetings generate less citizen input. Complete digitalization of the citizen dialogue tends to increase the risk of one-way communication and to exclude certain groups from participation.

Sweden is a member of the European Union and Sweden’s turn-out in the elections to the European Parliament is low compared to its own national elections. Earlier research in the field of didactics in civics regarding the EU have mostly focused on aspects of civic education such as which subject content teachers teach and what knowledge they test their students on. Even today, textbooks are an important part of shaping education. This study has focused on how the EU is presented in textbooks for civics in Swedish upper secondary school, specifically the course “Samhällskunskap 1b”. The aim was to research the political knowledge about the EU presented in textbooks and research how the presented political knowledge can contribute to political participation.  The study utilizes two different theories, the first is Maria Jarl’s definition of the participatory democratic process and the second is a categorical instrument constructed by Peter Wall used to analyze political knowledge. The method used is both a qualitative content analysis and a comparative analysis. The categorical instrument used stipulates that political knowledge contains three dimensions, polity, policy, and politics. Each dimension has several variable categories attached.  In the study, four textbooks written for the civics course “Samhällskunskap 1b” were analyzed, in accordance with the developed methodological framework. The results of the study found that each of the textbooks contained all three dimensions of political knowledge. However, the dimensions were not equally present in the content with an imbalance favoring the polity dimension which encompassed more than half of the observed variable categories in each of the textbooks. The politics dimension was also found to be relatively non-existent in each of the textbooks with coverage as low as 2% in one of the textbooks. Thus, the conclusion is that the political knowledge regarding the EU in the textbooks is far too one-sided to provide a satisfactory contribution to political participation. We also confirm that a similar focus on the polity dimension regarding the EU exists in textbooks which can also be found in the content teachers teach. This might have several implications for future political participants in Sweden and thus also Swedish democracy.

Where does my individual responsibility for the environment start and end? Should I be responsible for environmental stress in India only because my shoes were produced there, or for climate change that endangers species in Antarctica, or rising sea levels on Pacific islands which just might have been caused by my driving? What do I need to do if I think it is my responsibility? And how do I decide which is a better alternative from an environmental point of view? Who should I trust when deciding on what action to take, and what opportunities do I need for acting?This multidisciplinary thesis takes the politicization of everyday household activities due to environmental consequences, and individualization of responsibility, as its starting points. These points make it increasingly important to understand what responsibility individuals experience, and how they act in accordance with these perceptions. The present thesis is a qualitative study with 28 Swedish households that concern how the householders express responsibility for the environment through their everyday activities, partly by claiming to be “environmentally conscious”, and how they attempt to exert political influence. The study contributes to the discussion on the wide field of sustainable development and environmental politics. It deals specifically with the ways four Swedish municipalities (Gothenburg, Huddinge, Piteå and Växjö) attempt to influence what the householders do in the private sphere when it comes to implementing sustainable development, and what opportunities and they supply, and what expectations they have on householders. The study thereby discusses the possibility to interfere in the perceived private sphere, and different ways to participate politically. / Sustainable households: activities, research, policies

Sociologen Colin Crouch beskrev i sin bok ”Post-democracy” från 2004 om en demokrati i förändring, i rörelse bort från den dialogen mellan samhällsaktörer som demokratin tidigare byggt på, för att i ett postmodernt samhälle istället hamna i händerna på en politisk- och företagselit. Denna kvalitativa fallstudie tar sin ansats i begreppet postdemokrati för att studera datainsamlingen av samspelet mellan svenska staten, spelbolag och andra aktörer kring genomförandet av en ny spellag som började gälla i Sverige 1 januari 2019. Studiens syfte var att undersöka om, och i så fall på vilket sätt, empirin kunde ses som ett exempel på postdemokratiska processer i svensk politik. Processen mellan aktörerna belystes genom en granskning av dokument upprättade av regering, riksdag och dess myndigheter, spelbolagen, representanter för spelberoende, spelforskning samt medierapportering. Studien genomfördes med utgångspunkt i Colin Crouchs beskrivning av postdemokrati inom företagande, politik och medborgarskap samt statsvetaren Chantal Mouffes begrepp om ”politik” och ”det politiska”. Resultatanalysen visar på att delar av beslutsprocessen och efterspelet kan benämnas som postdemokratiska, samt att den bedrivna politiken utgår enligt Mouffes definition mer från de demokratiska principerna som handlar om frihet snarare än om jämlikhet. / Colin Crouch wrote in his book Post - democracy (2004) about democracy in crisis, the dialogue in the society was no longer between the citizens and politicians, but on its way back to the hands of the politics and business elite. This qualitative case study takes position in the concept post-democracy to study the interaction between the Swedish state, gambling companies and other actors, when the implementation of a new law regarding gambling began to apply as a law in Sweden 1 January 2019. The aim of the study was to investigate whether, and if so in what way, the data collection could be seen as an example of post-democratic processes in Swedish politics. The process between the actors is highlighted by a review of documents drawn up by the government, parliament and its authorities, bookmakers, representatives of gambling addiction, gambling research and media reporting. The study was carried out on the basis of Colin Crouch's description of post-democracy in business, politics and citizenship, as well as political scientist Chantal Mouffe's concept of "politics” and "the political". The results of the analysis show that parts  of  the decision-making process and the aftermath can be referred to as post-democratic, and that, according to Mouffe's definition, the policies pursued by Mouffe are more concerned with democratic principles that are about freedom rather than equality

If democratic society is to avert the dire straits that may come from decreasing levels of political participation and civic engagement, all potential explanatory factors must be explored. The purpose of this paper is to i) elucidate how the modeling and self-efficacy mechanisms of social learning theory affect individuals’ decisions to participate politically or not, and ii) assess the applicability of the relatively unutilized social learning theory in studies on political socialization and participation, respectively. By conducting a study composed of life history interviews, the paper aims to contribute to the research field by providing new explanations on how and why participatory behavior occurs in individuals, potentially filling a research gap by using and developing the previously unutilized social learning theory. The study finds that the proposed social learning theory mechanisms appear to have some explanatory power in the context of individuals’ political participation and asserts that social learning theory may very well be applicable in similar future studies as a complement to other explanatory factors.

Förvånansvärt lite forskning har ägnats åt ungdomars deltagande i partipolitiska ungdomsförbund trots en långvarig nedåtgående trend i medlemsantal. Studier visar att ungdomsförbunden har svårt att rekrytera samt behålla sina medlemmar vilket är oroande då vi behöver ungdomars röster i partipolitiken för vår representativa demokrati och för att ungdomförbunden är den främsta rektryteringskällan till våra moderpartier. Denna studie syftar till att få en djupare förståelse kring varför ett urval av ungdomar väljer att gå med i partipolitiska ungdomsförbund samt vad de har för motiv till att stanna kvar. Studien består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta ungdomar som är eller har varit aktiva inom ungdomsförbunden Ung Vänster och Moderateras ungdomsförbund MUF. För att undersöka detta har studien fokuserat på individuella resurser och faktorer och moraliska, sociala och materiella motiv till partipolitiskt deltagande. Resultatet visade på att individuella resurser och faktorer som politiskt intresse, motivation och sociala nätverk var viktiga kopplat till varför ungdomarna väljer att gå med i ett partipolitiskt ungdomsförbund. Sociala och moraliska motiv var högst förekommande bland ungdomarna för både varför de väljer att gå med men också vad som gör att de stannar kvar inom förbundet. / Surprisingly little research has been devoted to young peoples participation in party-affiliated youth organizations, despite a prolonged downward trend in membership numbers. Studies indicate that these youth organizations struggle to recruit and retain their members, which is concerning since young peoples voices in party politics are crucial for our reprecentative democracie and because these organizations serve as the primary recruitment source for their motherparties. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of why a selection of young individuals choose to join party-affiliated youth organizations and what motivates them to remain. The study consists of semi-structured interviews with eight youths who are or have been active within the youth organizations Ung Vänster and Moderaternas ungdomsförbund MUF. To investigate this, the study focuses on individual resources and factors and also moral, social, and material motives for political participation. The results indicate that individual resources and factors such as political interest, motivation, and social networks are significant in why young people choose to join a party-affiliated youth organization. Social and moral motives are most common motives among the youth for why they choose to join and what keeps them engaged within the organization.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the institutional design of Participatory Budgeting (PB) in Sweden and how the design may contribute to realize central democratic goods. The study records the different PB experiences in Sweden and focuses on one particular case, which is the only case that successfully qualifies as a genuine PB-process according to international standards and definitions. To examine this, the following questions are asked: which municipalities in Sweden have implemented Participatory Budgeting? How can the institutional design of Participatory Budgeting be described and to what extent does it enable the realization of central democratic goods? To what extent does the institutional design enable the realization of the democratic goods inclusion, popular control, considered judgment and transparency? To what extent does the institutional design enable the realization of the institutional goods of efficiency and transferability? The study is based on an institutional theory of democracy. The method used is a mixed method ideal type analysis that combines document analysis, surveys and interviews. The results of the study indicates that the PB-institutions has multiple flaws regarding the way it enables the realization of numerous of the democratic goods analyzed. The institutional design does not pay enough attention to inclusion of different social groups including marginalized groups, popular control is restricted to issues of low political salience and the PB process does not live up to the transparency level expected from a democratic institution. On the other hand, the institutional design of the PB process does take into account some aspects of inclusion among the youth inhabitants and the process has been effective in the sense that it has delivered physical results quickly.

Rätten till politisk delaktighet skapar möjligheter för medborgare att göra anspråk på sina mänskliga rättigheter, och därmed möjliggör för medborgare att påverka sina levnadsförhållanden. Frånvaron av möjligheter till att delta och att kunna påverka beslut är därmed ett betydande rättighetsproblem. Uppsatsen har sin start i den politiska ojämlikheten som har påvisats i Sverige, där den allmänna rösträtten inte verkar räcka till för att garantera politisk jämlikhet. I utredningar föreslås medborgardialog som en lösning. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om medborgardialoger, initierade av Hallstahammars kommun och Västerås stad, kan förstås som ett uttryck av deliberativ demokrati. För att studera detta avgränsades deliberativ demokrati till fem normativa deliberativa ideal; argumentation, inkludering, jämlikhet, transparens och beslutspåverkan. Dessa ideal ses som rimliga villkor för deliberativ demokrati och har mätts mot kommunernas medborgardialoger med hjälp av en kvalitativ fallstudie med textanalys.   Uppsatsens resultat visar på att medborgardialog kan förstås som ett uttryck för deliberativ demokrati när det gäller en del normativa villkor, men i det stora hela så brister medborgardialogerna i de utvalda deliberativa idealen. Hallstahammars kommun är ett uttryck deliberativ demokrati i större utsträckning än Västerås stad. Kommunernas fortsatta arbete med att utveckla medborgardialoger är därför av största vikt och i synnerhet genom att utveckla riktlinjer och strategier explicit för att främja den politiska jämlikheten för samtliga kommunmedborgare. Uppsatsen har resulterat i en sammanfattande guide för att genomföra medborgardialoger med deliberativa kvalitéer. / The right to political participation creates opportunities for citizens to claim their human rights, thereby enabling citizens to influence their living conditions. The absence of opportunities to participate and to be able to influence decisions is therefore a significant human rights problem. The paper starts with the political inequality that has been demonstrated in Sweden, where voting rights does not seem to be enough to guarantee political equality. In studies, citizen dialogues are proposed as a solution.  The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether citizen dialogues, initiated by Hallstahammar municipality and Västerås municipality, can be understood as an expression of deliberative democracy. To study this, deliberative democracy was limited to five normative deliberative ideals: argumentation, inclusion, equality, transparency and decision-making influence. These ideals are reasonable conditions for deliberative democracy and have been measured against municipal citizen dialogues in a qualitative case study using text analysis as a tool.   The result of the study shows that citizen dialogues can be understood as an expression of deliberative democracy when it comes to some normative conditions, but overall, the citizen dialogues lack in the chosen ideals. Hallstahammar municipality is an expression of deliberative democracy to a greater extent than Västerås municipality. The continued work of municipalities in developing citizen dialogues is therefore of the utmost importance and by developing guidelines and strategies explicitly to promote political equality for all municipal citizens. The study has resulted in a guide to conduct citizen dialogues with deliberative qualities.