According to many scholars America's soft power is in decline, a power resource whose importance has been increasing in world politics. This makes it interesting to examine if there is a difference between how Democratic and Republican administrations wield their soft power.This thesis is a hypothesis-testing study and the purpose is to test the hypothesis that Democratic administrations, to a greater extent than Republican, can create, utilize and defend soft power. My thesis is based on Joseph Nye's theory of soft power and the focus of this study is the aspects of the foreign policy resources. In order to measure this concept I have made my own operationalization where five different indicators serve as my guidance. I use the method of least likely-cases to select and motivate the administrations being tested, which gives me a comparative study of the Democratic administrations of Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton and the Republican administration of George H.

Denna rapport behandlar hur framställningen av ledarskap ser ur ett teoretiskt könsperspektiv. Genom att analysera tidningarna "Chef" och "Dagens Samhälle" med hjälp av kritisk diskursanalys som metodredskap synliggörs i denna rapport den manliga normen som en dominerande del i den sociala och kulturella konstruktionen av ledarskap, detta har även format framställning av manliga respektive kvinnliga ledare. Under analysen framkommer det tydliga mönster i framställningen av de båda könen, där manliga ledare och deras ledaregenskaper betonas som ner naturliga och ofta med en koppling till deras respektive sportsliga karriärer och bakgrund. För de kvinnliga ledarna sker en generell koppling mellan deras ledaregenskaper och deras privata sfär så som familjen, olika relationer och deras barndom. De kvinnliga ledarna och deras karriärväg fram till den ledande positionen framställ som mindre naturliga..

In this thesis the aim is to explore the connection between International presence and Reconstruction of Postconflict states. The focus in this Analyse is the concept of CIMIC which is the institutional concept of Civil-Military Co-operation in International relations and a concept in Peacebuilding Theory. The cases, which are the empirical Material, is Afghanistan and Kosovo, two most-different cases.The theoretical framework is primarily consider the mechanisms successful for the Reconstruction process in general and within CIMIC in particular. This framework including both theories of State failure and International administered Territories as well as Models for Civil- Military Co-operation.The International presence in Postconflict Societies plays a big role, even thou it is very important that initiatives for rebuilding comes from the state within. The essence of CIMIC is the civil component and the military, operating in Peacebuilding and Reconstruction missions.

The public health care sector has come under increasing pressure to cut down costs, maximize productivity and satisfy patients' needs during the 1990s and onwards. As a way of "getting more for less" quality management has been introduced. Originating in the private manufacturing industry, quality management has a strong focus on productivity and efficiency, aspects which are measured in quantitative terms. However, there are strong concerns that quality management is a means of speeding up the marketization of public health care by introducing core values much different from the ethic and medical norms that traditionally underpin health care organizations.This essay focuses on how quality management has been introduced to, and transformed by, public health care. A theoretical framework based on new institutionalism is constructed, and translation theories are used as a way of illustrating how the medical institutional environment, in fact, changes the concept of quality management.

Hållbar utveckling har, allt sedan Brundtlandrapporten 1987 och Rio 1992, utgjort den fundamentala idén för långsiktiga miljö- och utvecklingspolitiska strävanden och kommit att dominera miljöpolitiken/policyn i många länder. Med utgångspunkt i Hajers teori om diskursiva strategier för ekologisk modernisering, studeras i denna uppsats (1) hur hållbar utveckling påverkat svensk miljöpolitisk diskurs samt (2) hur den diskursiva dynamiken kring skiftet i svensk miljöpolitik - från kretsloppstänkande och Agenda 21 till ekologisk modernisering - efter socialdemokratins nya vision om 'det gröna folkhemmet', bör förstås.I en fallstudie i Malmö studeras närmare hur förändringen av den miljöpolitiska diskursen återspeglas i en lokal kontext samt huruvida det är nationell styrning, lokal logik eller ömsesidiga samspel inom ramen för de diskursiva förändringarna som gör att den lokala praktiken 'blir vad den blir'..

Vi redogör för psykologiska förklaringar till hur identiteter påverkar gruppers benägenhet att sluta sig samman under yttre hot. Vad vi intresserar oss för är vad detta har fått för resultat i väpnade konflikter. Många bedömare menar att de väpnade konflikterna efter det kalla krigets slut uppvisar en aldrig tidigare grymhet människor emellan. Hur är denna möjlig?Med resonemangen om gruppidentiteter som utgångspunkt söker vi utreda vad forskningsvärlden säger om möjligheterna till försoning mellan tidigare fiendegrupperingar.

Vi behandlar prostitutionen i Thailand genom att undersöka hur den prostituerades roll har konstruerats i samhället. Empiriskt använder vi oss av en thailändsk statlig rapport, som svarar på FN-avdelningen CEDAWs antidiskrimineringskonvention. I denna rapport redogörs för kvinnorättssituationen i landet. Med feministisk teori gör vi en kvalitativ textanalys för att klarlägga den politiska diskursen kring den prostituerades roll och hur denna har formats. Utifrån vår analys konstaterar vi att den prostituerade hamnar i ett stigma där hon beroende på situationen identifieras som antingen en promiskuös agent med personliga ekonomiska incitament eller som ett hjälplöst offer.

Den 8 augusti 1995 tog USA:s president Bill Clinton ett beslut att försöka skapa fred i Bosnien. Beslutet skulle komma att ha betydelse för USA:s fortsatta roll i europeisk politik efter kalla kriget. Vi argumenterar för hur beslutet kan ses som ett strategiskt val men också för hur självständiga organisationers möjligheter och begränsningar samt viljestarka individer gjorde beslutet möjligt.Vi använder oss av Graham Allisons tre modeller: rational actor, organizational behavior och governmental politics för att analysera Clintons beslut. Tillsammans med tillgänglig kritik av dessa modeller hittar vi både för- och nackdelar med Allisons ansatser i fallet Bosnien och kommer fram till att modellernas interrelation både underlättar och försvårar vårt fall. Vi hittar också svårigheter med att använda modell 1 i en unipolär värld.Slutsatsen är att alla tre modellerna krävs för att fullständigt förstå varför USA agerade som de gjorde i slutfasen av Bosnienkriget..

The overall purpose with this thesis has been to study the strategic development of the Swedish Green Party, Miljöpartiet de Gröna. From its first appearance in the Swedish parliament 1988 to its decision to cooperate with the Social Democrats and the Left Party in 1998, the Greens has gone from a radical antiparty to a pragmatic support party. The analysis has concentrated towards identifying the causal factors behind this strategic move made by the Greens, and to determine how this party change has affected the party's strategic goals. In order to do so, a qualitative case study has been conducted where an integrated theoretical approach has been used. By studying official statements and internal debates the thesis concludes that the strategic change made by the Greens was due to the evolvement of a new dominant coalition of within the party.

To be able to maintain an adequate ITservice for various users and needs,more municipalities are looking at thepossibility for mergers of local ITdepartments. One solution for mergingmultiple services/functions and creatingsynergy opportunities is called SharedService Center (SSC). The concept of SSCis that the administrative serviceitself becomes a core activity withinthe organization. The aim of this thesisis to provide municipalities who areconsidering a merging of their local ITdepartments with recommendations on howto design the Shared IT Service Center.Recommendations are outlined based on ananalysis of IT-management literature,reports and by conducting a study onthree ongoing collaborations.The conclusions drawn from the studysuggest guidelines for the design of aShared IT Service Center formunicipalities. These are as following:Create a vision associated with aspecific and structured target state.Identify needs for different targetgroups in municipalities and set acommon standard.Create a clear and practical model/SLAappearance of the cooperation andagreement.Ensure the individual municipalitiescommissioning skills in order to notlose it in the context of a common IToperation.Find an organization that is democraticfor member municipalities andfacilitates long-term partnership.Specify the operation and maintenance sothat it can be regulated and controlledEstablish a common help desk.Establish a common standard andconsolidated infrastructure before theintroduction of a common technology platform..

Due to the growth of multinational concerns during the last decades, with large parts of international trade involving such corporations, the field of transfer pricing, including financial transactions such as internal loans, have received a great deal of attention in tax legislation. The internationally accepted foundation for transfer pricing is the so called Arm's length principle, expressed in Swedish law through the "Korrigeringsregeln". In the Diligentia court case, the concepts of transparency and control were given a crucial role in the calculation of an Arm's length's price of interest rates. The Swedish tax agency interpreted the ruling in that case as if a parent company always can be assumed to enjoy sufficient transparency and control to reduce the risk on their debt obligations. A great deal of uncertainty therefore surrounded their position and to what extent the Diligentia-ruling could be cited as precedent.

The main argument of the thesis is that multinational companies (MNCs) can promote democracy through corporate social responsibility (CSR). MNCs hold some prerequisites giving them the means to create positive changes. But they lack one important prerequisite: knowledge about local conditions. Therefore the best CSR result is reached through partnerships with local NGOs.H&M's CSR-work in Bangladesh, including a partnership with the Bangladeshi women's rights organisation Karmojibi Nari, serves as an illustrating case. It is argued that the CSR-work promotes democracy through strengthening the civil society, through indirectly implementing national laws concerning labour legislation and human rights and through raising awareness about rights and legislation among the workers.The CSR process changes the terms for both NGOs and MNCs.

This thesis deals with the theories of ecological and environmental justice and applies them onto Swedish politics. Confronting the divide in the literature between anthropocentric and ecocentric perspectives, its aim is to seek points of agreement within this important field of environmental politics. In the theoretical discussion, definitions are made of the concepts sustainability, justice and responsibility. These definitions try to link ecological and environmental justice arguments with a focus on the global level.The object of analysis is the former Swedish governments? bill ?Common responsibility: Swedish politics for global development? which was accepted in 2003.

When gender-related refugee claims was ratified in the Swedish asylum law the 31 of March this year (2006) it opened the door for women with this specific refugee status to receive asylum in Sweden. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate how these specific female refugees are represented and described in the asylum process. The focus has been the construction of identity concerning these women in the Officials discourse at the Immigration department. The theoretical framework has been a critical discourse analysis regarding the exercise of power and dominance connected to the construction of identity.An understanding of the women with gender-related refugee claims as the Others has been perceived through the Officials discourse. Female refugees which have been exposed to persecution that occur in our part of the world (rape, wife abuse, etc.) are treated differently and much more restrictive, compared to women exposed to so called culture specific oppression (e.g.

This essay is a discourse and a feminist theoretical analysis that focuses on the alternative discourse that we consider Feminist Initiative to be constitutive of. Our theoretical stance, with base in Laclau and Mouffes discourse theory, builds on the notion that reality is characterised by conflicts between different competing discursive formations and that the social is an endless struggle over the preferential right of interpretation of meaning. More specifically, the essay focuses on the discursive struggle over the meaning of the term politics. It is our understanding that the dominant perception of politics necessarily excludes other understandings, which can according to Eduards, be explained as a consequence of a patriarchal distribution of power that renders the subordination of certain understandings of politics accordingly. Feminist Initiative, as an alternative discourse, can therefore be perceived as a threat to the dominating discourse of politics, which in order to maintain its preferential right of interpretation seek to illegitimatise and depoliticise the politics that the alternative discourse represents.