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Social considerations in public procurement concerns the using of public procurement as a tool in order to achieve political goals of a social nature, such as to reduce unemployment, to ensure a safe and healthy work environment or to combat discrimination. This is potentially a controversial issue since it might come into conflict with public procurement legislation. But the laws concerning this
International organizations have through the past twenty years been criticized for suffering from a democratic deficit. Many researchers have argued that the recipe for curing this deficit is involving civil society actors in the policy cycle. Since this has been applied in practice, an evaluation would be appropriate. This thesis uses a normative evaluation analysis to empirically test the statem
In a world where we can find and do almost anything online, social sciences are obliged to look to online activities as a way of describing how we live our lives. One of the most fascinating things is the emergence of online political activism. The author develops existing theories on hacktivism, digitally correct hacktivism and tries to broaden and problematize these concepts. The reasoning revol
This thesis investigates how gender equality is represented in the regional development policy in Swedish region Skåne. Drawing from a discursive perspective it sees policy as a process in which both problems and solutions are given shape. A method for policy analysis developed by political scientist Carol Bacchi; “What’s the problem represented to be?” is used in the analysis. The method is suppl
What is planning? It is easy to see planning as something who happens between decisions and implementations. But planning can also be viewed as decision-making. There are many different forms of planning. Judith Innes and David Booher say that there are four types of planning especially important. These forms of planning are included in most, if not all, policy processes accordingly to them. The m
The EU has a legacy of being a normative power. They also have a history of cooperating with developing countries trying to promote these normative ideals. This cooperation is for example guided by the promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law to mention a few. The study aims to investigate this characteristica concerning the EU’s relations with South Africa. South Africa is a quite
Since 2008, a picture is emerging of a global rush of the world’s farmland, referred to as land acquisition. Several factors underpin these land acquisitions such as the financial crisis and the food prices hikes of 2007/8. Another key driver behind the deals is the biofuel boom that has been a major cosmopolitical topic the last few years. Land acquisition refers to when a wealthier nation, firm
This study examines an ideological content related to Swedish political parties in regards to EMU. In order to do so theoretical starting points has been used, originating from the concepts of cleavages and dimensions. More specifically, the relevant cleavage in this study is the one called: nationalism-supranationalism, and the study also includes two of its dimensions concerning different social
This is a comparative case study with a most-similar design of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia’s (Zimbabwe) political development prior to the colonies’ first democratic experiences, which coincide with their independence. A historical analysis of Southern Rhodesia’s agricultural export economy shows that it shapes structures that hinder the democratic development. The same analys
The meaning of freedom is a contested concept and so is also the understanding of gestational surrogacy. In this essay these two much-disputed subjects will be united, and the aim for this essay is to detect different understandings for conditions of freedom concerning those women that are acting as surrogate mothers. In sum, if gestational surrogacy can be viewed as an expression of women´s freed
The issue of water in the Israel-Palestine conflict is a long-debated topic that continues to be one of the main obstacles in peace negotiations today. Extensive research exists on the water crisis on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but few studies scrutinizing how the situation plays out in East Jerusalem are available. This thesis aims to fill a small part of this scientific gap. By gathering inf
The empirical study in this thesis is applying the method Dicourse Quality Index as presented in the research project published in the book Deliberative Politics in Action: Analysing Parliamentary Discourse by Steiner et Al, 2004. This method is meant to be measuring "discourse quality" as per some highlighted Habermasian definitions of deliberation through his theoretical work on "
This thesis takes the process of privatization as its starting point, a process which in Sweden started 20-30 years ago and is still ongoing. Since this process is very likely to be irreversible an open and rational discussion is of particular importance. Hence, one of the aims of this thesis is to problematize the privatization debate. This leads to the primary objective: to take a normative stan
This thesis takes off in framing theory and the theory of securitization to investigate the Yemeni government’s framing of its oppositional groups the Houthis and the Southern Movement. My purpose is three-folded: 1) to describe the conflicts between the Yemeni government and these two oppositional groups within their local and global context; 2) to illustrate how the Yemeni government is using th
Given the increasing role of the bilateral conflicts in the enlargement process, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact the Europeanization has on the countries involved in bilateral conflicts i.e. to account for the specific norms promoted by the EU that contribute to rapprochement between the parties in the conflict, and possibly in finding mutually acceptable solution on the confli
The first-past-the-post electoral system employed in British general elections has remained virtually unchanged for over a century. It is therefore of historical relevance that a referendum on the Alternative Vote is planned for May 2011. This report sets out to explain why the Liberal Democrats were more successful in pushing for electoral reform after the UK general election 2010 than the Libera
With a broad definition of ‘security’ new areas of study has opened up; health being one of them. The Copenhagen School’s concept of securitization originates from this broadening. New and innovative methods of studying security can lead to the discovery of new issues considered potential security threats. The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding for how pandemic influenza is articul
The past decades has brought fourth an acknowledgement of the importance of promoting the role of women and gender equality on the international agenda. Though major breakthroughs on this area, there has been a feminist critique towards the formulation of policies on gender quality meaning that international policy fails to address. This essay has the character of a gender analysis of the gender e
The aim of this essay is to explore the possibilities of achieving a stronger local democratic establishment. Research shows that the welfare gap between population groups and city districts are growing within societies. Citizens are also experiencing a decreasing trust in politicians and the participation in elections and party politics is decreasing. Therefore I find attempts to increase local d
Through the development of cross-border cooperation within the European Union, social policy has become an issue for regional policy development. While primarily being a part of national politics, today social policy is influenced by European institutions and regional actors. In this essay I examine how social policy is integrated in strategies for development in the Öresund region. Through the me
