Research

From Collective to Connective Action: Civic Engagement and Participatory Politics in a Social Media Era

Honours Thesis, completed April 2021

ABSTRACT: In 2008, social media ascended into political and civic spheres. Since then, social media has changed drastically in the ways it has been used and employed. Thus, investigating its potentially consequential effects on civic engagement and political participation across time is critical to understanding its implications for democracies. This paper examines whether, when, and why social media is associated with political participation and civic engagement. Using data from the United States, I employ a pooled cross-sectional analysis with nationally representative surveys from the Pew Research Center (2008 to 2016) and the American National Election Studies (2012 to 2016). The results show that while social media is positively associated with civic engagement and participation both online and offline, the effect does vary across some years but is roughly similar and always positive. Additionally, the impact of respondents’ social media use on civic engagement and participation increases in 2012 and 2016. These findings suggest that online social networks can be a mechanism for promoting participation but illustrate more importantly, a shift in political and civic paradigms for the ways in which publics engage in democracy.

Is Cancel Culture Stifling the Empathy and Deliberation Needed in Democracy?

Human Rights in a Digital Era Seminar POLI422C, completed April 2021

ABSTRACT: “If we don't give people a path to redemption, perhaps people will retreat to antagonistic places where they will be accepted.” Throughout this paper, I highlight how social media has transformed the public’s capacity to shape social norms by tracing the historical roots of the cancel culture phenomenon in the West. Though I delineate the conditions under which ‘cancelling’ may be warranted, I use Marwick’s sociotechnical model (2018) and Fung et al.’s Six Models for the Internet and Politics (2013) to argue that the technological supercharging of cancel culture’s mechanisms have detrimental effects for deliberative democracies. Extending upon the work of Iris Marion Young, a democratic theorist and social justice advocate, I end my paper on how challenges posed by cancel culture can be addressed.

Reconceptualizing Justice as Responsibility with Iris Marion Young

Core Grad Seminar in Political Theory POLI 540, completed December 2020

ABSTRACT: As fellow colleagues and students of Young have mentioned her wishes to further clarify and build upon her ideas in Responsibility for Justice, this paper is one of many others’ attempts to grapple with such profound insights. By conveying the significance of Young’s ideas and extending upon them through critique, I hope to provide a further appreciation of justice as responsibility. To do so, I introduce Young’s key ideas across each of her seven essays within the book. I briefly touch upon the various thinkers she invokes to craft and explain her own ideas. In particular, I reference Anthony Giddens, John Rawls, and Hannah Arendt’s influences within Young’s social connection model, which becomes the prominent theoretical contribution and cohesive thread of Responsibility for Justice. I then focus on the practical contributions of Young’s conceptual framework to current social justice activism and political participation with a specific look at the rhetoric of blame and Young’s distinction between responsibility from guilt. Finally, I critically assess Young’s work by pointing out potential concerns. However, in elucidating such concerns, I ultimately, use her arguments as a springboard for ideas on how she might have responded.

In the Fight Against the Erosion of Democracy, is Civil Society Enough?

Theories of State and Society POLI343, completed April 2020

ABSTRACT: At the forefront of discussions regarding democracy is not only a desire for potential remedies but also a much-needed initiation of an investigative journey into concepts that may relate to and reinforce it. The concept of civic cultures is one that is growing in relevance; revived in the past decades from the traditions of Tocqueville, where the powers of civil society mitigate the growing powers of potentially anti-democratic forces through the associative capacities of individuals. Through an analysis of Tocqueville’s main arguments regarding the relationship between civil society and democracy, I argue that the generative powers of social and horizontal powers that come from civil society are not strong enough to counter anti-democratic forces. I first introduce integral aspects to Tocqueville’s work and then contextualize his references to democracy within Dahl’s work. I then reference the specificities of both thinker’s ideas through the relations between civil society and democracy. The crux of my argument depends on the invocation of thinkers such as Marx and Weber to illustrate two major forces that pose a threat to the flourishing of democracy. With Marx, I explore Tocqueville’s concept of the ‘industrial aristocracy.’ And with Weber, I introduce rationalization as a complement to Tocqueville’s concepts of ‘tyranny of thought’ and ‘possessive individualism.’ Finally, I amalgamate the thinkers’ ideas that I have addressed to investigate the anti-democratic forces within the trends of contemporary society and their implications.

Smart Cities: Reconciling Urban Governance in an Era of Big Data

Canadian Urban Governance POLI 405C/504B, completed December 2020

ABSTRACT: The future of cities. What does that look like? For one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, Toronto, it might have realized Sidewalk Labs’ vision to build the world’s first neighbourhood from the internet up. The Google subsidiary start-up hoped by marrying digital infrastructure with urban planning, the “heightened ability to measure the Quayside, Toronto neighborhood would come with better ways to manage it” (Sidewalk 2020). This paper explores qualitatively, the contentious two and a half years of Sidewalk’s development proposals. The consequent dissolution of the project in May 2020, exposes a difficult reconciliation between city actors and their fundamentally different approaches to what urban governance is and should entail. For Sidewalk, its smart city approach strongly characterizes a technocratic way of governing cities with an emphasis on data collection and technology to smarten government operations. For Toronto residents and the grassroots movement Block Sidewalk, they characterize a strong preference for democratic governance within urban planning. This paper argues and illustrates how the future of cities must and can reconcile these two forms of governance. It does this by setting forth the idea of reconceptualizing the civic sphere. By building on the smart cities’ inherently data driven approach to decision making, each approach of governance has opportunities to flesh one another out. First, by enhancing the opportunities for citizens to participate and second, by increasing the level of transparency to which experts are making their decisions.

Does the Accumulation of Big Data Limit Political Freedom?

Personal Autonomy, Political Liberty (SciencesPo Paris), completed April 2019

ABSTRACT: As the world reaches another critical juncture fueled by the imminent fourth industrial revolution of artificial intelligence, the unprecedented ramifications of big data are infiltering all aspects of society. Significant innovations occur and continue to unfold rapidly on the groundworks of big data, yet the exploration into the philosophical implications of these phenomena have not been at the forefront of discussion. Despite, the dominating infatuation with big data’s beneficiary impacts by contemporary society, it invokes a variety of questions of ethical concern that pertain to the realms of political philosophy and theory. Big data not only limits political freedom but also challenges the entire conceptual framework of politics itself. To demonstrate this, I will invoke Larmore’s critique of Pettit’s republican conception of liberty as non-domination and briefly draw upon the collective nature of freedom as touched upon by Arendt and Hegel.

Does Market Definition Still Hold in This Day and Age?

Competition Law (SciencesPo Paris), completed March 2019

INFO: Despite the progress that has been made through innovation, the unprecedented ramifications of technology are especially being felt by the legal community; big tech has been at the forefront of exploiting the gaps between legal frameworks, escaping restraints through their elusive growth. Over the past fifty years, as economic change threatened to undercut competition law’s commitment to the free market economy and the rule of law, it adapted rules of conduct for market actors in order to protect economic freedoms and the welfare of consumers (Patel and Schweitzer 2). But now, as new realms of products and services are being created and offered, the relationships between undertakings and consumers have changed significantly thereby altering the operations of the economy. The conceptual framework within which market transactions operate do not hold any longer and thereby render enormous challenges for the market definition process which the European Commission, the main body that enforces competition law, uses to investigate market power.

The Force of Ideas: Its Complications for the Free Market and Its Role within the Global Financial Crisis

Political Interdependence (Grad Level IPE/CPE UBC), completed April 2021

INFO: Throughout this paper, in tracing the transmission mechanisms of the GFC, I will argue that the prevailing idea of free market capitalism and its fervent belief by key decision makers during the Greenspan era in the US played a prominent role in catalyzing the sub-prime real estate crisis that would consequently initiate global havoc. Specifically, I extend upon the ideas framework captured by Peter A. Hall, where scholars argue “that economic policies chosen by governments are strongly influenced by the ideas about appropriate policy” (184). My analysis starts with an investigation of the major American policy developments that began in the late 1980s such as lax lending requirements and the loosening of regulations. I illustrate that overtime these developments drastically changed the structural parameters that guide and enable actors’ interests as well as behaviours. From there, I discuss how these ‘rules of the game’ in tandem with regulator inaction intersect with the causal mechanisms, incentives, and actions of key actors’ during the sub-prime real estate crisis. After examining how these mechanisms stem from the role of ideas, I focus on how such mechanisms were transmitted globally. Lastly, I end with a brief discussion on possible remedies and solutions to prevent similar crises in the future and discuss their feasibility.

Democracy and Freedom within the Market System

Theories of State and Society POLI343, completed April 2020

INFO: Through assessing Lindblom’s main argument and the specificities of his market system concept, I argue that the market system with its unparalleled creation and maintenance of freedom brings its inevitability and preferability within democratic nation-states.1 I start with an introduction to Lindblom’s The Market System and the mechanisms of how markets work. I then transition into the crux of Lindblom’s arguments and critically analyze his claims. And after addressing his conceptual framework, I look to the relationship between markets and freedom. Finally, I investigate implications of markets systems and ideas to limit its harms yet amplify freedom.

Google Search as an Essential Facility through a Critical Analysis of the European Commission’s 39740 Google Search Shopping decision

Competition Law (SciencesPo Paris), completed May 2019

INFO: It is often disputed on whether Google Search occupies the general search market as a monopolist and whether it can be defined as an ‘essential facility’ under the essential facilities doctrine which “mandates that when a monopolist holds exclusive control over a bottleneck facility or resource, access must be shared or given at a reasonable price” (May 721; OECD). However, the European Commission’s decision to fine Alphabet in the Google Search Shopping Decision 39740 highlights a strong case for establishing Google Search as an essential facility. By demonstrating that Google had abused its dominant position to “position and display more favourably, in its general search results pages, its own comparison shopping service compared to competing comparison-shopping services,” (EC 9), the EC confirmed “that the generic search traffic from Google’s general search results pages accounts for a large proportion of traffic for competing comparison shopping services [which] cannot be effectively replaced by other sources of traffic currently available to competing comparison shopping services” (342).

Globalization’s Path to Democratic Erosion

Honours Seminar POLI390, completed December 2019

ABSTRACT: Amidst an unravelling of the global liberal order, democratic societies have struggled with various socio-economic and political pressures. While increasing inequality, slowing growth, and polarization between winners and losers of globalization have reaffirmed a failure of ensuring shared prosperity for all, increasing distrust and resentment as manifested via populist rhetoric play an integral role to understand globalization’s ramifications. This paper for my honours seminar on Global Politics, explores qualitatively, globalization post WWII and its consequential effects for democracies with specific references to the US and the EU. Particular attention is paid to the difficult reconciliation between the inherent values of globalization and domestic democracies, which have resulted in globalization’s undermining of democracy. The paper argues that globalization will continue to threaten the future for democracies and thus, points to the necessity of listening to grievances against globalization, such as those represented via populist sentiments. Listening, though not conceding, can be integral to understanding the erosion of democratic values and the global liberal order at large. Populism poses an important call to action for democracies and their role in offsetting globalization’s ramifications moving forward.

China’s Economic Transitions of 1980s to 90s: The Power of Policy Meeting Behaviour

Chinese Politics POLI321, completed April 2020

INFO: Throughout this paper, I will highlight the structural and policy mechanisms behind China’s economic reform process throughout the 1980s and 1990s. I look at Mao’s economic structure for an understanding of the scope of transition into economic reforms of the 80s by Deng Xiaoping and consequent reforms in the 90s by Zhu Rongji. After examining the major aspects to the policy experimentation, structural reformations, and the causal sequencing of the economic reforms, I develop my analysis with a bottom up model focusing on the impacts of policy and structural design on behaviour.

Should Behaviour Advertising Be Regulated?

Law, Economics, Society (SciencesPo Paris), completed May 2019

INFO: Through this paper, I will illustrate the importance for increased monitoring and regulation of business operations within the realm of behavioural advertising by government as well as other regulatory bodies in the context of the public interest theory of regulation. By focusing my scope of analysis to examples and research mostly from the US and with brief references to the EU, I start with explaining the standards, terms, and criteria of behavioural advertising within the context of marketing practices. Through doing so, I will be able to build a relevant conceptual framework of ethical and privacy concerns as a backdrop to specifically explore the welfare impacts of behavioural advertising for consumers later on in the analysis section of my essay. From there, I will invoke a brief summary of scholarly debate to launch my investigation of the legal, economic, and sociological impacts of behavioural advertising for consumer welfare. I provide an in-depth analysis of the effects through each disciplinary lens and finish with an encompassing interdisciplinary conclusion. Finally, I address the need for improving communication and media literacy between businesses, governments, and the general public as well as a call to action for future regulatory processes in enhancing transparency of marketing practices and legislation.

Should pay-for-delay agreements in the pharmaceutical industry be considered object restrictions?

Competition Law (SciencesPo Paris), completed April 2019

INFO: Through this paper, I will begin with investigating the aftermath of the US anti-trust approach to pay for delay agreements within the European Union. I will refer to the US Supreme Court’s decision in FTC v. Actavis. I will then primarily focus on European competition law with the help of the EU Commission and General Court’s ruling on the Lundbeck case study to develop my argument. By highlighting the differences between the US and the EU as well as exploring the implications of these cases decisions with the help of current scholarly debate, I will establish my argument that pay for delay agreements should be considered effect restrictions through an ethics and legal based approach.

A Conceptual Analysis of Smith and Marx’s Preferences of Order: their Consequent Organizations for the State as well as Civil Society

Theories of State and Society POLI343, completed February 2020

INFO: By exploring the specificities behind both thinker’s idea, I argue for Smith’s spontaneous order as prevailing over any possible political ordering due to its theoretical ideals of distributive just outcomes and its separation of powers. I start with Smith’s conception of human nature to contextualize his ideas and then analyze his preference for spontaneity as the preferred engine of social organization. From there, I transition into Marx’s critique of spontaneous order and how its manifestation through markets informs his arguments for a planned economic ordering through powers vested in the communist state. Before examining Marx’s conceptual framework, I briefly reference both thinker’s differing views on human nature, which shape the lens to which they construct their observations. I also provide the methods in which, Marx’s views of history coupled with Hegelian influences inform his arguments. After addressing Marx, I refer to Smith’s ideas to critique Marx and further aid the development of my argument. Finally, I synthesize my analysis of both thinkers with their validity and pitfalls.