No description available.

The declining political participation among youth has been frequently debated and researched in Western democracies. South Africa is often considered a role model that other African countries can learn from in terms of democracy. The purpose of this study is to investigate how young people in South Africa view voting to understand why turnout among youth is declining. This thesis is based on a field study conducted with two groups from different socioeconomic classes in Cape Town with qualitative in-depth interviews as methodological approach.   The thesis has found that the theories developed from previous research on Western democracies, such as political efficacy, alternative value, partisan attachment and socioeconomic status can partly help explain why youth in South Africa do not vote. However, the study has found that these theories does not provide an ideal framework to understand this phenomenon among young people in less developed democracies. Youth in South Africa faces other problems than their counterparts elsewhere. Poverty, distrust towards the politicians and lack of education makes them unable to fully engage in the political process. Other factors such as race and gender also influence the perception of voting, especially among youth in groups with lower socioeconomic status. Thus, turnout in elections can not be used as an only indicator to measure the quality of a democracy. / <p>The essay is a result of a Minor Field Study that has been financed by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency).</p>

No description available.

When the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) together with the Swedish Armed For- ces clarified what responsibilities and what preparations individual residents need to do to ma- nage themselves in the event of a crisis, the topic of crisis preparedness for an extraordinary event has become increasingly important in Sweden today. The goal of this paper is to compare the preparation of a rural community and an urban com- munity for a crisis situation. The purpose is also to investigate the municipalities' perception of how the individual residents are prepared for a crisis. The study uses the contextual and structural variables of the Aston Group to analyze the topic. The results and the conclusions of this study show that there are a number of important differ- ences between the different municipalities' ways of working with crisis management. In the urban municipality, the crisis management was decentralized to the various administrations, but in the rural municipality it was centralized to the municipal council. The perception of cit- izens' preparation for a crisis was also differing. Residents in the countryside are better pre- pared in case of an extraordinary incident in contrast to residents in the metropolitan area. A metropolitan municipality relies on resources in other communities that support an extraordi- nary incident compared to a rural municipality which relies mainly on its own resources.

No description available.

No description available.

Ungdomar blir som grupp ofta åsidosatta i beslutsfattandet angående frågor relevanta för deras liv. Kunskap om ungdomars åsikter och tankar angående risker och kriser är också något som är bristande i vårt samhälle. För att ungdomar ska bli både mer intresserade av risker och kriser och öka ungdomsperspektivet i beslusfattandet är det viktigt att låta ungdomar få sina röster hörda och öka deras tillit till myndigheter inom risk- och krisarbete. Syftet med denna studie har alltså varit att studera ungdomars syn på både risker och kriser, men också deras sociala tillit kopplat till just myndigheter och samhällsfunktioner inom detta område. Metoden som har använts för denna studie är intervjuer. Tio intervjuer har gjorts på fyra olika gymnasieskolor i Stockholm, vilka sedan transkriberades och analyserades med hjälp av innehållsanalys. Innehållsanalysen resulterade i olika teman, kategorier och underkategorier relevanta för studiens frågeställningar. Ungdomar har liknande uppfattningar angående risker och kriser och de fokuserar främst på risker och kriser som kan hända globalt, snarare än sådana som är kopplade till dem själva och närmiljön. För att samla information och kunskap om risker och kriser använder ungdomar främst sociala medier, dock söks inte information om risker och kriser aktivt utan är något som ungdomar kommer i kontakt med omedvetet. Ungdomarna ansåg även att det behövs ett ungdomsperspektiv för att ge ungdomar mer inflytande i beslutsfattandet. Detta skulle också resultera i ett ökat förtroende för myndigheter inom risk- och krisarbete. Genom att diskutera utifrån bland annat orealistisk optimism, kulturteorin och ungdomsperspektivet har resultaten kunnat förklaras. Ungdomars riskuppfattning kan bland annat bero på att de anser sig själva som osårbara i samhället och mer benägna att undvika risker. Deras syn på risker påverkas också av vilken kultur inom kulturteorin de tillhör. Deras tilltro till myndigheter förklaras genom politisk självtilltro och systemtilltro då ungdomars möjligheter att föra fram sina åsikter ansågs som bristande, vilket bidrog till ett minskat förtroende för myndigheterna. Att använda intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod ansågs också som ett lämpligt tillvägagångssätt då detta är en kvalitativ studie. Detta resulterade även i att innehållsanalys som analysmetod blev det lämpliga valet för att analysera intervjuerna. Slutsatserna för denna studie är att ungdomar uppfattar klimatförändringar och terrorattentat som stora potentiella risker och kriser i samhället. De får information och kunskap angående ämnet genom främst sociala medier. Generellt har de förtroende för myndigheter i samhället, men menar att tilliten kunde öka om även ungdomar fick vara delaktiga i beslutsfattandet. / As a group, young people are often disregarded in decision making regarding issues relevant to their lives. Knowledge of young people`s views and thoughts about risks and crises are also something that is lacking in our society. In order for young people to be more interested in risks and crises and to increase the youth perspective in decision-making, it is important to increase young people`s influence within authorities working with risks and crises. The purpose of this study has thus been to study the views of young people on both risks and crises, but also their social trust linked to the authorities and community functions in this area. The method used for this study is interviews. Ten interviews have been conducted at four different upper secondary schools in Stockholm, which were then transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. The content analysis resulted in different themes, categories and subcategories relevant to the study's questions. Young people have similar perceptions about risks and crises and focus more on risks and crises that may happen globally, rather than those that are linked to themselves and the local environment. To gather information and knowledge about risks and crises, it is primarily social media that are being used. However, information about risks and crises is not actively sought, but is something that young people come into contact with unconsciously. The teenagers also considered that a youth perspective is needed to give young people more influence in decision making. This would also increase the trust and confidence in the authorities working with risks and crises. By discussing, among other things, unrealistic optimism, cultural theory and the youth perspective, the results have been explained. The risk perception of young people may depend on the fact that they regard themselves as invulnerable in society and more prone to avoid risks. Their views on risks are also influenced by the culture within the cultural theory they belong to. Their confidence in government was explained by political self-esteem and system confidence, as young people's ability to express their views was considered to be lacking, which contributed to reduced trust in the authorities. Using interviews as a data collection method was also considered a suitable approach as this is a qualitative study. This also resulted in content analysis as the method of analysis becoming the appropriate choice for analyzing the interviews. The conclusions of this study are that young people perceive climate change and terrorist attacks as major potential risks and crises in society. They receive information and knowledge about the subject through mainly social media. Generally, they have confidence in the authorities in society, but believe that trust could increase if young people also were involved in the decision making.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.