This paper examines the political participation of diaspora representatives in Tunisia’s politicalparties with affiliations to the Tunisian labor movement. The study is based on qualitativeinterviews with active politicians and other stakeholders in Tunis as well as participatoryobservations. The findings point towards decreased political participation among the diaspora,although their engagement during the years following the revolution of 2011 can be considered tohave been relatively high. The diminishing participation of the diaspora seems to be part of alarger trend that can explained by the fluid and rather underdeveloped system of political partiesthat has created difficulties in forming an efficient opposition, which has given rise to politicalapathy that has been efficiently exploited by anti-democratic candidates in Tunisia.

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Why do some political parties in Bangladesh discriminate against the Rohingya, while some do not? Much has been written about the conflict in Myanmar, but the plight of Rohingya in Bangladesh remains understudied. This lack of understanding is underscored by the five million Syrian refugees fleeing their own civil war that dominates the news and the attention of scholars. The Rohingya, however, are stateless: they are denied citizenship in their native Myanmar and are forced to find refuge in whichever country will take them. Much has been published that links immigration policy to security considerations and the national identity and ethnic homogeneity of the host country. I argue that it is the domestic politics of Bangladesh that directly influences the policies concerning, and subsequent treatment of, the Rohingya migrants. This leads back to the question I pose: why is it that some political parties in Bangladesh actively support the ethnic group while others actively discriminate against the Rohingya? I argue that it is the individual ideologies of that party that can be directly attributed to their stance on Rohingya. Using qualitative analysis, I measure how a party's foreign policy, social policy, and political ideology affects that organization's attitude toward Rohingya refugees. Understanding the largely political nature of refugee policy will allow policy-makers, intergovernmental organizations, and human rights groups to be better equipped to improve the conditions of, not only the Rohingya population, but other vulnerable refugee groups that seek safety in foreign states.

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In times of increased immigration around the world, caused by conflicts for example the refugee crisis in 2015 and the war in Ukraine, immigration politics are constantly on the agenda. This study explores how the Swedish political parties Socialdemokraterna, Moderaterna and Sverigedemokraterna portray immigrants in written interpellations and interpellation debates. Previous research on the topic shows how portrayals of immigrants influence attitudes in society towards the group. This emphasizes the need for more research in this area. The purpose of this study is to develop the understanding and knowledge of how social groups are socially constructed and what potential implications for the group this might have, as well as the potential reproduction of power relations. The study is a critical discourse analysis in which Fairclough's three-dimensional model and theoretical concepts are used. The study’s result revealed a contradiction between the different political parties regarding immigrants in relation to responsibility. Immigrants were placed in an impossible situation by some of the political parties, which implied that immigrants must take responsibility on their own, have taken responsibility, and must start taking responsibility while at the same time immigrants were portrayed as incapable of taking responsibility. Furthermore, immigrants were portrayed as an economic burden in various aspects such as social security contribution and increasing the risk of education inflation. The result also showed a consistent we-and-them perspective in which immigrants were given the identity as them with various negative associations. Lastly, it becomes clear that the immigrant's voice is missing in the public debate. Immigrants are always talked about instead of with them. This can reproduce an unequal power relationship in which the political parties have the power in the discourse to construct the group and give them a social identity. / I takt med ökad immigration runt om i världen på grund av diverse konflikter till exempel flyktingkrisen 2015 och kriget i Ukraina, är immigrationspolitik ett ständigt aktuellt ämne. Studien undersöker hur de svenska riksdagspartierna Socialdemokraterna, Moderaterna och Sverigedemokraterna framställer immigranter i skriftliga interpellationer och interpellationsdebatter. Tidigare forskning på området visar på att framställningen av immigranter influerar samhällsattityder gentemot gruppen. Det betonar således vikten av fortsatt forskning på området. Syftet med studien är att erhålla förståelse och kunskap för konstruerandet av sociala grupper inom den politiska diskursen och dess potentiella implikationer för gruppen samt potentiell reproduktion av maktrelationer. Studien utgör en kritisk diskursanalys varvid Faircloughs tredimensionella modell samt tillhörande teoretiska begrepp och resonemang används. Studiens resultat synliggjorde en motsättning mellan de politiska partierna angående immigranter i förhållande till ansvar. Immigranter försattes i en omöjlig situation varvid gruppen antyddes ha ett eget ansvar, att de tog ansvar, att de måste börja ta ansvar samtidigt som de är okapabla till att ta ansvar. Vidare beskrevs immigranter som en ekonomisk belastning utifrån olika fokuspunkter såsom bidragstagande och en grupp som ökar risken för utbildningsinflation. Resultaten visade också på ett genomgående vi-och-dem perspektiv där immigranter tillskrevs identiteten dem med tillhörande diverse negativa associationer. Avslutningsvis tydliggörs att immigranters röst saknas i den offentliga debatten, det talas alltid om gruppen istället för med dem. Detta kan reproducera ett ojämlikt maktförhållande där de politiska partierna har makten inom diskursen att konstruera gruppen och ge dem en social identitet.

Thesis advisor: Jonathan Laurence / What explains the rise of religious nationalism in established and ostensibly secular democracies? The resurgence of religion in the public sphere has transformed the political landscape of dozens of countries over the last half century, including authoritarian and democratic regimes and developed and developing states. This dissertation seeks to explain how and why religious nationalists came to power in two large democracies in the developing world, Turkey and India, despite the unwavering commitment of those countries’ modern founders to secularism. In both cases, religious nationalists struggled for decades to unseat entrenched political parties and win national elections. They were often persecuted, banned and jailed for their political activism. However, by the 1990s, they began to challenge their secular opponents and win power. Based on in-depth interviews with political elites and activists from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey and the Bharata Janata Party (BJP) in India, I argue that party activists in both countries were able to build tightly controlled, hierarchical political organizations that benefited from the dense networks of religious associations. Crucially, they used these networks to create a robust local presence and active, year-round grassroots organizations and develop what I refer to as “personalistic membership parties.” This new party type, I argue, is different from both elite (cadre) and mass parties, and explains the continuing electoral achievements and political resilience of the BJP and the AKP even in the face of numerous crises. In addition, I explore how secular actors instrumentalized religion for their own electoral purposes and, in doing so, counter-intuitively strengthened the religious movements they sought to oppose. More broadly, the comparison of India and Turkey helps to illuminate the problems and future of the secular state in the non-Western world, as both countries are now governed by right-wing populist, religious majoritarianism that challenges the secular nature of the state and its democratic character. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

In the run-up to the Swedish national election 2014, humanism became a central concept in the debate. Foreign policy is normally not very prominent in Swedish election debates, but ongoing developments in the surrounding world and intensified domestic polemics regarding immigration, generated focus on aid and refugee reception. In this debate, political parties as well as other key representatives repeatedly used words such as human, humane, humanity and humanitarian in order to describe a situation or to motivate a certain position. This thesis seeks to answer questions about how these concepts are used in the debate, what they mean and how the discourse forms policy and politics. The investigation is guided by a critical constructivist theory, and the analysis consists of four parts: Quantitative mapping of how the words are utilized; Semiotic analysis of the meaning of certain elements in the discourse; Analysis of representation; Discussion about how discourse forms reality.The results indicate that humanism is unanimously accepted as holding a positive meaning, or at least something that parties want to be associated with, which ought to differ it from other isms. There is a strong connection between discourse, political action, and reality. The study identifies a number of contexts where humanism occurs, namely: 1) Description of the Swedish society; 2) Support for Human Rights; 3) Sweden's responsibility to provide support; 4) Labelling certain politics, policies or reforms; 5) Description of situation in another country; 6) Description of another party; 7) Without direct reference to politics. In all categories of utilization of humanism, there were layers of meaning in the word choice or way a certain language was used. Differences in total frequency of humanism including all related key words can neither be explained by size of the party nor by the left-right political scale. There are however a number of factors that appear significant to understand variations in frequency, word choice and underlying norms and messages, including: normative context, political position (opposition/government), political color, media format, development norms, preconceived stereotypes, power-relations.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is the only woman in Africa that has ever been voted into presidential office. Uncovering the dynamics perpetuating men's continued dominance in presidential office-holding in this region requires a deeper understanding of presidential candidacies particularly as they relate to gendered patterns of major party support that often occur due to party gatekeeping. As such, this thesis poses the following questions: How prevalent are women candidates in sub-Saharan African presidential elections? To what extent do women run for major party labels versus minor party labels or as independent candidates? What factors explain those patterns of party representation for women presidential candidates in the region? I hypothesize that women are altogether less likely than men to run for president. When women do run, I posit that they forge minor party candidacies as opposed to major party or independent candidacies. While minor parties may signal legitimacy, consolidate policy platforms, and provide resources for women candidates who face gatekeeping from major parties, they will ultimately be unlikely to propel them into viable candidacies let alone presidencies. Using a mixed methodological approach, this thesis aims to assess ways party representation differs between men and women presidential candidates in 26 sub-Saharan African countries that were considered "free" or "partly free" as of their 2020 elections (Freedom House). As the role of women in democratization continues to be in question, this research is vital to understanding how women are incorporated into the politics of new democracies. / Master of Arts / Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is the only woman in Africa that has ever been voted into presidential office, likely because women face disadvantages in gaining political party support. While major parties have significant dominance over minor parties, minor parties may be more likely to support women due to discrimination from major parties. As such, this thesis poses the following questions: How prevalent are women candidates in sub-Saharan African presidential elections? To what extent do women run for major party labels versus minor party labels or as independent candidates? What factors explain those patterns of party representation for women presidential candidates? I hypothesize that women are altogether less likely than men to run for president. When women do run, I posit that they forge minor party candidacies as opposed to major party or independent candidacies. Minor party representation may have important benefits that independent candidacies do not have due to lack of party support. Party representation, even from minor parties, can signal candidate legitimacy, present a clear policy agenda, and provide resources, but minor parties will ultimately be unlikely to propel women into presidencies. This thesis aims to assess ways party representation differs between men and women presidential candidates in 26 sub-Saharan African countries that were considered "free" or "partly free" as of their 2020 elections, denoting their statuses as democracies or at least semi-democracies (Freedom House). I further substantiate the quantitative evidence with evidence from interviews, surveys, and historical context. As the role of women in democracy-building continues to be in question, this research is vital to understanding how women are incorporated into the politics of new democracies.

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