<p>This Minor Field Study examines whether or not Batswana female master students at the University of Botswana, due to their university education, have become more politically aware and critical towards their national political system. Botswana has been chosen as a critical case on the basis of the country’s long lasting democracy and the Botswana’s positive attitude towards their government.</p><p>The research takes off in theories such as democratic and critical citizen’s theory and feminism. Based on these theories, an analytical framework with the core assumption that female university education creates politically critical women, has been developed. The study is based on ten qualitative interviews with female master students. The interview questions concern the respondent’s political awareness, participation and their perceptions of political institutions, regime principles and governmental performance.</p><p>The findings of the study are that university education makes women more politically aware, empowered and active, although we have found no significant correlation between university education and a rise in criticism among the interviewed women. However a majority of the respondents that actually have been affected by their education declare that they have become more politically critical.</p>

Syftet med uppsatsen är att se vad som kännetecknar unga människors syn på politiskt engagemang och som en del i det vill jag undersöka om unga vuxna människor ser partier och organisationer som relevanta plattformar för att engagera sig. Uppsatsen är kvalitativ och en gruppintervju har genomförts där målgruppen är unga vuxna människor i åldern 18-29 boendes i Borlänge, syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva unga vuxna människors eventuella syn på politiskt engagemang. I uppsatsen redogör forskaren ett antal orsaker i resultatetsektionen som är tänkbara för att det politiska engagemanget skulle ha förändrats som politiska trender, samhällsengagemangets förändrade former, socialiseringens påverkan, skolans påverkan och ekonomiska faktorer. I uppsatsens slutsatser redogör forskaren att unga vuxna människor är i lika stor grad engagerade politiskt idag men det tar sig utryck i andra former än förut vilket gör att det går emot teorin om det politiska engagemanget minskar i samhället. Dock är inte politiska partier relevanta plattformar i lika stor omfattning som för några decennier sedan. / The purpose of this essay is to describe what characterizes young people´s vision on the subject of political engagement. As a part of that the author wants to investigate whether young adults regard political parties and organizations as relevant platforms to engage within. The essay conducts a quantitative group interview based on young adults between the ages of 18-29 as respondents, whom all are residents of the town Borlänge. In this essay the author describes a number of reasons as explanatory for the changes in political commitment regarding political trends, changes in community involvement, the effects of socialization, the effects of schools and economic factors. In the conclusions the author clarifies that young adults are as much part of political life today, but in other forms than before, which contradicts the theory on lack of political engagement in the society. Though, political parties are no longer as relevant platforms as they used to be a couple of decades ago.

This Minor Field Study examines whether or not Batswana female master students at the University of Botswana, due to their university education, have become more politically aware and critical towards their national political system. Botswana has been chosen as a critical case on the basis of the country’s long lasting democracy and the Botswana’s positive attitude towards their government. The research takes off in theories such as democratic and critical citizen’s theory and feminism. Based on these theories, an analytical framework with the core assumption that female university education creates politically critical women, has been developed. The study is based on ten qualitative interviews with female master students. The interview questions concern the respondent’s political awareness, participation and their perceptions of political institutions, regime principles and governmental performance. The findings of the study are that university education makes women more politically aware, empowered and active, although we have found no significant correlation between university education and a rise in criticism among the interviewed women. However a majority of the respondents that actually have been affected by their education declare that they have become more politically critical.

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