In Sweden, prostitution is politically defined as a social problem, more precisely, as a form of male violence against women. The definition is distinctly manifested in the government bill Kvinnofrid, characterised by the unique Swedish law that prohibits the purchase of sexual services.This thesis examines how the Swedish solutions of prostitution are carried out. By interviewing central actors working with prostitution in different ways we aim to answer the question: What measures are taken to decrease prostitution and what implications does the Swedish solution have?The analysis is divided into two parts. First, we analyse the concrete measures taken against prostitution ? what is done, how, and why? Second, we analyse the complexity of prostitution measures by applying complementary analytical perspectives: the symbolic and the discourse perspective.The study shows that measures taken to decrease prostitution vary and depend on individual actors? understandings of the political definition.

Following essay discusses the possibilities of using a gender perspective when studying local governance within a Swedish context. Governance is an international concept used to describe a more lose, informal and network based way of doing politics The main purpose for conducting this essay is that traditional theoretical frameworks used in the study of local politics are not enough to fully conceptualize the complexity of our changing political environment.After a broad summing up of what had been done in the recent decades within Swedish political science on the topic of local politics and gender I came to the conclusion that so far nothing had been written on governance. The next step was therefore to conduct a pilot study to cover the subject matter of governance and gender. The study was based upon interviews with five female politicians in Malmoe city.Results showed that governance, in terms of informal networks did exist, and had influence over the local politics. Some of the networks were male dominated.

This essay is about security and safety in the city. More precisely it is concerned about the role of the institutions that aims to raise the perceived security and safety and their understanding of these concepts. I study two of the municipality's project in this field in the city of Malmö. Documents concerning these projects are analysed with a discourse analysis inspired by Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau as well as Michel Foucault. The two projects consist of one discourse each; the surveillance discourse and the discourse about meetings.

Japan's foreign and security policy has seen some substantial changes as a result of events like the first Gulf war and 9/11th. This has been taken as proof, by some, that Japan is abandoning its antimilitaristic stance and pursuing a more traditional hard power role through military means. This essay aims to explore if these shifts have coincided with any substantial shifts away from antimilitarism, which has had a strong influence on the country's security policy since the end of WW2.To do this I use constructivist theory, specifically regarding the impact of norms and identities on states security policy and briefly look into the problem of actor designation. The thematic focus is on security policy, from a narrow perspective, and thus I examine areas like the input and output to the Japanese military and the actual applications of this force. State identity is used to explore the prevalence of nationalistic sentiments and support for anti militarism in the public opinion and the political elite.The result of this study points to the further relevance of constructivist theory and especially the application of norms and identity.

This thesis intends to examine the role of the city, Dublin, in the Irish economic growth during the 1990s. It is a case study where Dublin is compared with current theories on post modern cities as growth machines and increasingly prominent actors in the global context. The study has an interdisciplinary approach but focuses on political science issues such as power distribution, global-local governance and local political organisation. It is a theory driven study that also intends to add aspects to the understanding of the cities of our time. I argue that Dublin has faced a lot of changes during the last decades in accordance with the post modern city.

In recent years the concern about the future of the European Union and itssupposed lack of democracy, efficiency and legitimacy has increased. Thisconcern has resulted in extensive debates and the establishment of a conventionwith the task to create a draft treaty for a European Constitution.The aim of this essay is to study how the three theoretical concepts,democracy, efficiency and legitimacy, have been described and used in the debateabout the future of the European Union. My main interest is to see how theseconcepts are described in a debate regarding a political system that goes beyondthe borders of the nation-state. I have made a comparative textual analysis of thedebates taken place in Sweden and Spain during a period of over two years. Ihave, for instance, found out that openness and clearness have a prominentposition as democratic values together with equality and justice (in Spain) and theinstitution of accountability (in Sweden).

Den kommunala förvaltningen har sedan 80-talet undergått flera stora förändringar, flera för att anpassa den kommunala verksamheten till konkurrenskraftiga enheter som arbetar efter samma premisser som den privata sektorn. Ekonomismen eller new public management har slagit igenom i de flesta förvaltningsgrenar, det är bara en fråga om grad. Implementeringen visar sig oftast genom omvandlingen till resultatenheter med arbetsdelsfinansiering. Moroten för en god finansiering blir att locka nya brukare som för med sig sin arbetsdelsfinansiering, exempelvis skolpengen. Detta bidrar till att förvaltningar prioriterar fördelningen av resurser inom sitt verksamhetsområde så att de inom systemet för finansiering får bäst verkan.

Hasan di Tiro och organisationen Acheh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF) har varit den drivande kraften i kampen för ett självständigt Acheh, som sedan 1949 varit en del av Indonesien. Deras främsta argument är att när den forna nederländska kolonin upplöstes överläts Acheh till den konstruerade nationen Indonesien, ett land utan några som helst historiska eller kulturella band med Acheh. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utföra en narrativanalys på den dagbok Hasan di Tiro skrev 1976-79 mitt under den pågående frihetskampen. Vi analyserar vilka kognitiva och ideologiska uppfattningar som ligger till grund för konstruktionen av en achehnesisk fiendebild, samt hur di Tiro refererar till Indonesien som "den Andre" i sin narrativa diskurs. Vår analys visar att fiendebilden om Indonesien bygger på en stark förankring i Achehs historiska uppfattning från kolonialtiden, samt på ett resonemang där fienden avhumaniseras och sätts i en underlägsen position i kontrast till den egna identiteten..

Sampit, en stad i provinsen centrala Kalimantan på ön Borneo, blev i februari 2001 skådeplats för en attack på den invandrade folkgruppen madureser iscensatt av de infödda dajakerna som lämnade 500 madureser döda och 100 000 flyende.Denna studie förklarar attacken utifrån tanken om den instrumentella användningen av etnicitet då eliters intressen kan skönjas, dolda från den dajakiska majoriteten vilken är ett splittrat och fattigt folk, utan gemensam religion, språk eller kultur. Analysen utförs med teorier om den, egentligen begränsade roll etnicitet spelar som orsak till konflikter och vad som istället sannolikt orsaker dem samt vidare teorier om den instrumentella användningen av etnicitet och vilka uttryck den tar sig.Denna uppsats argumenterar för att ekonomiska och politiska intressen lett till att en välbärgad elit skapat en gemensam identitet de splittrade inhemska folken både kan samlas under samt kanalisera sitt missnöje genom men då samtidigt blivit till elitens verktyg och vapen för att uppnå dess intressen..

Kvinnor har under lång tid arbetat för fred världen över och kopplingen mellan kvinnorörelsen och fredsrörelsen är stark. Den poststrukturalistiska feministen Nira Yuval-Davis har sammanställt tre förklaringar till varför kvinnor arbetar med fred och varför de ofta väljer att göra detta i fredsorganisationer för enbart kvinnor. I denna teoriprövande studie har jag testat denna förklaringsmodell dels på det israeliska samhället, dels på fem olika fredsorienterade kvinnoorganisationer i Israel för att se om förklaringarna infrias eller kan förkastas.Undersökningen har visat att Yuval-Davis samtliga förklaringar infrias. Enligt den första förklaringen kan kvinnor, trots den allmänna värnplikten i Israel, anses tillhöra det civila samhället vilket innebär att de har möjlighet att arbeta för fred. Enligt den andra förklaringen väljer israeliska kvinnor att arbeta med fred i kvinnoorganisationer eftersom de diskrimineras i organisationer för både män och kvinnor.

The main focus of this study is to describe how, and for what reasons teachers use literature and fiction as a pedagogic tool. A qualitative study was made by interviewing four teachers about their language teaching. Working with fiction as a teaching-aid in school can in many ways be favorable to both teachers and pupils. In terms of children?s language development, research shows that using fiction as an educational tool can stimulate pupils? well-being as well as their linguistic improvement.

This paper is the result of a case study conducted at Uppåkra Mekaniska AB during the spring of 2006. The task that was presented by Uppåkra was to develop a basis for a decision for the planning activities at the company, so that in the future they can create lot-sizes which are based upon a total cost perspective. Total cost in regards to lot-sizing is defined as the sum of the administrative reordering costs and warehousing cost per stock keeping unit.To collect data a series of interviews and observations were conducted. This data was then used during the lot-sizing simulation and analysis. The 15 units that the simulation was conducted on were grouped into three item classes depending how many different machine setups they required during the production process.

The overarching goal of this paper is to explain the intensive occurrence of partnerships ? regarded as a specific organizational structure ? in the formulation and implementation of Regional Growth Programs.By using theoretical concepts from new institutionalism, the paper tries to examine the explanatory capacity of this theory in the specific case of partnerships. The basis is a skeptical stance towards the conventional interpretation that views partnerships as rational organizational tools. Hence, the purpose of the paper is also to compare our own institutional explanation with the conventional.The paper finds that the occurrence of partnerships can be understood as the effect of an intensive institutional pressure. The government has, in what we regard as the institution for regional development, prescribed the partnership as a rational solution ? a rationalized myth - to the regional growth problem.

FN har sedan starten varit en tongivande gestalt för demokratisering och människorätt. Trots detta passerade 30 år innan organisationen manifesterade sitt motstånd mot den frekventa diskrimineringen av kvinnor. Därefter har jämställdhetsarbetet undergått flera genomgripande paradigmskiften. FNs fjärde globala kvinnokonferens utgjorde startskottet för ännu ett nytt progressivt tänkande kring jämställdhet och respekt för kvinnors mänskliga rättigheter.Denna uppsats behandlar FNs jämställdhetssyn med särskilt fokus på ambitionen att utforma globalt fungerande principer. Genom kritisk analys granskas FNs uppfattning om jämställdhetsproblematiken ur ett feministiskt perspektiv.

North Korea is considered to be the most autocratic dictatorship in the world today. Its citizens are denied their most basic human rights and North Koreas ambition to pursue nuclear weapons is looked upon with great fear from the international community and the US in particular. Some experts say that the threat from North Korea is far greater than the one possessed by Saddam Hussein. Although North Korea seems to inhabit all the necessary criteria for an US military intervention the United States has openly declared its diplomatic ambitions with the state. Why?With the use of realist and social construction theory this study will bring clarity to why the United States prefers diplomacy instead of a military intervention.