This thesis study political participation in Sweden. More specifically political participationthrough three indicators on political participation. These three indicators are “voter turnout”,“accountability” and “community engagement”. This studies purpose is to analyze if Swedenhas high or low political participation. The inspiration to make this study comes from a desireto validate or question the assumptions made by The Economist Intelligence Unit in theirdemocracy index from 2020 about Swedens political participation. In their democracy indexthey ranked Sweden low in the democracy category “Political participation” compared toother high ranked democracies. Results from this study shows that Sweden doesn’t have lowpolitical participation, at least according to the indicators that’s been used in this study. Thisalso indicates that the assumptions made by the EIU about Sweden’s low politicalparticipation can be highly questioned. To come to these results this study uses Dahls fivecriteria’s for evaluating a democratic process, and then operationalizing the theory to threedifferent indicators on political participation. The method is then by a case study aboutSweden’s political participation. The material used is from different government fundedorganizations that conducts statistical surveys on voter turnout, accountability, andcommunity engagement.

In this paper I examine how closeness between the traditional political blocks affects voter turnout in the Swedish municipal elections 2014 and 2018. The results of the two elections shows that closeness between the traditional blocks is not a relevant factor for individuals when they decide to vote or abstain. The voter turnout do not increases when its close between the political blocks. The rapport argument for the complexity in predicting coalition government in multi-party systems. This makes voters consider other factors then closness when they decide to vote or abstain. Despite the none statistic significant results of closeness and turnout, the most relevant factors when individuals decide to vote or abstain is based on socioeconomic variabels. The voter turnout is therefore more likley to be affected by socioeconomic characteristics than a tight race between political blocks.

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Railway turnout heating is essential during the winter because snow and ice can hinder the movement of the switch. In Sweden, heating has traditionally been done using resistive heating wires mounted to the stock rail, but the technology is outdated and generally exhibits low efficiency and performance. Inductive heating systems such as Indheater, described in this exam work, has in previous studies shown great potential in reduction of the power consumption. Real world data comparing a resistive system and an Indheater system confirms this, with an energy consumption of the latter reaching 37,3 % of the resistive system’s consumption over two winter seasons. To achieve high efficiency and reliability, the heating system control algorithm is important, and during the work described in this report, fault detection was implemented to the programmable logic controller (PLC). Alarms will be triggered if the peak power is too low, which could indicate a heater malfunction. Additionally, detection of faulty switch position sensors and temperature sensors is also described. Given the dynamic nature of the Indheater system, calculations were performed to assess the electrical performance under both balanced and unbalanced load scenarios. Various sizes of phase compensating capacitors were compared. It is recommended to select a capacitor that provides a high power factor for a wide range of different loads, while still reducing the current enough at full load.

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This paper examines in a descriptive manner how two groups of variables, institutional and socio-economic, correlate with voter turnout respectively and if their magnitude have changed over time in OECD countries. Previous research is often based on data from the 70’s and 80’s. Since then, voter turnout in democratic countries has decreased and more citizens do not use their fundamental democratic right of being involved in the process of choosing their representatives. To answer the paper hypotheses i.e. analyzing what factors that correlates with voter turnout, panel data between 1980 and 2012 are used which is estimated by an OLS approach. The outcome of the empirical estimations indicates that 13 out of 19 variables have a significant relationship with turnout. Most of the variables magnitudes are a bit lower than previous literature. From the time sensitivity analysis the result indicates that voters are less influenced by the significant variables that focus on the voting cost. It seems that voters in the 21st century meet voting costs in different manner than previously.

This thesis shows that citizens whose policy concerns are higher on political elites' agendas are more likely to be satisfied with democracy and to vote in elections. It develops a theoretical framework to explain the influence of the previously neglected variable priority congruence on democratic satisfaction and turnout and provides empirical evidence for it. The thesis thereby makes significant contributions to our knowledge about the ingredients of democratic legitimacy. Previous research shows that political representation, as measured by proximity between citizens' and elites' policy positions, is linked to democratic satisfaction. In this thesis, it is argued that congruence in priorities has a similar effect because citizens are likely to perceive elites who emphasise their concerns as responsive to societal needs and public opinion. The empirical analyses suggest that democratic satisfaction is indeed influenced by priority congruence, yet less so amongst more politically sophisticated individuals as well as in younger democracies and countries with lower levels of democracy and governance. These differences are probably due to variation in citizens' expectations towards elite behaviour and the democratic system. Elite attention to citizens' concerns moreover influences their decision to turn out in elections. If voters' issue priorities are salient in the campaign, they are likely to perceive the election to be more important. Moreover, they will find it easier to evaluate parties and make their vote choice. These mechanisms are shown to be less relevant amongst partisans, since party attachment mobilises voters and facilitates their vote choice. Again, previous policy-based explanations of turnout focus on positions, largely ignoring priorities. The hypotheses are tested through statistical analysis of data from voter and candidate surveys as well as media content analyses. The data come from all 27 European Union countries in 2009, whereby several hypotheses are only tested in Germany due to data availability.

<p>In this dissertation, I explore the impact of several public policies on civic participation. Using a unique combination of school administrative and public–use voter files and methods for causal inference, I evaluate the impact of three new, as of yet unexplored, policies: one informational, one institutional, and one skill–based. Chapter 2 examines the causal effect of No Child Left Behind’s performance-based accountability school failure signals on turnout in school board elections and on individuals’ use of exit. I find that failure signals mobilize citizens both at the ballot box and by encouraging them to vote with their feet. However, these increases in voice and exit come primarily from citizens who already active—thus exacerbating inequalities in both forms of participation. Chapter 3 examines the causal effect of preregistration—an electoral reform that allows young citizens to enroll in the electoral system before turning 18, while also providing them with various in-school supports. Using data from the Current Population Survey and Florida Voter Files and multiple methods for causal inference, I (with my coauthor listed below) show that preregistration mobilizes and does so for a diverse set of citizens. Finally, Chapter 4 examines the impact of psychosocial or so called non-cognitive skills on voter turnout. Using information from the Fast Track intervention, I show that early– childhood investments in psychosocial skills have large, long-run spillovers on civic participation. These gains are widely distributed, being especially large for those least likely to participate. These chapters provide clear insights that reach across disciplinary boundaries and speak to current policy debates. In placing specific attention not only on whether these programs mobilize, but also on who they mobilize, I provide scholars and practitioners with new ways of thinking about how to address stubbornly low and unequal rates of citizen engagement.</p> / Dissertation