<p>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.</p>

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to study the level of democracy within the European Union (EU). To do so the following issues were examined: How the EU works and the efforts it has made to improve levels of democracy; and the degree to which the EU fulfils the criteria set by Robert Dahl in his theory of polyarchy.</p><p>The study is based on a qualitative text analysis. The focus of the analysis is documents released by the EU that can be connected to democracy, and human and fundamental rights. The theory of polyarchy proposed by Robert Dahl and Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of democracy are the principal theories applied. The thesis also includes theories about democracy within the EU prior to this study.</p><p>The result and conclusion after studying the documents in the light of the theories of Dahl and Schumpeter suggest that the EU could be more democratic than it is at present. The movement towards becoming more democratic is in progress but needs more time. The fundamental criterion, i.e. that citizens should to be able to choose the holders of a particular position, is weak in the EU because there are only general elections to the European Parliament, which is just one of the three main institutions.</p>

The purpose of this paper was to address the issue of democratic restrictions in Macedonia today, 2017, due to all the media attention of the Macedonian political life. It was also an interesting country to study because of its disputes with its neighbouring country Greece, which blocks Macedonia from entering both the European Union and the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. The study was carried out on the grounds of Roberts Dahl’s seven institutions regarding Polyarchy which are elected officials, free and fair elections, inclusive suffrage, right to run for office, freedom of expression, alternative information and freedom of assembly. The method which was applied to this study was an ideal-type of democracy. The seven institutions of Polyarchy is the nearest a democratic governance one can come, and therefore Polyarchy became the main ideal-type. The seven institutions were later compared with both the Macedonian constitution and how these institutions are applied to daily life in the country. The results showed that the institutions inclusive suffrage and right to run for office were the only ones which met up to Dahl’s definition of those two institutions. Further, the institutions elected officials and freedom of assembly are partly restricted by the state. The institutions freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are the ones which are most restricted in Macedonia. The institution free and fair elections is also since 2016 an institution with restrictions because of the political crisis in recent years. Due to these results, one can conclude that Macedonia does not meet up to the requirements of all seven institutions and one can therefore infer that there are several democratic restrictions in Macedonia in 2017.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det civila samhället och den ekonomiska utvecklingen påverkar demokratistatusen i världen och urvalet är 136 länder. Jag har prövat om samhällets deltagande, aktiva intressegrupper och socialt kapital har ett samband med demokratistatusen i länderna. Jag har även prövat om ekonomisk styrka, socioekonomiska hinder och sociala skyddsnät har ett samband med demokratistatusen. Studien har en teoriprövande ansats och för att besvara frågorna används statistiska analysmetoder som centralmått och spridningsmått, korrelationsanalys och multipel regressionsanalys. Studiens empiriska material ger resultatet att sambanden mellan variablerna inom civila samhället och demokratistatusen är starka. Även den ekonomiska utvecklingen har ett samband med demokratistatusen utifrån det empiriska materialet. Teorin om att engagemang i samhället och aktivt deltagande i intressegrupper stärker det sociala kapitalet mellan medborgarna vilket i sin tur positivt påverkar demokratistatusen stärks utifrån empiriska materialet. Vidare tyder resultatet på att även teorin om att ett lands ekonomiska styrka samt hur ekonomin och inkoms-terna fördelas mellan medborgarna stärks utifrån det empiriska materialet. / <p>2022-05-25</p>

<p>This thesis tries to evaluate the very large question of how globalization can be said to have an effect on democracy by reducing both concepts to a more usable format. In doing so it tries to evaluate how a special theory of democracy put forward by Robert Dahl in 1971 – polyarchy – could be said to be affected by the workings of contemporary globalization. When assessing the variables of the investigation, globalization is being represented by two constructed ideal images that are later measured against a set of seven variables extracted from Dahl’s theory.</p><p>By the use of qualitative text analysis the constructed ideal types help provide a framework for how one can measure the effects of globalization on polyarchy. The analysis ends in a result where it is clear that if globalization is understood as a neo-liberal ideal image it is making the circumstances for the creation of polyarchies in the future more favorable. However, if globalization is understood as an ideal image of world-system theory explanations then the circumstances for future polyarchies are less favorable. In a concluding discussion important implications of the results are highlighted when the thesis concludes that regardless of ideological starting point globalization can be said to affect the theory of polyarchy in such a way that it is in dire need of reevaluation. At the same time the essay concludes that whenever the concept of globalization is being used with scientific ambitions by politicians, they need to be aware of, and reflect, the different results that it brings depending on how it is explained.</p>

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.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the level of democracy within the European Union (EU). To do so the following issues were examined: How the EU works and the efforts it has made to improve levels of democracy; and the degree to which the EU fulfils the criteria set by Robert Dahl in his theory of polyarchy. The study is based on a qualitative text analysis. The focus of the analysis is documents released by the EU that can be connected to democracy, and human and fundamental rights. The theory of polyarchy proposed by Robert Dahl and Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of democracy are the principal theories applied. The thesis also includes theories about democracy within the EU prior to this study. The result and conclusion after studying the documents in the light of the theories of Dahl and Schumpeter suggest that the EU could be more democratic than it is at present. The movement towards becoming more democratic is in progress but needs more time. The fundamental criterion, i.e. that citizens should to be able to choose the holders of a particular position, is weak in the EU because there are only general elections to the European Parliament, which is just one of the three main institutions.

This essay aims to explore the difference in the political system between the Ukrainian regime in the period 2010-2014 and the regime that emerged out of the euromaidan protests in 2014. Through this the essay will determine if there has been any democratical progress between both of the timelines and if any of the periods achieved the status of democracy. Democracy is defined as polyarchy which gives a clear structure to study both periods and compare them to the criteria’s that this type of democracy offers. The areas that will be studied are: Free and Fair Elections, Universal Suffrage, Elected Representatives, the Right to Candidate in Elections, the Right to Organize, Freedom of Speech and Alternative Sources of Information. The essay is a Theory Consuming Case Study with both descriptive questions and a descriptive approach to answer the questions. The framework that is used to analyze the information is of a qualitative nature. This essay concludes that both periods have had large democratic problems. Although the problems for both periods differ, in the first problem there are several events with rigged elections, crime against journalists and restraints of freedom of speech. The second period saw several improvements in several areas but issues with universal suffrage emerged. This caused both periods to not being able to fulfill the criteria’s of polyarchy which, in this study, is the benchmark for a democracy. Instead, both periods achieved the criteria’s for a hybrid regime which in many ways are equivalent of a flawed democracy.

Här följer en kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie genom metodtriangulering vilken undersöker och tar fasta på den maximalistiska demokratiteorin i läroplanen, fem läromedel och fyra intervjuer med samhällskunskapslärare. Detta sker analytiskt utifrån utgångspunkten i tre demokratiteoretiska idealtyper: Shumpeters elitdemokrati, Dahls polyarki samt Goodharts Democracy as Human Rights (DHR). Syftet är att finna vilken idealtyp som ligger närmast verkligheten i gymnasieskolan idag sedan 2011. Slutsatsen efter textanalys och intervjuer visar på en övervägande maximalistisk demokratiteori, en liberal polyarkisk demokrati som även bär inslag av deltagande i form av massdemokrati och rättighetsanspråk närliggande teorin om DHR.

The purpose of this study is to examine the actual political conditions that exist for the Iranian women. What is the political reality of the Iranian women and how can they exert political influence within the political system that exists in Iran today. This is done to see how the Iranian women's potential political influence affects Iran's democratic status. This will be answered through the overall research question: What opportunities do the Iranian women have to influence policy? This overall question is then split into three smaller research questions: 1) What formal possibilities to political influence do the Iranian women have? 2) What real possibilities to political influence do the Iranian women have? 3) How have women in Iran tried to exert political influence outside the institutional framework? This will be done through a qualitative text analysis where texts concerning the Iranian women’s political influence are examined. The theoretical basis for the study is Dahl's theories of an ideal democracy and polyarchy together with radical and liberal feminism. The Iranian women have many formal rights and opportunities for political influence given by the Constitution but these are not transferred to reality. The Iranian women have also been active in various political actions to influence their situations and the policies of the country. Because of the fact that women are underrepresented in political institutions, prevented from standing for all political offices and that the government exercises strong control over both women and society Iran cannot be considered to meet Dahl's five criteria for an ideal democracy or the seven institutions necessary for polyarchy. Therefore Iran cannot be regarded as an ideal democracy or as a polyarchy. According to radical and liberal feminism Iran also has a patriarchal political system with a society that supports the male dominance over its women.