Beginning from June 2019, the streets of Hong Kong have been turned into a theatre of protests. Together with their banners and umbrellas, protesters took to the street to protest against the proposed extradition bill that allows the government to send suspected criminals to mainland China. This ongoing movement is the largest anti-government movement in the city’s history, and it is also the firs

In recent years, digital technologies provided new affordances for movement leaders as communication strategies in political protests in order to advance democratisation processes, especially in less developed countries. In Ethiopia, numerous protests have been taken place lately, which were mainly organised along ethnic lines on the basis of nationalist sentiments. Political activists in Tigray,

Over the years more and more drama documentaries regarding the mediatisation of past events have been released on various platforms such as online streaming services. Mediatisation is the influence the media has on an individual’s everyday life either through the influence of a medium or through the act of communication. The drama documentary genre on the other hand is built through the combinatio

This cross-sectional case study investigates patterns of politicisation in election campaigns of the German Eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) by means of a comparative multi-level analysis. It adds to the existing literature by examining the Eurosceptic elements of the party’s campaign communication across various decision-making levels. It examines EU issue salience, the dimensi

Trots att Estland och Lettland är två länder som i nästan alla avseenden liknar varandra råder det en relativt stor skillnad i graden av korruption länderna emellan. Jag vill med denna undersökning försöka bidra med en förklaring till vad detta kan bero på. Jag har valt att undersöka detta med hjälp av Putnams teori om det sociala kapitalet. Jag kommer i min studie gå igenom indikatorer på social

This paper aims to answer whether a country with a history of war leads to a thoughtful crisis preparation even in peaceful times. To do this, I will utilize the crisis management theory which is based on the concept of there being two important steps to take to prevent a disaster and to deal with a crisis. These are preparation and response. The government needs to have a good preparation plan, a

The European Union and human rights, LGBTI rights included, are often considered to be closely interconnected. This seemingly straightforward image is, however, more complex than it might seem. LGBTI rights occupy a rather slim part of EU legislation, and Member States are not on the same page regarding the issue. Against this backdrop, this thesis aims to bring more clarity to the intersection be

How audiences engage with news has not always gotten a lot of attention in academic and industry research; and, even then, it is often studied in terms of exposure and interaction. This does not fully capture the dynamism and multidimensionality of this phenomenon; and industry attempts to apply market principles to engagement risks depoliticizing and reducing it to economic values. Rather than po

Media literacy has been described as the ability of a citizen to access, critically analyze, and produce media content for specific outcomes. It also involves an awareness of the impact of media in the society and an understanding of media processes. More so, there are scholarly views that suggest that media literacy is a foundational skill for democracy. Here, the focus is not only on a media lit

This thesis explores hate speech on social media from the individual perspective of the bystander audience. Four qualitative group interviews with three participants each were conducted to understand in what ways they experience and engage with hate speech comments on social media platforms targeting German politicians. The debate in Germany surrounding hate speech has risen in the last year, as a

Older women have long been invisible and marginalized in society and culture at large because of the ‘gendered’ ageist stereotypes towards them. Especially, ageist stereotypes towards older women have been reinforced by their invisibility and stereotypical portrayals in traditional media. However, with the rise of social media, elderly women have become visible in society bypassing the gatekeepers

This research focuses on the extreme case of when the Chinese city of Wuhan was locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Combining media study with a spatial perspective, it aims to reveal how the Wuhanese diaspora use and engage with the media to relate back to Wuhan while they are geographically absent. This study reflects on how they form a sense of place towards both their home

This thesis sets the goal to contribute to the field of diaspora studies from media and communication studies perspective by focusing on the neglected migrant group of highly educated refugees and their media use. This thesis aims to explore how highly educated refugees utilize digital media in their everyday life after their migration. It also investigates how digital media use enhances and under

This thesis focuses on the prevalence of nationalism in the reception of Chinese animated films. One example of this is the widely-circulated online expression of ‘the rise of Chinese animation’ by engaged audiences and fans. The term ‘ACGN nationalism’ (erciyuan minzu zhuyi) has been coined to describe this phenomenon in previous research. This study aims to contribute to a further exploration of

In the year 2015, the European Union launched the military naval operation EUNAVFORmed SOPHIA through its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the European Union as an international security actor in relation to its use of military means. This thesis investigates the claim that introducing military means into the CSDP toolbox wo

The thesis is a case study of the PFAS-contamination of the drinking water in Ronneby municipal 2013. It investigates the decentralized Swedish public administration, and the role sectorization has in distribution of information between different administrative levels. The primary goals are to investigate the degree of sectorization and assess New Public Managements philosophical standpoints about

Tightly knit to the debate about a democratic deficit to the European Union (EU) is that of a communication deficit, meaning that the legitimacy a political entity gain through the communicative processes that ensure insight into politics is flawed. Ideas on how to overcome the communication deficit often revolve around transnationalizing communication between Member States or improving the commun

Policy conflicts in the multilateral Arctic cooperation have gained more space during the past few years. Once established for cooperation and interaction among the Arctic states and indigenous peoples, along with the promotion of sustainable development and environmental protection, the Arctic Council is now facing some challenges in fulfilling its core doctrines. This development is primarily a

Violent political or religious extremism is a threat to both Sweden and other nations, and terror attacks have resulted in casualties and personal injuries. On a less extreme level, extremist conversion impacts individuals negatively and incites conflict within households and families. Youths must be protected from recruitment attempts by violent extremist organisations, whether far right, far lef

The European Union is challenged by systematic, well-resourced, and large-scale information influence activities emanating from Russia. Kremlin’s disinformation and propaganda activities discredit the EU reputation, erode Western values, and impede European integration. Russia’s use of information operations traces back to Soviet propaganda. As propaganda is an old concept, there is overarching li