In subsequent to Post-colonialism the African nations have dilated into different political directions. While some nations have established well-functioning democracies, others are still under authoritarian regimes. The aim of this thesis is to examine if civil society has an impact on democratic development in West Africa. Therefore the theoretical starting point is Putnam?s theory of social capital, but this study will also examine other possible causal explanations for democratic transition.This study will be based on a comparative analysis of Ghana and Guinea.

This essay aims to analyse if the Russian military operation carried out against Georgia between the 7th and 12th of august 2008 were executed with adherence to the Russian principles for military deception, maskirovka.   A superior purpose is to assess the situation according to the Swedish Armed Forces task of identifying possible needs for new or changed needs for abilities and competence.   The method used is two-alternative hypotheses which are tried by comparing actual events before and during the Russian-Georgian war with the ten methods of maskirovka, compiled from military analytical literature. Such traces of resemblance are further examined, both individually and as a part of a larger indication.   Further the essay describes the Russian art of war, the prerequisites for military surprise, information warfare in Russian doctrine, the disputed territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the principles for maskirovka.   The conclusion is that the Russian operation was executed with some adherence to maskirovka, though unspecified of to what degree.   Author of this essay is Cadet Martin Svensson of the Swedish Army, currently a student at the Armed Forces Technical School in Halmstad..

I regeringens budgetproposition för 2011, erhöll Försvarsmakten uppgiften att införa fyra Militärregioner i Sverige med underliggande regionala staber. ?Regeringen bedömer att skapandet av de regionala staberna innebär att Försvarsmaktens förmåga att samverka med och lämna stöd till andra myndigheter förbättras.? (PROP 2010/11:1 s.33).Syftet med den här studien är att studera hur personer med nyckelpositioner inom de båda myndigheterna (Länsstyrelse och Försvarsmakten) tänker kring införandet av Militärregioner och dess förutsättningar för utveckling av samverkan mellan det civila och militära samhället.Resultatet påvisar att informanterna är relativt överens om att samverkan ska utvecklas och hur det bör ske med ett fokus på gemensam planläggning, utbildning, övningar samt nätverksskapande och utarbetande av gemensamma mål innan något händer. Målsättningen är att klara av att hantera oförutsedda händelser som olyckor och naturkatastrofer när de väl kommer. Informanterna anser även att närheten, i såväl tid som rum, är avgörande för planläggning och den slutliga insatsens resultat..

Using Varshney's theory about intra- and interethnic networks, this thesis examines how civil society in southern Thailand is built up.During 2004 the violence between Muslims and Buddhists rose in southern Thailand. The government tried to fight the insurgency using violent police and military forces, resulting in hundreds of deaths and part of reason why Thailand is loosing rank in Freedom House's democracy index. Varshney means that a civil society built up on intraethnic networks works favourable to violence between different ethnic groups. Sorting out and defining what is meant by ?ethnic? and ?civil society?, this thesis shows why to look at the insurgency in southern Thailand as an ethnic conflict surviving partly because of an intraethnic civil society.

Doktriner utgör väpnade styrkors viktigaste beskrivning avseende hur man avser använda militära medel för att uppnå politiska mål. För att tjäna sitt syfte bör doktriner utvecklas med rationella utgångspunkter som omvärldens utveckling och senaste forskning. Dock menar många att andra faktorer sprungna ur kulturella traditioner och organisationers särintressen påverkar tillkomsten av doktriner.Civil-militärt samarbete har i moderna konflikter blivit allt mer betydelsefullt. Strategier för fredsfrämjande insatser i dagens komplexa konflikter bygger i allt högre grad på integrerade insatser mellan flera olika funktioner och aktörer. Civil-militärt samarbete har dock traditionellt haft en underordnad, stödjande roll i militära organisationer.I denna uppsats undersöks forskningens roll i doktrinutveckling.

The Swedish Military Defence is about to make a large reorganization. Surplus, everything from tanks to personal underwear, enough to equip 800,000 soldiers will be destroyed or sold to the highest bidder. This thesis is a discourse analysis about the argumentation in media between the Military and the enthusiast, who are interested in military vehicles and military surplus..

The intention with the research was to investigate the role of civil society in the Kenyan democratization process. The research intends thus to analyze (1) the role of civil society in Kenya's transition to democracy (1990- 2002), and (2) the role of civil society in the further democratization process (2002- 2013).The results of the research demonstrates that the role of civil society played a crucial role in Kenya?s transition to democracy given that civil society provided with a multiparty- system in 1991. In addition, civil society endowed with education for citizens in order to attain constitutional reforms. As a result, Kenya accomplished a transition to democracy in 2002.

Internationellt sker en utveckling mot att genomföra insatser samordnat med resurser från flera politikområden - både civila och militära. Behovet har uppstått ur insikten att hållbar utveckling i en region kräver användning av olika resurser för att uppnå synergier. Samverkan och samordning mellan civila och militära aktörer enligt syftet ovan brukar i moderna ordalag beskrivas som comprehensive approach. Det praktiska arbetet på fältnivån med samverkan för att uppnå synergier i kontexten comprehensive approach kan sägas innebära samma sak som civil-militärt samverkan.Det övergripande syftet med uppsatsen är att med fokus på det svenska PRT Mazar-e Sharif, förstå de svårigheter som finns vid samverkan mellan civila och militära aktörer, med målet att öka synergier av nationella resurser. Med utgångspunkt från tidigare forskning om militär-civil samverkan samt comprehensive approach, skapas en analysmodell med ett urval av identifierade faktorer, för att beskriva samverkan empiriskt främst utifrån intervjusvar från nyckelaktörer ? chefer eller stabschefer samt civila rådgivare.

This paper examines whether the American officer?s education at West Point and the Swedish officer?s education at the Military Academy Karlberg have adapted their history of the military art education in accordance to the new requirements of the Armed Forces and its focus on the operational defense. Sweden is evolving towards an operational defense and so is the United States. This in turn requires that training and education keep up with the changes. The National Defense College in Sweden do not focus the teaching of advanced history, which happened beforet he invention of the engine, in the officer?s training program, while the American education is rather advanced, with special focus on events taken place in the 19th century up to the Cold War.

This essay deals with the principle of surprise warfare and its development as well as the adaptation of military action that had to be made to surprise the opponent in the modern era.The concept of surprise is divided into its components in order to clarify what is required to implement a surprising maneuver, to understand the complex concept and form a theoretical framework for gathering facts in the case study.Development and adaption are demonstrated by a comparative case study where Pearl Harbor illustrates an example of historical surprise and Operation Desert Storm illustrates a modern surprise. The product will then be analyzed in order to detect the development and how military conduct is forced to adapt in order to carry out a surprising maneuver. The results shows that the military action of performing a surprise attack has had a major development and is now carried out in a different stage of the attack..

This essay deals with the principle of surprise warfare and its development as well as the adaptation of military action that had to be made to surprise the opponent in the modern era.The concept of surprise is divided into its components in order to clarify what is required to implement a surprising maneuver, to understand the complex concept and form a theoretical framework for gathering facts in the case study.Development and adaption are demonstrated by a comparative case study where Pearl Harbor illustrates an example of historical surprise and Operation Desert Storm illustrates a modern surprise. The product will then be analyzed in order to detect the development and how military conduct is forced to adapt in order to carry out a surprising maneuver. The results shows that the military action of performing a surprise attack has had a major development and is now carried out in a different stage of the attack..

Civil disobedience constitutes an interesting ethical phenomena in the democraticstate since the people performing it consciously brakes laws and norms in societyfor purposes they themselves judge to be morally good and just. This thesisexamines whether the phenomena of civil disobedience is justifiable in ademocratic society.In this study civil disobedience is analyzed on two levels. First the problem isanalyzed on a theoretical level in relative to the three, by us established, values:respect for the law, the will of the majority and equality. Second, civildisobedience is analyzed on a more practical level where we test our theoreticalline of argument with the help of two example groups who engages in civildisobedience. The justification of civil disobedience is also analyzed through twoethical perspectives on acting, deontology and consequentialism.Our conclusion is that civil disobedience is justifiable on a theoretical level inrelative to the values we discuss.

C-uppsats som avhandlar de centrala begreppen i Guidelines for Operational Planning(GOP) (Centre of Gravity, Decisive Points, Direct and Indirect Approach, Culmination,Manoeuvre, Temp, Operational pause och Lines of operation) granskat i ett historisktperspektiv.Uppsatsen försöker verifiera hypotesen att Guidelines for operational planning (GOP)centrala begrepp fungerar och är applicerbara på alla operationer. Ett belägg för detta är attman kan identifiera begreppen i en historisk operation.Tyska väpnade styrkor från Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine och Luftwaffe genomförde ett anfallöver havet och i luften mot Norge den 9 april 1940. Operationen var av tyskarna döpt tilloperation Weserübung-nord och var mycket vågad. I uppsatsen kommer denna operation attvara det historiska perspektivet.

This comparative case study, which is based on a most similar system design,investigates why the Chávez government has attained a lower degree of democracy than the Kirchner and the Lula governments. In order to develop asupplementary theory about why governments in general achieve various degrees of democracy I compare these governments and examine what policies that differ them and why. My results show that these governments? policies differ concerning the rule of law, militarization, and negotiations with economic groups and anti-regime parts of civil society. I have found numerous answers to why some of these governments (and governments in general) have democratic policies within these four areas and why some do not.

Informationsoperationer utgör idag en allt viktigare del i svenska internationella uppdrag. Inom informationsoperationer sorterar funktionerna Psykologiska operationer (psyops) och Civil-Militär samverkan (CIMIC). Enligt grundsynen för informationsoperationer skall CIMIC utgöra en stödfunktion åt psyops under internationella insatser. Dock är inte samarbetet mellan parterna närmare preciserat och beskrivet i Försvarsmaktens dokumentation. Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva och analysera hur funktionen psyops inom Försvarsmakten kan stöttas av stödfunktionen CIMIC vid en internationell insats.För att uppnå syftets ambition använder uppsatsen sig av en deskriptiv metod i syfte att empiriskt beskriva funktionernas karaktärer och egenskaper.