In this thesis the relationship between socioeconomic equality and democratic consolidation is evaluated through a case study of Bolivia. The country is one of the poorest in the Latin American region and has suffered a large degree of socioeconomic inequality. The country ended the transition to democracy in 1985 and has since then met challenges in consolidating the democracy and create stable p

Through Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, I analyse how the Sweden Democrats fixate the parliamentary discourse on immigration. Also, I investigate what the other parties’ role are is in this fixation, and how they can limit the Sweden Democrats’ influence over the discourse. My material consists of parliamentary debates from 2010 to 2012. My main conclusions are that the Sweden Democrats dest

This study is about the link between the economic system and the climate changes and how it affects the society and the politics. Scientific observations has illuminated that as a result of human activity our climate is about to change. The climate threat has exposed the question of limits which means that continued growth is not possible in a world of limited resources. The Western model is about

The thesis examines how Swedish newspapers use experts to legitimize their news reports. The method used is a textual analysis, focusing on the form of the articles and their content. This is done with a media theory and different theoretical perspectives on expert function, and their way of operating with an agenda. The thesis analysis 60 randomly selected news articles. The articles are publishe

In this thesis the relationship between democracy and new modes of governance is examined. The empirical overview suggests that these theoretically described modes could be identified within the Swedish nuclear governing. The potential consequences these new forms of governance have for democracy is further examined through a normative evaluation. Democracy is operationalized by the values partici

Nationalism and populism are growing phenomenon in a changing Europe. When the concept of the nation-state is questioned or challenged, the political discourses regarding national identity are changing aswell. Since the rapid change in post-communist Central-and Eastern Europe, questions regarding national identity have risen on the region’s political agenda. Nationalists and populists have taken

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was established in the post Second World War society in Western Europe. Its emphasis was to resolve the problems regarding the agriculture and non-existing food supplies, by offering subsidies to vulnerable farmers. This was assumed to increase the farmer’s production incentives. Today, CAP constitutes almost half of the common EU-budget, still subsidizing far

The purpose of this essay is to compare point of views from four different liberal scholars concerning multiculturalism and group recognition. As well as to investigate if there are any conflicts between liberal values like liberty, equality and self-determination. The material is based on Will Kymlicka, Susan Moller Okin, Joseph Raz and Chandran Kukathas ideas about liberalism, multiculturalism a

This thesis is investigating the British Conservative Party’s focus on two concepts: the Big Society and the Broken Society. By using Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analytical approach in analysing the language used in political speeches, the values and ideas constituting the Big Society was found. The Big Society is explained as a radical, yet compassionate agenda based on a redistributio

It is the purpose of this essay to investigate how collective identities are being constructed in the French veil discourse. I use discourse analysis inspired by Torben Bech Dyrberg’s theory on power and identities and Ulf Mörkenstams thesis on identity construction to analyse the material, which consists of ten official documents. My conclusion is that two collective identities – the Muslims and

This thesis explores the roots and theoretical basis of the contemporary city/film relationship, and examines a case study of six Moscow motion pictures made between the years 2002-2011.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out to what extent Sweden’s new liberal approach towards labour migration is a case of Europeanization. The intention is also to illustrate the gradual Europeanization in the area of labour migration and discuss the new paradigm shift in favour of labour migration. Managed migration is the new ‘catch word’ where the focus primarily is on skilled labour. A top-

In august 2008 an armed conflict between Russia and Georgia broke out, also called the Five-day War. This conflict was a result of unsolved problems with the breakout regions of Georgia: South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is still an ongoing conflict. This case shows signs of a breach against the democratic peace proposition, which is one of the classic theories within International Relations. It is b

Lobbying in the Swedish political system – understood as direct contact by organized interests with elected representatives to influence public decision-making – has increased and diversified as the system has transformed from corporatist to pluralist. Even if lobbying may be perceived as a threat to democracy, particularly challenging towards the basic notion of political equality, there is no pu

This thesis addresses the relationship between politicians and officials in the Swedish municipality of Eslöv. The study investigates the conditions for officials to exert informal influence over politicians. The aim is not to conclude whether this influence is good or not, rather, it sees the influence as a part of the system that is possible to misuse. It is based on interviews with politicians

This master thesis discusses the growth of radical right wing political parties in Europe. The point of departure is the theoretical framework, which consists of four chosen theories, trying to explain the reason behind the increasing support for radical right wing parties among the voters in Finland and Hungary. The theories are postindustrial developments, a legitimacy crisis for political insti

The externalization of migration policies, also known as the externalization of border control, has emerged as an increasingly popular way for more developed countries to tackle the issue of irregular migration. In the Mediterranean region, increasing migration from North Africa to Europe is closely associated with the concept of security – security for the countries that must face constant flows

In Malmö today there is a situation, which is represented by a high rate of organized crime. Due to that situation there have been a large number of killings in the city, often associated with organized crime. These killings have lead to a negative debate about Malmö. And due to the negative focus on the debate surrounding Malmö I decided to evaluate how the discourse about Malmö is presented in t

In a time of global unpredictability, the vision of security and assertiveness is highly appreciated by the citizens of our societies. The European Security Strategy from 2003 and NATO’s new strategic concept of 2010 are intended to promote the EU and NATO as reliable security actors in a global reality of uncertainty. In this thesis, I compare the two generic security strategies to assess how th

In response to the challenges that modern societies pose for citizen participation in representative democracies, theories of participatory democracy are experiencing a revival. Whereas the means suggested to reach the participatory end are numerous, focus is on the local level and its potential to serve as a breeding ground for the enhancement of political citizen participation. For the same reas