@phdthesis{Blomberg2012, author = {Blomberg, Franziska}, title = {The Bright \& Dark Sides of Civil Society - Democratic Consolidation and Regime Hybridity in Divided Societies}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:521-opus-894}, school = {Europa-Universit{\"a}t Viadrina Frankfurt}, year = {2012}, abstract = {This dissertation examines the widely assumed positive effect of civil society on democratic consolidation. During the past twenty-five years, civil society has been strongly supported in target states of external democracy promotion. A relatively rising share of so-called "hybrid regimes" around the world, among them many displaying deep ethno-national divisions, has led to increased attention to the "dark sides" of civil society. Also, doubts have arisen whether external democracy promotion in general and civil society promotion in particular are actually conducive to overall democratization. This, however, so far has not been investigated systematically. The dissertation investigates this research gap and asks to what extent previous ethno-national conflict influences civil society's contribution to democratic consolidation and the role external democracy promotion plays in this context. The research is conducated on the basis of two qualitative case-studies, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republic Macedonia, both far advanced, but currently stagnating on their way of democratic consolidation. The research project comes to the conclusion that civil society can in fact positively influence democratic consolidation - particularly with regard to procedural aspects such as political participation, representation of interests, implementation of laws, or the rule of law - but it can also influence structural aspects, as for instance legislation, or the establishing of formal procedures for political involvement of citizens. Nevertheless, ethno-nationl divsions strongly inhibit civil society's impact. While, in fact, currently prevailing ethno-nationally mobilized cleavages affect civil society's influence more negatively than the scale of previous inter-ethnic violence - as frequently very dominant (clientelistic) networks impede coalitions and thus divide the society both vertically (between state, civil society, and citizens) as well as horizontally (within state, civil society, and citizens), which in turn limits the political influence of civil society. Summing up, civil society's theoretically assumed positive functions can, provided ethno-national divisions and incomplete democratic consolidation, be inhibitited if not negatively reversed, as the case studies show. External democracy promotion is found to play a controversial, yet potentially influencial role - as the contrast between a relatively better trained civil society in combination with a state increasingly ready to take civil society into account in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the one hand and a civil society with less ressources and a state less inclined to cooperate with critical civil society in Macedonia on the other hand shows. International organizations can, on the one hand, positively promote democratic structures, improve inter-ethnic relations, and support the establishment and improvement of civil society, notably in the fields of organizational capacity and social service provision. On the other hand, however, external democracy promotion also carries certain risks: previous practices have led to an "NGOization" and intransparent funding and clientelism between donors and recipients has fostered competition and mistrust between civil society organizations. Generally, where external democracy promotion wishes to lead to sustainable effects, external actors should provide continued support in states with weak regimes, and, in states with (over-)powerful regimes, they should provide a counterweight to the state and in support of civil society. If external democracy promotion pulls out before democratic consolidation is achieved, the risk is that (too) strong regimes may then promote mostly politically uncritical and social services providing CSOs, which will then lead to an undermining of the sustainability of civil society promotion, or, in states where sufficiently functioning structures for the cooperation between state and civil society have been established, fading external support combined with quality monitoring and incentives for elite cooperation can actually lead to "natural selection" of civil society organizations.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Szymański2010, author = {Szymański, Aleksander}, title = {Die polnische Wahlkampagne 2007 - Eine politische und medientechnische Analyse}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:521-opus-394}, school = {Europa-Universit{\"a}t Viadrina Frankfurt}, year = {2010}, abstract = {In den zwanzig Jahren nach dem Systemwechsel {\"a}nderte sich die politische Szene Polens entscheidend. Die Wahlkampagne 2007 war in diesem Hinblick besonders bedeutend, da der politische Kampf sich gr{\"o}ßtenteils nur zwischen drei Parteien - Prawo und Sprawiedliwość (PiS), Platforma Obywatelska (PO) und dem Wahlb{\"u}ndnis Lewica i Demokraci (LiD) abspielte. Politische Grundelemente, wie z.B. Wahlprogramme oder Wahlstrategien, die bislang eine sehr begrenzte Rolle spielten, wurden zu den bedeutendsten Einflusswerkzeugen aller Parteien. Auch der Charakter der Medien wandelte sich drastisch, da man von passiver Informationsweitergabe zur aktiven Einflussnahme ins Wahlgeschehen hin{\"u}berging. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der gesamte Verlauf der Wahlkampagne im Rahmen des politischen Marketings sowie einer medientechnischen Analyse evaluiert. Es werden die Strategien der einzelnen Parteien und der Medien erkannt und ihr Einfluss auf das politische Geschehen und letztendlich auf das Wahlergebnis beurteilt. Den Ausgangspunkt der Analyse bildet die Theorie zum Thema des politischen Marketings sowie der Medien. Dabei werden die Ph{\"a}nomene der "Amerikanisierung", der Imagebildung, der Emotionalisierung der Politik und der Medienrealit{\"a}t angesprochen. Ferner wird die Interdependenz von Politik und Medien diskutiert. Basierend auf diesen Informationen wird das Konzept der politischen Kommunikation vorgestellt, welches das Fundament jeder erfolgreichen Wahlkampagnenstrategie ist. Im weiteren Teil wird die Ausgangssituation in Polen ausf{\"u}hrlich vorgestellt, bevor die verschiedenen politischen Ereignisse der Wahlkampagne n{\"a}her untersucht und mit dem theoretischen Basiswissen kontrastiert werden. Bei der Analyse stehen insbesondere die Wahlwerbespots und die Fernsehduelle der Spitzenkandidaten im Vordergrund. Abschließend wird die Wahlkampagne nochmals gesamt{\"u}bergreifend untersucht und es erfolgt eine summarische Evaluierung der politischen Handlungen der einzelnen Parteien sowie der Medien.}, subject = {Politische Sprache}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Kersaint2013, author = {Kersaint, Mait{\´e}}, title = {Exploring Public Diplomacy 2.0: A Comparison of German and U.S. Digital Public Diplomacy in Theory and Practice}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:521-opus-939}, school = {Europa-Universit{\"a}t Viadrina Frankfurt}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Designed as an exploratory study, this dissertation consists of a policy analysis of German and U.S. American approaches to public diplomacy 2.0, understood as public diplomacy by means of social media. The study's main argument is that in spite of claims to the contrary, social media did not substantially change the practice of public diplomacy. No digital turn took place: Both countries' governments act according to their respective foreign policy tradition and public diplomacy doctrines and, by doing so, confirm a historical institutionalist view on politics. After developing public diplomacy as an integrated concept that incorporates facets of several other related ones like propaganda, branding and cultural relations, it will be demonstrated that public diplomacy remains an instrument of power employed by a given state to reaffirm its might; it is not destined to empower other groups. It will also be shown how social media's premises like transparency and decentralization clash with those of public diplomacy and government administration, and how this impedes public diplomacy's operationalisation on the Internet. It will be explored how that contradiction affects the practice of public diplomacy 2.0 and how its stakeholders deal with given implications by laying out a methodological framework based on historical institutionalism that combines content analysis and expert interviews. On a doctrinal strategic level, the dissertation will then show how the U.S. public diplomacy endeavour is strategically embedded into a wider concept, driven by post-9/11 feelings of vulnerability and the desire to win back hearts and minds. The German approach, on the other hand, refuses such a take, which is partly due to the country's history and negative experiences with propaganda especially during World War II. To Germany, distancing itself from its eventful past through presenting the country as a peaceful, stable democracy is paramount. Combined with the process of coming to terms with the major shakeup the country's reunification brought about, this attitude leads to a struggle to find a new political identity. The body of rules restricting and guiding public diplomacy 2.0 reflects these elements of both countries' respective history and foreign policy tradition. This underscores the weight of history and reaffirms its centrality as a factor for understanding politics. The paper's centrepiece is constituted by a comparative content analysis of the Facebook pages and Twitter feeds belonging to the German embassy in Great Britain (UK) and its American counterpart. The comparison was made over three months in 2011 during discussions about the possible adoption of a financial transaction tax. This particular conflict situation - the UK opposed the measure, backed by the USA, while Germany advocated for it - could have provided a textbook case for the use of social media in public diplomacy. The analysis will, however, reaffirm the allegations made in the dissertation's theoretical parts: Contrary to public opinion, social media are neither interactive nor a mass phenomenon. Communication is employed to echo official government positions as stated in national foreign policy and public diplomacy doctrines as well as to legitimize general policy through subtle rhetorical strategies. The dissertation on hand will further come to the conclusion that the effects of public diplomacy 2.0 can hardly be assessed (if at all), mainly because of a lack of reliable measuring frameworks and monitoring tools. Rather, social media are a listening and opinion gathering device, providing governments with big data on their audience.}, language = {en} }