Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Political participation – Europe'

This thesis answers two questions: to what extent do older people in Europe differ from younger people in terms of their participation in politics, and why. It tests an age-centred model of political participation that is theoretically supported by prior knowledge about political-psychological thinking processes and the social behaviour of older people. The empirical innovation lies in a combination of quantitative survey analysis and the qualitative analysis of interviews with older people. The evidence comes from 21 European countries that were in the European Social Survey 2002/3, from British and West German national surveys of the post-war era and from interviews with older English protesters. The thesis focuses on voting participation, party choice and non-institutionalised political participation outside of organisations. Older people participate differently from younger people in politics because they have a different endowment of resources and motivation as well as of opportunities and exposure to mobilisation. This fact is due to a mixture of cohort effects, which are linked to the specific generation that the individuals are members of, and life cycle effects, which are grounded on varying social circumstances across the life cycle. Furthermore, older people benefit from a larger pool of political experience and possess a greater commitment to comply with social norms of political behaviour. Their political preferences are primarily shaped by their generational membership, whereas life cycle variations in political preferences are minor. There is also exploratory evidence that older people suffer from social stereotypes about their role in participatory politics. They internalise societal images about older people, one of which is that they should be passive in some forms of participation, such as protest activities. Thus, their participation level is lower than that of younger people even when all other age-related effects are held constant.

This thesis answers the question how and why do individuals specialise in different types of political participation? By examining the degree to which individuals concentrate their political activities within one type of political participation, or spread them out across many. This thesis complements previous research on rates of political participation; and adapts and extends existing theories of political participation to explain differences in the degree of specialisation between different groups in society and between countries. Using data from the European Social Survey, covering as many as 21 European countries, and applying a range of different statistical methods, I distinguish four types of political participation: voting, conventional and unconventional political participation and consumer politics. I show that in countries with higher levels of socio-economic development, more democratic experience, and an increased presence of mobilising agents, the degree to which individuals concentrate their political activities within one type of political participation is higher, regardless of the accessibility and responsiveness of their political institutions. This is partly due to the fact that these countries have a higher educated population and that higher educated individuals specialise more. Specialisation also varies along the lines of other socio-demographic divisions, such as those based on gender. Moreover, I show that in contexts in which political issues are salient, such as during an election year, individuals are more likely to engage in non-electoral types of political participation if they also vote. This implies that specialisation is reduced during times of country-wide political mobilisation. The final finding of my thesis is that non-Western immigrants tend to concentrate their political activities less within one type of political participation than the majority population in Western Europe. Western immigrants specialise quite differently, suggesting differences in the way in which they are mobilised. As well as providing an important contribution to the study of political participation, these findings are relevant to discussions regarding citizen engagement and representation.

This study explores the links between women's work, gendered labour markets, and women's institutional political participation in 25 European countries. Although employment is a standard predictor of (women's) political participation, previous research has treated women's work mostly as a characteristic of individual women, disregarding the broader structural inequalities that are behind women's work patterns. Using data from the fifth round of the European Social Survey, in combination with detailed information on work-family policies and labour market structures of the countries included, this study aims to contribute to a more contextual understanding of the effects of employment. My research explores whether the effects of employment status, working hours, and job level are shaped by the context, in which they are embedded. Although labour markets and political systems vary considerably across countries and existing research has provided inconsistent findings, the context-dependency of employment effects has not yet been systematically assessed. Moreover, little research has focussed on direct effects of the labour market; therefore, this study explores the effects of two labour market characteristics that have a particularly gendered meaning: work-family policies and gendered structures in the labour market. The findings indicate that the effects of employment are more complex than often assumed in the literature. Employment can not only affect, for example, mothers and non-mothers differently, but there is also an indication that some employment effects are shaped by the labour market context. Contextual characteristics also affect women's political participation directly by redistributing resources and shaping women's experiences in the work-place. Overall, the findings show that the political effects of work should be understood within the wider context.

This paper empirically explores how well the established resource theory can explainwhy individuals in European countries participate or not participate through e-participation.Focusing on key resources, the essay also examines the difference in degree of explanationbetween resources on an individual level and country contextual resources. Through logisticregression analysis using variables and nearly 40 000 cases from ESS and the UN E-governmentSurvey, the study finds the resource theory explaining a majority of the results, while at the sametime it fails to contribute satisfying explanations in some areas. Furthermore, our analysisconclude that individual resources has greater impact on individual participation than countrycontextual resources. The best model for understanding individual e-participation from aresource theory perspective still needs to include country contextual resources.

Muslim women constitute almost half of all European Muslim parliamentarians, yet they are typically framed as oppressed or as a threat to European values. Simultaneously, although France and francophone Belgium are seen as similar, there are significant disparities in the levels of Muslim political representation in each case. The introduction outlines the rationale behind studying the principal motivations, opportunities and barriers to Muslim women’s political participation in France and francophone Belgium, and also the basis of studying the role of ‘European Islam’, political opportunity structures, secularism and Muslim women’s dress. The second chapter details the research design and methodological approaches applied in the study. Via the in-depth comparative analysis of each context and its norms, along with data derived from semi-structured qualitative interviews with Muslim women who participate in politics, the subsequent chapters present findings related to the nature of Muslim women’s political participation in France and francophone Belgium. Chapter Three details the expressed motivations derived from experiences, Islamic and European values, discusses their desires to participate in political projects that will benefit the wider society and groups with whom they socially identify, and how this leads to the Muslim women pursuing diverse political engagement. Chapter Four explores the role of contextual norms and political opportunity structures in shaping and contributing to the distinct disparities in the nature of reported opportunities for political participation encountered by Muslim women in the two cases. Chapter Five details the obstacles to participation posed by Muslim women’s dress in France and the emergence of such patterns in Wallonia. It also outlines the barriers to Muslim women’s political participation linked to Islamophobia, racism and gender. The concluding chapter brings together the principal conclusions of the study, namely the similar faith related motivations to pursue political engagement expressed by the Muslim women who participated in this study, the increasingly similar barriers to political participation faced by Muslim women presented by norms surrounding Muslim women’s dress in the two cases. The study also details the different effects of the political opportunities on the nature of political roles occupied by Muslim women in France and Belgium. Finally, the thesis highlights the remarkable resilience and consistent determination of Muslim women in the two cases.

La participation politique d’une minorité protège son identité culturelle et renforce la paix et l’intégration dans l’Etat. La jouissance des nouveaux groupes minoritaires musulmans européens de leurs droits à la participation politique suppose qu’ils soient reconnus juridiquement comme des minorités ce qui nécessite l’écartement des éléments de reconnaissance de citoyenneté et d’ancienneté. Les institutions internationales tendent de plus en plus à considérer que les minorités n’ont plus besoin de ces deux critères pour bénéficier des droits des minorités. Par contre, cette tendance est peu suivie par les Etats. La participation politique est une notion vaste qui comprend toute activité politique institutionnalisée ou informelle.La participation effective de minorités nécessite la jouissance des droits fondamentaux à la liberté d'expression, de réunion et d'association, ainsi que du droit de voter, d’être élu et d’accéder à la fonction publique pour les ayants droit (citoyens). Une égalité réelle et une participation effective des minorités nécessitent l’adoption des mesures d’action positive. Elles peuvent concerner le droit de vote (représentation) ou le droit de prendre part au processus décisionnel (participation) par le biais des mécanismes comme l’autonomie territoriale, culturelle ou fonctionnelle. Une variété des dispositions juridiques internationales (déclaratoires ou de soft law), ainsi que des législations étatiques favorisant la participation offrent une sorte de catalogue très utile pour traiter la question. Les Etats peuvent y puiser pour générer un système de participation des minorités le plus approprié à chaque contexte étatique et minoritaire
The political participation of a minority protects her cultural identity and reinforces peace and integration in the state. In order to be able to enjoy full rights to political participation, the new European Muslim minorities have to be legally recognized as minorities and this must be done without requiring citizenship and long term residence. International institutions tend to consider that minorities no longer need these two criteria to qualify for minority rights. However, this trend is not followed by states. Political participation is a broad concept that includes all political institutionalized or informal activities. The effective participation of minorities requires their enjoyment of fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association and the right to vote, to be elected and access to the public service ( for citizens ). Real equality and effective participation of minorities require the adoption of affirmative action measures, which may concern the right to vote (representation) or the right to participate in decision-making (participation) through mechanisms such as territorial, cultural and functional autonomy. A wide range of international legal provisions (mostly declaratory or soft law) and state legislations promoting participation offer useful means to solve the problem. States can use them to generate the most appropriate system of minority participation in any state or minority context

Active and engaged citizens are the backbone of a strong democracy and a vibrant civil society. Yet recent trends of low electoral turnout in Europe and decreasing levels of civic engagement have called into question the legitimacy of governments and the stability of democracy in the long term, particularly in Europe. Against the background of such developments this research sets out to provide a comparative study of civic engagement and analyse the variations in civic engagement between countries. The study is mainly based on the analysis of the European Social Survey 2002, covering 35,000 individuals from 19 European countries and applies advanced statistical modelling techniques including Multiple Correspondence Analysis MCA) and Multi-level modelling. Although there is a good deal of research examining civic engagement using individual level data or aggregate level data, very few studies have combined both approaches. This study addresses this gap and applies multi-level modelling to examine the relative importance of an individual’s socio-demographic characteristics and his/her country in determining levels and types of civic engagement. Thus, it has the advantage of identifying whether civic engagement is significantly affected by country characteristics or the converse, whether a person’s characteristics (age, education, social class etc.) are all that is needed in order to account for the variations in civic engagement. The innovative application of MCA to explore indicators of civic engagement has led to the identification of three dimensions of civic engagement; political activities, political consumerism and associational involvement. Moreover, by projecting all activities on a two-dimensional map it become evident that citizens who tend to carry out ‘individual’ types of political consumerism such as ‘buycotting’, boycotting and signing petitions are also more likely to be involved in New Social Movement organisations. These significant results shed new light on activities usually regarded as ‘individualistic’ type of activities and suggest viewing them in the context of a wider array of collective actions. Furthermore, in addition to the standard contextual measures such as economic development, welfare regime, income inequality, and levels of democracy, this study introduced two innovative policy measures. To consider the impact of government policies on levels of civic engagement measures of governments’ support of the voluntary sector and civic education at school (comparing the education policies of 19 European countries from 1945-2002) were developed. The results confirmed the importance of both individual level characteristics as well as country level characteristics in explaining civic engagement in Europe. However, differences between countries were reduced to a greater degree when contextual factors were introduced. Particularly the welfare state, showed the greatest effect. This implies that socio-economic conditions and in particular social policy and the degree to which it reproduces egalitarian structures determine to a great extent citizen involvement. In other words the results of this study suggest that the national context matters and that governments can and do shape the nature and levels of civic engagement.

This thesis proposes a theoretical model to explain the variation in female labour force participation (FLFP) across post-socialist Eastern Europe. The model is then tested empirically on 13 post-socialist Eastern European countries during the period 1997- 2008 using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Embedded in insights from economics and comparative political economy literature, my theoretical model moves beyond linear causal relationships and suggests how different components of post-socialist economic restructuring in Eastern Europe have affected one another and have translated into specific FLFP outcomes. The model specifies the following three components: industrial upgrading, educational expansion and growth of knowledge intensive services and theorises their relationship to each other and to FLFP as the dependent variable. The model suggests that those countries that embarked on the trajectory of economic development driven by re-industrialisation and industrial upgrading created a vicious cycle for FLFP. This took place because industrial upgrading that was driven by foreign direct investment led to the defeminisation of manufacturing. Such a trajectory of economic restructuring also shaped these countries’ education policies and impeded the development of knowledge intensive services, which would have been more conducive to female employment. The virtuous cycle of FLFP, on the other hand, occurred in those Eastern European countries that turned to reforming their educational sector towards general skills and expansion of tertiary education, with the aim of transforming themselves into knowledge economies. Such a transformation required an active social investment state and growth of knowledge-intensive public and private sector employment, which provided greater employment opportunities for women. This development path created a positive causal loop for FLFP.

Since the early 1990s, increasing academic attention has been devoted to party membership. Numerous studies have evidenced a long-term declining trend affecting almost all traditional parties in Western Europe (Mair and Van Biezen, 2001; Van Biezen et al. 2012b). Yet, in recent years, there have been some signs of a revival of party membership (Whiteley et al. 2019). What are the main factors accounting for fluctuations in party membership levels across Western Europe from the 1990s until 2014? This is the main question this dissertation seeks to answer. The main objective of this dissertation is to identify the factors that significantly affect the ability of political parties to recruit members in Western Europe. So far, the academic literature has mainly focused on micro- and macro-level determinants of membership fluctuations and have involved long-term explanations of shifts in party membership. Their general focus has been to ask why citizens join political and not so much why and in which conditions political parties are able to recruit members. The impact of meso-level and short-term factors on party membership variations has been largely underexplored. To shed new light on these issues, this study proposes to apply theoretical perspectives and empirical tools developed by sociological and economical organization studies. Four main theoretical perspectives have been developed by organizational theories to explain variations in organizations’ size and structure: the evolutionary system perspective (ES), the sociological neo-institutionalism (SI), transaction cost theory (TCT) and the resource-based view (RBV). Explanatory insights from each of these perspectives were identified and explored in each of the four empirical chapters of this dissertation. Overall, this dissertation evidences several transformations in party membership. By diversifying temporal perspectives, units of analysis and levels of observation, it shows that the decline of party membership levels is not as universal and as linear as it is often assumed. Membership levels are affected by electoral and organizational lifecycles. Not all parties have been affected by the general decrease in membership levels and some new parties have managed to attract an increasing number of members. Besides, parties that have given their members a greater say in their internal decision making have generally managed to attract new members. By looking at infra-national dynamics of party membership, this dissertation also shows the importance of regional and local context and the heterogeneity of membership trajectories within the same party. It underlines the importance of electoral mobilization at the local level and the importance of individual recruiters for the composition of the membership. By reflecting on the causes of party membership fluctuations, this dissertation sheds light on some important challenges for the future of our representative democracies.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
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Youth participation has gained increased prominence within recent policies and is expected to serve a number of agendas and aims including the empowerment of young people, the creation of future active citizens, the prevention of anti-social behaviour and the integration of youth into society. When young people’s involvement in participatory activities is discussed, it is often done on the basis of its expected outcomes, and more rarely in terms of how young people themselves make sense of and use existing opportunities. This study addresses this issue by focusing on how young people conceptualise participation, how they represent their experience within particular projects and how such experience relates to participatory policies. Drawing from different contexts - Greece and the UK - this thesis presents examples of how engagement with similar processes of participation is mediated through the environments within which young people shape their everyday lives. The particular values and strategies that the participants associated with their involvement allowed for commonalities to emerge across contexts. Such approaches to participation are summarised in three profiles, namely the professionals, visionaries and adventurers. In this study, young people’s perceptions of themselves as participants are often in stark contrast with policy frameworks which construct young participants as active citizens in the making in both countries. Processes within the explored spaces for participation were dominated by policy priorities, while minimal space was allowed for a type of deliberation which enables young people to affect the contexts within which their lives unfold. While young people were expected by policies to populate spaces for participation, there were examples of the participants making efforts to reinterpret/contextualise the meaning of participation according to their lived experience, to maintain a critical distance from funding bodies and to enlarge their repertoires.

Digital rights activism constitutes an exemplary case of how internet affordances can be mobilised to engender political change. The values and principles stemming from the hacker imaginaire, and free and open source software practices, underpin digital rights activism, which uses the internet as a tool, object and platform for the protection of rights in the digital realm. The analysis focuses on how digital rights activists use and adapt the political affordances of the internet to intervene in European Union policy-making. Two original case studies of internet-based campaigning at the European level (the “No Software Patents” and the “Telecoms package” campaigns) provide in-depth insight into the campaigning processes and their impact upon parliamentary politics. The cases highlight the complementarity of online and offline collective action, by examining processes of open collaboration, information disclosure and internet-assisted lobbying. The success of the “Telecoms package” campaign is then assessed, along with the perspective of the targets: members and staff of the European Parliament.

The belief in values of freedom, decentralisation, openness, creativity and progress inspires a particular type of activism, which promotes autonomy, participation and efficiency. The empirical evidence suggests that this set of principles can, at times, conflict with practices observed in the field. This has to do with the particular opportunity structure of the European Union and the characteristics of the movement. The EU favours functional integration of civil society actors who are expected to contribute technical and/or legal expertise. This configuration challenges internet-based protest networks that rely on highly independent and fluctuating engagement, and suffer from a lack of diversity and cohesion. The internet does not solve all obstacles to collective action. It provides, however, a networked infrastructure and tools for organising, coordinating and campaigning. Online and offline actions are not only supportive of each other. Internet-based campaigning can be successful once it reaches out beyond the internet, and penetrates the corridors of political institutions.

Doctorat en Information et communication
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La present tesi doctoral té com a objecte d’estudi les participació i representació polítiques a la Catalunya dels inicis del segle XVIII. Al marc local, en vint universitats o comunitats de ciutats i viles: setze reials (grans, mitjanes i petites) i quatre senyorials. I al marc general, en el General o Generalitat del Principat, la comunitat dels catalans: tant la representació plenària, la Cort general, com l’ordinària, la Diputació del General. Hem pogut concloure que hi havia una notable participació política de l’home comú a la Catalunya de l’època en el context europeu. En els regiments locals amb una intervenció de tots els estaments, inclosos els menestrals. Tot i el major tancament de la Diputació, tots ells participaren en la construcció de l’Estat des de baix a través del mandat imperatiu de les universitats locals amb els seus síndics a Cort general. A més a més, l’increment d’aquestes entre 1701-1702 i 1705-1706 provocà un augment de la participació pagesa en el braç reial.
The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to study political participation and representation in early eighteenth-century Catalonia, starting at the local level, in the shape of twenty cities and towns, sixteen of them royal (large, medium-sized and small), and four seigneurial. Taking the Catalan community as a whole (the General or Generalitat), it examines both plenary representation, through the Cort general (Corts), and ordinary representation, through the Diputació del General. It concludes that male Catalans possessed a notable degree of political participation when they are placed in a European context. All the social ranks, including artisans, played a part in municipal governments. Although the composition of the Diputació was heavily restricted, Catalans participated from below in the work of State-building by way of imperative mandates issued by the municipalities to their syndics in the Corts. Moreover the increase of these local communities in the Corts between 1701-1702 and 1705-1706 led to an increase in the extent of peasant participation in the third Estate.

Cette thèse porte sur l’évolution de la participation électorale des habitants des quartiers populaires depuis 1999. En France, après les émeutes de 2005, ces quartiers ont été marqués par une forte hausse de l’inscription et de la participation lors de l’élection présidentielle de 2007. Pourtant ils cumulent les caractéristiques susceptibles d’éloigner leurs habitants du vote. C’est ce paradoxe que la thèse cherche à expliquer. Pour y parvenir, elle croise plusieurs champs théoriques (sociologie urbaine, sociologie/géographie électorale, action publique) dans une perspective comparative, analysant ces évolutions électorales dans les périphéries marginalisées de Paris, Madrid et Birmingham. L’hypothèse centrale est celle d’une inclusion politique croissante des habitants des quartiers populaires français. La méthodologie est mixte, croisant analyse de données agrégées resituant le contexte, données de sondage, entretiens avec des habitants des quartiers marginalisés, observations de bureaux de vote en région parisienne et analyse des politiques d’incitation au vote. Les résultats montrent qu’il n’y a pas de fatalité à la non-participation des périphéries urbaines marginalisées. Enfin dans les trois pays les dispositifs d’incitation au vote influencent de façon très inégale l’évolution des comportements politiques. Les politiques publiques généralistes inspirées par la tradition républicaine se révèlent être plus mobilisatrices que les actions ciblées menées au Royaume Uni à destination de groupes sociaux ou de quartiers particuliers
This research studies the evolution of voting turnout in in Paris, Madrid and Birmingham’s deprived neighborhoods since 1999. In France, after the 2005 riots, both registration and turnout increased sharply during the 2007 presidential election in those places. Yet their inhabitants face numerous social and physical barriers, reducing the likelihood that they would vote. We try to explain this paradox using combined theoretical frameworks from urban sociology, electoral sociology, electoral geography and public policies in a comparative research design. The core hypothesis is that those social groups are increasingly involved in politics and in voting. This study uses several methodological tools involving aggregate data analysis, survey data analysis, polling station observation and field interviews. The results show that public policies designed to influence turnout are sharply divided. Universalistic approaches appear more likely to get voters to participate

This thesis explores the possible impact of a postmaterialist value shift on the future of democracy in advanced industrial democratic countries. Research over the past few decades has questioned the responsiveness of representative democratic institutions in advanced industrial democracies to individual and communal needs in society. Radical democratic theorists have called for direct action, structural reform, and other social and political changes to make democracy "stronger." Increased education levels brought on by continued economic and physical security in advanced industrial societies has led to a change in the ability of citizens to access the political process. How the relationship between the citizen and the state is altered as a result of continued prosperity is a primary motivation for this research. Working with World Values Survey data, I examine individual and societal level relationships between postmaterial values and direct political participation and acceptance of participatory values. Empirical evidence supports the hypotheses that postmaterial values are positively associated with direct political participation and as the level of Postmaterialists increases in a given society the level of participatory behavior and acceptance of participatory values will also increase. Substantive analysis suggests that increase in the level of postmaterialism in a country will lead to increases in alternative political activity and other forms of direct participation.
Master of Arts

This thesis is a contribution to the empirical research on national identities, nationalism, and political participation, from an individual level perspective of analysis and using survey data. First, this thesis presents a conceptualization and a new measurement model of the content of national identities that applies in seventeen European countries. Secondly, it also shows a procedure to create survey items to improve the measurement of the content of national identities in multinational states such as Spain. Thirdly, this thesis makes a contribution to the analysis of protest participation by proposing and testing a model that relates the saliency of national identities with political protest in Catalonia.
Aquesta tesi és una contribució a la recerca empírica sobre identitats nacionals, nacionalisme i participació política, adoptant una perspectiva d’anàlisi a nivell individual i utilitzant dades d’enquesta. Primerament, a la tesi es presenta una conceptualització i un nou model de mesura del contingut de les identitats nacionals, aplicable a disset països europeus. En segon lloc, la tesi també mostra un procediment per a crear ítems d’enquesta que permeten millorar la mesura del contingut de la identitat nacional en països plurinacionals com Espanya. Finalment, aquesta tesi fa una contribució a l’anàlisi de la protesta política com a forma de participació, proposant i contrastant empíricament en el cas de Catalunya un model que relaciona la saliency de les identitats nacionals i la protesta política.
Esta tesis es una contribución a la investigación empírica sobre identidades nacionales, nacionalismo y participación política, adoptando una perspectiva de análisis a nivel individual y utilizando datos de encuesta. Primero, la tesis presenta una conceptualización y un nuevo modelo de medida del contenido de las identidades nacionales, aplicable a diecisiete países europeos. Segundo, la tesis también muestra un procedimiento para crear ítems de encuesta que permiten mejorar la medición del contenido de la identidad nacional en países plurinacionales como España. Finalmente, esta tesis es una contribución al análisis de la protesta política como forma de participación, proponiendo y contrastando empíricamente en el caso de Cataluña un modelo de relación entre la saliency de las identidades nacionales y la protesta política.

La recherche vise à définir la relation au vote des ressortissants portugais résidant dans des Etats membres de l'Europe du Nord. La mise en place de la citoyenneté de l'Union européenne nous a donné l'opportunité d'interroger les pratiques électorales, les représentations politiques et les appartenances identitaires des Portugais. Après avoir présenté les recherches relatives à l'immigration portugaise en Europe du Nord, nous avons exposé le choix méthodologique de la monographie et de la comparaison internationale (France, Belgique, Luxembourg). A partir de notre étude de terrain, nous avons montré que le comportement électoral des Portugais repose sur des déterminants contextuels et individuels. Plusieurs modèles de participation ont été construits pour rendre compte de la diversité et de la complexité des rapports des Portugais à la politique.

Lo scopo della tesi sarà fornire una panoramica complessiva degli elementi che influiscono sulla partecipazione alla vita politica dei cittadini, concentrandosi in particolare sul ruolo dell’internet e del Chinese import shock. La tesi sarà divisa in tre sezioni principali. Nella prima sezione presenterò una review della letteratura, toccando i vari punti chiave identificati, fra cui l’ineguaglianza economica e sociale, il ruolo dei media e soprattutto dell’internet, il gender, l’età e l’immigrazione. La tesi proseguirà con dei semplici casi studio, utilizzando dati secondari e facendo riferimento alle fonti. Infine, nella terza sezione verranno messe in discussione le teorie sui fattori della partecipazione politica e le prove empiriche raccolti dalla letteratura. In particolare, sarà interessante capire se il rapporto fra gli indicatori principali è cambiato nel tempo e indagare un possibile collegamento con la crescita recente del fenomeno populista nelle democrazie occidentali.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Across Europe, the welfare state is a focus of social and political contention. Participating in the democratic process offers a means for the public to voice their preferences. However, not everyone participates in politics. Research shows that there are significant participatory inequalities as those with greater socioeconomic resources are more likely to participate in politics. In light of these participatory inequalities, this thesis examines the representativeness of the welfare state preferences of the politically active. The main hypothesis posits that, if less advantaged socioeconomic groups are less likely to participate in politics, the welfare state preferences of the politically active are unlikely to be representative. The thesis brings together the comparative study of participatory inequality and social differences in welfare state preferences to examine data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2008-09 for Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Latent Class Analysis examines how preferences about the welfare state vary within Europe. By grouping individuals, the analysis shows that within societies there are different views about what should be the responsibilities of government. Using the latent classes, and considering a range of political actions, multivariate regression models show how social inequality determines conflict over the welfare state and transforms into political inequality. The association between preferences and political activity is examined to establish the representativeness of participant preferences. Finally, models combining welfare state preferences, political activity and social position address how social inequality shapes the link between political activity and welfare state preferences. Based on survey data for four European countries, the thesis finds that the politically active are not always representative in their preferences; however, the preference bias of participation varies in direction across countries and forms of political participation. Participatory inequalities do lead to the under-representation of support for the welfare state among the politically active but not in all cases. Examining the social stratification of preferences and participation, the thesis suggests that cross-national variations in the representativeness of participants may result from how preferences and participation are socially stratified. For instance, significant participatory inequalities can occur in contexts where there is less contention over the welfare state. Conversely, contention over the welfare state can coincide with egalitarian patterns of political activity. A concluding proposition is that the factors inhibiting the political participation of the socio-economically disadvantaged may also cultivate weaker levels of support for the welfare state.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciência Política
O tema da presente investigação surge na sequência do decréscimo da participação e do interesse dos cidadãos nas eleições europeias, e por outro lado, da evolução da comunicação política e das estratégias de apelo ao voto. O objetivo principal do trabalho consiste em identificar quais os esforços feitos por parte das instituições europeias ao nível da comunicação, materializados na campanha para as eleições europeias de 2014, de forma a combater a fraca participação eleitoral. A investigação desenvolve-se num primeiro momento, na análise da evolução das taxas de participação nos vários sufrágios europeus (com especial enfoque no decorrer do séc. XXI), seguindo-se a leitura da última campanha institucional lançada pelo Parlamento Europeu em 2014. Recorrendo à análise dos dados da afluência às urnas e à observação participante da campanha institucional de 2014, pretende-se reconhecer estratégias de comunicação e tipologias de mensagem, identificando os esforços desenvolvidos, através de várias dimensões de análise como a argumentação, os canais, os suportes ou o investimento.
The theme of the following work appears in the sequence of the decrease in participation and interest from citizens in the European elections, and on the other hand, in the sequence of the political communication evolution and its strategies. The main objective of this work is to identify the efforts made by the European institutions in terms of communication, materialized in the campaign for the European elections of 2014, in order to combat weak electoral participation. First, the research focuses on analyzing the evolution of participation rates in several European suffrages (with special focus throughout the 21th century), followed by the reading of the latest institutional campaign launched by the European Parliament following the 2014 European elections. Using turnout data analysis and participatory observation of the institutional campaign of 2014, we intended to recognize communication strategies and message types, identifying efforts in several dimensions of analysis as argumentation, channels, supports or investment.
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The purpose of this essay is to study causes for the lack of political trust in Europe and especially in Sweden. The essay starts with a presentation of two theories about the reasons for low political trust. Robert D. Putnam among others presents a theory that gives social capital an important role when viewing the low political trust. As Putnam sees it a person that participates in any kind of organization, political or not, develop trust for other human beings that in the long run affects political trust. Pippa Norris on the other hand is convinced that political trust is connected to the performance of political institutions. She claims that for example corruption is strongly relates to political trust. The citizens of a country in which corruption is common will not trust politicians as much as the citizens in a nation where corruption is lower. In this essay, I present the current levels of trust in politicians and parliament in the countries that participate in the cross-national public opinion survey European social Survey (ESS). The investigation shows that Denmark, Finland and Switzerland have got the highest levels of political trust and that Poland, Czech Republic and Portugal have got the lowest. My analysis shows that neither gender nor age makes any difference in political trust. The comparison between political trust and participation leads to the conclusion that citizens that participate in politics have more political trust irrespective of which kind of organization they participate in. I also compare political trust and a corruption index. That comparison shows that a high level of corruption is related to a lowlevel of political trust.

La implementació d’innovacions democràtiques incorporant a la ciutadania en el procés de presa de decisions s’ha estès globalment durant les darreres dècades. Els mecanismes de participació local han esdevingut molt coneguts a partir d’algunes experiències d'èxit com els Pressupostos Participatius de Porto Alegre. Acadèmicament, les i els investigadors han estudiat àmpliament aquestes innovacions, principalment mitjançant estudis de cas d’experiències d'èxit. Els mecanismes de participació en l'àmbit local són l’objecte d’estudi d’aquesta tesi, abordats des d’una perspectiva triple. Descriurem i analitzarem què vol la ciutadania en termes de democràcia participativa, què fan els governs locals (és a dir, quin tipus de mecanismes participatius s’estan desenvolupant), i què s’assumeix des de l’acadèmia sobre aquestes innovacions democràtiques. L’objectiu global d’aquesta recerca és contribuir a la comprensió de la realitat participativa més enllà del debat teòric i l’anàlisi dels estudis de cas, centrant l’atenció al Sud d’Europa. Les preferències ciutadanes sobre els processos de presa de decisions s'emmarquen al context espanyol. Mitjançant l’estudi de dades d’enquesta, analitzarem les preferències ciutadanes pel que fa a qui pren les decisions, si la ciutadania o els polítics. Aquestes preferències es relacionaran alhora amb diverses actituds: l’experiència participativa prèvia, la intensitat de les actituds envers diferents temes, la percepció que les idees pròpies formen part d’un consens general i l’aversió al conflicte. Respecte als mecanismes participatius, indagarem en com són aquestes innovacions des d’una perspectiva de N gran a partir d’un mapatge participatiu de cinc regions del Sud d’Europa. L’anàlisi se centrarà en diferents qualitats referents a la participació ciutadana, la deliberació i l’apoderament. Finalment, després de demarcar aquestes preferències i mecanismes participatius, entaularem un debat entre l’evidència empírica i alguns debats i assumpcions acadèmiques. Adreçarem el debat metodològic sobre quin tipus de mecanismes participatius es recull mitjançant diferents estratègies de N gran. Així mateix, en diàleg amb alguns debats de l’acadèmia anglosaxona, abordarem el debat sobre la definició de l’objecte d’estudi (la tensió entre la democràcia participativa i deliberativa), les característiques dels actors que promouen les innovacions, el rol dels professionals de la participació o la reproducció de les desigualtats preexistents entre els i les participants. Comprovarem si la regió del Sud d’Europa presenta algunes especificitats participatives en comparació amb les regions que han estat més estudiades des de l’acadèmia. Per últim farem referència a algunes implicacions, per exemple en relació al context polític espanyol actual. El moviment 15M va obrir un ampli debat envers el procés de presa de decisions, defensant una “democràcia real”. Noves candidatures d'èxit com Podemos i Ganemos/Guanyem han incorporat la democràcia participativa als seus discursos, propostes i pràctiques. Abordarem la qüestió de quina relació pot haver-hi entre aquest context sociopolític i les preferències ciutadanes i mecanismes participatius analitzats en aquesta tesi.
The implementation of democratic innovations for involving citizens in the decision-making process has spread globally over the last decades. Local participatory mechanisms have become well-known due to some successful experiences such as the Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre. Academically, researchers have broadly studied these innovations, mainly through case studies of successful experiences. Participatory mechanisms at the local level are the object of study in this dissertation, addressed from a threefold perspective. We will describe and analyse what citizens want in terms of participatory democracy, what local governments do (i.e. what kind of participatory mechanisms is being developed), and what academics assume about these democratic innovations. The main goal of this research is to help to understand the participatory reality beyond the theoretical debate and case study analysis, focusing on Southern Europe. The citizens’ preferences toward decision-making processes focus on the Spanish context. Through survey data analysis, we will analyse citizens’ preferences in terms of who makes the decisions, either citizens or politicians. These preferences will also be related to different attitudes: previous participatory experiences, the intensity of the attitudes toward different issues, the perception that one’s own ideas are part of a general consensus, and conflict aversion. In terms of participatory mechanisms, we will discuss what these innovations are like from a large-N perspective using a participatory mapping of five Southern European regions. The analysis will focus on different qualities paying attention to citizens’ participation, deliberation, and empowerment. Finally, after demarcating these participatory preferences and mechanisms, we will establish a debate between the empirical data and some academic debates and assumptions. The methodological debate about what kind of participatory mechanisms is collected through different large-N strategies will be addressed. Also, in a dialogue with some debates in the English-speaking academy, we will address the debate about the definition of the object of study (the tension between participatory and deliberative democracy), the characteristics of the actors promoting these innovations, the role of participatory professionals or the reproduction of the already existing inequalities among participants. We will check if the Southern European region presents some participatory specifities in comparison with the regions that have been more studied by the academy. Lastly, some implications will be pointed at, for example in relation to the current Spanish political context. The indignados movement opened a broad debate about the decision-making process, defending a “real democracy”. New successful candidacies like Podemos and Ganemos/Guanyem have incorporated participatory democracy into their discourses, proposals and practices. We will address the question of what the relation between this new socio-political context and the citizens’ preferences and participatory mechanisms analysed in this dissertation could be.

The European Union-South Africa Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (EU/SA TDCA), signed in October 1999, is viewed by some in South Africa as not only one of the most important trade and development agreements entered into by the 'new' South African goverrunent, but also a significant agreement for setting precedents for other bi-lateral trade and development pacts between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states. This thesis considers two major issues related to the EU/SA TDCA. First, it describes and evaluates the structures that supported the South African side of the TDCA decision-making process. Second, it discusses the potential economic impact of the agreement on South Africa and part of southern African. Prior to the election of the 'new' South African government in 1994, the majority of South Africa's population was excluded - both in terms of access to decision-making structures and from economic prosperity. By exploring the TDCA, the thesis provides a window through wl-dch to examine contemporary access to decision-making processes in South Africa and the likelihood of the TDCA promoting economic prosperity for sections of southern African society, particularly the 'traditionally excluded'. Interviews with key actors who helped formulate the TDCA provide information that enabled the evaluation of the TDCA decision-making process and highlighted potential economic 'winners' and 'losers'. Interviewing representatives of the South African wine and textile sectors provided an opportunity to examine in more detail the likely impact of the agreement and decision-making processes, associated to the TDCA, within South Africa. The results indicate that an overriding message of this thesis is one of complexity. The description of the structures that underpinned the EU/SA TDCA portrayed complex relationships between decision-making 'actors'. In evaluating the inclusivity of the policy formulation process, there was a lack of consensus over who had been included or excluded. Likewise, the identification of potential economic 'winners' and 'losers' proved to be somewhat problematic.

Perseguendo politiche comuni per gli Stati membri, l'Unione Europea si è trasformata da unione puramente economica ad unione politica. Tuttavia, per quanto riguarda quest'ultimo aspetto, è stato fatto poco. Lo scetticismo è venuto a caratterizzare il clima politico dell'Unione Europea e l’elevata eterogeneità nei termini degli Stati membri hanno causato difficoltà nel processo decisionale. Questa tesi si concentra sulle politiche europee da tre aspetti: la legittimità, che si riferisce al sostegno politico dei cittadini, il comportamento di voto e di partecipazione dei cittadini. Una delle questioni principali della ricerca riguarda l’esistenza delle basi per la genesi di veri e propri partiti politici europei, come via d’uscita dalla crisi di legittimità dell'Unione Europea. Ci si chiede poi quali sono i principali fattori che influenzano la partecipazione alle elezioni del Parlamento Europeo, dal momento che esso è l'unica fonte diretta di legittimità. Infine, si studiano le cause del gap in affluenza per le elezioni europee e nazionali, guardando la quota di voto del partito. L'argomento principale per l’esistenza dei partiti pan-europei è quello di difendere gli stessi interessi e valori su scala europea. I risultati empirici sottolineano che la polarizzazione di classe sociale, è già presente nei primi 12 Stati membri dell'UE, e anche nei nuovi Stati membri, mentre nelle elezioni del Parlamento europeo gli elettori votano sinceramente. In conclusione: l'Europa soddisfa la base per la creazione di partiti pan-Europei che difendino vere e proprie politiche europee, mirate ai gruppi sociali che rappresentano, come una possibile soluzione per la crisi di legittimità.
By pursuing common policies for its Member States, the European Union moved from being a purely economic union, to being a political one as well. However, little has been done to tackle the latter aspect. Skepticism has come to characterize the political climate of the European Union and high heterogeneity in terms of Member States has induced difficulties in the decision-making process. This thesis focuses on the European Politics from three aspects: legitimacy, which refers to citizens’ political support, voting behavior and turnout. One of the main research questions we address is whether or not the basis for the existence of true European party politics exists, as a way out of the European Union legitimacy crisis. Then, we ask what are the main factors that influence electoral participation in the European Parliament elections since it is the only source of direct legitimacy. Lastly, we investigate what are the causes for the turnout gap across European and National elections, looking at the party vote share. The main argument for pan-European to exist is to defend the same values and interests European-wide. Empirical results point out that social class's polarization already exists in the initial 12 EU Member States, as well as later entries, while in the European Parliament elections voters cast their vote sincerely. We conclude that Europe fulfils the base requirement for the creation of true European politics, party politics and social groups' targeted-policies being a possible solution for the legitimacy crisis.

Perseguendo politiche comuni per gli Stati membri, l'Unione Europea si è trasformata da unione puramente economica ad unione politica. Tuttavia, per quanto riguarda quest'ultimo aspetto, è stato fatto poco. Lo scetticismo è venuto a caratterizzare il clima politico dell'Unione Europea e l’elevata eterogeneità nei termini degli Stati membri hanno causato difficoltà nel processo decisionale. Questa tesi si concentra sulle politiche europee da tre aspetti: la legittimità, che si riferisce al sostegno politico dei cittadini, il comportamento di voto e di partecipazione dei cittadini. Una delle questioni principali della ricerca riguarda l’esistenza delle basi per la genesi di veri e propri partiti politici europei, come via d’uscita dalla crisi di legittimità dell'Unione Europea. Ci si chiede poi quali sono i principali fattori che influenzano la partecipazione alle elezioni del Parlamento Europeo, dal momento che esso è l'unica fonte diretta di legittimità. Infine, si studiano le cause del gap in affluenza per le elezioni europee e nazionali, guardando la quota di voto del partito. L'argomento principale per l’esistenza dei partiti pan-europei è quello di difendere gli stessi interessi e valori su scala europea. I risultati empirici sottolineano che la polarizzazione di classe sociale, è già presente nei primi 12 Stati membri dell'UE, e anche nei nuovi Stati membri, mentre nelle elezioni del Parlamento europeo gli elettori votano sinceramente. In conclusione: l'Europa soddisfa la base per la creazione di partiti pan-Europei che difendino vere e proprie politiche europee, mirate ai gruppi sociali che rappresentano, come una possibile soluzione per la crisi di legittimità.
By pursuing common policies for its Member States, the European Union moved from being a purely economic union, to being a political one as well. However, little has been done to tackle the latter aspect. Skepticism has come to characterize the political climate of the European Union and high heterogeneity in terms of Member States has induced difficulties in the decision-making process. This thesis focuses on the European Politics from three aspects: legitimacy, which refers to citizens’ political support, voting behavior and turnout. One of the main research questions we address is whether or not the basis for the existence of true European party politics exists, as a way out of the European Union legitimacy crisis. Then, we ask what are the main factors that influence electoral participation in the European Parliament elections since it is the only source of direct legitimacy. Lastly, we investigate what are the causes for the turnout gap across European and National elections, looking at the party vote share. The main argument for pan-European to exist is to defend the same values and interests European-wide. Empirical results point out that social class's polarization already exists in the initial 12 EU Member States, as well as later entries, while in the European Parliament elections voters cast their vote sincerely. We conclude that Europe fulfils the base requirement for the creation of true European politics, party politics and social groups' targeted-policies being a possible solution for the legitimacy crisis.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2009.
Title from file title page. William Downs, committee chair ; Jelena Subotic, Charles Hankla, committee members. Description based on contents viewed Sep. 28, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-56).

For a long time the citizen participation in the European Commission Online Consultations have been low and quite insignificant. This came to an abrupt change during 2018, with the consultation on Summertime arrangements bringing out over four million citizens to participate and it is now clear that the citizen impact on consultations are not something to overlook. So, who participates in the online consultations? It is assumed that biases generated through the voluntarily participation of the Online Consultations (OC) will provide discrepancies between the participants in OC:s compared to the EU population in general. The aim of the study is to examine how individual participation in OC:s differs based on the complexity of the topic and the Member State affiliation of the citizen. The study is tested based on four hypotheses predicting how possible biases might take place. The hypotheses are tested by an quantitative study of the EU online consultations published on the “Your voice in Europe” website. The results indicate that participation differs between different regions, with the eastern Member States participating to a lower degree. Furthermore, the study indicates that it exists a negative covariance between positive EU policy opinions and participation per Member State. This is believed to be caused by a difference in diversity of the sample that participates. The study also examines how the technical complexity of the consultations affects political participation among citizens. This part of the study did not generate any clear results.

In a time of decreasing participation in party politics across Europe, both protests and deliberation can be studied as means of expressing political opinion that have not seen the same decline. Traditionally, protests and deliberation have been considered mutually exclusive. This notion has later been challenged, indicating that these factors coexist in democratic societies.The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the complex causal relationship between protests and deliberative democracy in 30 European countries. This is investigated through the following research question: Do countries with high levels of protest activity also have high levels of deliberative democracy? Two contradicting hypotheses are established, where one considers protests and deliberation to be mutually exclusive while the second hypothesisconsiders them to be coexisting factors in democratic countries. To test the hypotheses, correlation matrices and regression analysis are used, adding relevant control variables (GDP per capita, population and income distribution) to the model. The results imply that protests and deliberation are not mutually exclusive, instead countries with higher levels of protest activity also have higher deliberation. However, this does not appear to be because protests itself drive deliberation, but rather that a confounding variable, measuring the percentage of national income that the bottom 40% holds, drives both protests and deliberation positively. The implications underline the importance of a more even income distribution to foster both more protests and higher deliberation. Further research to continue investigating these findings is encouraged.

The European Union as a sui generis political system has become an attractive subject of inquiry especially within the last decade. By expanding into ever new areas of integration and by widening its competences, the Union has become a complex structure. As a result, the Union has started to be perceived as an entity remote from its citizens. Therefore the debate on the future of Europe has intensified and the legitimacy of the Union has started to be questioned. With this questioning process, the emphasis has begun to be put on creating new channels to reach the Union&
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s citizens. Within this context, the literature has focused on the importance of a European civil society. The desire to establish a deeper European political integration by constructing a European public space has made the European civil society a popular concept. On the other hand, the community institutions have also started to introduce policies to increase the role of civil society in order to close the gap between the Union and its citizens. In this respect, it can be argued that this process has been intensified after the publication of White Paper on European Governance. In the White Paper, the Commission has underlined the significance of a European civil society to strengthen the ties between the citizens and the EU. Then, a further step was taken by the Convention on the Future of the European Union. With the Convention, for the first time citizens and their representatives participated in the decision-making concerning the future shape of the Union. This is an important departure from the past and an essential step in the direction of a public debate on the prospective characteristics of European governance and democracy. This debate has raised interesting questions about the relationship between democracy, subsidiarity, efficiency and governance. Within this context, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze whether the development of an organized European civil society, which gains prominence by forms of governance developed by the EU, is perceived as a part of the solution to get the Union closer to its citizens. In this respect, the question of to what extent the European civil society is perceived as an arena, where EU citizens can exercise their rights beyond the nation-state will be discussed. In addition, different attitudes of the community institutions concerning European civil society will be also examined.

The last 15 years has exemplified severe deficiencies in the institutional design of the European Union (EU). The EU suffers from a democratic deficit, which is demonstrated in the neglect if citizens preferences and their influence on decision making processes. This democratic deficit impacts not only the authority and legitimacy of the union but raises concerns between the EU and the world. The democratic deficit remains because of the lack of a European public sphere (EPS), an element which Habermas argues is necessary for democracy development. While previous research has found evidence for its existence in social networks and masss-media, this study broadens the field and investigates the potential existence if an EPS in a physical political network, namely the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). By conducting a quantitative content analysis, the study reveals clear indications of an EPS within the committee in which it is highly engaged in. Their engagement in the sphere is crucial to increase influence and power, as their engagement can decrease the democratic deficit, increase the legitimacy of the EU, and favour smooth cooperation between the member states, and between the EU and the world.

Negli ultimi decenni si segnalano due linee di tendenza in Europa: il ravvicinamento delle normative che interessano gli Enti territoriali minori (Comuni, Province e Città metropolitane), con una valorizzazione di tali realtà (ad eccezione della fase successiva alla recente crisi economica) ed un processo di progressivo spostamento delle decisioni dagli Stati membri all’Unione europea. È interessante comprendere, e lo si è fatto nel presente lavoro, come i due fenomeni si correlino ed in particolare, quanto influisca l’Unione europea sulle articolazioni interne degli Stati membri. La ricerca si concentra quindi sull’evoluzione della disciplina degli Enti territoriali minori non solo in Italia, ma anche negli altri Stati membri dell’Unione europea, al fine di apprezzarne le differenze e per evidenziare le linee di tendenza che accomunano i diversi ordinamenti (anche alla luce delle più recenti riforme). Quanto alla disciplina dell’Unione europea un’attenzione particolare viene dedicata, oltre che ai principi generali espressi nelle fonti primarie, anche all’analisi di specifiche politiche che prendono in considerazione la posizione dei livelli locali (ed in primo luogo le politiche di coesione economica, sociale e territoriale). Si è potuto così confrontare i dati per comprendere se ed in quale misura le riforme che hanno interessato gli Enti territoriali minori siano state indotte dalla normativa, dalle politiche e dalle azioni dell’Unione europea. Si è cercato infine di delineare il possibile e futuro ruolo degli Enti territoriali minori nell’architettura europea, in un’ottica di possibile federalismo multilivello.
During last decades, two trends have been underlined in Europe: laws on local authorities (municipalities, provinces and metropolitan areas) are getting less differing, enhancing the role of these entities (except for the phase following latest economic crisis) and we see a progressive transfer of decision-making powers from National States to European Union. It’s interesting – as it was done in this study – to understand how the two trends are connected and, particularly, how the European Union influences local authorities of member States. In order to appreciate differences and underline trends who associate different systems (also in the light of recent reforms), the analysis is focused on the evolution of legislation about local authorities, not only in Italy, but also in other States of European Union, Then, turning to European Union legislation, particular attention is dedicated not only to general principles listed into primary law, but also to the analysis of specific policies endowed with consideration for the role of local levels (primarily the policies about economic, social and territorial cohesion). In this way, a data comparison was made possible to understand whether the reforms interesting local authorities in recent past has been generated by legislation, by policies and actions of European Union, and to what extent. Finally, an attempt to outline the possible and future role of local Authorities into European architecture has been made, in a potential multi-level federalism perspective.

Negli ultimi decenni si segnalano due linee di tendenza in Europa: il ravvicinamento delle normative che interessano gli Enti territoriali minori (Comuni, Province e Città metropolitane), con una valorizzazione di tali realtà (ad eccezione della fase successiva alla recente crisi economica) ed un processo di progressivo spostamento delle decisioni dagli Stati membri all’Unione europea. È interessante comprendere, e lo si è fatto nel presente lavoro, come i due fenomeni si correlino ed in particolare, quanto influisca l’Unione europea sulle articolazioni interne degli Stati membri. La ricerca si concentra quindi sull’evoluzione della disciplina degli Enti territoriali minori non solo in Italia, ma anche negli altri Stati membri dell’Unione europea, al fine di apprezzarne le differenze e per evidenziare le linee di tendenza che accomunano i diversi ordinamenti (anche alla luce delle più recenti riforme). Quanto alla disciplina dell’Unione europea un’attenzione particolare viene dedicata, oltre che ai principi generali espressi nelle fonti primarie, anche all’analisi di specifiche politiche che prendono in considerazione la posizione dei livelli locali (ed in primo luogo le politiche di coesione economica, sociale e territoriale). Si è potuto così confrontare i dati per comprendere se ed in quale misura le riforme che hanno interessato gli Enti territoriali minori siano state indotte dalla normativa, dalle politiche e dalle azioni dell’Unione europea. Si è cercato infine di delineare il possibile e futuro ruolo degli Enti territoriali minori nell’architettura europea, in un’ottica di possibile federalismo multilivello.
During last decades, two trends have been underlined in Europe: laws on local authorities (municipalities, provinces and metropolitan areas) are getting less differing, enhancing the role of these entities (except for the phase following latest economic crisis) and we see a progressive transfer of decision-making powers from National States to European Union. It’s interesting – as it was done in this study – to understand how the two trends are connected and, particularly, how the European Union influences local authorities of member States. In order to appreciate differences and underline trends who associate different systems (also in the light of recent reforms), the analysis is focused on the evolution of legislation about local authorities, not only in Italy, but also in other States of European Union, Then, turning to European Union legislation, particular attention is dedicated not only to general principles listed into primary law, but also to the analysis of specific policies endowed with consideration for the role of local levels (primarily the policies about economic, social and territorial cohesion). In this way, a data comparison was made possible to understand whether the reforms interesting local authorities in recent past has been generated by legislation, by policies and actions of European Union, and to what extent. Finally, an attempt to outline the possible and future role of local Authorities into European architecture has been made, in a potential multi-level federalism perspective.

Cette thèse aborde, d’un point de vue d’économie politique, des questions relatives à la gouvernance des pêcheries maritimes constituées de plusieurs groupes hétérogènes de pêcheurs. Les caractéristiques politiques et économiques liées aux modes de décision dans la gestion économique sont présentées à la lumière des théories existantes. Cela conduit à observer que la gouvernance des activités est généralement principalement influencée par des intérêts micro-rationnels à court terme, plus que par des considérations d’intérêt général macro-rationnels à long terme. Nous alléguons que cela résulte d’un manque d’information susceptible d’illustrer les implications à long terme des décisions économiques principalement fondées sur la recherche de profits à court terme. Le développement durable offre un concept susceptible de fournir un cadre permettant une gouvernance permettant de satisfaire à la recherche d’une éthique macro-rationnelle. En conséquence, une méthode multicritère est développée pour décrire les conséquences des choix de gestion économique selon divers aspects, économiques ou non, liés aux développement durable. Cette méthode est nommée « Sustainable Development Directives (SDD) approach ». Elle est appliquée au cas de la gouvernance de la pêche maritime au Sénégal. La pêche maritime sénégalaise est le fait de plusieurs secteurs très différents, artisanal, industriel local et industriel étranger (Union Européenne). L’application de l’approche « SDD » à ce cas d’étude inclut une évaluation qui nous permet de comparer certaines des implications économiques et non économiques que les activités de chaque secteur ont pour le développement soutenable de la pêche maritime sénégalaise. Cette application conduit à observer que l’hétérogénéité des secteurs de la pêche peut être largement mise à profit au bénéfice du développement durable de la pêcherie. Ceci permet de proposer aux autorités de décision une orientation politique macro-rationnelle susceptible d’aider la poursuite d'une pêche maritime plus soutenable au Sénégal
This thesis addresses questions surrounding the governance of marine fisheries frequented by heterogeneous sets of user groups, from a political economy point of view. A review of relevant theory explores some of the characteristics of political and economic aspects to economic governance decisions, as well as how the relationships between these two facets can be seen to impact upon governance decision processes. This review of theory permits an observation that the governance of economic activities is frequently closely influenced by the pursuit of short term micro rational interests, rather than by a long term macro rational ethic. This, it is argued, results in part from a lack of information that is capable of illustrating the long run implications of economic decisions that may be based primarily on the pursuit of short term financial or in some cases political gain. In an attempt to find a framework that is capable of providing macro rational policy orientation to such governance processes, sustainable development is reviewed as a concept, and is found to be capable of providing policy orientation that accords with the pursuit of a more macro rational ethic. Subsequently, a multi criterion analysis methodology is developed in the thesis in a view to describing the sustainable development implications, accounting for economic and non economic implications, of economic policy choices. The methodology offered is named the Sustainable Development Directives (SDD) approach, and is applied to the case of the governance of the Senegalese maritime fishery. As a starting point the case study provides significant contextual background to the governance situation faced in the Senegalese fishery, which is frequented by a heterogeneous set of user groups. Among these groups are a local artisanal sector, a local industrial sector, and a foreign European Union (EU) sector. The application of the SDD approach to the case study entails an evaluation that permits us to compare some of the economic and non economic implications that the activities of each user group have for the sustainable development of the Senegalese maritime fishery. The application of the SDD approach to the case study leads to an observation that the heterogeneity of the user groups frequenting the fishery can be capitalised upon to a greater extent for the benefit of the sustainable development of the fishery

Mediante la elaboración de una metodología operativa apropiada, la labor de investigación que aquí se presenta tiene por objeto cuestionar el papel de los think tanks en las sociedades contemporáneas mediante un marco general que combina principalmente enfoques epistemológico crítico, sociohistórico y empírico. Sin embargo, lo que constituye un fenómeno mundial, permaneció a las puertas del debate público en la mayoría de los países hasta principios de la década de 2000. Desde entonces, los think tanks se han convertido en actores centrales y familiares de la vida política. El innegable foco de atención del que son objeto ha ido acompañado también de una creciente institucionalización de su participación en los procesos de política pública y en el debate público, tanto a nivel nacional como europeo. Sin embargo, la sobreexposición mediática resultante ha contribuido en gran medida a desdibujar la comprensión que se puede tener de su naturaleza, funcionamiento y objetivos. Esto no está exento de problemas para la calidad del debate democrático, especialmente en el actual período de crisis de legitimidad política tanto a nivel nacional como europeo. Así, el análisis comparativo del papel de los think tanks franceses y españoles especializados en Asuntos europeos en el marco de la política de integración parece particularmente fructífero desde una perspectiva heurística. Una reflexión epistemológica sobre los problemas ligados a la definición del término que, en su forma idiomática o traducida, ha entrado en el lenguaje corriente sin que sus usos se cuestionen, cuestiona en consecuencia la posibilidad de llevar a cabo una investigación pertinente sobre estas organizaciones. Por otra parte, el análisis de las condiciones socio-históricas de su aparición y desarrollo a través del prisma del modelo estadounidense pone de relieve un tropismo neoliberal fuertemente ligado al progreso de la globalización y a la propia integración europea. En este sentido, el análisis del papel de los think tanks seleccionados para esta investigación en la política de integración europea, anclado en el periodo altamente estructurante para la construcción europea 2005-2016, facilita el acceso a sus principales repertorios de actuación, a saber: la producción de conocimientos especializados y la mediación desde su posición en el intersticio entre las esferas nacional y europea, y los campos políticos, económicos, mediáticos y académicos con los que interactúan. Lejos de ser neutrales, se deduce que estos colectivos intelectuales pro-mueven productos cognitivos que alineados con sus propios intereses y valores.
Mitjançant l'elaboració d'una metodologia operativa apropiada, la tasca d'investigació que aquí es presenta té per objecte qüestionar el paper dels think tanks a les societats contemporànies mitjançant un marc general que combina principalment enfocaments epistemològic crític, sociohistòric i empíric. No obstant això, el que constitueix un fenomen mundial, va romandre a les portes de l'debat públic en la majoria dels països fins a principis de la dècada de 2000. Des de llavors, els think tanks s'han convertit en actors centrals i familiars de la vida política. El innegable focus d'atenció de què són objecte ha anat acompanyat també d'una creixent institucionalització de la seva participació en els processos de política pública i en el debat públic, tant a nivell nacional com europeu. No obstant això, la sobreexposició mediàtica resultant ha contribuït en gran mesura a desdibuixar la comprensió que es pot tenir de la seva naturalesa, funcionament i objectius. Això no està exempt de problemes per a la qualitat de l'debat democràtic, especialment en l'actual període de crisi de legitimitat política tant a nivell nacional com europeu. Així, l'anàlisi comparativa de el paper dels think tanks francesos i espanyols especialitzats en Assumptes europeus en el marc de la política d'integració sembla particularment fructífer des d'una perspectiva heurística. Una reflexió epistemològica sobre els problemes lligats a la definició de el terme que, en la seva forma idiomàtica o traduïda, ha entrat en el llenguatge corrent sense que els seus usos es qüestionin, qüestiona en conseqüència la possibilitat de dur a terme una investigació pertinent sobre aquestes organitzacions. D'altra banda, l'anàlisi de les condicions sociohistòriques de la seva aparició i desenvolupament a través de l'prisma de el model americà posa en relleu un tropisme neoliberal fortament lligat a el progrés de la globalització i de la pròpia integració europea. En aquest sentit, l'anàlisi de el paper dels think tanks seleccionats per a aquesta investigació en la política d'integració europea, ancorat en el període altament estructurant per a la construcció europea 2005-2016, facilita l'accés als seus principals repertoris d'actuació, que són: la producció de coneixements especialitzats i la mediació des de la seva posició en el interstici entre les esferes nacional i europea, i els camps polítics, econòmics, mediàtics i acadèmics amb què interactuen. Lluny de ser neutrals, es dedueix que aquests col·lectius intel·lectuals pro-mouen productes cognitius que alineats amb els seus propis interessos i valors.
By developing an appropriate operational methodology, the research presented here aims to question the role of think tanks in contemporary societies through a general framework that mainly combines epistemological, socio-historical and critical empirical approaches. However, what constitutes a global phenomenon remained at the gates of public debate in most countries until the early 2000s. Since then, think tanks have become central and familiar actors in political life. The undeniable attention given to them has also been accompanied by a growing institutionalization of their participation in public policy processes and public debate, both at the national and European levels. However, the resulting media overexposure has largely contributed to a blurring of the understanding of their nature, functioning and objectives. This is not without problems for the quality of democratic debate, especially in the current period of crisis of political legitimacy at national and European level. Thus, the comparative analysis of the role of French and Spanish think tanks specialized in European affairs in the framework of integration policy seems particularly fruitful from a heuristic perspective. An epistemological reflection on the problems related to the definition of the term which, in its idiomatic or translated form, has entered everyday language without its uses being questioned, consequently questions the possibility of conducting relevant research on these organizations. On the other hand, the analysis of the socio-historical conditions of their emergence and development through the prism of the American model highlights a neoliberal tropism strongly linked to the progress of globalization and European integration itself. In this sense, the analysis of the role of the think tanks selected for this research in European integration policy, anchored in the highly structuring period of European construction 2005-2016, facilitates access to their main repertoires of action, namely: the production of specialized knowledge and mediation from their position in the interstice between the national and European spheres, and the political, economic, media and academic fields with which they interact. Far from being neutral, it follows that these intellectual collectives promote cognitive products that are in line with their own interests and values.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether some positions in democratic theory should be adjusted or abandoned in view of internationalisation; and if adjusted, how. More specifically it pursues three different aims: to evaluate various attempts to explain levels of democracy as consequences of internationalisation; to investigate whether the taking into account of internationalisation reveals any reason to reconsider what democracy is or means; and to suggest normative interpretations that cohere with the adjustments of conceptual and explanatory democratic theory made in the course of meeting the other two aims.

When empirical methods are used, the scope of the study is restricted to West European parliamentary democracies and their international affairs. More particularly, the focus is on the making of budget policy in Britain, France, and Sweden after the Second World War, and recent budget policy in the European Union. The aspects of democracy empirically analysed are political autonomy, participation, and deliberation. The material considered includes parliamentary debates, official statistics, economic forecasts, elections manifestos, shadow budgets, general election turnouts, regulations of budget decision-making, and staff numbers in government and parliament budgetary divisions.

The study reaches the following conclusions among others. (i) The fact that internationalisation increases the divergence between those who make and those who are affected by decisions is not by itself a democratic problem that calls for political reform. (ii) That international organisations may have authorities delegated to them from democratic states is not sufficient to justify them democratically. Democratisation still needs to be undertaken. (iii) The fear that internationalisation dissolves a social trust necessary for political deliberation within nations seems to be unwarranted. If anything, views argued by others in domestic budgetary debate are taken increasingly serious during internationalisation. (iv) The major difficulty with deliberation seems to be its inability to transcend national boundaries. International deliberation at state level has not evolved in response to internationalisation and it is undeveloped in international institutions. (v) Democratic political autonomy diminishes during internationalisation with regard to income redistribution and policy areas taken over by international organisations, but it seems to increase in public spending. (vi) In the area of budget policy-making there are no signs that governments gain power at the expense of parliaments during internationalisation. (vii) To identify crucial democratic issues in a time of internationalisation and to make room for theoretical virtues like general applicability and normative fruitfulness, democracy may be defined as a kind of politics where as many as possible decide as much as possible.

This thesis studies the effects of import competition from China and Eastern Europe on the health and fertility decisions of German individuals working in manufacturing. Individuals are matched with separate measures of exposure to competition from China and Eastern Europe, respectively. To isolate exogenous supply shocks from the origin, instrumental variables for competition from each of China and Eastern Europe are constructed. Results in Chapter 1 suggest that higher import competition worsens individual health via job displacement, wage decline, shortened employment duration, increased reliance on welfare and less future orientation, with Chinese import competition affecting individuals twice as much. Health declines as individuals increase their visits to the doctor, exercise less frequently and have a higher probability of developing chronic illness. Also, there is some evidence that individuals do not tend to become disabled but may be slowly pushed into chronic illness. Findings in Chapter 2 show that import competition negatively affects the individual’s probability of having children via reduced earnings, lower satisfaction with personal income and shortened employment duration. The chapter then investigates effects of import exposure by gender. Results show that male and female fertility choices differ upon rising import competition. Higher import exposure lowers female earnings and job autonomy, which in turn generates a lower opportunity cost of work, to the point where having children would become a more rewarding alternative for female workers. By contrast, increased import exposure negatively affects male workers’ fertility through reduced earnings and employment duration.

Defence date: 25 July 2005
Examining board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini (Università degli Studi di Bologna, Supervisor) ; Prof. Donatella della Porta (EUI) ; Prof. Juan Díez Medrano (University of Barcelona) ; Prof. Joan Font Fábregas (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Co-supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Examining board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini, European University Institute/RSCAS ; Prof. Adrienne Héritier, European University Institute (Supervisor) ; Doctor Antoaneta Dimitrova, Universiteit Leiden (Supervisor) ; Prof. B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh
Defence date: 03 October 2008
How does policy implementation impact on the institutionalised capacities of political agents? This question about the link between policy-making and institutional development lies at the heart of the study. It is inspired by an empirical puzzle about the dynamics of European integration. Since 1993 the European Union has developed a strategic approach to enlargement the most relevant trademark of which has been the criteria which acceding states have to meet before entering the Union. The conditionality-based preaccession policy provided the European Commission with a set of new competences vis-à-vis the candidate states that were not directly derived from the internally applicable legal framework, the acquis communautaire. This kind of conditionality established double standards applicable to the candidate, but not the member states. Scrutinising all cases in which such double standards were created brings to the fore the fact that only in two cases did policies remain indeed limited to the candidate states before accession. In a further three cases the steering instruments the Commission developed in the enlargement context were extended beyond the institutional sub-system of the pre-accession policy to the institutional core of the acquis: why and how? The theoretical framework draws from functionalist theory. The necessary condition for policies to be integrated from a distinct institutional sub-system – such as the pre-accession policy that applied to candidate states only – is functional pressure. Double standards create functional pressure for integration per se because they undermine the credibility of the political system in that candidates for membership need to comply with higher standards than members themselves. Functional pressure rises if policies are implemented successfully and if political problems persist so that at the moment of accession they become a common matter of concern for all member states. However, this alone does not explain why a single policy ‘spills-in’ from a sub-system to the institutional core. The sufficient condition and theoretical explanation builds on Theodore Lowi’s arenas of power approach. The variance between the single policies is explained by the policy type at stake that determines which steering instruments emerge in the respective arenas of power. The empirical results show that the Commission indeed extends its steering capacity if policies are formulated as non-binding rules and standards in the regulatory arena or in a restrictive way that limits redistributive effects in the distributive arena. In conclusion, the thesis contributes to three strands of European integration research. First, it offers a theoretically-guided analysis of European Union widening. Enlargement policy is conceptualised as an institutionally linked but distinct arena of institutional rules. The effect that policy-making in such an institutional sub-system has may hence be extended and applied to other institutional sub-systems that are linked to but distinct from the Union’s core legal framework. Second, the study provides insights into the functioning the European Commission and how the organisation continues effectively to extend its steering capacities in the post-Maastricht era. Moreover, the case studies cover policy fields not much discussed in the existing scholarly literature. They therefore provide original research on how the Commission actually develops new responsibilities and implements policies. Third, the findings inform the study of European integration at large. Spelling out how implementing enlargement has been a source for extending the European Commission’s action capacity, the thesis highlights the process of widening as a specific cause for supranational institutionalisation which has so far attained little if any attention.

Defence date: 21 July 2009
Examining Board: Donatella Della Porta (EUI) (Co-Supervisor); Philippe C. Schmitter (EUI) (Supervisor); Victor Pérez-Diaz (ASP/Univ. Complutense, Madrid) (in absentia); Pedro Tavares de Almeida (Univ. Nova de Lisboa).
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
This dissertation addresses the problem of the sources of associational life and civic engagement. I develop a new theory of the origins of associational life by a comparative historical study of popular sector/lower class associations of urban and rural populations in a set of Western European countries during the period of the 1870s-1970s. The countries under study are Sweden, Norway, Austria (strong civil society); Germany, Netherlands, Belgium (medium to high associatonal life); Britain (medium associational life); Italy, France, Spain and Portugal (weal to very weak associational life). Three political and institutional factors have shaped civil society: 1) Timing of state building and/or international status in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The latter the process of state building and/or the lower international status in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the stronger will be political parties and civil society organizations in the twentieth-century. In states that consolidated fully during the mid and late nineteenth-century and/or had been secondary states in the international system in the eighteenth-century, the pre-modern corporatist structures (e.g. guilds, religious corporate bodies) survived up to the early twentieth-century, because the pressures for resource extraction from state-builders were weaker. This in turn promoted a stronger popular sector organizational life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 2) State-capacity: the stronger state capacity, the stronger will be voluntary associations. States with high capacity are able to implement policies and establish goals autonomously decided by rulers. In the late nineteenth-century, one of the main functions of the state became the promotion of economic development and nationalist mobilization. For this purpose states have established partnerships with associations. This has empowered associations, through two mechanisms. First, associations have received resources, legitimacy and public status from the State, being thus able to recruit more members through the distribution of selective benefits (welfare, pensions). Second, since high capacity states are more able to impose a uniform jurisdiction and control over a territory, this will make easier for associations to expand through the whole national territory, to connect different geographical areas and more easily develop encompassing peak associations. 3) Democratization: the stronger the degree of democratization of the regime between the 1880s and the 1930s, the stronger associational life. Democratization is measured by two dimensions: 3.1) the extension of rights of participation, debate, and assembly; 3.2) the degree of parliamentarization of the regime. This refers to the control by representative bodies of the formation, decisions, personnel and policies of the executive. The stronger the parliament, the more associational leaders will seek to influence and establish links with MPs and political parties and build their own agenda according to parliamentary cycles. Since strong parliaments represent the whole nation, associations will tend to become national in scope, and as such more coordinated through the territory, with associational leaders creating links and alliances that run through several regions of the country. Moreover, in a strongly parliamentarized system parties will be also more interested in creating permanent and not episodic links with associations in order to have a higher reach to the electorate.

Defence date: 10 June 2005
Examining board: Prof. Andrew Webster (University of York) ; Prof. Donatella Della Porta (EUI) ; Prof. Klaus Eder (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, external co-supervisor) ; Prof. Colin Crouch (University of Warwick, former EUI, supervisor)
First made available online 31 August 2016
Ideas about public engagement with controversial technologies are growing in political prominence. This dissertation delivers a theoretically grounded, empirical analysis of why active public involvement is considered to be of growing importance for the legitimate use of new technologies. It examines the different social dynamics influencing actual attempts to engage the public and the difficulties encountered. Janus Hansen argues that while there are strong normative reasons to further public engagement with the regulation of controversial technologies, there are also strong sociological reasons to reflect carefully on what such engagement can realistically achieve. This dissertation delivers conceptual tools and empirical analyses to support such reflections based on in-depth case studies of important attempts to engage public concerns across Europe.

Defence date: 12 December 1997
Examining board: Stefano Bartolini (EUI, Supervisor) ; Prof. Cees van der EIjk (University of Amsterdam) ; Prof. José Ramón Montero (Juan March Institute) ; Prof. Yossi Shavit (University of Tel Aviv, Co-supervisor)
First made available online 12 October 2016
Este libro analiza las causas de la abstención electoral en el marco de las elecciones parlamentarias considerando simultáneamente las variables individuales y las características del sistema político y de la elección como factores explicativos. En primer lugar se explora la relación de los recursos socioeconómicos, la integración social y el compromiso político sobre la abstención. Para ello se analizan datos de sondeos post-electorales y Eurobarómetros procedentes de quince países de Europa occidental. En segundo lugar el análisis sistémico centra la atención en el efecto que los incentivos institucionales, los anclajes de los partidos políticos en la sociedad y las características de cada convocatoria electoral pueden tener sobre la variación de la tasa de abstención de estos países. Finalmente se analizan las posibles interacciones entre variables procedentes de los distintos niveles de observación, el individual y el sistémico. Según este tercer tipo de análisis no todos los electores tienen por qué ser igualmente sensibles al contexto político y electoral en el que viven. Mientras que para algunos las características del entorno son importantes a la hora de decidir entre votar o abstenerse, para otros estos elementos ejercen un impacto menor o incluso en un sentido diferente.

Estudos recentes sobre o tema da participação política têm verificado, em termos globais, uma crescente redução no envolvimento dos cidadãos nas tradicionais formas de participação política, associadas ao processo eleitoral e às instituições representativas, e uma ampliação do envolvimento em modalidades ligadas ao protesto político. Diferentes factores têm sido apontados como sendo explicativos e impulsionadores destas modalidades, alguns de ordem contextual e outros ao nível individual. Com este estudo pretendemos estabelecer uma análise comparativa e evolutiva entre os países da Europa do Sul, nomeadamente Portugal, Espanha e Grécia, procedendo à utilização dos dados recolhidos nas cinco vagas do European Social Survey (2002 a 2010). Para responder empiricamente ao impacto dos diferentes factores para a explicação do protesto político, analisámos especificamente o caso português antes e depois da eclosão da crise financeira e recorremos aos dados recolhidos nas duas vagas de 2008 e 2012 do Inquérito à População Portuguesa.
Recent studies on the subject of political participation have shown that there is an increasing global reduction of citizen involvement in traditional forms of political participation - related to the electoral process and representative institutions - and a widening of involvement in modes related to political protest. Different factors have been pointed as explanatory and driving of such modes, some at a contextual level and others at an individual level. In this study we aim to establish a comparative and progressive analysis between the Southern European countries Portugal, Spain and Greece, using the data collected by the European Social Survey's last five waves (2002-2010). In order to provide empirical answers to the impact of the different factors for the explanation of political protest, we specifically analyzed the Portuguese case before and after the financial crisis and also used the data collected through the 2008 and 2012 waves of the Survey to the Portuguese Population.

Os estudos de género e política têm explorado pouco os países do sul da Europa. Por conseguinte, persistem algumas lacunas tanto ao nível comparativo como ao nível diacrónico. Por outro lado, os estudos emergentes da crise económica (2008-2012) nas novas democracias europeias, sobre ativismo político e atitudes políticas, não levaram em consideração o possível impacto desta nas desigualdades de género. Consequentemente, a presente investigação tem três objetivos principais: num primeiro momento, pretende-se fazer uma análise longitudinal (1985 até 2014) para perceber a diferença entre os níveis de participação e envolvimento político de mulheres e homens, comparando os países da Europa do sul entre si. Num segundo momento, procurar-se-á analisar o impacto da crise económica nas desigualdades de género nos países mais afetados (países da Europa do sul) em comparação com os países menos afetados, tais como, os países nórdicos, os países da Europa central e ocidental e os países da Europa do leste. Por último, realizar-se-á um estudo exploratório sobre a socialização política dos estudantes universitários portugueses procurando averiguar se as experiências de vida na infância terão transitado para a vida adulta. A intenção é fazer um estudo exploratório sobre a influência dos agentes de socialização (familiares, escola, comunidade e igreja) na relação dos jovens com a política.
Studies on gender and politics rarely explore such matters in Southern Europe. As a result, shortcomings remain visible both at a comparative level and diachronically. Furthermore, the research emerging from the economic crisis (2008-2012) in the new European democracies, on political activism and attitudes, have not considered its possible impact on gender inequality. Consequently, the present research has three principles objectives. Firstly, a longitudinal analysis (1985 to 2014) seeks to understand the difference between levels of participation and political engagement of women and men by comparing Southern European countries with each other. Secondly, an analysis will be made of the impact of the economic crisis on gender inequalities in the most affected countries (Southern European countries) compared to those least affected, the Nordic and the Central, Western and Eastern European countries. Finally, an exploratory study will be conducted on the political socialization of Portuguese university students, seeking to ascertain if life experiences in childhood will have passed into adult life. The aim is to explore the influence of socialization agents (i.e. family, school, community and church) on the relations of young people with politics.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Relações Interculturais apresentada à Universidade Aberta
Resumo - A presente dissertação inscreve-se no domínio temático do associativismo migrante e tem como objectivo principal analisar as dinâmicas organizativas das associações de imigrantes angolanos, guineenses e de europeus de leste na Área Metropolitana de Lisboa. Debruçámos a nossa análise mais especificamente sobre a estrutura organizacional dessas associações. Para tal, considerámos um conjunto de indicadores, tais como: o ano de fundação das organizações; o número de organizações; a natureza das actividades; a dimensão dos recursos humanos, materiais e económicos, bem como a capacidade de mobilização dessas organizações. Examinámos igualmente as densidades das suas redes organizacionais. Para o efeito, centrámos a nossa análise em três dimensões: redes inter-organizacionais (as relações das associações em estudo, com organizações e instituições não imigrantes); redes intra-organizacionais (relações dessas associações com outras organizações de imigrantes) e redes transnacionais (as relações das associações com organizações/instituições internacionais e com associações da mesma comunidade estabelecidas no estrangeiro e nos países de origem). Por último, analisámos a natureza da participação cívica e política das associações em estudo, privilegiando às actividades de acção de protesto, ou outras formas de confrontação, tais como: manifestação, petições; conferências de imprensa, etc; bem como aos seus relacionamentos com o sistema político nacional e os seus envolvimentos em campanhas eleitorais. Tendo em vista o objecto e os objectivos que nos propusemos analisar e compreender, alicerçámos o nosso estudo, por um lado, na pesquisa documental, baseada em obras científicas nacionais e estrangeiras e por outro lado, na aplicação de um inquérito por questionário aos quadros dirigentes das associações supracitadas. Os resultados evidenciam que, as associações em estudo apresentam características organizacionais diferenciadas. As associações de imigrantes angolanos e guineenses foram estabelecidas, na sua maioria, em meados dos anos 80 e no início dos anos 90 e já se encontram relativamente consolidadas. As organizações de imigrantes da Europa de Leste são recentes, foram todas constituídas a partir do ano 2000 e, estão em fase da consolidação. Apesar de tudo, essas organizações apresentam um forte dinamismo em vários espaços sociais e políticos. As suas actividades não são muito divergentes, orientam-se mais para áreas de solidariedade social, educação, cultura, saúde, emprego e assuntos relativos à imigração, tendo, contudo, fracos recursos humanos, materiais e económicos. Apesar destas limitações, apresentam uma grande capacidade de mobilização dos indivíduos. As organizações de imigrantes da Europa de Leste demonstram uma grande capacidade de actuação na área de mass-media. A dimensão das suas redes organizacionais é relativamente baixa. No que concerne às redes inter-organizacionais inferimos que, Câmaras Municipais, Juntas de Freguesia, ACIME e ONG’s de carácter social, bem como os partidos políticos são entidades com as quais a maioria dessas associações mantém contactos e cooperação. Relativamente às redes intra-organizacionais, verificou-se que as associações tendem a privilegiar as colaborações com outras associações da mesma comunidade. As organizações de imigrantes angolanos e guineenses tendem a colaborar mais entre si, do que com as organizações de europeus de leste. Estas últimas não mantêm basicamente contactos com as organizações de imigrantes originários dos PALOP. Muitas dessas organizações estão envolvidas no campo transnacional e mantêm contactos regulares com as organizações congéneres no estrangeiro e nos seus países de origem, com vista a promover colaboração em projectos, bem como iniciativas de desenvolvimento e activismo político nos seus países de origem. A nível da participação cívica e política, concluímos que os assuntos relacionados com o fenómeno de imigração (políticas de imigração; direitos de cidadania; perseguição racial/discriminação e defesa das tradições culturais das minorias) são os que, em geral, mais mobilizam essas organizações. Depreendemos, igualmente, que essas organizações, em particular as dos imigrantes angolanos e guineenses participam em campanhas eleitorais e demonstram grande capacidade em promover a participação e integração dos seus membros nos processos eleitorais
Résumé - La mémoire présentée aborde le thème de l’associativisme migrant et a pour objectif principal analyser les dynamiques organisationnelles des associations d’immigrés angolais, guinéens et de l’Europe de l’Est dans la zone métropolitaine de Lisbonne. Nous avons centré notre analyse sur la structure organisationnelle de ces organisations. Pour cela, nous avons pris en considération une série d’indicateurs, tels que : l’année de fondation des organisations ; le nombre d’organisations ; la nature de leurs activités ; la dimension des ressources humaines, matérielles et économiques, ainsi que leur capacité de mobilisation. Nous avons également examiné les densités de leurs réseaux organisationnels. Nous avons donc centré notre analyse sur trois dimensions : réseaux inter-organisationnels (les relations des associations étudiées avec des organisations et des institutions non-immigrants) ; réseaux intra- organisationnels (relations de ces associations avec d’autres organisations d’immigrés) ; et des réseaux transnationaux (les relations des associations avec des organisations/institutions internationales et avec des associations de le même communauté, établies à l’étranger et dans les pays d’origine). Nous avons encore analysé la nature de la participation civique et politique des associations dans étude, en privilégiant les activités d’action de protestation, ou d’autres formes de confrontation, telles que : manifestations ; pétitions ; conférences de presse ; etc. ; ainsi que leurs rapports au système politique national et leur engagement dans les campagnes électorales. En tenant compte de l’objet et des objectifs que nous nos sommes proposés d’analyser et de comprendre, nous avons fondé notre étude, d’un côté, sur la recherche documentale d’oeuvres scientifiques nationales et étrangères ; et de l’autre, sur l’application d’une enquête par questionnaire, posé aux cadres dirigeants des associations citées plus haut. Les résultats démontrent que les associations étudiées présentent des caractéristiques organisationnelles différentiées. Les associations d’immigrés angolais et guinéens furent créées, dans leur majorité, vers le milieu des années 1980 et le début des années 1990 et se trouvent déjà relativement consolidées. Les organisations d’immigrés de l’Europe de l’Est sont plus récentes; elles se sont constituées à partir de l’an 2000 et sont en phase de consolidation. Malgré tout, ces organisations présentent un fort dynamisme dans plusieurs espaces sociaux et politiques. Leurs activités ne sont pas très divergentes entre elles et s’orientent plutôt vers des domaines tels que la solidarité sociale, l’éducation, la culture, la santé, l’emploi et des sujets relatifs à l’immigration, ayant, néanmoins, de faibles ressources humaines, matérielles et économiques. Malgré leurs limitations, elles présentent une grande capacité de mobilisation des individus. Les organisations d’immigrés de l’Europe de l’Est démontrent une grande capacité d’action dans les mass-media. La dimension de leurs réseaux organisationnels est relativement faible. En ce qui concerne les réseaux inter-organisationnels, nous avons constaté que les Mairies, l’ACIME et les ONG travaillant dans le social, ainsi que les partis politiques, sont des entités avec lesquelles la majorité de ces associations maintiennent des contacts et une coopération. Relativement aux réseaux inter-organisationnels, on a pu vérifier que les associations ont tendance à privilégier les collaborations avec d’autres associations de la même communauté. Les organisations des immigrés angolais et guinéens ont plus tendance à collaborer entre elles, que les organisations des pays de l’Europe de l’Est. Ces dernières ne maintiennent pratiquement pas de contacts avec les organisations des immigrés originaires des PALOP (pays africains de langue officielle portugaise). Une grande partie de ces organisations se meuvent dans le champ transnational et maintiennent des contacts réguliers avec des organisations congénères à l’étranger et dans leurs pays d’origine, ayant pour but la collaboration dans des projets, ainsi que dans des initiatives de développement et d’activisme politique dans leurs pays d’origine. Au niveau de la participation civique et politique, nous avons conclu que les sujets relatifs au phénomène de l’immigration (politiques de l’immigration ; droits de citoyenneté ; persécution raciale et discriminatoire et défense des traditions culturelles des minorités) sont ceux qui, en général, mobilisent ces organisations. Nous avons encore constaté que ces organisations, en particulier celles des immigrés angolais et guinéens, participent aux campagnes électorales et démontrent une grande capacité à promouvoir la participation et l’intégration de leurs membres dans les processus électoraux
Abstract - This dissertation concerns migrant associations and their organizational dynamics. The study was carried out by performing a deep analysis on communities of Angola, Guinea and East Europe immigrants living within Lisbon metropolitan area. Its main purpose was to analyse the organizational structure of such associations. The pursuit of such a purpose took into consideration a set of features like the total number of associations, their foundation year, the nature of their activities, the human resources they involve, the material and economical means at their disposal as well as their mobilization capacity. Furthermore, the density of the organizational networks these associations are able to establish was also studied. In order to achieve this specific purpose a three dimensional analysis took place: i) inter-organizational networks dimension (that is, the relations these associations are able to establish with non-migrant organizations); ii) intra-organizational networks dimension (that is, the relations established with other migrant associations); and iii) trans-national networks dimension (that is, the relations established with international institutions either based in their native countries or in other foreign countries sharing a common national identity). Besides, the civic and political participations were analysed. Emphasis was given to protest actions and to other confrontation forms such as manifestations, petitions and press conferences among others. The involvement of these associations within the Portuguese political system and, more specifically, with election campaigns was studied. The achievement of this dissertation is based on documentary research (national and international scientific works) and on a questionnaire applied to the top leading staff of the analysed migrant associations. The results obtained brought to light organizational differences among the migrant associations under study. The associations of Angola and Guinea immigrants were mostly established in the middle 80’s and in the 90’s were already considerably consolidated. The communities of East European immigrants are more recent, they were all created after 2000. Although they are still consolidating themselves, these associations show a strong social and political dynamics. However, the immigrants associations share the same concerns about social solidarity, education, culture, employment and immigration. In spite of their scarce human, material and economical resources, the associations denote a strong capacity for mobilizing individuals. The East European immigrants’ organizations show a powerful activity in the mass media area. The dimension of their organizational networks is relatively low. In what concerns the interorganizational network dimension the associations are closer related and co-operate more with entities such as City Councils, Village Councils, ACIME and Non-Governmental Organizations having social concerns, as well as with political parties. In what concerns the intra-organizational dimension, the associations prefer to collaborate with other associations of the same community. The Angolan and Guinea immigrants’ associations are closer to each other than to East European communities. The East European associations rarely establish contact with associations from Portuguese speaking countries. Many of these associations keep regular contacts with similar organizations abroad and in their native countries, aiming at promoting collaboration in projects, development initiatives and political activities in their original countries. Regarding the political and social participation, it was possible to conclude that subjects concerning the immigration, such as immigration policies, citizenship rights, racial persecution and discrimination and defence of minorities cultural traditions, are the most mobilizing subjects of such associations. Furthermore, these organizations (specially the Angolan and Guinea one) are highly committed in promoting the participation and integration of their members in election processes

The presented diploma thesis focuses on the attitudes of selected youth political organizations in the Czech Republic towards the European Union and the process of European integration. It takes in account the fact that youth political organizations can be identified as agents of political socialization as well as it is possible to study them within the broader term of political participation (to study their influence on attitudes and opinions of their members). The analysis concerns selected eight Czech youth political organizations, Mladí sociální demokraté (the Young Social Democrats), Mladí konzervativci (the Young Conservatives), TOP tým, Mladé ANO, Mladí zelení (the Young Greens), Mladí lidovci, Mladí křesťanští demokraté (the Young Christian Democrats) and mSTAN. The theoretical basis for the analysis is Euroscepticism, specifically the typology of C. Flood and S. Usherwood is used. This typology, with six possible positions, is linked to six scenarios of possible development, based on the five scenarios presented by the European Commission in 2017 as part of the White Paper on the future of Europe and its further direction. Compatibility of both scales is tested. The necessary data collected via questionnaire survey. The thesis concludes that youth political organizations are relevant...

Defence date: 29 June 2015
Examining Board: Professor Rainer Bauböck, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Philippe Van Parijs, UC Louvain (Co-supervisor); Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, EUI; Professor Nadia Urbinati, Columbia University.
This dissertation aims to arrive at a model of democratic legitimacy for the European Union. There is, however, a strain of thought pre-dominant in political theory since the nineteenth century that doubts the capacity of political systems constituted by multiple public spheres to have sustainable democratic systems. This view is referred to here as the lingua franca thesis on sustainable democratic systems (LFT). It states that, in the absence of a common language for political debate, democracy cannot function well in the long-term as citizens existing in distinctive public spheres will inevitably come to have diverging preferences that cannot be satisfactorily resolved by a collective democratic process. Poor quality democratic institutions, as well as acute demands to divide the political system (through devolution or secession) so that state and society become more congruent, are predicted by this thesis. To arrive at a model of democratic legitimacy for the EU, in light of the challenge presented by the LFT, three major steps are taken. Part One attempts to arrive at an account of democratic legitimacy as a realistic ideal for modern political systems. Understanding democracy as a system which strives to maximise citizens’ equal opportunities for control over the decisions to which they are subject, the maximisation of electoral and direct voting opportunities for citizens is recommended, subject to certain practical constraints. Importantly, democratically legitimate institutions are identified as having important external effects, which amount to more than just the peaceful resolution of conflict. Centripetal democracy is the idea that legitimate democratic institutions set in motion forms of citizen practice and representative behaviour that serve as powerful drivers of demos-formation. In the second part of this dissertation, an effort is made to both classify and normatively assess the EU. As a political system the EU is taken to be a demoi-cracy, or a democracy of democracies, whereby the demoi of the member states take sovereign precedence over the European demos constituting the citizens of Europe as a whole. While citizen’s control over their respective governments’ roles in EU decision-making is seen to have significant shortfalls, the major democratic deficiencies are detected in citizens’ control over actors located exclusively at the European level. Overall, the absence of voting opportunities directly connecting citizens to European power ensures that the EU is not controlled by its citizens in a way that is commensurate with the power it wields. If the EU is to democratise, it must be capable of dealing with the dynamics predicted by the LFT. Part Three of this dissertation analyses the sustainability of democracy in two political systems that bear striking resemblances to the EU, namely Belgium and Switzerland. Like the EU, these are multilevel and multilingual political systems attempting to organise themselves in a democratic fashion. Belgium proves to be a near perfect case for corroborating the LFT, its linguistic communities finding it increasingly difficult to coexist in one democratic community. Switzerland, by contrast, has managed to produce one of the most democratically legitimate political systems in the modern world, despite being fractured into linguistically distinct public spheres. As my conception of centripetal democracy predicts, however, the Swiss success in integrating the public spheres within one political system is in no small part related to the arrangement of its democratic institutions. That being said, there are certain conditions that made the development of centrifugal forces more likely and centripetal democracy less likely in Belgium than in Switzerland. In Part Four, where I finally derive a model of democratic legitimacy for the EU, it is demonstrated that while many of the conditions that made centrifugal forces so strong in Belgium are not (or not yet) present in the EU, the conditions for the development of a legitimate democratic process are also generally lacking. This is especially true when it comes to the introduction of direct democracy at Union level, although there may be fewer obstacles to making European institutions more electorally accountable.