The emergence since World War II of many new states in Asia and Africa has stimulated a renewed interest of sociology and political science in the non-western social and political process and an enhanced concern with the problem of political development in these areas. The source of contemporary concepts of political development can be located in the ideas of the social philosophers of the nineteenth century. Maine, Toennies, Durkheim, and Weber were the first social observers to deal with the phenomena of social and political development in a rigorously analytical manner and their analyses provided contemporary political development theorists with seminal ideas that led to the identification of the major properties of the developed political condition. But the "before-and-after" models of these social philosophers were essentially static and did not explain the movement of societies from a condition of political "backwardness" to one of political development. Accounts of various paths to political development were sought in evolutionary and diffusionary theories of social change. In addition to formulating various conceptualizations of political development, both as a condition and as a process, contemporary theorists have attempted to discern possible instruments of political development in the new states. Among those identified were elites, ideologies, parties and groups. The capacity of such instruments to effect political development in the new states has been the subject of considerable discussion and debate among theorists. While such instruments may aid in the acquisition of political modernity in the new states, effective and enduring political development appears to require a fundamental human transformation. Such a transformation encompasses two conjoint developments: a fundamental alteration in the political status of individuals in society that is summed up in the concept of citizenship; and a fundamental change in the social and psychological attributes of individuals involving their acquisition of a sense of political effectiveness and a capacity to associate and cooperate in the pursuit of common political goals. The discussion reveals that political development theory constitutes a fusion of the sociological and philosophical dimensions of political analysis. This property of contemporary political development theory places it in the tradition of classical social and political thought. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

"Children of the Silent Majority: Nixon, New Politics, and the Youth Vote, 1968-1972" investigates the emergence of young Americans as a major force in national politics, arguing that the 1968 generation constrained the conservative realignment that Richard Nixon envisioned but also revitalized the Republican Party after the voting age fell to eighteen. Despite the widespread assumption that the vast cadre of young voters casting ballots for the first time in 1972 would tilt the electorate to the Democratic Party, this dissertation reveals that the Nixon administration targeted and mobilized young Americans not aligned with the left--people Nixon's staff called the "sons and daughters of the silent majority." Nixon cultivated his own youth cadre, Young Voters for the President (YVP). Carefully targeting non-students and campus conservatives to join this 400,000 member organization, YVP leaders employed both grassroots organization and modern Madison Avenue advertising techniques to pry increasingly independent young voters from previous Democratic strongholds such as urban, ethnic enclaves and the Sunbelt. In addition, when the politics of youth--the ways Americans, young and old, thought about young people and youth issues--presented a barrier to Nixon's law-and-order conservative policies on problems such as marijuana and campus disorders, Nixon acquiesced on issues such as the draft and environmental protection. This youth-friendly approach allowed his administration to attract and recruit young voters. This study also explores how youth politics fueled the development of image politics during the1970s, compelling campaigns to embrace new techniques that emphasized targeted polling, television and candidates' personal characteristics over party loyalty. Attracting young voters necessitated a more image savvy campaign, giving Nixon's in-house advertising agency of high-powered executives, the November Group, a central role in campaign strategy. Young voters also supplied the campaign with public relations opportunities to counter Nixon's detractors in the media who relished his "youth problem." This study contributes to the scholarship on the Nixon presidency and the political history of the Republican "New Majority" in the 1960s and 1970s by uncovering the decisive role of young voters and youth issues in those pivotal years.

This thesis aims to map what arguments are used by the two biggest parties in Swedish politics, The Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Party, when discussing European politics in the European Affairs Committee (EAC) of the Swedish parliament. In order to realise this, frames used by the party representatives in the committee have been analysed. With the typology of Helbling et. al. (2010), a categorisation of four frames is applied, where each frame corresponds with a side of the left-right or the GAL-TAN-dimension. The study is structured by a number of hypotheses constructed based on findings of previous research, comparing both between the parties and changes over time. The results are assessed in relative terms, meaning that the study focuses on the parties’ relative use of frames rather than the absolute. All hypotheses find full or partial support, confirming expectations of previous research made on other European countries. However, some surprising results are found, highlighting new potential research questions for future studies.

Le présent travail étudie le mouvement écologique en Bulgarie (1987-2014) comme un représentant typique et spécifique des nouveaux mouvements sociaux. Il s'agit de questionner en particulier les rapports qui lient l'écologie, la politique et l'engagement. L'évolution du mouvement est observée dans sa continuité historique, au niveau macro (dans sa relation avec les enjeux politiques majeurs de notre temps), au niveau méso (dans son contexte structurel et culturel) et au niveau micro (celui de l’individu engagé). L'approche générale est interdisciplinaire, elle réunit histoire politique, anthropologie, sociologie, philosophie et psychologie. L'analyse fait combiner méthodes qualitatives et comparatives et quantitatives. Le mouvement écologique en Bulgarie est un acteur sociopolitique d'un nouveau type qui a ancrage profond et une dimension éthique et politique. En tant que mouvement contestataire et trans-partisan véhiculant une “politique citoyenne” authentique opposée à “la politique politicienne” du statu quo, il fait promouvoir une culture civique participative; la personnalité humaine y joue un rôle fondamental. Il apparaît également comme un des facteur de la démocratisation de fait de la vie politique du pays après la chute du régime totalitaire. Le mouvement se construit en espace de dépassement de la politique héritée du siècle passé annonçant la nécessité d'une nouvelle «politique planétaire», fondée sur de nouvelles synthèses de valeurs et de pratiques. Par ailleurs, il reflète une attitude particulière envers la nature liée aux spécificités de la culture nationale. / This study examines the Green Movement in Bulgaria (1987-2014) as a typical and specific example of the New Social Movements. It focuses on the interconnection between environmentalism, politics and participation. We present the movement along with its evolution and analyse it on three levels: macro (through its relation to the most important contemporary issues, phenomena and processes); meso (in the national context during the past three generations); and micro (through the prism of individuals and their experience). Our general approach is interdisciplinary, combining qualitative, comparative and quantitative methods. Bulgaria’s green movement is a citizen and political movement of a new type. In the context of the New Social Movements, it is an actor of challenging the status quo; a moral corrective of the power, which implements a genuine ‘citizen environmental politics.’ Secondly, it introduces and fosters New Culture and New Politics based on a novel set of values, practices and behavioural models: one where the individual is essential. Thirdly, it is one of the pillars of Bulgarian civil society, a key factor in democratizing the socio-political life. Last but not least, it is a vehicle of an Eco-humanism originating in the specific environment that gave birth to the citizens’ movements in Eastern Europe under the totalitarian regimes and during the Democratic Transition. It also embodies a specific national attitude towards nature, traditionally stemming from peculiarities of Bulgarian culture.