Este trabalho busca verificar, por meio da análise do processo de criação e implementação do Cadastro Ambiental Rural a partir da perspectiva da democracia deliberativa de Habermas, a possibilidade de tal instrumento se transformar em objeto de políticas públicas que proporcionem uma proteção ambiental efetiva. Tenciona também investigar as finalidades do CAR enquanto instrumento da Administração Pública em suas funções reativa e proativa, utilizando como abordagem a contextualização do referido instrumento, incluindo questões relativas ao Código Florestal de 2012, lei na qual está inserido, para posteriormente descrever seus diferentes aspectos. Estes compreendem o CAR como materialização do direito à informação ambiental, sua função de combate ao desmatamento e pressuposto do Programa de Regularização Ambiental, além de seu papel no zoneamento ambiental. Também é feita uma análise do processo de implementação do Cadastro Ambiental Rural em Caxias do Sul à luz da teoria de Habermas, da qual são explicitados elementos referentes ao procedimento, princípios e formas de aplicação. A metodologia adotada é a hipotético-dedutiva, utilizando as técnicas de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. Como resultados da pesquisa, destacam-se a constatação acerca da multiplicidade de potencialidades do CAR, que pode servir de base para diferentes ações e políticas de proteção ambiental, assim como a real possibilidade e urgente necessidade de ampliar, aprimorar e consolidar mecanismos deliberativos na tomada de decisões públicas, bem como na implementação de políticas públicas de cunho ambiental no Brasil. / This work seeks to check, through the analysis of the process of creation and implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry from Habermas deliberative democracy perspective, the possibility of this tool to become an object of public policy, providing an effective environmental protection. It also aims to investigate the goals of the Rural Environmental Registry as a tool of Public Administration in its reactive and proactive functions, using as approach its context, including issues about the Forest Code of 2012, law in which the Rural Environmental Registry is envisaged, to later describe its main aspects. These include the Rural Environmental Registry as embodiment of the right to environmental information, its function in the fight against deforestation and as requisite for joining the Program for Environmental Regularization, besides its roll in the environmental zoning. It is also done an analysis of the process of implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry in Caxias do Sul under the perspective of Habermas theory. In this context, the work explains elements about the procedure, principles and forms of execution of this theory. It is adopted the hypothectical-deductive methodology, using bibliographic and documentary techniques. As results of this research, it is possible to highlight the conclusion about the multiplicity of potentialities of the Rural Environmental Registry that may become a basis for several actions and environmental protection policies, such as the real possibility and urgent necessity of expanding, improving and consolidating deliberative mechanisms in the taking of public decisions, as well as in the implementation of environmetal public policy in Brazil.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:35:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriano Cesar Braz Caldeira.pdf: 1112546 bytes, checksum: bd0f5ebb4908b8376a971dd669d3d887 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-24 / The current study aims to analyze the performance of the Brazilian jurisdiction considering the needs of the capital system and the political system, observing the behavior and the role to be played by the Judiciary and the legal thought, especially the procedure in the post-1988 s Federal Constitution period. At first, it was decided to examine, in the first chapter, the role of this Constitution in the process of continuity of the ideals for decades already established by the capital and, later, the political system. Therefore, it was understood well by reviewing, without intending to innovate in this regard, the main reasons that led to each of the Constitutions taken in our country, checking behavior of institutions, in particular the jurisdiction in times of crisis State, considering his parallel action with capital system and political. With this, it was possible to observe that the ideal of democracy, the ideal of the effectiveness of fundamental rights and guarantees is utopian, in other words, impossible while maintaining the conditions of domination established throughout contemporary history. The second chapter is intended to analyze the reasons that lead to loss of boundaries between institutions, both among the representative institutions as between them and the jurisdictional institution, so as to interfere in the outcome of the adjudication, constituting the phenomenon usually called by the doctrine of politicization of jurisdictional actions. As regards the third chapter, the goal pursued is the analysis of traditional scopes of jurisdiction, consolidated with special emphasis throughout the twentieth century, turning the process into a mere usefulness instrument of the substantive law completely abandoning their original purpose, in other words, to reestablish the equalities left behind by the substantive law and the social core itself against the political and economic ideals adopted by our society. Search is also in this chapter, reset the paths to jurisdictional actions directed to the expectations of society, not individually, which implies a new educational, social and judicial review, which goes beyond the resolution of the dispute, consider so as to the real social needs bordering that conflict, allowing the individual to understand the social context in which inserted in. Finally, the fourth and final chapter is intended to study the routes to be followed in order to establish full democracy, which result from a deliberative process, not an imposition. A process whose essence are rooted features like inclusion, equality and freedom, in other words, a democracy that is born from below, directly from the action of the mass that makes up society, organized, able to build a right of society and not of the institutions. / O presente estudo pretende analisar a atuação da jurisdição brasileira diante das necessidades do sistema de capital e do sistema político, observando o comportamento e o papel a ser desempenhado tanto pelo Poder Judiciário quanto pelo pensamento jurídico, especialmente o processual, no período pós-Constituição Federal de 1988, considerando ter sido esse o divisor de águas, ao menos no aspecto formal, em relação ao processo de democratização da sociedade brasileira. De início, optou-se por analisar, no primeiro capítulo, a função da Constituição no processo de continuísmo dos ideais já há décadas estabelecidos pelo sistema de capital e, mais tarde, pelo sistema político. Para tanto, entendeu-se por bem revisar, sem pretensão de inovar quanto a esse aspecto, as principais razões que conduziram a cada uma das Constituições havidas no país, verificando o comportamento das instituições, em especial da jurisdição, nos momentos de crise do Estado, considerando a sua atuação paralela com o sistema de capital e com o sistema político. Com isso, foi possível analisar se o ideal de democracia, de efetividade de direitos e garantias fundamentais, é utópico, ou seja, irrealizável enquanto mantidas as condições de dominação estabelecidas ao longo da história contemporânea. O segundo capítulo é destinado à análise das razões que levam à perda dos limites entre as instituições, tanto entre as representativas quanto entre estas e a jurisdicional, de modo a interferir no resultado da prestação jurisdicional, constituindo fenômeno que a doutrina convencionou denominar de politização da atuação jurisdicional. O terceiro capítulo, por sua vez, visa à análise dos escopos tradicionais da jurisdição, constituídos com especial ênfase ao longo do século XX, transformando o processo em mero instrumento de serventia do direito material, abandonando por completo a sua destinação de fantasia ao restabelecimento das igualdades deixadas de lado por tal direito, bem como pelo próprio núcleo social, face aos ideais políticos e econômicos adotados pela sociedade. Busca-se, ainda, nesse capítulo, redefinir os caminhos para uma atuação jurisdicional voltada aos anseios da sociedade, desindividualizada, organizada e, sobretudo, preparada para a deliberação, o que implica novo processo educacional, social e jurisdicional, que vá além da resolução da lide, passando a considerar as reais necessidades sociais que margeiam aquele conflito, permitindo ao indivíduo entender o contexto social em que está inserido. Por fim, o quarto e último capítulo é destinado ao estudo dos caminhos a serem percorridos para que se estabeleça uma democracia total, que decorra de um processo deliberativo, não de imposição, mas de inclusão de igualdades e de liberdades, uma democracia que parta de baixo, da direta atuação do sujeito social, organizado, capaz de construir um Direito da sociedade, e não das instituições.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:33:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renato Jaqueta Benine.pdf: 881117 bytes, checksum: 769e01b12bae463dae3b33a5839031d2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-23 / Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie / Lobbying is an expression constantly associated with the defense of private and specific economic interests of a group and with the adoption of shady practices, influence peddling, corruption and exchange of favors. However, this practice which should not be understood from its pathology but from its physiology has become increasingly common, being used not only as a defense mechanism of an economic group, but also as an instrument to promote overall interests in a society. In this scenario, we also have organizations of the emerging Third Sector figuring as actors adopting lobbying strategies. In Brazil, the regulation of lobbying practice is still pending. However, its physiology has deserved a legal and constitutional treatment in the 1988 Federal Constitution. Its protection is observed with the recognition of citizenship and political pluralism as the foundation of the Democratic State ruled by the Law, as well as from the participatory democratic dimension, expressed by the 88 Constitution. The fundamental status of lobbying in the Third Sector also derives from the recognition of fundamental rights and guarantees, including: (a) freedom of assembly; (b) freedom of association; (c) the right to be informed; (d) the right to information ; (e) the right to freedom of opinion and expression of thought; (f) the freedom of intellectual, scientific expression and others; and (g) the right of petition. As to the limits of this practice, they are perceived in its own constitutional provisions to guarantee such protection. Concerning freedom of assembly and freedom of association, the lobbying carried out by Third Sector organizations is thought to be developed for lawful purposes. As to citizenship understood as a duty of solidarity with other members of society it is understood that the Third Sector, in an act of lobbying, must be aware of social concerns like those expressed among the fundamental objectives of our federal republic. Another limit to the Third Sector lobbying is the political equality to which all are endowed with equal rights and freedom in the development of a political action. Thus, no action developed by lobbying organizations of the Third Sector could be generated so as to eliminate or prevent the participation of other interest groups, opposed or not, because dissension is a vital component of our pluralist democracy. / O lobbying é uma expressão constantemente associada à defesa de interesses econômicos, particularistas e específicos de determinado grupo e à adoção de práticas escusas, tráfico de influência, corrupção e troca de favores. Entretanto, essa prática que não deve ser compreendida a partir de sua patologia, mas sim de sua fisiologia tem se tornado cada vez mais usual, sendo utilizada não só como um mecanismo de incidência política de grupos de natureza econômica, mas também como instrumento na promoção de interesses mais gerais de uma sociedade. Nesse cenário, figuram, ainda, como atores a adotar estratégias lobbying, as organizações do emergente Terceiro Setor. No Brasil, a prática de lobbying apresenta-se pendente de regulamentação. No entanto, sua fisiologia encontra, na Constituição Federal de 1988, tratamento jurídico-constitucional. Sua proteção é observada quando do reconhecimento da cidadania e do pluralismo político como fundamentos do Estado Democrático de Direito, bem como a partir da dimensão democrática participativa, expressa pela CF/88. A fundamentalidade do lobbying do Terceiro Setor decorre, ainda, da afirmação de direitos e garantias fundamentais, entre eles: (a) liberdade de reunião; (b) liberdade de associação; (c) direito de se informar; (d) direito à informação; (e) direito de opinião e liberdade de manifestação de pensamento; (f) liberdade de manifestação de atividade intelectual, científica e outras; e (g) direito de petição. Quanto aos limites a tal prática, eles são percebidos nos próprios dispositivos constitucionais a lhe garantirem a referida proteção. Das liberdades de reunião e associação, deduz-se que o lobbying desenvolvido por organizações do Terceiro Setor deve ser realizado para fins lícitos. Já da cidadania compreendida essa como um dever de solidariedade para com os demais membros da sociedade , decorre o entendimento de que o Terceiro Setor, em uma ação de lobbying, deve estar atento aos anseios da sociedade, como aqueles expressos entre os objetivos fundamentais da nossa república federativa. Outro limite ao lobbying do Terceiro Setor consiste na igualdade política para a qual todos são dotados de iguais direitos e liberdades no desenvolvimento de uma ação política. Assim, nenhuma ação de lobbying desenvolvida por organizações integrantes do Terceiro Setor poderia ser engendrada de maneira a eliminar ou impedir a participação de outros grupos de interesses, contrapostos ou não, pois o dissenso consiste em um elemento essencial da nossa democracia pluralista.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:33:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Paulo de Mattos Donadelli.pdf: 531803 bytes, checksum: 48e5527d5a698547fd47df0daee620e6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-14 / Democracy demands isonomic participation in the process of collective decision making. To this purpose it is necessary that the messages of mass media be plural, presenting multiple points of view and a sort of sources. The State must ensure that the citizens get access to multiple points of view and information, as well as the ideas of the main social actors be represented in the communicative environment - comprised by the media in which is the ensemble of communication of certain circle, as an analogy to natural environment . In practice, not every social group has the same access to the mass media. There is a distortion in the so-called free market ideas which is under the thumb of few senders, the major broadcast companies. This can be noted mainly in the scope of concessions of radio and television broadcast, which requires political support, in addition to technological structure, human, and financial resources, whose resources only the major broadcast groups have access to. The regulation of mass media, according to the Brazilian Constitution, must to pursue the democratization of mass media, the pluralism of its actors and to fight monopolies and oligopolies of communication. The Federal Constitution of 1988 envisaged, in the article 224, the creation of Social Communication Council (National), created by Law nº 8.389/91. Such rules aim to establish participation of civil society, in the context of making political decision regarding Social Communication likewise other constitutionally predicted councils, such as Health Council (article 77, Paragraph 3, of Federal Constitution), or the Advisory Board of the Fighting and Eradication Poverty Fund (article 79, sole paragraph of Federal Constitution and Supplementary Law 111 from 2001). This organism has a plural composition. It s composed by representatives of the main different media, technical members, and civil society representatives. Its constitutional function is to assist the National Congress in regulation of Communication. The Communication Social Council would be the mechanism to improve the pluralism of Social Communication in order to minimize the distortions caused by Communications Oligopoly and Monopoly. However, this Council faces juridical and practical issues. The Council was inoperative since the beginning of 2007, its activation happened just on August 2012. Moreover, it s limited to provide opinions that have no effect on decision made in the Social Communication scope. The opinions are considered as mere recommendation; most of the time it is not take in account by political organs. It is necessary to question the legal purposes of Legislative and Executive decisions taken with no consideration of Council position, in other hand the Council will never meet its Constitution role. This dissertation addresses these regulation issues of Social Communication by analyzing the legal power of decisions made by Social Communication Council. / A democracia exige isonomia de participação na formação das decisões coletivas. Para tanto é necessário que as mensagens na comunicação sejam plurais, refletindo diversos pontos de vista e diversos emissores. Deve-se garantir tanto que os cidadãos tenham acesso à diversidade de opiniões e informações, quanto que as ideias dos principais grupos estejam representadas no ambiente comunicativo - entendido como o conjunto da comunicação em determinado âmbito, numa analogia ao meio ambiente . Na prática nem todos os grupos têm o mesmo acesso aos meios de Comunicação Social, existindo uma distorção no chamado livre mercado das ideias que é dominado por poucos emissores, as grandes empresas de comunicação. Isso se vê principalmente no âmbito das concessões de rádio e televisão, que exige apoio político além de estrutura tecnológica, humana e financeira a que só os grandes grupos de comunicação têm acesso. A regulamentação da Comunicação Social, por força da Constituição de 1988, deve buscar a democratização dos meios de comunicação social, o pluralismo dos agentes e combater os monopólios e oligopólios comunicativos. A Constituição de 1988 previu, no artigo 224, a criação do Conselho de Comunicação Social (Nacional), órgão regulamentado pela Lei nº 8.389/91. Tais normas visam estabelecer a participação da sociedade civil, na tomada de decisões políticas no âmbito da Comunicação Social a exemplo de outros conselhos constitucionalmente previstos, como os Conselhos de Saúde (artigo 77, § 3º da CF), ou o Conselho Consultivo e de Acompanhamento do Fundo de Combate e Erradicação da Pobreza (artigo 79, parágrafo único da CF e Lei Complementar 111 de 2001). Esse órgão tem uma constituição plural. É composto de representantes dos principais meios de comunicação, além de representantes técnicos e da sociedade civil. Sua função constitucional é auxiliar o Congresso Nacional na normatização da Comunicação Social. O Conselho de Comunicação Social seria um mecanismo para aprimorar o pluralismo da comunicação social de forma a amenizar as distorções causadas pelos monopólios e oligopólios comunicativos. No entanto, enfrenta problemas de ordem prática e jurídica. O Conselho encontrava-se desativado desde o início de 2007 e só foi reativado em agosto de 2012. Ademais, é limitado a dar pareceres que não têm qualquer efeito sobre as decisões tomadas no âmbito da Comunicação Social. Os pareceres são vistos como meras recomendações por vezes nem levados em conta pelas instâncias de decisão política. É necessário questionar a validade jurídica das decisões legislativas e executivas tomadas sem consideração da posição do Conselho, caso contrário o Conselho nunca chegará a cumprir sua função Constitucional. O trabalho aborda essas questões de regulamentação da Comunicação Social analisando a força jurídica das decisões do Conselho de Comunicação Social.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-18T12:54:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO_JURACI GUIMARAES JUNIOR.pdf: 1228773 bytes, checksum: b734e287f93009610a0ea40190ad0ee2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-30 / The possibility and intensity of judicial review of participatory democracy in the popular initiative bill from the judgment by the Supreme Court of the Brasil of LC 135-2010, Law of Clean Record. After dealing the concept and evolution of direct and representative democracy to participatory democracy. Analyze the contours of democracy in the Brasil Federal Constitution of 1988 and the tension between democracy and the rule of law. Discuss to the various theoretical approaches to democratic deliberative aspects proceduralists and substantialists. The second step is to describe the political rights as fundamental rights, its concept, features and restrictions procedure. In a third step we discuss the legitimacy of judicial review in a democracy, addressing the various existing currents and contextualizing the legal reality and brazilian politics. Finally, it explains on the LC 135-2010, its participatory democratic formation and critically analyzes the reasons for the decision of the Brasil Supreme Court which ruled their (in) constitutionality. / A possibilidade e intensidade do controle judicial da democracia participativa no projeto de lei de iniciativa popular, a partir do julgamento pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal da Lei da Ficha Limpa. Inicialmente, aborda-se o conceito e evolução da democracia direta e representativa até a democracia participativa. Analisa-se os contornos da democracia na Constituição Federal de 1988 e a tensão entre a democracia e o Estado de Direito. Debata-se as diversas correntes teóricas democráticas até as vertentes deliberativas procedimentalistas e substancialistas. O segundo momento consiste em descrever os direitos políticos como direitos fundamentais, seu conceito, características e procedimento de restrição. Em um terceiro momento discute-se a legitimidade do controle judicial de constitucionalidade numa democracia, abordando as diversas correntes existentes e as contextualizando na realidade jurídica e política brasileira. Por fim, explana-se sobre a Lei da Ficha Limpa, sua formação democrática participativa e se analisa criticamente os fundamentos da decisão do Supremo Tribunal Federal que julgou a sua (in)constitucionalidade.

The nation state has over time become the natural locus for democracy and consequently also legitimate governance. Both concepts have been developed within the nation state and are therefore considered closely connected to it. Nation states are, however, not the only actor on the international arena anymore. The European integration is an example of a new actor, where nation states have started collaborating. Similar to nation states, EU has decision-making authorities and must therefore attain legitimacy. The thesis questions how legitimacy can be treated within an entity such as the EU. Three different ways of attaining legitimacy are brought up. The first perceives EU as legitimate in its current design with an intergovernmental part and a regulatory part. The intergovernmental part is claimed to be legitimised through democracy from the member states, and the regulatory part is legitimised through non-majoritarian democracy. Non-majoritarian democracy implies decision-making by independent institutions, which relies on expertise and fairness. The second part emphasises the need to enhance democracy for the EU to become legitimate. The EU is considered too similar to a nation state to make do with lesser standards of legitimacy than a liberal democratic nation state. Deliberative democracy could bring legitimacy through creating a dimension where citizens become oriented towards what can be perceived or acknowledged as the “common good” through active participation in deliberative processes. Federalism is brought up as another alternative that would possibly permit for democracy to be practiced in the EU. Legitimacy is claimed to be achieved through sustaining values such as mutual respect, reciprocity, compromise and toleration, values that are connected to a commitment to working for the “common good”. The purpose of this essay is to describe different aspects on the concept “legitimacy” in the EU context and to show how it is achieved and/or how it can possibly be achieved in a future union of nation states. The purpose is not to arrive at a solution, or even to construe a common ground, but to construe a limited insight on how “legitimacy” in the EU can be treated according to theorists/theories. / Nationalsstaten har kommit att bli den naturliga platsen för demokrati och legitimt styre. En trolig förklaring till detta är att båda koncepten har utvecklats inom nationsstaten och anses därför vara starkt sammankopplade med den. Nationalsstater är dock inte längre den enda aktören på den internationella arenan. Den Europeiska integrationen är ett exempel på en ny företeelse, ett forum/sammanhang där nationalsstater har börjat sammarbeta. Som med nationsstater har EU beslutsfattande befogenheter och måste därför uppnå legitimitet. Uppsatsen ifrågasätter hur legitimitet kan behandlas inom en enhet såsom EU. Tre olika sätt att uppnå legitimitet tas upp. Det första uppfattar EU som legitimt i sitt nuvarande utförande med en mellanstatlig del och en reglerande. Den mellanstatliga delen skulle kunna legitimeras genom medlemsstaternas demokrati, och den reglerande delen legitimeras genom ”icke-majoritets demokrati”. ”Icke majoritets demokrati” innebär beslutsfattande av självständiga instutitioner, som förlitar sig på experter och rättvisa som värdegrund. Den andra delen framhåller behovet av att öka demokrati för att ska bli EU legitimt. Enligt detta synsätt är EU alltför likt en nationsstat för att klara sig med en lägre standard av legitimitet än en liberaldemokratisk nationsstat. Deliberativ demokrati skulle kunna bringa legitimitet genom att tillföra en dimension där medborgare, genom aktivt deltagain i deliberativa processer, blir orienterade mot lösningar som uppfattas och erkänns som ”allmänt goda”. Federalism tas upp som ytterligare ett alternativ. Legitimitet anses kunna uppnås genom upprätthållandet av värden såsom gemensam respekt, ömsesidighet, kompromisser and tålamod. Värden som är kopplade till åtagandet att sträva mot ”det allmäna goda”. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att beskriva olika aspekter av legitimitetsbegreppet i EU och att visa på hur legitimitet uppnås eller kan uppnås i en framtida union av nationalstater. Uppsatsen gör varken anspråk på att tillhandahålla klara lösningar eller ens att föreslå en gemensam bas av möjliga sådana, men att erbjuda läsaren en begränsad insikt i hur legitimitet behandlas utifrån några teoretiska perspektiv, och av några teoretiker.

ABSTRACT Citizendialogue in the District of Rasbo A Case Study in the Municipality of Uppsala Author: Camilla Östlund Supervisor: Stig Montin The essay is written inside the scope of Örebro Universitys evaluation of the new organisation in the municipality of Uppsala. The purpose of this essay is to study the citizendialogue in the district of Rasbo. This will be done partly by an examination of how the participants themselves perceive citizendialogue. Their descriptions are put in relation to deliberative democracy and its critics amongst other. Partly by study how those involved have choosen to put it into practice. The opponents of the reorganization chose to start a non-profit association, Rasbo in co-operation, to carry on local mobilization and it will be compared with other similar groups. The municipality of Uppsala arranged a citizens forum in the district of Rasbo and the essay will examine how the participants experienced it. The study is based upon a total of 19 semistructured interviews with politicians and officials in the municipality of Uppsala and also working members of Rasbo in co-operation. The overall result of the analysis is that the politicians and the officials as well as the members of the association support the form of actions that endorse the representative system and look att citizendialogue as a tool to regenerate it and make it better. Rasbo in co-operation has almost everything in common with similar groups including a contradictory view on politics. The association has the important requirements for local mobilization, dedicated people, a positive collective identity and a constructive relation to the municipality. The participants of the citizens forum liked the way the forum was arranged and enjoyed the evening. But there was some problem between the unicipality and the association in connection with the preliminaries before the event. There is also some deficiency in the follow-up. Keyword: local democracy, citizendialogue, deliberative democracy, local mobilization, citizens forum, Uppsala, Rasbo, Rasbokil, Stavby, Tuna.

Abstract In the beginning of 2007 the Swedish municipality Örebro decided to have a democratic experiment, which ought to go under the name, “Dialouge for the citizens”. The representative elected politicians in Örebro tried to find ways to involve the people in the process of ruling. Why they choose to try this experiment on this very delicate matter, the closure of several schools in the municipal, is one of the questions this essay is trying to answer. The purpose of this essay is to find out whether the process was an attempt for the politicians of the representative democracy to implement deliberative democracy in the structure of the local governance. The result of this study is that the politicians didn’t manage to reach to the citizens the way they formerly had planned.

The purpose of the study is to explore how social media can be used as a forum to discuss politics and also how young people use critical reflection to evaluate the information available on social media. To achieve the purpose, a qualitative research is used. The empirical data is collected through semi-structured interviews with six high school students who voted in the Swedish parliamentary elections in/of 2014. The empirical data were then analyzed based on previous research on social media, and the school's mission to foster individuals who think critically. The analysis is also based on the theory of deliberative democracy model. The study shows that social media can be used as a platform for political discussions but it is in a large extent characterized by mudslinging between the sides for and against the various political elements. The survey also shows that the interviewed students do not understand the implications of source criticism. Instead they use critical thinking to determine what is a good or a bad source. The study shows that the deliberative democracy model cannot be applied to social media in its present form, but should be seen as an ideal image of how a deliberative democracy should work.

This study aims to investigate how municipalities respond to citizen input in consultation reports – a necessary and often mandatory documentation in the Swedish planning process. More specifically, building on the political-philosophical debate on deliberation as a democratic ideal, this study explores how local authorities' response to citizen input is structured and designed in these reports, and to what extent citizen input is recognized. By approaching a model for logics and considerations within sorting processes, I also seek to understand how local authorities motivate and explain their stances. More specifically, I examine whether considerations – made within a so called selective sorting – emphasize what ispossible, legal and/or proper to implement. The study is mainly based on a qualitative content analysis of consultation reports from three Swedish municipalities. The results of this study highlight, among other things, that the structure and design of the response from the local authorities depend on the structure and design of the input. Further, almost fifty percent of the total number of responses studied are rejected, where a vast majority of the few approvals given are weak/vague. Even though local authorities from all three municipalities motivate their stances based on what is possible, legal and proper, there are some general patterns. In total, almost half of all positions are justified on the basis of what is considered proper to implement, while approximately a fifth are justified on the basis of what is legal. Further, I have drawn attention to two more specific ways in which municipalities seem to motivate and explain their positions. These ways are defined as two categories that I have chosen to call aesthetics and external expertise.