Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Youth – Political activity – Italy'

This thesis explores the meaning of "youth" and the political mobilisation of young people in key moments of crisis in Europe. Between 2005 and 2011, youth became critical for the consolidation of the authoritarian regime structures in Russia. I show that this process included the restructuring of the discourse about youth, the physical mobilisation of young people, and the isolation of oppositional youth. How valid are these findings for regime crises more generally? I answer this question through an analysis of the breakdown of the authoritarian Soviet Union during perestroika, the breakdown of unconsolidated democracy during the last years of the Weimar Republic, and the crisis of the democratic regime in France around 1968. The cross-regional and cross-temporal comparison of these episodes demonstrates that regimes lacking popular democratic support compensate for their insufficient legitimacy by trying to mobilise youth symbolically and politically. By developing a new method of textual analysis which combines qualitative content analysis and network analysis, the thesis offers a novel social science perspective on the meaning of youth in the four cases. My study shows how discursive structures about youth condition the possibility of political mobilisation of young people. The thesis makes three contributions to comparative politics. First, on an empirical level, my study offers new insights into social movements at moments of regime crisis in different political settings. Second, on a conceptual level, I refine our understanding of the symbolic significance of the terms "youth" and "generation" in moments when society is reorienting itself. I also examine the significance of "crisis" and argue that the term expresses openness and the possibility to remake the past and future. Third, on a methodological level, my thesis builds on the growing interest in textual analysis by developing a novel multi-level approach in three linguistic contexts, which offers insights into the structure of public discourse and the actors involved.

National identity in South Africa is, and has been, a complex concept, with diverse and contested attempts at its embodiment. This research extends the discourse of identity politics in the post 1994 democratic South Africa to beyond the discourse of racial politics, and notions of oppressor and oppressed to the complexities of resistance and the eventual establishment of a democratic South Africa. The research draws on the views and experiences of young South Africans, born after 1990, regarding what constitutes a South African identity. The research participants represent the socio-cultural and economic spectrum of the city of Cape Town, in the Western Province of South Africa. Schools were chosen across this spectrum to allow for heterogeneity of research sample to reflect the different population groups that comprise the South African population. The areas the schools were chosen from included those that existed during the apartheid era and those that have since been developed. Schools included were those historically delineated according to apartheid-constructed racial groups, and one that was established after 1994 as a non-state school. The exploration of the data reveals a population of young people who have moved beyond the imposed identities created by the apartheid system to an actively inclusive conception of what it means to be a South African in a post-apartheid context. Additionally, the research shows that this inclusive national identity also allows for the acknowledgement and expression of the diversity of cultures and languages existent in South African society. There is also an understanding that socio-economic issues such as poverty, poor education and continued imbalances from the Apartheid era need to be addressed to ensure a stable and unified South Africa. Therefore, the research found that this research contends that young people born after 1990 are committed to a respectful and representative national identity that affords all South Africans an equal place in society.

The burgeoning scholarship on African youth indicates that young people are experiencing difficulties in attaining social adulthood and spend extended time in waithood - a period of economic and job insecurities that is becoming a permanent marker of their youth, affecting their life trajectories and future aspirations (Honwana, 2012; Locke & te Lintelo, 2012). Youth waithood involves navigating precarious conditions arising under neoliberalism and its economic liberalization reforms, and developing new subjectivities resulting from the acquisition of extra skills set, maintaining social networks, and engaging in new political formations (Jeffrey, 2008). Informed by concepts of neoliberal subjectivities, opportunity spaces, and Bourdieu's forms of capital, I conducted qualitative research with university students in six public universities, and with educated young farmers in Western, Eastern, and Central regions of Kenya. I investigated how Kenyan youth navigate waithood by occupying new opportunity spaces opened up by student environmentalism and agricultural entrepreneurialism - two areas that have been reconfigured by global discourses of environmental change, green jobs, and agricultural transformation. My findings show that the occupational aspirations of educated youth were changing to include navigation strategies of portfolio occupations, tarmacking, and side-hustling. Within the new opportunity spaces, these youth realized neoliberal subjectivities that enabled them to garner capitals through self-making, entrepreneurialism, and reworking of elite distinctions. Student environmentalists' navigation strategies included acquiring environmental knowledge and work experiences; joining networks of environmental professionals; and participating in environmental anti-politics. Educated young farmers embraced ideologies of portfolio occupations and green livelihoods. They also relied on the reconfigurations of gendered identities and the rural-urban divide, competitive individualism, and associational life to rework their occupational aspirations and maintain elite distinctions in society. In sum, negotiating youth waithood is a complex, intertwined, and uncertain process involving flexibilities and chance opportunities to access, maintain, and utilize capitals. The emergent subjectivities remain insecure, unstable and do not necessarily guarantee exiting waithood.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have extremely high rates of young adult users. Facebook.com report.s that more than half of its users are of college age. Due to the increasing number of political figures and political information on SNS, this study analyzes the relationship between SNS and political engagement. Specifically, this study seeks to determine if adults' consumption of political information on SNS leads to higher levels of political engagement. Political engagement is broken down into three different variables: political knowledge, political interest, and political participation. This study draws its data from a sample of 355 undergraduate college students. Data was collected through a volunteer self-administered survey questionnaire. Three sections respectively measured political engagement, social networking site dependency for political information, and demographic information. Data were collected from a junior college and a private university in Northern California. This study found a positive relationship between SNS dependency for political information and political interest and participation. In other words, individuals who depend on SNS for political information have higher levels of political interest and participation. There was no significant relationship found between political knowledge and SNS dependency. These results suggest that SNS may help foster political engagement in young adults.

There are numerous studies in the past that examine factors, such as demographic, socio-economic, personal and attitudinal, that increase the likelihood of volunteering, among people of all ages. Who volunteers, and why? Among these are factors that are also thought to be important in fostering political participation. Early in the 1970’s, studies have concluded that involvement in voluntary associations provides opportunities for equipping with the necessary skills, strengthening of social networks and enhancing one’s awareness and interests in public issues. These in turn facilitate volunteers’ subsequent political participation as they become more activated politically. This is further explained and exemplified in a more theoretical framework of social capital since its emergence, and attracting widespread discussion. Sociological and educational studies among youths, mostly aged 15 to 25 years, found that they tend to be apathetic and inert towards political participation, making the political outcomes of volunteering appeared highly variable. Meanwhile, literature from many Western countries show conflicting results on the relationship between volunteering and political participation, both being essential elements of active citizenship in civil societies. Social capital scholars focus on shared values and norms, trust and reciprocity that generate and accrue as individuals interact with each other. Therefore it can be hypothesised volunteering should build social capital that contribute to both voting and non-voting political activities. On the contrary, observational studies, especially in the field of education, showed that many youths think their volunteer work is simply a form of helping others in need, or even a stipulated requirement in their high school curriculum, without considering its impact upon their positions in the broader civil sphere or community. As a consequence of the increasing prevalence of volunteerism parallel to government policies in many places worldwide, especially with respect to young people, who are at an age when significant civic and political identities are being developed and shaped, this apparent paradox between youth volunteering and their political participation is increasingly being studied. There is little study on the relationship of youth volunteering and their political participation in Hong Kong. My study is to assess the relationship between youth volunteering and their political participation using a multi-dimensional theoretical framework, taking into consideration of social capital and non-social capital factors, and methodologically adopt a quantitative analysis of findings from a self-administered questionnaire to volunteers of a youth organisation in Hong Kong. Empirically, this study also serves to describe the present profiles of youth volunteers in Hong Kong, together with their volunteering and political experiences. The results from this questionnaire survey show that youth volunteering is associated with political participation in Hong Kong, and factors that may enhance political participation among these volunteers are also identified.
published_or_final_version
Politics and Public Administration
Master
Master of Philosophy

Demokratinėje valstybėje svarbu kurti ir puoselėti pilietinės visuomenės pagrindus. Kiekvienas pilietinės visuomenės narys turi deramai, išsamiai ir atsakingai suvokti pilietinę visuomenę kaip tokią, identifikuoti jos nuostatas, principus ir tikslus, įsisąmoninti ir pažinti savo teises ir pareigas, lūkesčius ir galimybes veikti demokratiniame, visuomeniniame gyvenime. Šiandieniniame pasaulyje kiekvienas demokratinės visuomenės pilietis suvokia, kad valstybės, o kartu ir jo, tobulėjimas ir ateitis priklauso nuo jaunosios kartos. Jaunimas turi būti kiekvienos demokratinės valstybės bendros politikos objektas. Tačiau, ar nepastebime Lietuvoje visiškai priešingos situacijos? Šio magistrinio darbo tikslas: ištirti Lituvos jaunimo dalyvavimą ir nuostatas pilietinės visuomenės kontekste.
For everyone of us it is very important to have ability to express own ideas, to understand and to know how to deal with civil rights and responsibilities, to identify principes, goals and mission of civil society and to have apropriate attitude to civility and democracy to be enshrinen. Without any doubts such conditions and attitude gives opportunity for every person to attend and positivelly operate in political and public life. As one of the main goals of civil society is to create a better welfare in the country, therefore we do understand, that youth is extremely important for all countries. The youngsters are the future of the country. The policy of youth has to be one of the main objects in country‘s general policy. Every country has to encourage youngsters to participate in public and political country‘s life. Unfortunatelly, today in Lithuania we can hardly find manifestations of civility among the youngsters in Lithuania. On the basis of current a situation in Lithuania, this diploma thesis appeared as nessesity to explore the reality of civil society, faced by youngsters in Lithuania.

Bibliography: pages 212-218.
The present is a social-psychological study which describes and analyses the experiences of parents of political activists in "coloured" Cape Flats townships against the background of the socio-political upheaval in South Africa during the 1985/86 rebellion and thereafter. An ethnographic research method was used due to its suitability in terms of accessing the phenomena under study, and due to the theoretical problems associated with the use of traditional social psychological models in the South African context; it was argued that it is necessary to articulate the micro- and macro levels of social phenomena at the point of their intersection to do social psychology in an oppressive context. Outlines of the 1985/86 rebellion, which emphasized the role of youth and students, and of the methods of operation of the South African Police, from a historical perspective, were given as a backdrop against which the analyses of the empirical data were presented. The concrete experiences of the parents with respect to various forms of political repression were described and situated as specific stressors in their everyday lives; police presence, visits and searches of their homes, having a child 'on the run', detention without trial of their children, and the prevalent fear of being informed upon. While the particularly stressful aspects of these experiences were highlighted, they were moreover found to have had significant consequences in terms of contributing to the development of the parents' politicization and engagement in the political activities of their own children. These experiences were furthermore found to have precipitated the parents' own gradual involvement in support and other activities offered by progressive organizations, which reinforced the development of an outlook of resistance towards the state. Although the security forces' engineering of a climate of fear in the townships was portrayed as initially being a pervasive aspect of daily life and a powerful deterrent to parental involvement, it later, on the basis of commonality of experiences of victimization and persecution, forged communality of spirit and unity in resistance. The parents' experiences were first and foremost found to be characterized by fundamental emotional intra-personal conflict, and the need for further research of the psychological sequelae of political persecution and repression was stressed. The thesis was concluded by a comparison of some central findings which related to international as well as local research.

The past few months have seen our courageous youth take to the streets to demonstrate their disgust against this system of exploitation and oppression. This militant fervour has touched many young hearts and minds. However, there is always the danger that these energies will burn out and dissipate. Demoralisation can so easily set in if these energies are not constructively channeled. "Channeled into what?” you may ask. ORGANISATIONS. It is only through strong organisations which attempt to give guidance and direction that meaningful action can be undertaken. The WCYL recognises the important need for students to begin to discuss broader issues such as The History of Struggle in S.A. or The Nature of S.A. Society. It is only when students begin to grapple with broader issues such as these, together with more specific ones, in a co-ordinated manner, will their actions be more effective. To this end has "GET ORGANISED" been designed. The handbook is intended as a guide for students in their efforts to organise SRC’s, awareness programmes, among other things, in schools.

This dissertation deals with the nature of the black middle-class assimilation in the South African suburban space, a space that was the sole preserve of the white middle-class during apartheid. It explores the relationship between these races as they come to meet in this space and what new identities are being formed. It also explores the relationship between both the black and white suburbanites and the urban poor who stay in an adjacent area to the suburb. The study uses the Beacon Bay area, which is constituted by one of East London’s most affluent suburbs and a poor township, Nompumelelo, to show how the emergent black middle-class has managed to enter this space in the post-apartheid era. Previous studies by Richard Ballard (2004) and Grant Saff (2001) have shown how the white middle-class has always been against any form of race or class mixing. Within the suburb, the new black suburbanites in Beacon Bay appear to have been welcomed but with conditions by their fellow white counterparts. The relationship between these two races does not stretch beyond meet and greets and it is only in the second generation black middle-class that you find better and non-superficial relations with fellow white suburbanites. In the older generation, the generation that experienced apartheid, the relationship between these two races has been that of tolerance and serious escape of contact unless when necessary. The children of both white and black families, though, have a far better relationship in school and in sport than their parents. This has created another area of contact for both these races and it bears potential for meaningful integration in the suburban space. Externally as it relates to relations between the black middle-class and the urban poor, the findings show that these new black suburbanites express a similar discomfort as the white suburbanites about the urban poor’s presence in the area. This shows that the evolution of the Beacon Bay suburb, with its deep-rooted discourse of white middle-class exclusivity, has not been entirely about hatred of the urban poor necessarily but about an identity ascription of what it means to live in a suburb. Despite these realities traditional ceremonies organised by the black middle-class in the suburbs and the church appear to be playing a role in creating relations between these suburbanites and the Nompumelelo residents. This is why we have decided to use the conceptualisation of the 18th century frontier zone as the borders of segregation within the suburb and between the suburban residents and those of the township can be crossed and re-crossed.

This thesis asks how voice enables youth to claim agency within divided societies, and what are the implications of this in terms of conflict and peacebuilding? It is an analysis of the significance of young people's voices to international relations. The research is framed in terms of human rights and human security, children's rights, and recognition theories. Its aim is to draw conclusions both about the nature of voice and agency, or power, and about how the framing of the present research in this area impacts the ability of the discourse to take into account the significance of listening to those who are marginalized. From these starting points the thesis will explore questions such as the following: In what ways do children have a voice? If young people had more of a voice, would it make a difference? Does having a voice lead to power? If so, does this create a culture of respect for this voice, and in turn an increase in the speaker's ability to claim agency? Does increasing participation have an impact upon people's likeliness to resort to violence? These aspects are important because they contribute to knowledge and frameworks for peacebuilding in post-conflict areas and the link between voice and violence may provide a key to reducing youth violence in post-conflict areas, but most significantly, hearing young voice could contribute to a sustainable peace, envisioned by and cultivated by the very generation that must own that peace if it is to become lasting.

Attempts to solve the continued problem of low youth voter turnout in the U.S. have included get out the vote drives, voter registration campaigns, and public service announcements targeting 18- to 25-year-old voters. Pay Attention and Vote added to this effort to motivate young voters in its 2006 campaign. This thesis analyzes the rhetorical strategies employed by the Pay Attention and Vote campaign advertisements, measures their effectiveness, and adds to the limited body of knowledge describing the attitudes and behaviors of young nonvoters. This thesis applies a mixed method approach, utilizing both rhetorical criticism and quantitative method. The results of both analyses are integrated into a discussion which critiques current strategies of addressing the youth voter turnout problem and offers suggestions for future research on the topic.

Although more women are successfully breaching the social, economic and political barriers that can prevent them from participating as electoral candidates, few women campaign for elected office. A dearth of female candidates may be understandable, given research demonstrating that women tend to avoid competition and competitive environments. Thus, elections – competitive by design – may attract fewer women than men. This thesis posits that the inherent competitiveness of electoral politics may deter women from campaigning for office. However, this work also forwards that competitive sport socialization during adolescence may prepare women for electoral competition. This paper examines the results of a self-administered survey mailed to 449 female candidates for municipal office. The survey investigated candidates’ adolescent experiences in competitive sports and attitudes relating to internal political efficacy. The results appear to demonstrate a strong correlation between competitive sport socialization and either positive or neutral evaluations of political competition.
x, 163 leaves ; 29 cm

This thesis examines the political activism of Hong Kong youths known as the Post-80s. In contrast to dominant discourse in Hong Kong claiming that these youths are driven by economic concerns, based on 18 months of fieldwork, I suggest that the Post-80s are instead striving to reimagine what politics means as a part of life in the postcolonial city. It is emphasised that youths are 'protesting' as an act of rejecting mainstream politics, and as a means to realise their desire for a different form of politics to emerge in the city. By bringing youth voices to the forefront, this thesis addresses two broad themes - why and how the Post-80s protest. The thesis first provides an overview of Hong Kong politics, arguing that youths express a deep sense of dissatisfaction towards the political culture in society dictated by financial interests, and towards the hierarchical structures within the political domains that stifle the public voice. The thesis then reviews how the Post-80s challenge these conditions by positing a form of alternative politics predicated on individualistic self-representation manifesting through the self, body, and space. I look at youth claims that becoming political is an 'individual choice', and the ways in which their strong sense of individuality interacts with/counteracts the limitations on their political participation imposed by familial ties and gender roles. I then explore Post-80s attempts to dispel bodily passivity in protests through the incorporation of performance art into their political actions to empower the individual activist, and analyse youth attempts to reconfigure urban space into political sites of individualistic experimentation. The conclusion reviews the impact Post-80s activism has had on the realpolitik of the city, noting the inherent contradictions within the political efforts of the Post-80s and their limited ability to inflict widespread structural changes in Hong Kong politics.

Ce travail vise à approfondir certains aspects de l’expérience des francs-maçons et laïques italiens qui ont été exilés en Belgique, suite à la persécution opérée contre eux par la dictature de Mussolini.

En effet, les premières associations qui ont été poursuivies légalement par le dictateur italien ont été les associations maçonniques et celles de la Libre Pensée. Jusqu’au il y a quelques années, l’historiographie ne pouvait pas analyser davantage les conséquences de cet exil, faute d’accès aux archives de ces associations.

À présent, il nous a été possible d’étudier cette documentation qui nous a permis de démontrer que certains francs-maçons et libres-penseurs italiens, qui ont pris la décision de quitter leur pays afin suite aux persécutions de la dictature, avaient été des exilés politiques et avaient trouvé asile dans certains pays européens grâce aux réseaux maçonniques et laïques qui y existaient déjà depuis la fin du XIXe siècle. La Belgique a été l’un de ces pays d’accueil, mais en outre elle avait été le pays où ces réseaux étaient nés et s’étaient le plus efficacement développés.

C’est cette généalogie des réseaux maçonniques et laïques qui nous a permis d’expliquer pour quelles raisons, même si la Belgique n’a pas été le principal pays d’accueil des exilés maçons et laïques italiens, un certain nombre d’entre eux y sont passés ou s’y sont installés avec l’aide de la Franc-maçonnerie et de la Libre pensée belges, pendant leur exil./

The aim of my research project is to investigate further into the experience of the Italian free-masons and free-thinkers who had to go on exile as a consequence of their persecution by the Mussolini dictatorship. As a matter of fact, the first associations to be persecuted by the Italian dictator were the free-mason and free-thinkers associations, but till few years ago, the contemporary historiography hadn’t really focused on the consequences of these actions because of the limited access to the Archives of these associations.

It was only at the beginning of this century that these documents were found and have been left at the disposal of the researchers.

The study of part of these documents allows me to demonstrate that these free-masons and free-thinkers who had taken the decision to leave their country, in order not to accept the dictatorship, were political emigrants and

that they found asylum in some European countries thanks to the free-mason and free-thinker networks that they had established since the end of 19th century. Belgium was one of these countries, but more importantly the one

where the relation networks concerned were born and developed.

This fact allows us to explain the reason why a lot of Italian free-masons and free-thinkers passed in Belgium or some of them lived. Even if Belgium wasn't the country to which the most of these people exiled.

Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Defence date: 13 June 1996
Examining Board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini (EUI) ; Prof. Jean Blondel (EUI, supervisor) ; Prof. Geraint Parry (University of Manchester) ; Prof. Antonio Schizzerotto (Università di Trento) ; Prof. Yossi Shavit (EUI, co-supervisor)
First made available online: 26 September 2016

by Wan Wai Kwan.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinesse University of Hong Kong, 1990.
Bibliography: leaves 192-196.
Acknowledgments
Chapter Chapter One --- Objective and Literature Review --- p.1
Chapter Chapter Two --- Methodology and Hypotheses --- p.19
Chapter A. --- Sampling --- p.19
Chapter B. --- Hypotheses --- p.25
Chapter C. --- Analysis --- p.30
Tables for Chapter Two --- p.33
Chapter Chapter Three --- A Profile of Two Generations --- p.34
Chapter A. --- Political attitudes of the adolescents --- p.34
Chapter B. --- Contrast between parents and adolescents --- p.40
Chapter C. --- Sex difference and sex-lineage similarity --- p.53
Tables for Chapter Three --- p.53
Chapter Chapter Four --- Socialisation in the Family --- p.76
Tables for Chapter Four --- p.95
Chapter Chapter Five --- Socialisation in the School --- p.104
Tables for Chapter Five --- p.120
Chapter Chapter Six --- Interaction among Agents --- p.126
Political Knowledge and Political Interest --- p.131
Tables for Chapter Six --- p.132
Chapter Chapter Seven --- Conclusion --- p.137
Notes --- p.153
Appendixes --- p.152
Chapter A. --- Tables for demographic data --- p.162
Chapter B. --- Tables for profile of two generations --- p.164
Chapter C. --- Tables for socialisation agent - family --- p.166
Chapter D. --- Tables for socialisation agent - school --- p.169
Chapter E. --- Tables for conclusion --- p.171
Chapter F. --- Abbreviation of attitude items --- p.173
Chapter G. --- Frequency table for the overall sample --- p.174
Bibliography --- p.192
Chapter A. --- Books --- p.192
Chapter B. --- Journals --- p.194
Questionnaire

Ho Man-sze.
Thesis submitted in: December 2004.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves [83]-[86]).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
List of Tables
Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Political versus Apolitical Youth --- p.1
Colonial Background of HK --- p.3
Political Aspirations of HK Youth --- p.4
Youth Studies in Political Participation --- p.7
Research Questions --- p.8
Significance of the Study --- p.10
Outline of the Thesis --- p.14
Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.16
Habermasian Public Sphere --- p.16
Basic Principles of Public Sphere by Jurgen Habermas --- p.17
The Potential Public Sphere for HK Youth --- p.19
The Subaltern Public Sphere of HK Youth --- p.25
Chapter Chapter 3 --- Research Methodology --- p.33
Questionnaire Survey: HK Youth Values 2002 --- p.33
The Political Attitude of HK Youth --- p.34
In-depth Interviews --- p.37
Chapter Chapter 4 --- Data Analyses --- p.41
Existence of Political Discussions --- p.41
A Subaltern Public Sphere of HK Youth? --- p.50
Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussions and Conclusions --- p.73
Social and Political Discussions Found --- p.73
The Possible Arena of Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.74
Domination within a Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.75
Co-existence of Dominant and Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.76
Interactions with the Wider Publics --- p.77
Contributing the Democratic Development of HK --- p.78
"Broadening the Definition of ""Subaltern""" --- p.79
Summary --- p.81

Chan Chun Kit.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-255).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
Acknowledgements --- p.v
Content --- p.vi
List of Charts and Tables --- p.xii
Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction: The Change of Attitude --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Research Background and Research Question --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- Theoretical Framework --- p.3
Chapter 1.3 --- Research Significance --- p.4
Chapter 1.4 --- Plan of the Thesis --- p.7
Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review: Concerning Political Participation and Emigration --- p.9
Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.9
Chapter 2.2 --- Emigration --- p.10
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Literature of Emigration --- p.10
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Emigration in Hong Kong --- p.11
Chapter 2.2.3 --- Lesson from the Emigration Literature --- p.15
Chapter 2.3 --- Political Participation --- p.16
Chapter 2.3.1 --- Meaning of Political Participation --- p.16
Chapter 2.3.2 --- The Culturalist Theory --- p.19
Chapter 2.3.3 --- Political Participation in Hong Kong --- p.22
Chapter 2.3.4 --- Limitations of Culturalist Theory --- p.25
Chapter 2.4 --- An Alternative Approach: Hirschman's theory --- p.27
Chapter 2.4.1 --- Introduction to Hirschman's Theory --- p.28
Chapter 2.4.2 --- Relationship between Exit and Voice --- p.29
Chapter 2.4.3 --- The Idea of Loyalty --- p.30
Chapter 2.4.4 --- Amendment and Critiques of Hirschman's Original Theory --- p.32
Chapter 2.4.5 --- Other Literatures of Loyalty and Loyalty in Hong Kong --- p.39
Chapter 2.4.6 --- The Different Role of Loyalty between Hirschman´ةs Literature and Cultualist Theory --- p.41
Chapter 2.5 --- Conclusion --- p.42
Chapter Chapter 3 --- Historical Review: Acting between Exit and Voice --- p.44
Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.44
Chapter 3.2 --- Push Factors --- p.45
Chapter 3.2.1 --- Political Situation before 1997 --- p.45
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Economic Situation before 1997 --- p.47
Chapter 3.2.3 --- Political Situation after 1997 --- p.49
Chapter 3.2.4 --- Economic Situation after 1997 --- p.52
Chapter 3.2.5 --- The Overall Perception of Hong Kong Future --- p.57
Chapter 3.3 --- Pull Factors --- p.59
Chapter 3.3.1 --- The Difficulty for Applying a Foreign Residency --- p.60
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Economic Situation before 1997 --- p.63
Chapter 3.3.3 --- Economic Situation after 1997 --- p.65
Chapter 3.4 --- Pattern of Political Participation and Emigration --- p.73
Chapter 3.4.1 --- Pattern of Political Participation and Emigration before 1997 --- p.73
Chapter 3.4.2 --- Pattern of Political Participation and Emigration after 1997 --- p.75
Chapter 3.5 --- The Puzzle --- p.79
Chapter 3.6 --- Conclusion --- p.81
Chapter Chapter 4 --- Theory and Method: Accessing Loyalty --- p.83
Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.83
Chapter 4.2 --- Research Aim --- p.83
Chapter 4.3 --- Putting Emigration into the Spectrum of Political Participation --- p.84
Chapter 4.4 --- Subject of Study --- p.86
Chapter 4.4.1 --- Middle Class Individuals as Quality Conscious Consumer --- p.86
Chapter 4.4.2 --- The Definition of Middle Class --- p.88
Chapter 4.5 --- Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Loyalty --- p.90
Chapter 4.6 --- The Effects of Loyalty --- p.92
Chapter 4.7 --- Research Approach --- p.95
Chapter 4.7.1 --- Research Method - Qualitative Data Analysis --- p.95
Chapter 4.7.2 --- Scope of Sample - Deviant Critical Case --- p.96
Chapter 4.7.3 --- Sampling Method - Theoretical Sampling --- p.97
Chapter 4.8 --- Conducting Interviews --- p.99
Chapter 4.9 --- Data Analysis --- p.100
Chapter 4.10 --- Conclusion --- p.101
Chapter Chapter 5 --- Findings and Analysis I: Foundation of the Research: Perception after 97 --- p.103
Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.103
Chapter 5.2 --- Perception about the 1997-2003 Period --- p.103
Chapter 5.3 --- Deteriorated Areas --- p.105
Chapter 5.3.1 --- Government Performance --- p.105
Chapter 5.3.2 --- Political Atmosphere --- p.107
Chapter 5.3.3 --- Economic Atmosphere --- p.108
Chapter 5.4 --- The Most Concerned Areas in Past Decades --- p.109
Chapter 5.4.1 --- Liberty --- p.109
Chapter 5.4.2 --- Rule of Law --- p.110
Chapter 5.4.3 --- "The Implementation of ""One Country, Two System" --- p.113
Chapter 5.5 --- The Perception of Democracy --- p.117
Chapter 5.6 --- Most Recognized Issues --- p.120
Chapter 5.6 --- Accessing the Research Question --- p.122
Chapter 5.7 --- Conclusion --- p.122
Chapter Chapter 6 --- Findings and Analysis II: Foundation of the Research: Loyalty: Emergence and level of Loyalty --- p.124
Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.124
Chapter 6.2 --- Loyalty to Hong Kong --- p.124
Chapter 6.2.1 --- Hong Kong Loyalist --- p.125
Chapter 6.2.2 --- Loyal Complainer of Hong Kong --- p.127
Chapter 6.2.3 --- The Share Characteristic of “Hong Kong Loyalist´ح and “Loyal Complainer of Hong Kong´ح --- p.130
Chapter 6.2.4 --- Hong Kong Disloyalist --- p.132
Chapter 6.3 --- Common Belief ´ؤ The Idea of Liberty --- p.132
Chapter 6.4 --- Loyalty to China --- p.133
Chapter 6.4.1 --- China Loyalist --- p.134
Chapter 6.4.2 --- Separated China Loyalist --- p.136
Chapter 6.4.3 --- Loyal Complainer of China --- p.139
Chapter 6.4.4 --- China Disloyalist --- p.141
Chapter 6.5 --- Common Belief- Psychological Distance --- p.142
Chapter 6.6 --- Sense of Influent Ability --- p.143
Chapter 6.6.1 --- Contribution to Hong Kong --- p.144
Chapter 6.6.2 --- Contribution to China --- p.146
Chapter 6.6.3 --- Affecting Government's policy --- p.149
Chapter 6.7 --- Expectation about Future --- p.151
Chapter 6.8 --- Accessing the Research Question --- p.153
Chapter 6.9 --- Conclusion --- p.154
Chapter Chapter 7 --- Findings and Analysis III: Relationship between Loyalty and the July-First Demonstration --- p.157
Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.157
Chapter 7.2 --- Reasons for Joining The Demonstration --- p.157
Chapter 7.2.1 --- The Dominating Reason --- p.158
Chapter 7.2.2 --- The Sense of Hongkongese --- p.161
Chapter 7.2.3 --- Loyalty of Other Organization --- p.163
Chapter 7.2.3 --- Misunderstanding --- p.164
Chapter 7.3 --- The Effect of Loyalty in the July-first Demonstration --- p.165
Chapter 7.4 --- Other Effects of the Demonstration --- p.170
Chapter 7.5 --- The Post July-first Era and Further Political Participations --- p.172
Chapter 7.5.1 --- Political Situation --- p.172
Chapter 7.5.2 --- Economic and Social Situations --- p.175
Chapter 7.5.3 --- Satisfaction --- p.175
Chapter 7.5.4 --- Further Political Actions --- p.177
Chapter 7.6 --- Factor(s) for Simulating Further Demonstrations --- p.179
Chapter 7.7 --- Discussion --- p.180
Chapter 7.7.1 --- Loyalty and Demonstration in Hong Kong --- p.180
Chapter 8.7.2 --- Liberty and Demonstration in Hong Kong --- p.182
Chapter 8.7.3 --- The level of Satisfaction and the Effectiveness of Demonstration in Hong Kong --- p.184
Chapter 7.8 --- Conclusion --- p.185
Chapter Chapter 8 --- Findings and Analysis IV: Relationship between Loyalty and Emigration --- p.187
Chapter 8.1 --- Introduction --- p.187
Chapter 8.2 --- Emigration --- p.187
Chapter 8.2.1 --- Intention of Leaving Hong Kong --- p.188
Chapter 8.2.2 --- Reasons for Staying --- p.189
Chapter 8.3 --- Intention of Settlement in China --- p.192
Chapter 8.3.1 --- Reason of Having the Intention --- p.193
Chapter 8.3.2 --- Reasons for Staying --- p.193
Chapter 8.4 --- Cause of Reluctant Emigration --- p.196
Chapter 8.5 --- The Effect of Loyalty in Emigration --- p.197
Chapter 8.6 --- Discussion --- p.201
Chapter 8.6.1 --- Loyalty and Emigration in Hong Kong --- p.201
Chapter 8.6.2 --- The Effect of the Loyalty of China --- p.203
Chapter 8.6.3 --- The Credibility of the Threat of Exit --- p.204
Chapter 8.7 --- Conclusion --- p.205
Chapter Chapter 9 --- "Conclusion: Re-visiting Exit, Voice and Loyalty" --- p.207
Chapter 9.1 --- Introduction --- p.207
Chapter 9.2 --- Summary of the Findings from the Study --- p.208
Chapter 9.2.1 --- Perception about the Post-97 Situation of Hong Kong --- p.208
Chapter 9.2.2 --- The Sense of Loyalty --- p.208
Chapter 9.2.3 --- Relationship between Loyalty and Demonstration --- p.209
Chapter 9.2.4 --- Relationship between Loyalty and Emigration --- p.210
Chapter 9.3 --- Discussion of Hirschman's Theory --- p.211
Chapter 9.3.1 --- Signal Product V.S. Multi-products --- p.211
Chapter 9.3.2 --- Effects of Loyalty --- p.213
Chapter 9.3.3 --- Single Loyalty V.S. Multi-loyalties --- p.214
Chapter 9.3.4 --- "The Tension between Loyalty, Exit and Voice" --- p.216
Chapter 9.4 --- The Trend of Future --- p.217
Chapter 9.5 --- Political Implications --- p.219
Chapter 9.5.1 --- Soft Authoritarianism and Administrative Absorption of Politics --- p.219
Chapter 9.5.2 --- Liberty cannot be Infringed --- p.221
Chapter 9.5.3 --- Lack of Strong Demand for Immediate Democratization --- p.221
Chapter 9.5.4 --- Articulation of Public Opinion --- p.223
Chapter 9.6 --- Research Limitations --- p.223
Chapter 9.7 --- Suggestions for Further Researches --- p.225
Chapter 9.8 --- Conclusion --- p.227
Appendix --- p.229
Appendix I Immigrate to Canada: Immigrating to Canada as a Skilled Worker --- p.229
Appendix II Immigrate to Australia: General skilled migration program --- p.235
Appendix III Immigrate to United States of America: Apply for Immigrant Status Based on Employment --- p.239
Appendix IV Interview Schedule (Abridged) --- p.244
Appendix V Demographic Information of Interviewees --- p.247
Bibliography --- p.248

Dissertação de mestrado em Ciência Política
There has been a concern both in policymaking and scholarly work on youth political participation since youth voter turnout in elections showed a tendency to decline together with political party membership. Voter participation and public attitudes appear to be different among Erasmus students, with recent data showing that they had higher levels of voter turnout in European elections and significant levels of political engagement. In particular, available data shows that both in Spain and Italy, there has been a steady increase in student participation in the Erasmus Programme and higher youth voter turnout in European elections. Hence, the choice of this two Member States of the European Union (EU), which share various common characteristics, as case studies of this dissertation. Whilst the Erasmus programme role in students’ lives has been previously studied, there is still research ground to explore when it comes to political participation of students who have joined the exchange programme. Thus, the present work endeavoured to understand how the Erasmus Programme and political participation of young people has evolved in Spain and Italy between de 1980s until 2019, and the significance of such evolution. This dissertation starts by going through the history and development of the Erasmus Programme from its origins to 2019. It then provides the description of the evolution of the international exchange programme in Spain and Italy followed by how youth political participation has evolved in both countries. Finally, Chapter Four provides a comparative analysis of Spain and Italy regarding the Erasmus Programme and youth political participation. This study outlines that the global financial crisis might have pushed young people to political action expressed through protest movements. Indeed, youth in general has shown a tendency towards non-institutionalized forms of political participation and higher levels of abstention in elections. As for Erasmus students, they tend to have positive associations with the EU, higher interest in EU elections and higher voter turnout in them. Nevertheless, they do still engage in other forms of political participation, which are less institutionalized. Overall, young people have been searching for a different direction in politics and this is also noticeable in Erasmus participants who seek for more rights as EU citizens.
Tem havido uma preocupação tanto na elaboração de políticas como na elaboração de trabalhos académicos sobre a participação política dos jovens desde que a afluência às urnas dos mesmos nas eleições registou uma tendência decrescente, juntamente com a filiação em partidos políticos. A participação eleitoral e as atitudes públicas parecem ser diferentes entre os estudantes Erasmus, com dados recentes a demonstrar que estes tiveram níveis mais elevados de participação eleitoral nas eleições europeias e um envolvimento político mais significativo. Em particular, os dados disponíveis mostram que, tanto em Espanha como em Itália, tem havido um consistente aumento da participação dos estudantes no Programa Erasmus e uma maior afluência às urnas por parte destes jovens nas eleições europeias. Daqui resultou a escolha destes dois Estados-Membros da União Europeia (UE), que partilham várias características comuns, como estudos de caso desta dissertação. Embora o papel do programa Erasmus na vida dos estudantes tenha sido previamente estudado, ainda há muito para explorar no que toca à participação política dos estudantes que aderiram ao programa de intercâmbio. Assim, o presente trabalho procurou compreender como o Programa Erasmus e a participação política dos jovens evoluíram em Espanha e Itália entre 1980 e 2019, e que significado esta evolução tem. Esta dissertação começa por percorrer a história e o desenvolvimento do Programa Erasmus desde a sua origem até 2019. Em seguida, fornece a descrição da evolução do programa de intercâmbio internacional em Espanha e Itália, e de como tem sido a participação política dos jovens em ambos os países. Por fim, o Capítulo Quatro fornece uma análise comparativa entre Espanha e Itália no que diz respeito ao Programa Erasmus e à participação política dos jovens. Este estudo demonstra que a crise financeira global poderá ter pressionado os jovens na direção de uma ação política expressa através de movimentos de protesto. De facto, os jovens, em geral, têm demonstrado uma tendência para formas não institucionalizadas de participação política e níveis mais elevados de abstenção nas eleições. Quanto aos estudantes Erasmus, estes tendem a ter associações positivas com a UE, maior interesse nas eleições da UE e maior afluência às urnas. Ainda assim, dedicam-se também a outras formas menos institucionalizadas de participação política. Em geral, os jovens têm procurado uma direção diferente na política e isto também se pode verificar nos participantes Erasmus que procuram mais direitos como cidadãos da UE.

Xia, Ying.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-164).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract also in Chinese.

This work argues that youth and student organizations in Senegal and Congo became the primary catalysts for mass social struggles that challenged new national governments between 1958 and 1974. From the mid-1950s, young activists in both countries (along with many trade union leaders) debated emerging African political leaders over what constituted “independence.” These debates sharpened after the control of political institutions was devolved from French to African authorities between 1958 and 1960. As I show, rather than celebrating formal independence, many youth, student, and trade union organizations claimed that new African state leaders were complicit in the ongoing foreign domination of politics, education, and their national economies. Young activists contrasted formal independence with their demands for “real independence,” which included criteria such as the expulsion of French troops, an end to French and missionary influence over the education system, and the nationalization of foreign-owned businesses. In the context of this conflict, a subset of activists in each country became known as “radicals” due to their demands for “real independence” and their call to reorganize the state along Marxist principles. This work is based on archival research in Senegal, Congo, and France, as well as fifty-six interviews with Senegalese and Congolese militants of the period. The new presidents of Senegal and Congo, Léopold Senghor and Fulbert Youlou, both moved to consolidate control of their respective states after 1958. They attempted to isolate rival political organizations and young critics through a combination of repression and cooptation. “Youth Radicalism” explores how student, youth, and trade union organizations defended their autonomy from the new regimes and became centers of political opposition. I show that these organizations sparked urban rebellions in the capital cities of Brazzaville and Dakar, most notably in 1963 and 1968, respectively. In Congo, the protests in 1963 overthrew the government of Fulbert Youlou and allowed radical youth and student activists to declare themselves the leaders of a “revolution.” By building mass youth organizations, they were able to assume positions of authority and to successfully push for elements of “real independence” and “scientific socialism.” In Senegal, the strike in 1968 did not overturn Senghor’s government, but prompted a myriad of labor, educational, and democratic reforms in the years that followed. This work ends by looking at how the independent youth and student organizations of the 1960s were eliminated in both countries in the early 1970s due to internal divisions and state repression. Considering Congo and Senegal in the same study illustrates that youth and student leaders’ political strategies intersected through shared connections within the Francophone world, as well as Third World and Communist networks. The demands raised by young radicals emerged in response to specific local and national political conflicts, but this work argues that they were also fundamentally shaped by their links abroad. Finally, “Youth Radicalism” assesses how young radicals’ ability to create lasting structural change in Senegal and Congo was affected by the common political frameworks that guided their actions.

This thesis examines the relationship between youth-led activist organisations, digital media and youth political participation. Focusing on the Australian context, I ask: what are the contexts and conditions through which young people develop diverse forms of political subjectivity? Recognising that everyday activities and practices are formative for political identity, I find that young people’s practices subtly—and sometimes not so subtly—contest what counts as ‘legitimate’ political participation. Drawing on Bakardjieva’s (2009) theory of subactivism to study the relationship between everyday practices and political views and actions, I argue that young people exercise what I call ‘quiet power’: acts of everyday tactical resistance to established and legitimised modes of formal political action. In recent years, youth-led activist organisations have actively engaged young people, achieving ostensibly significant influence and reach, but they are under-researched. To understand how these organisations constitute new contexts for youth political participation, I analyse what role two such established organisations—Oaktree and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC)—play in shaping young people’s political concerns and actions and how they adapt to young people’s changing participation preferences. As everyday, networked and personalisable forms of political participation are increasingly common among young people, both organisations deploy technology-based engagement strategies. While a burgeoning literature seeks to understand how young people’s political practices are embedded in digital contexts, research has yet to focus in depth on how young people come to be interested in and to act on issues of concern. I therefore go beyond the study of practices to analyse young people’s motivations: what interests and activities are meaningful to them and what conditions underpin this meaning-making process? I examine how their feelings, thoughts and activities in relation to political issues might manifest in more conventionally recognisable political acts.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of the Witwatersrand Department of Political Studies February 2015
The question of gender inequality in South Africa has still not received the platform that it deserves. This reality may be attributed to numerous factors including the masculine attitudes that continue to prevail in South African politics. This dissertation therefore analyses the construction of gender roles in youth political organisations in South Africa, and investigates how hegemonic gender formations challenge and shape the activism of women within these organisations. It focuses on the largest and oldest youth political formation in the country, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). It draws from the rich history of the ANC and the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) to understand better the framework of current gender politics. Feminist theory is used as the underpinning theoretical framework throughout this research, thus providing a new perspective of women’s activism that goes beyond the traditional practices employed in research about political organisations. This dissertation is informed by a qualitative research approach with a focus on interviews with individuals who are members of the ANCYL in the Seshego township in South Africa’s Limpopo Province. The main argument made in this dissertation is that women in mainstream political organisations like the ANCYL continue to experience difficulties in the assertion of their activism because of the historically dominating masculine characteristics of such organisations. A nuanced analysis of young women’s activism in South Africa is the major contribution that this research offers. By bringing forth the narrative of ordinary female activists, this dissertation deliberately confronts the celebration of the supposedly already realised gender equality, arguing that this is a premature celebration that is not cognisant of the daily experiences of female activists of the ANCYL.

The conventional explanation, ancient and modern, for the emergence for the first time of the politically interventionist legion in the Roman Republic's history outside the southern Italian city of Nola in 88 BC, rests primarily on the idea that soldiers intervened in politics because of pecuniary self-interest: that is, what they could materially gain from the arrangement. According to this perspective, a mercenary spirit had infected the late-republican citizen-militia which was subsequently exploited by insurrectionist generals such as L. Cornelius Sulla. This was largely possible because C. Marius in 107 BC abolished the traditional timocratic underpinnings of republican military service by allowing the previously-ineligible poor into the army, making pecuniary self-interest the dominant motivation for service in late-republican armies. In isolation and out of context, however, this is an unsatisfactory explanation for intervention. Soldiers had always expected to profit from war: this was a factor in 88 BC, but it was not the new, critical ingredient of late-republican military service that led to large-scale political intervention. Marius' 107 BC recruitment reform did not change the demographic makeup of the army, and the poor had always been represented in service in large numbers without this previously leading to insurrectionist or mercenary armies that were a danger to the state. Instead, Sulla's soldiers intervened for a range of other factors. A process of desensitisation to the risk of fighting fellow citizens, the citizen-militia's tradition of insubordination in political cause and as a forum for the redress of personal grievance, and the pernicious influence of contemporary endemic violence on Roman political discourse - along with the desire to profit from war - all played their part in persuading the army to support Sulla's sedition. In the background, too, was confusion among Sulla's soldiers over who legitimately represented the state. This confusion allowed Sulla to reinforce his credentials to legitimacy, reinforcing the soldiers' decision to help him. There was thus no single economic motive dominating the explanation for intervention. Rather, all these factors acted in unison, and on that day outside Nola in 88 BC, together they proved decisive. For the Republic, it meant that the emergence of the politically interventionist legion, and its subsequent persistent presence in late-republican political dynamics, was all but inevitable.

In this study an attempt is made to trace and analyse the changing nature of African youth in urban areas, with particular reference to the East London locations. The period covered is the period from the 1940s to the end of 1992. In common wisdom, an impression is often created that African youth is a homogeneous grouping. This has been particularly the case in the 1980s, when the youth of this country took to the streets and challenged the status quo in a manner unknown in South Africa's recorded history. However, the main conclusion of this study is that the African youth is not homogeneous, and has never been during the period under review. It is argued in the study that the youth divides into various categories which at times interact with one another, but are at times antagonistic to each other. It has been stressed though, that the various categories have not remained the same. Almost all underwent various changes and transformations. Some of the changes and transformations were radical, leading to the disappearance of some categories, for example, the old distinction of 'school' and 'red' youth. Where such took place, new categories have emerged, even in instances where the intentions were to bring the various categories under the roof of a single category, for example, bringing various categories under the wing of the political youth, or comrade (qabane), as was the case in the 1980s. In tracing the changing nature of African youth in urban areas, the underlying argument has been that there is no evidence of a single youth culture ever prevailing for long. This study attempts to explain why such a culture was not possible. Only a grasp of historical process will, moreover, help to explain the changing youth scene.
Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

Thesis (M.Com.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Business and Economic Sciences, 2017
With an increase in competition in the political sector, there is a paradigm shift as parties revert to branding to influence voters’ political party brand preference. Political marketing is one of the most important aspects of developing industry which affects institutions, people and the involvement of successful candidates in the modern generation of politics. Therefore, it is of interest to examine how political party branding can enhance brand preference of the voters. Although several studies have explored political marketing and factors influencing university students’ intention to vote using various mediums, few studies have explored distinctive cues as a holistic concept in investigating the effect on youth of brand image and brand preference. More precisely, few studies have explored this topic in a political context among the youth in South Africa. This research purpose is to determine whether political party branding influences voting brand preference among the youth in South Africa, through the means of the proposed conceptual model, brand identity, positive word of mouth and brand authenticity as the predictors, brand image as the mediating variable, and brand preference as the outcome variable. The current study undertakes a quantitative approach, where 379 questionnaires were received from the respondents, (University of the Witwatersrand students), to explore the influence of political party branding on voting brand preference among the youth in South Africa. The data was analysed using structural equation modelling and Amos 23.0. Findings support all five proposed hypotheses. Hence indicating that brand identity, positive word of mouth and brand authenticity, influences brand image and brand preference. The contribution of this study is to provide general information to guide political parties or politics in South Africa in developing marketing / branding strategies based on the concept of brand preference. These contributions will help different types of political parties in having the knowledge of the critical role of brand preference and its implementation in the political marketing context. Theoretically, it is positioned in political marketing and adds to empirical literature that focuses on political branding, branding and voters’ preference in political parties. Lastly, by examining the predictors’ variables and their influence on brand image and brand preference, the findings provide political parties with a better understanding of branding strategies that can be implemented to influence voters’ preference before, during and after a campaign through comprehensive political branding.
XL2018

Defence date: 1 June 2015
Examining Board: Professor Federico Romero, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Ángela Cenarro, Universidad de Zaragoza (External supervisor); Professor Lucy Riall, European University Institute; Professor Sven Reichardt, Universität Konstanz.
2016 recipient of the Ivano Tognarini Prize in Contemporary History.
This dissertation explores, from a transnational viewpoint, the historical relationship between war veterans and fascism in interwar Europe. Until now, historians have been roughly divided between those who assume that 'brutalization' (George L. Mosse) led veterans to join fascist movements, and those who stress that most ex-soldiers of the Great War became committed pacifists and internationalists. This dissertation overcomes the inconclusive debates surrounding the 'brutalization' thesis, by proposing a new theoretical and methodological approach, and offering a wider perspective on the history of both fascism and veteran movements. Drawing on a wide range of archival and published sources in five different languages, this work focuses on the interrelated processes of fascistization and transnationalization of veteran politics in interwar Europe. Firstly, it explains the connection between Italian Fascism and war veterans as the result of a process of symbolic appropriation of the notion of the 'veteran'. Then, it demonstrates that the cross-border circulation of the stereotype of the 'fascist veteran', and the diffusion of the 'myth of the fascist veterans', originating in the March on Rome, were crucial factors in the transnationalization of fascism and the fascistization of veteran politics in the 1920s. Furthermore, in the 1930s, networks of fascist veterans point to the existence of a transnational fascism, while new wars in Ethiopia and Spain strengthened the symbolic connection between veterans and fascism. Finally, the dissertation demonstrates that by 1939-1940, the fascist model of veteran politics was transferred into the new Spanish and French dictatorships. It is not 'brutalization', therefore, but rather a combination of mythical constructs, transfers, political communication, encounters, and networks within a transnational space that explain the relationship between veterans and fascism. Thus, this dissertation offers new insights into the essential ties between fascism and war and contributes to the theorization and conceptualization of transnational fascism.

PhD (History)
Department of Development Studies
This study is about the involvement and participation of Bulilima youths in Zimbabwe’s national liberation struggle from 1960 to 1980. The study describes and explains how and to what extent Bulilima youths were involved and participated in Zimbabwean guerrilla war. Bulilima is a border district between Zimbabwe and Botswana which, from 1960 – 1980 became Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas’ central and key strategic entry point into and exit out of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). For the purposes of this study, the term youth refers to young people between the ages of twelve and twenty-five, born in Bulilima District between 1945 and 1967. During the guerrilla war, the use of the category youth was political, with biological and cultural aspects also taken into account. The study is primarily based on the war experiences of twenty-six women and twenty-six men who were youths during the time period of the study (1960 – 1980). It is qualitative and involves forty-eight open-ended interviews in the major villages of Bulilima District. The interviews are complemented by a survey of both primary and secondary sources. It is hoped that the results of this study will raise salient issues on the involvement and participation of Bulilima youths in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.

A PhD Thesis to the Anthropology Department, Faculty of Humanities: University of the Witwatersrand.
This study will argue that; (i) that the evolution of hip-hop arises out of the need by young people to give expression and meaning to their day-to-day socio-political and economic struggles and the harsh realities of urban life, and (ii) that hip-hop has become the audible and dominant voice of reason and a platform that allows youth to address their plight, as active citizens, and (iii) that, as a music expression, the hip-hop narrative can be used as an unsolicited yet resourceful civic perception survey to gauge the temperature and the mood of society at a point in time. My research question is premised on the argument that the youth looks at society and their immediate surroundings through the lens of rap music and the hip-hop culture. It presupposes that it is this hip-hop lens that has become the projector through which the youth views and analyses society and then invites the world to peep through, to confirm and be witnesses to what they see. It is not the purpose of this research to argue how much influence hip-hop has on young people, but instead to look at how youth is using hip-hop to express their discontent and what the various sites are where their relentless desire for a better life is being crafted and articulated. In my investigation, I have argued that it is at these social sites that open or discreet creative expressions are produced/created by the hip-hop generation as the subordinate group and directed to those perceived to be the gatekeepers to their aspirations and their rites of passage. In my investigation I have explored how, out of indignation and desire, the hip-hop generation has employed creative ways to highlight and vent their frustration at a system that seems to derail their aspirations. This is the story of hip-hop where Watkins (2005) argues that the youth have crafted "a vision of their world that is insightful, optimistic and tenaciously critical of the institutions and circumstances that restrict their ability to impact on the world around them" (p. 81) With regard to hip-hop in South Africa critical questions and a central thesis to this paper begin to emerge as to whether hip-hop, as an artistic expression and a seemingly dominant youth culture, has found long-hidden voices through which young people now engage with this art form to address and reflect on their socio-economic and political conditions as active citizens in search of a meaningful social contract. By investigating the triangular relationship between commerce, politics and hip-hop, this study looks at how creative, adaptive people with unrealised potential, who find themselves trapped by illusion and exploitation (realistic or perceived), always try to find a meaning to make sense of their worlds.
AC2018

M.A. (History)
The main purpose of this study is to expose a hidden dimension in the annals of African resistance politics. This dimension has never received adequate attention thus the repercussions of its influence has not been adequately accounted for. This dimension is centred on the causes and consequences of conflict between the ANC Africanist Youth League and the Communist Party. The Africanist Youth League was convinced that its conflict with the Communist Party was in defence of African nationalism and self-determination. The Communist Party's infiltration of the ANC and its concerted efforts to derail it and the Youth League from African Nationalism, comes under critical scrutiny in this study. Thus, the popular view of the Youth League's conflict with the ANC is proved to have been the sub-plot of the main ideological rivalry between the Communist Party and the ANC Youth League.

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Limpopo, 2008.
The Black youth struggled against the apartheid regime as the title indicates because as Blacks the policy made them to suffer. They were oppressed in the country of their birth. Before the militant youth involvement in the liberation struggle in the 1970s there were a few Black youths who tried to force the government to relinquish its policy. They were unsuccessful. This was because they were opposed to the government as members of the various Black organisations. They were not united. SASO with its Black Consciousness philosophy brought unity amongst all the Black youth and put them on the vanguard of the struggle. These youth did not just mobilize and unite Blacks (organisation and non organisation members) through public criticism of the apartheid system. They also mounted physical attacks on enemy targets such as police stations etc. South Africa became ungovernable. This resistance compelled the government to release political prisoners and to relinquish power in 1994.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans
The second fully democratic election in South Africa is scheduled to take place in May 1999. In the five years since the first election, it appears that very little attention has been paid to the political literacy of the electorate in general, and the youth in particular. The purpose of this study was to establish adolescents' level of political knowledge and whether they are able to think critically about political issues or not. The first part of the literature study which was concerned with critical thinking revealed that the major aspects of critical thinking are: deductive reasoning, inductive inference, recognition of assumptions, credibility, and problem solving. The second part of the literature study was an analysis of which factors may play a role in the development of critical thinking of an adolescent. with particular reference to a political context. The third part was an examination of important current political and social issues. These were: the new Constitution. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, housing, land redistribution, education, labour, health, crime, political violence, environment, and the next election. A reliable measuring instrument was developed in order to measure adolescents' knowledge of political issues, and their ability to think critically about these issues. The results of the empirical study revealed that intellectual potential and academic achievement were significantly related to critical thinking ability, while gender, environment, and personality appeared not to play a role. There was a significant correlation between political knowledge and critical thinking in a political context, implying that critical thinking is subject-specific. Cultural background also played a significant role in critical thinking in a political context. In terms of political knowledge, boys were found to be at a significantly higher level than girls. The subjects from urban areas were also at a significantly higher level than those from rural areas. There was also a positive correlation between intellectual potential, academic achievement, and political knowledge. Finally, some recommendations for improving the levels of political knowledge and critical thinking abilities with regard to political issues of South African adolescents were given.
Die tweede ten valle demokratiese verkiesing in Suid-Afrika is geskeduleer om in Mei 1999 plaas te vind. In die vyf jaar sedert die vorige verkiesing is baie min aandag gegee aan die politieke geletterdheid van die verkiesingspubliek in die algemeen en die jeug in besonder. Die doel van hierdie studie was om adolessente se vlak van politieke kennis te bepaal en om vas te stel of hulle in staat is om krities oar politieke kwessies na te dink. Die eerste deel van die literatuurstudie wat verband hou met kritiese denke het uitgewys dat die hoofaspekte van kritiese denke die volgende is: deduktiewe redenering, induktiewe inferensies, herkenning van aannames, geloofwaardigheid en probleemoplossing. Die tweede deel van die literatuurstudie behels 'n analise van die faktore wat 'n rol kan speel in die ontwikkeling van die kritiese denke van die adolessent, met spesifieke verwysing na 'n politieke konteks. Die derde deel is 'n ondersoek na belangrike teenswoordige politieke en sosiale kwessies. Hierdie kwessies sluit in: die nuwe Grondwet, die Waarheids- en Versoeningskommissie, behuising, herverdeling van grand, opvoeding, arbeid, gesondheid, misdaad, politieke geweld, die omgewing en die volgende verkiesing. 'n Betroubare meetinstrument om adolessente se kennis van politieke kwessies asook hul vermoe om krities daaroor na te dink, is ontwikkel. Die resultate van die empiriese ondersoek het aangetoon dat intellektuele potensiaal en akademiese prestasie betekenisvol verband hou met kritiese denkvermoe, terwyl geslag, omgewing en persoonlikheid klaarblyklik nie 'n rol speel nie. Daar is ook 'n betekenisvolle korrelasie tussen politieke kennis en kritiese denke in 'n politieke konteks wat impliseer dat kritiese denke vakspesifiek is. Kulturele agtergrond speel ook 'n betekenisvolle rol in kritiese denke in 'n politieke konteks. Ten opsigte van politieke kennis is daar bevind dat seuns op 'n betekenisvolle hoer vlak is as dogters. Respondente uit stedelike gebiede is oak op 'n betekenisvolle hoer vlak as diegene uit plattelandse gebiede. Oaar is oak 'n betekenisvolle korrelasie tussen intellektuele potensiaal, akademiese prestasie en politieke kennis. Ten slotte is aanbevelings gemaak om die vlakke van politieke kennis en kritiese denkvermoens met betrekking tot politieke aangeleenthede by Suid-Afrikaanse adolessente te verbeter.
Psychology of Education
D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, many Americans quickly rallied to support the nation. Among the numerous committees, organizations, and individuals that became active in the mobilization process were the forty-eight state councils of defense. Encouraged to form by President Wilson and his administration in the days and weeks following U.S entry in the war, the state councils grew as offshoots of the Council of National Defense and assisted in bringing every section of the country into a single scheme of work. Everyone was expected to do their part in WWI, whether they were fighting overseas or helping on the home front. The state councils, broken down into various sections and county, township, and high-school level councils, made sure that this was the case by reaching down into local communities and encouraging individuals to become involved in the war effort. Their work represented the embodiment of a “total war” philosophy and, yet, studies on these organizations are surprisingly scarce, giving readers an inadequate understanding of the American home front during the conflict. This thesis therefore places the focus directly on the state councils and examines the work they undertook to make the United States ready for, and most effective in wartime service. In particular, it explores the efforts of the Educational Section of the Indiana State Council of Defense. By concentrating on this one section, readers may gain a better understanding of the lengths that the state councils went to in order to put every person – teachers and students included – on a wartime footing.

This qualitative study uses narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988, 1990, 2001) and self-study to investigate ways to further understand and facilitate the integration of holistic philosophies of education with media literacy pedagogies. As founder and director of the Youth Media Literacy Project and a self-titled Imagitator (one who agitates imagination), I have spent over 10 years teaching media literacy in various high schools, universities, and community centres across North America. This study will focus on my own personal practical knowledge (Connelly & Clandinin, 1982) as a culture jammer, educator and cancer survivor to illustrate my original vision of a ‘holistic media literacy pedagogy’. This research reflects on the emergence and impact of holistic media literacy in my personal and professional life and also draws from relevant interdisciplinary literature to challenge and synthesize current insights and theories of media literacy, holistic education and culture jamming.