Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Minorities – Europe – Political activity'

In the last forty years, U.S. national and statewide LGBT organizations, in pursuit of “equality” through a limited and focused agenda, have made remarkably swift progress moving that agenda forward. However, their agenda has been frequently criticized as prioritizing the interests of White, middle-class gay men and lesbians and ignoring the needs of other LGBT people. In their shadows have emerged numerous grassroots organizations led by queer people of color, transgender people, and low-income LGBT people. These “queer liberation” groups have often been viewed as the left wing of the GRM, but have not been extensively studied. My research investigated how these grassroots liberation organizations can be understood in relation to the equality movement, and whether they actually comprise a separate movement operating alongside, but in tension with, the mainstream gay rights movement.

This research used a qualitative content analysis, grounded in black feminism’s framework of intersectionality, queer theory, and social movement theories, to examine eight queer liberation organizations. Data streams included interviews with staff at each organization, organizational videos from each group, and the organizations’ mission statements. The study used deductive content analysis, informed by a predetermined categorization matrix drawn from social movement theories, and also featured inductive analysis to expand those categories throughout the analysis.

This study’s findings indicate that a new social movement – distinct from the mainstream equality organizations – does exist. Using criteria informed by leading social movement theories, findings demonstrate that these organizations cannot be understood as part of the mainstream equality movement but must be considered a separate social movement. This “queer liberation movement” has constituents, goals, strategies, and structures that differ sharply from the mainstream equality organizations. This new movement prioritizes queer people in multiple subordinated identity categories, is concerned with rebuilding institutions and structures, rather than with achieving access to them, and is grounded more in “liberation” or “justice” frameworks than “equality.” This new movement does not share the equality organizations’ priorities (e.g., marriage) and, instead, pursues a different agenda, include challenging the criminal justice and immigration systems, and strengthening the social safety net.

Additionally, the study found that this new movement complicates existing social movement theory. For decades, social movement scholars have documented how the redistributive agenda of the early 20th century class-based social movements has been replaced by the demands for access and recognition put forward by the identity-based movements of the 1960s New Left. While the mainstream equality movement can clearly be characterized as an identity-based social movement, the same is not true of the groups in this study. This queer liberation movement, although centered on identity claims, has goals that are redistributive as well as recognition-based.

While the emergence of this distinct social movement is significant on its own, of equal significance is the fact that it represents a new post-structuralist model of social movement. This study presents a “four-domain” framework to explain how this movement exists simultaneously inside and outside of other social movements, as a bridge between them, and as its own movement. Implications for research, practice, and policy in social work and allied fields are presented.

Citizens’ increased access to the internet is transforming political landscapes across the globe. The implications for civil society, culture, religion, governmental legitimacy and accountability are vast. In nations where one does not typically expect “modern” or egalitarian ideals to be prevalent among highly religious and conservative populations, those with motivations to unite around socially and culturally taboo causes are no longer forced to silently acquiesce and accept the status quo. The internet has proven to be an invaluable tool for those aiming to engage in social activism, as it allows citizens in highly oppressive authoritarian regimes to covertly mobilize and coordinate online protest events (such as hashtag campaigns, proclamations via social media, signing of petitions, and even DDoS attacks) without the fear of repression.

What catalyzes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) equality movements in authoritarian regimes, specifically with respect to the Middle East and North African region? This thesis argues that gay rights movements are more likely to emerge in politically repressive, more conservative states when new political opportunities—namely access to the internet for purposes of political organization—become available. This master’s thesis identifies why LGBTQ movements emerged in Morocco and Algeria, but not in Tunisia until after it underwent democratization. These states will be analyzed in order to gauge the strength of their LGBTQ rights movements and, most importantly, to identify which variables most cogently explain their existence altogether.

La thèse contient aussi une mis en perspective historique, le recensement et la brève analyse des organisations et des partis qui entre 1920-1989 ont voulu représenter la minorité hongroise de Roumanie. La thèse inclut également un chapitre qui analyse les revendications liées à l’enseignement en langue hongroise des partis/des organisations hongroise entre 1920-2004.

The thesis analyses UDMR (RMDSZ/DAHR), the organization that represented the Hungarian minority in the Romanian Parliament between 1990-2004. The third part consists of the analysis of the DAHR and it has as guidelines the following themes: the establishing of DAHR; the electoral results of DAHR; the relationship between DAHR and the Romanian political parties; the relationship between DAHR and the political parties from Hungary; DAHR and the international organizations; the changes of the DAHR’s program; autonomy; the structure of DAHR; the legislative drafts of DAHR; the internal life of DAHR.

The thesis speaks also about the organizations/parties that have been representing the Hungarians in the political life of Romania between 1920-1989. In the same time, the last chapter analyses the demands of the Hungarian organizations/parties regarding the education in the Hungarian language at all levels, demands from the period of 1920-2004.

Doctorat en sciences politiques
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished