The aim of this bachelor thesis is to make a theoretical analysis of the democratic development in the Iraqi Kurdistan and to distinguish its democratic character. It has occurred a radical change in the political structure after the Kurdish uprising in the northern region of Iraq in relation with the Kuwaiti war in 1991. The situation in the Kurdish region became more and more acute when they where exposed of international sanctions mandated under UN and economic embargo by the Baghdad regime. This political vacuum led ironically to the establishment of the political institutions in the region. The theoretical framework is constructed thru the democratic theory presented in Robert Dahls discussion of polyarki and Arend Lijpharts theory of consociational democracy. Thus my method of this thesis is a qualitative case-study research. The empirical sources contain one interview and the rest is different types of documents. The result of the study shows that the Kurdish democracy contains elements of polyarki and consociational democracy, but it fails on the fundamental democratic principle: freedom of speech. Even though there are insufficiencies in the freedom of speech, the Kurdish democracy can be classified as a developing democracy.

Cypernfrågan handlar om en etnisk konflikt mellan grek- och turkcyprioterna som uppstod direkt efter öns självständighet. Parterna hade väldigt svårt att samarbeta med varandra vilket ledde till att Cypern delades i två delar. Sedan dess har grupperna levt åtskilda med egna administrationer och strävan efter självbestämmande, den grekcypriotiska befolkningen strävade efter enosis, att hela ön införlivas med Grekland medan den turkcypriotiska befolkningen strävade efter taksim, att den norra delen av ön förenas med moderlandet Turkiet. FN har agerat som tredjepart för att försöka nå en fredslösning och lyckades lindra konflikten men många problem förblev olösta. I min uppsats har jag försökt komma fram till varför fredsförslaget Annanplanen, som upprättades av FN:s dåvarande generalsekreterare, blev avvisad av den grekcypriotiska befolkningen samt vad kan vara den största orsaken bakom den långvarige konflikten. Jag har använt mig av Lijphart demokratimodellen consociational democracy för att se om det skulle kunna vara en bra lösning för Cypern och har kommit fram till att det finns både för- och nackdelar med lösningsmodellen. Hänsyn har även tagits till federalism, etnicitet, primordialism samt socialkonstruktivism.

Dans le cadre du renouvellement doctrinal sur les unions fédérales, nous proposons une définition du pacte fédératif qui se fonde sur l'étude des systèmes fédéraux allemand, américain, et suisse dans la perspective d'une qualification juridique des traités européens. Le pacte fédératif est un acte conclu volontairement entre des Etats fondant une institution, la Fédération, qui constitue une union politique. La stabilité de cette Fédération impose des mécanismes assurant sa cohérence et le respect du droit fédéral, ainsi que le développement d'un sentiment d'appartenance fédéral. Mais les autorités fédérales doivent à l'inverse respecter l'intégrité des Etats membres. Si l'un de ces éléments n'est pas respecté la Fédération risque d'imploser ou de se transformer en Etat fédéral. L'Union européenne répond globalement à ces critères de définition, ce qui permet sa qualification de Fédération. L'étude de son fonctionnement permet également de mettre en évidence un respect général de l'équilibre entre les niveaux fédéral et fédéré nécessaire à sa pérennisation en tant que Fédération. Au plan matériel, l'équilibre entre impératif de bon fonctionnement de la Fédération et le respect de l'intégrité des Etats membres ne fait pas l'objet de tensions avec les Etats membres, que ce soit au niveau de la répartition comme de l'exercice des compétences. Au plan institutionnel, le processus décisionnel a dû s'adapter au renforcement de l'intégration européenne. On constate notamment un renforcement de la légitimité démocratique, condition préalable au développement d'un sentiment d'appartenance européen, même si des améliorations restent nécessaires. Le reproche de déficit démocratique lié à l'absence d'alternative partisane paraît plus difficile à résoudre car le facteur partisan n'est pas aisé à concilier avec la logique de fonctionnement des institutions européennes qui impose une forme de compromis. / As part of the renewal of the doctrin regarding federal unions, I suggest a definition of the federal compact which is based on the study of the German, the American and the Swiss federal systems in order to find a legal classification for the European treaties. The federal compact is an act voluntarily concluded between states founding an "institution", the Federation, which is a political union. The stability of this Federation implies mechanisms which safeguard consistency and compliance with federal law ; besides it requires the development of a federal sense of belonging. But conversely, federal authorities have to respect the member states’ integrity. If one of those criteria is not met, the Federation may collapse or turn into a federal state. The European Union meets these criteria completely, which allows its characterization as Federation. The study of its functioning enables then to highlight a global compliance of the balance between federal and state level, which is necessary for the Federation’s stability. On the material level, the balance between the obligation of a good functioning Federation on the one hand and the respect of the member states on the other doesn't turn into a conflict with the member states, neither in regard of the allocation of power nor in regard of the exercise of power. On the institutional level, decisional process had to be adapted to a deeper European integration. There is in particular a strengthened democratic legitimacy, which is required for a European sense of belonging to develop, even though improvements are still necessary. It seems more difficult to solve the problem of the criticism related to the lack of democracy based on the absence of political challenge because political challenge is not easy to achieve given the compromise-based way the European institution function.

This study aims to investigate the democracy development i Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1995, when the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed, Bosnia has been undergoing an democratization, but despite that the country is still year 2017 classified as ”partly free”. In this study the democracy-enhancing factors: civil society and the political system are being related to the Dayton Peace Agreement and are tested against liberal democratic values and Consociational Democracy theory. This study is a qualitative case study and following questions are being looked into:   -       Which factors within the civil society and political system limit the democracy development in Bosnia and Herzegovina? -       To what extent does the Dayton Peace Agreement limit Bosnia and Herzegovina’s democracy development? -       To what extent is Bosnia and Herzegovina an Consociational Democracy?   The fact that Bosnia has a divided and multiethnic society puts a foundational ground for a possible consolidated consociational democracy. Furthermore, the functions of the civil society, political system and the Dayton Peace Agreement are being discussed and the shortcomings of each are being highlighted. The results of this study indicate that Bosnia’s long democratization development is primarly based on the unwillingness to cooperation between the three constitutional groups, the exclusion of minority groups and the Dayton Peace Agreement’s regulations on a political system that is not sustainable for a stable democratic state.

Née des cendres du régime colonial français, la Guinée a connu une histoire tumultueuse tant au niveau de la formation de l’État actuel qu’au niveau de son histoire constitutionnelle. Au lendemain de son indépendance (obtenue au prix d’une longue lutte politique) en 1958, le pays va connaître différents cycles constitutionnels : le régime présidentialiste, le régime présidentiel et enfin le régime démocratique. De 1958 à 2009, ces deux premiers régimes furent essentiellement caractérisés par des crises constitutionnelles avec des graves répercussions dans tous les secteurs de la vie nationale. Mais ces différentes crises ont connu des manifestations différentes et n’ont pas toutes été résolues de la même façon.La plupart d’entre elles ont résulté de la violation de textes constitutionnels souvent confus et incomplets, mais aussi de la suspension pure et simple de la Constitution. À cet égard, et par voie de comparaison avec d’autres pays africains où ils ont fait leur preuve, les modes de résolutions politiques et juridictionnels ont toujours été utilisés pour résoudre les crises en Guinée. Ces modes ont été et sont encore vus comme les plus appropriés dans le contexte guinéen. Mais au-delà de ces modes de résolution, d’ailleurs très répandus dans l’Afrique tout entière, il paraît nécessaire aujourd’hui d’expérimenter d’autres approches qui seraient indispensables à la paix durable et à la cohésion nationale. De ces nouvelles pistes, nous pouvons retenir la justice transitionnelle et la démocratie consociative qui portent respectivement d’une part, sur la réparation des crimes du passé ; d’autre part, sur la répartition du pouvoir et des richesses entre les différentes régions ou communautés. Ces modes alternatifs pourraient apporter des solutions adéquates aux vraies racines des problèmes constitutionnels et à cet égard, méritent d’être appréhendés à travers le prisme du contexte guinéen. / Born from the ashes of French colonial rule, Guinea has known a tumultuous history both in the formation of the current government at the level of its constitutional history. In the aftermath of independence (at the cost of a long political struggle) in 1958, the country experiences different constitutional cycles: the presidential regime, the presidential systemand the democratic regime. From 1958 to 2009, these first regimes were essentially characterized by constitutional crises with serious implications for all sectors of the national life. But these different crises took place differently and have not all been resolved in the same way.Most of these constitutional crises resulted from the violation of constitutional texts often confusing and incomplete but also suspension of the Constitution. In this respect, and by comparison with other African countries where they have proven themselves, modes of political and judicial resolutions have always been used to resolve the crises in Guinea. These modes have been and are still seen as the most appropriate in the Guinean context. But beyond these modes of resolution, also widespread in Africa as a whole, it seems necessary now to experiment with other approaches that are essential for sustainable peace and national cohesion. These new tracks, we can retain transitional justice and consociational democracy which deal on the first hand, with repairing the painful past; on the other hand, with the distribution of power and wealth between the different regions or communities. These alternatives modes could bring adequate solutions to the real roots of the constitutional issues and in this regard, deserve to be approached through the prism of Guinean context.

Fokus i denna uppsats kommer att ligga på de etniska konflikter som fortfarande pågår mellan de tre folkgrupper och den nya konstitutionen i landet sedan Daytonavtalet undertecknades. Vid krigets slut i Bosnien för ca fjorton år sedan då landet låg i spillror implementerades Daytonavtalet. Daytonavtalets  huvuduppgift var att sluta fred mellan de tre konfliktgrupperna samtidigt se till att landet utvecklas utan att minoriteterna skulle förtryckas. Medan Daytonavtalet lyckades stoppa kriget och uppehålla freden misslyckades den med statens sammanhållning och upprätthållning av en fungerande demokrati. Krisen i Bosnien har inte förändrats sedan krigets slut, de nationalistiska partierna av samtliga tre folkslag blir valda gång på gång, fattigdomen är fortfarande ett faktum och landet är fortfarande beroende av utländsk bistånd. Som det ser ut just nu går Bosnien inte en ljus framtid till mötes. 

The thesis Democracy in Iraq? firstly considers difficulties in establishing democracy in Iraq between 2003 and 2010. It proceeds from two hypotheses. The first hypothesis concerns the causes of these problems. The assumption is that the problems there were historically - the fact that until the establishment of Iraq after the First World War kept the Ottoman Empire fragmentation into three administrative separate areas in which lived Shic as, Sunnis and Kurds. British colonization and postcolonial authoritarian regime did not overcome this ethnic-religional fragmentation. The second hypothesis concerns the type of democracy that the post-Saddam elites are trying (not very successfully) to establish in Iraq. The assumption is that is a consociational democracy.

本文旨在探討透過權力分享式民主與審議式民主的取徑，來緩解當前台灣民主困境的可行性。 首先，本文討論了當前台灣民主困境的成因，以及藍綠雙方的根本差異。同時指出，台灣當前的民主困境可被視為一種極度分裂社會的狀態來理解，並將台灣民主困境的關鍵難題，定位在認同差異與政治不信任。 其次，本文從既有的權力分享式民主的文獻中，梳理出有助於解決當前台灣民主困境的「規範性概念」與「經驗性證據」；做為權力分享式民主對當前台灣民主困境的回應。經過分析後發現，利用協合式民主去處理當前台灣民主困境，應是個值得嘗試的方向。若將協合式民主中菁英間的決策模式，改由審議取代議價，則此種修正型的協合式民主可為長期解決族群衝突提供更多的可能性。 繼之，本文從既有的審議式民主的文獻中，梳理出有助於解決當前台灣民主困境的「規範性理念」與「經驗性證據」，作為審議式民主對於當前台灣民主困境的回應。經過分析後發現，理論上，審議式民主的理想審議是可以解決當前台灣民主困境，只不過理想言說情境在現實生活中很難達成。但是這並不排除理想言說情境是可以近似達成的。不過文獻中迄今仍無經驗證據顯示，單獨利用審議式民主可以解決在極度分裂社會中的國家認同問題。為了讓對立雙方願意自由參加對話、願意相互尊重，以及願意理性溝通，必須提供誘因，而權力分享就是一種誘因。此外，為了判斷對話或審議環境是否接近理想言說情境，必須要有量化的測量工具，而話語品質指數(DQI)就是一種工具。因此，權力分享與DQI，就是強化審議式民主的兩種有效工具。 面對當前台灣民主困境，本文最後提出了一個結合協合式民主與審議式民主(即修正型的協合式民主)的現階段策略的建議。 / This thesis explores the feasibility of mitigating ethnic conflict of current Taiwan employing the methods of power-sharing democracy and deliberative democracy. First of all, the causes and the key difficult problems of democratic predicament, and the dispute in national identity between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, as those currently exist in Taiwan, are discussed in greater detail. The key difficult problems appear to be conflict in identities and political distrust. Next, based on the existing literature of power-sharing democracy, this thesis identifies the normative ideas and empirical evidences that are relevant to the settlement of democratic predicament of current Taiwan. After an in depth analysis, it concludes that the use of consociational approach to manage democratic predicament of current Taiwan should be the direction worth trying. The so-called modified consociational democracy, which is formed to meet the deliberative requirements of publicity and reciprocity, by replacing consociational decision making with deliberation, may provide more possibility for longer-term goal of ethnic conflict resolution. Likewise, based on the existing literature of deliberative democracy, this thesis identifies the normative ideas and empirical evidences that are relevant to the settlement of democratic predicament of current Taiwan. After an in depth analysis, it concludes that, theoretically, the use of ideal deliberation approach appears capable of dealing with the democratic predicament of current Taiwan. Although it is not possible to create Habermas’s ideal speech situation on a precise level, it is possible to achieve ISS approximately. However, there did not exist any empirical evidence in the literature to demonstrate that the application of deliberative democracy alone may provide conflict resolution of the national identity problem in deeply divided societies. In order to let both sides of the conflicting groups be willing to participate freely in the dialogue, be willing to respect one another, and be willing to communicate rationally, it is necessarily to provide both sides with power-sharing incentives tailored to make both sides feel absolutely secure. In addition, in order to evaluate how close the dialogue or deliberative approaches the conditions of ideal speech situation, it is necessarily to have a quantitative measuring instrument at our disposal and the discourse quality index (DQI) is such an instrument. Therefore, power-sharing and DQI tend to form two effective tools for strengthening the deliberative democracy. Finally, this thesis proposes the modified consociational democracy as the present stage strategy for the resolution of democratic predicament of current Taiwan.