This study analyzes how civic engagement and collaborative governance can be used to build peace in post-conflict societies. A case study approach is used to examine the presence of civic engagement as a precursor to collaborative governance in the reconstruction of segregated areas in post-conflict Ambon, Indonesia. The study evaluates the effective ways that people were engaged in the multiple processes of reconstruction and assesses the readiness of Ambon to apply collaborative governance in current affairs. It finds that collaborative governance can be applied to public policy processes in segregated societies in post-conflict and can promote inter-society engagement. This study suggests that governments and NGOs in post-conflict areas could use a collaborative governance approach to sustain peace in post-conflict areas. The conclusions recognize that integrating collaborative governance into peace building programs is a crucial element of the peace building process in post-conflict areas, creating a greater likelihood for sustainable peace.

Thesis advisor: Ana Martinez-Aleman / Civic engagement is an activity that supports communities at local and national levels (Colby et al., 2000; Putnam, 1993; 2000). Within higher education, there has long been a desire to produce civically engaged graduates that will serve as leaders in addressing current and future societal problems. The task of developing young Americans that become socially aware, community-minded, and publicly involved requires a full understanding of the college learning environment for today's students. In recent years, the undergraduate environment has changed rapidly, with various digital social media presenting a new social and technological context for college students. Scholars have begun to explore the ways in which these social media have impacted the college environment, yet many areas for research have yet to be addressed. This exploratory qualitative study draws upon this growing literature base and social capital theory to ask: How do students understand the connection between social media use and their civic engagement while in college? This study presents data from six focus groups (n=35) and seven individual interviews conducted with students from campus organizations engaged in one of three pre-selected areas of civic engagement (Adler & Goggin, 2005). This study found that the students derived a great deal of civic value from their use of social media. These new media provide students with a constant stream of information that promotes both knowledge acquisition and the organization of others around common interests. However, findings from this study also indicate a number of challenges associated with the use of social media for civic learning and engagement, including the need to continuously filter an overwhelming amount of information and the intimidating nature of public civic debate online. The added value of social media in the development of civic behaviors speaks to a new way of thinking about ways to cultivate civic engagement. As colleges and universities continue to explore means to promote civic engagement as a learning outcome, the digital environments of students must be considered. A broad understanding of social technologies, along with a working knowledge of platform-specific features will help practitioners and scholars to better plan developmentally beneficial interventions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Kay Schlozman / Much has been said recently about the decline in both political and non-political civic participation in the United States. Many American religious congregations, however, continue to stand strong as voluntary associations connecting people with the political and civic life in our country. This paper explains the role that religious congregations can play as promoters of civic engagement. Specifically, it describes the mechanisms by which religious congregations can provide what I call civic resources to their members, resources members utilize to participate in other forms of civic activity outside of their congregation. These resources can be broken down into three main categories. Civic skills are the communication and organizational abilities that an individual can draw upon to make participation more effective. Congregations provide opportunities for members to gain experience using such skills when becoming involved in church governance or in organizing church committees to take on special tasks or put on special events. Social infrastructure captures the value of the social networks and organizational resources available to members of a congregation. The tight-knit social community within a church serves as an effective network to spread relevant information or recruit volunteers for any collective activity. Finally, there are a number of psychological resources a congregation can bring to bear on an individual. Oftentimes the religious teachings of congregations encourage members to adopt civic-minded values and attitudes that serve as a strong motivation to participate. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science.

Thesis advisor: Larry H. Ludlow / Higher education has renewed its focus on civic engagement due to a growing recognition of the distinctive opportunities for students to internalize civic values during college. This unique role has become increasingly important in context of the shifting trend in American youth away from traditional political participation towards increasing involvement in civic life. Past research in higher education and youth civic engagement has suggested connections between participation in and attitudes supportive of civic engagement across both civic and political realms. To further investigate this relationship, this dissertation looked at how students' civic engagement involvement and attitudes develop over time, tracking how participation levels in civic, political, and expressive activities impact the acquisition of a comprehensive set of civic attitudes during students' undergraduate tenure. The specific attitudes of interest in this study were students' self-efficacy through community service, politics, and civic involvement, commitment to civic accountability, and tolerance of diversity. This dissertation utilized data from two cohorts (N=137) of a multi-year study at a single institution as its main data source, with data from a nationally-representative sample of college students used for scale development and anchoring. A mixed-method three-factor within subjects design was used to explore the development within and between students' civic engagement involvement and attitudes across their four years at college by gender and minority status. Through the Rasch rating scale model, repeated measures analyses of variance, and repeated measures analyses of covariance, students' longitudinal commitment to civic engagement was shown to be much more complex than expected. Canonical correlation analysis was then used to address the connection between students' involvement and attitudes within their freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. While the results of this study were typically non-significant with regard to students' development of civic engagement involvement and attitudes, these findings provided valuable insights into the relationship between participation in specific types of activities at certain stages of students' college experiences and the acquisition of particular civic engagement attitudes. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation.

Thesis advisor: Lisa Dodson / Service learning has emerged as one of the most popular mechanisms to promote and teach students about civic, moral, and political responsibility in American colleges and universities. This dissertation offers a critical exploration of the potential and limitations that engagement in service activities, and service learning in particular, can offer. The research was designed to explore how individual long-term volunteers attach meaning to their service experience, as well as how these meanings are constructed. In other words, what is the process by which students come to make sense of the volunteer work in which they are engaged? Of particular interest are the potential connections between these constructed meanings and a sense of politics or a sense of social change strategies. To explore the ways in which volunteers attach meaning to their service experience, I conducted participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups with a number of college students currently participating in a structured long-term service learning program; along with staff members of this program and of community partner organizations; and a group of comparison volunteers. This research provides an overview of the relationships, roles, responsibilities, benefits, challenges, and overall structure and design of a long-term service learning program. Participation in a structured service learning program shapes the ways in which students think about their service as it relates to a sense of politics and social change. However, the connection between service and political engagement is often complicated by a lack of political opportunities, a perceived lack of civic skills or political knowledge, and views of politics as divisive and ineffective. This dissertation also contributes to a greater understanding of the ways in which collective identity can develop among student service learners, and how this collective identity may impact their work. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

No description available.

Lack of engagement in public service awareness education programs, coupled with reduced funding to implement a diversion system such as 311 systems or 10-digit phone numbers, contribute to 911 misuse. Many local governments have invested in alternative systems, but research regarding community members' use of 911 or alternatives relative to civic engagement is lacking. Guided by Gordon's conceptualization of civic engagement, this phenomenological study bridged the gap in knowledge by exploring community members' civic involvement and their use of 911 between 2012 and 2015 in a county in the state of Georgia. A snowball sampling strategy was used to select 5 community members who had used 911 to call for service. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. These data were inductively coded and then subjected to thematic analysis. Findings indicated that participants were not aware of the problems associated with 911 misuse, and they had limited knowledge of 911 call system practices and procedures from an operational standpoint. Participants believed that more awareness and education is necessary to educate and make community members aware of problems associated to 911 misuse and to inform community members of the nonemergency number. Positive social change may be achieved through local governments implementing public awareness campaigns about appropriate 911 use. These efforts may result in improvements to public safety through better response to critical emergency events.

This thesis compares the experiences of citizens who regularly participate in the planning and zoning processes of their respective local governments. Atlanta has had a highly structured system of neighborhood government in place for over 35 years, called Neighborhood Planning Units. Enacted by Atlanta’s first African-American Mayor, NPUs were meant to facilitate the civic engagement of all neighborhoods, regardless of socioeconomic status. The role and boundaries of NPUs are codified in the City Charter. Unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia is a large, urbanizing-but-still-suburban county north of the city. Cobb does not officially recognize community boundaries nor is there a codified neighborhood government structure in place. By comparing the two systems of governance, this thesis will examine which best facilitates participation and whether respondents feel efficacious as they engage with their local government. The findings matter because citizen participation is generally deemed a desirable and even necessary element of modern, representative democracy.

The present text is based on a key note lecture (‘Civic Education, Democracy and Political Participation’) delivered at the symposium Globalization of School Subjects – Challenges for Civics, History, Geography and Religious Education, Karlstad University, 13–14 December, 2012. Drawing on recent developments in research on political participation and civic engagement, the text starts out with a discussion about different ways of understanding political passivity. Subsequently, the text turns to a brief analysis of ways in which schools may provide young people with political skills and competencies needed in a democratic society. Three dimensions of political citizenship are highlighted: political efficacy, political literacy, and political participation; and the analysis focuses on the impact of a number of different school-related factors on these three ‘citizenship competencies’.

Reviewing the literature on political participation and civic engagement, the articleoffers a critical examination of different conceptual frameworks. Drawing on previousdefinitions and operationalisations, a new typology for political participation and civicengagement is developed, highlighting the multidimensionality of both concepts. Inparticular, it makes a clear distinction between manifest 'political participation'(including formal political behaviour as well as protest or extra-parliamentary politicalaction) and less direct or 'latent' forms of participation, conceptualized here as 'civicengagement' and 'social involvement'. The article argues that the notion of 'latent'forms of participation is crucial to understand new forms of political behaviour and theprospects for political participation in different countries. Due to these innovations itcontributes to a much-needed theoretical development within the literature on politicalparticipation and citizen engagement.