The growth of social media use raises significant questions related to political information and its effect on political knowledge and participation. One issue is whether social media delivers news and political information in a similar manner as traditional news media sources, like newspapers, TV, and radio, by contributing to political knowledge, which is linked to voter turnout. This dissertation examines the relationship between an individual's social media use, their use of traditional news media sources, and whether they turn out to vote. It utilizes American National Election Survey data from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election to complete three studies. First, the dissertation compares people who prefer social media and those who prefer traditional news media sources across as series of political habits and attitudes. Second, it looks at the expansion of the media environment and examines whether a person's social media use and preference for news or entertainment is related to political knowledge and voter participation. Finally, this dissertations examines at whether social media use increases the odds an individual will turn out to vote, thus acting in a similar manner as traditional news media. The results identify differences between people who prefer social media and people who prefer traditional news media sources. In particular, people who prefer social media tend to be younger, have less political knowledge, and have a lower voter turnout rate. However, unlike traditional news media use, the use of social media did not increase the odds an individual turned out to vote in 2016. Further, the use of social media and an individual's content preference of entertainment versus news was not related to political knowledge nor voter turnout. While social media does not appear to have a positive relationship with turnout, it does not appear to discourage a person from voting either. The results suggest that more work needs to be done, including examining the relationship between age, social media use and turnout, as well as how content length may be related to political participation. Finally, further examination is needed of the possible indirect ways social media may be related to voter attitudes and participation.

The Hispanic population in central Texas tends to have low levels of civic engagement as compared to other groups in the same area, which leads to disproportionate political marginalization. Prior research has focused on characteristics of voters and nonvoters, but has failed to explore the lack of political mobilization among Hispanic voters. The purpose of this study was twofold; first to better understand the nature of Hispanic voters' political marginalization, and second, explore why participation levels are so low among this group. This general qualitative study applied critical race theory to explore the barriers perceived by Hispanic voters related to political marginalization that may contribute to low voter participation. Data were collected through interviews with 20 randomly selected Hispanic people residing in central Texas. Interview data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then organized into themes. The key research findings identified 3 themes that potentially explain low civic engagement; a general distrust in government, a deficiency of civics education in the public school system, and specific cultural preferences that may contribute to low levels of participation in voting and politics. Findings also revealed that there is little understanding of the voting process, and few public initiatives to encourage the Hispanic voter community to vote or otherwise engage in participatory democracy. Recommendations to policy makers to promote positive social change include increasing funding for civic education, and creating voter outreach programs. Policy makers and politicians should also seek out ways to build trust in the political process throughout the Hispanic community.

This thesis will apply a theory consuming method studying voter turnout between swing states in the United States. To accomplish the theory consuming study, the study is divided into two phases. It will start testing Downs’ rational choice theory and apply this to voter turnout. It will then move on to applying the independent variables, socioeconomic background and voting laws to understand voter turnout from this perspective. The study starts with the hypothesis that Downs’ rational choice theory should be able to explain swing states’ voter participation. However, the research shows rational choice theory cannot explain the voter turnout in swing states. In the second phase, the study tests socioeconomic background and voting laws. These two independent variables better explain the voter turnout in swing states. Being well educated while being well off financially have a bigger impact than what rational choice theory can explain. It does not matter if P is overestimated and C is almost nil, it did not help to explain the voter difference in swing states, even though according to the theory, swing states should vote accordingly. To be able to increase voter turnout in swing states with a low voter turnout, not only does voting laws have to become more liberal, but one law in particular seems to make the biggest difference: the possibility to register on election day. However, changing voting laws are not enough. The largest impact is your socioeconomic background. A high educational attainment and being financially stable over the poverty level are the core reasons for voter turnout. Taking people out of poverty and creating opportunities for all to attend college is where higher voter turnout starts.

The very nature of the fire fighting environment makes thermal degradation of turnout gear inevitable. Standards that are currently in place to ensure that new gear performs adequately for the protection of the fire fighter do not provide a quantitative measure for assessing this gear once it is in service. When the performance of the gear is compromised due to degradation, it could put the fire fighter wearing the gear at unnecessary risk. A non-destructive test that indicates the end of the useable service of the garment would be a benefit to the fire service. Full scale fire tests were conducted to suggest a range of heat fluxes that turnout gear specimens should be subjected to in order to simulate degradation caused by in-field use of the gear. A series of destructive tests were conducted on exposed specimens. A number of non-destructive tests were performed on the same specimens. The results of destructive and non-destructive tests were compared. This research explored some options for non-destructive tests of turnout gear. Digital image analysis and colorimetry were both offered as possibilities for a diagnostic test of this gear. Correlations between destructive performance tests and the colour changes of the outer shell fabric could be used to develop non-destructive tests to evaluate every garment owned by a department. More work is required to improve these test methods, but the door has been opened to better testing for in-use gear, and ultimately to provide better protection for the fire fighters who use this clothing.

The very nature of the fire fighting environment makes thermal degradation of turnout gear inevitable. Standards that are currently in place to ensure that new gear performs adequately for the protection of the fire fighter do not provide a quantitative measure for assessing this gear once it is in service. When the performance of the gear is compromised due to degradation, it could put the fire fighter wearing the gear at unnecessary risk. A non-destructive test that indicates the end of the useable service of the garment would be a benefit to the fire service. Full scale fire tests were conducted to suggest a range of heat fluxes that turnout gear specimens should be subjected to in order to simulate degradation caused by in-field use of the gear. A series of destructive tests were conducted on exposed specimens. A number of non-destructive tests were performed on the same specimens. The results of destructive and non-destructive tests were compared. This research explored some options for non-destructive tests of turnout gear. Digital image analysis and colorimetry were both offered as possibilities for a diagnostic test of this gear. Correlations between destructive performance tests and the colour changes of the outer shell fabric could be used to develop non-destructive tests to evaluate every garment owned by a department. More work is required to improve these test methods, but the door has been opened to better testing for in-use gear, and ultimately to provide better protection for the fire fighters who use this clothing.

The main purpose of this study is to examine if variations in voter turnout for the European Parliament elections in each member state is affected by the rate of national party polarization on the EU-dimension of party politics. The theoretical background assumes that a high level of polarization generates higher voter turnout since more alternatives are presented to the electorate. This makes it easier for the electorate to find a party that represents their preferences. This will, in turn, increase the likelihood that they will participate in the election.This study uses a research design based on a quantitative analysis with data from each member state, except those with compulsory voting, in the European Parliament elections of 2004 and 2009. The results of the analysis indicate a relationship between high levels of party polarization and lower turnout in the European Parliament election. There seem to be a tendency that in systems where there is greater polarization, the voters tend to participate less in the European Parliament elections.

This thesis is focused on the nationalization of party systems in Western Europe and combines four different approaches. Despite the literature claiming that political decentralization reduces party system nationalization, the first paper shows that this effect depends on the level of personalism that the electoral system allows. The second article shows a new effect of the nationalization of party systems. This variable is shown to be a crucial element to explain turnout differences across districts within a country. The third article of this thesis is centered on the impact of the electoral system on party system nationalization through a crucial-experimental approach based on electoral reforms in Western Europe. Finally, the last part of the thesis focuses on describing and analyzing the nationalization of political parties in Spain, paying particular attention to differences among national and subnational parties. / Esta tesis doctoral está centrada en la nacionalización de los sistemas de partidos en Europa Occidental desde cuatro perspectivas diferentes. Una hipótesis clásica de la literatura es que la descentralización política reduce la nacionalización. En el primer artículo se muestra que el efecto de esta variable depende de que haya un grado suficiente de personalismo en el sistema electoral. En el segundo artículo se demuestra un nuevo efecto de la nacionalización de los sistemas de partidos; esta variable determina las diferencias en la participación electoral entre distritos dentro de un mismo país. El tercer artículo se aproxima al fenómeno mediante experimentos cruciales centrados en las reformas del sistema electoral en Europa Occidental a fin de estimar su efecto sobre la nacionalización. Finalmente, el último artículo analiza la nacionalización de los partidos en España y sus principales determinantes, distinguiendo particularmente entre partidos de ámbito nacional y subnacional.

Over the past few decades, falling voter turnout rates have induced governments to adopt compulsory voting laws, in order to mitigate issues such as the socioeconomic voter gap and to bring a broader spectrum of voters into the fold. This paper presents evidence that the introduction of mandatory voting laws increases voter turnout rates by 13 points within a particular country through an entity- and time-fixed effect panel model. Moreover, it includes a discussion of the implications of adopting mandatory voting policies within the United States, finding that compelling citizens to vote would have increased participation rates to over 90 percent in the past four presidential elections.

Que traduit la hausse de la participation aux élections présidentielles françaises de 2007 et américaines 2008 ? À partir d’enquêtes électorales française, américaine et canadienne, notre étude met en lumière les changements d’attitudes politiques des citoyens survenus ces dernières années et la pratique croissante d’une participation intermittente et sélective. Ces changements qui résultent de logiques d’individualisation ont permis aux individus de s’extirper de contraintes d’appartenance sociale et de s’affranchir d’allégeances partisanes. Leur jugement se fonde désormais sur une évaluation des critères de l’offre électorale. L’individualisation des valeurs en politique se traduit notamment par une évolution du sens du vote et une hiérarchisation des scrutins. Les électeurs ne se délaissent pas les élections, ils choisissent simplement de participer autrement. Plus instruits, plus autonomes et plus critiques, ces citoyens prescrivent des changements profonds de l’offre. Afin de rallier le plus grand nombre de suffrages, les candidats se voient contraints d’adapter leurs dispositifs stratégiques aux évolutions des comportements politiques des citoyens : structuration des partis, modernisation des campagnes électorales, militantisme à « la carte », nouvelles formes d’engagement politique, usage de l’Internet. Tout est fait pour que le citoyen individualisé trouve dans ces manières de faire la politique les bonnes raisons de voter. / What does the increase of the voter turnout in the 2007 French and the 2008 American presidential election mean? With the French, American and Canadian surveys, we highlight the changes in the political attitude of the citizens occurred in recent years. The voters are now practicing an intermittent and selective voting. This changing political behavior reflects a growing individualization values in politics. They are making their mind up from an assessment of the electoral issues positions, an evolution of the meaning of the vote and, a priorization of elections. Voters are not leaving the polling stations, they are only choosing to participate in different way. More educated, autonomous and critical, the citizens require deep changes in the political evaluations. So, by winning number of votes, candidates have to adapt their strategical plan of actions by including the individualized behavior of the citizens : structuring the political party, modernizing the electoral campaigns, promoting a membership “à la carte”, developing new forms of political engagement, and using the Internet. Everything is done to increase the individualized citizens vote.

This diploma thesis deals with a geographical research of the peripheral region of Kaplice with the orientation on social capital. The administrative district of municipality is located in the southern part of South Bohemia in the district of Český Krumlov. The diploma thesis consists of two parts. The theoretical part concentrates on the terms like social capital, periphery and on the basic geographical characteristic of the monitored area. The subsequent practical part deals with the specific research that consists of the analysis of secondary data and survey. All acquired data are processed and presented in the form of tables and graphs with following evaluation and comparison of results with other similar researches.