Imperialism has for a long time been an important concept in international relations. The literature identifies many different types of imperialism. After the great de-colonization scientists stopped discussing ?classic? imperialism, i.e. using physical strength in the form of conquest and occupation to subdue weaker states.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the ideology behind Sida's cultural aid by using postcolonial theory. We want to analyse the discourse on cultural aid that is found mainly in Sida's publications. The interpretation of the sources is made with a hermeneutic base and by using postcolonial theory in combination with Paul Ricoeur's theories on the function of ideology: 1. ideology as distortion, 2. ideology as legitimation, and 3.

The aim of this paper is to map and analyze what role Swede's played in King Leopold II's colony in the former Congo Free State. Letters and messages that arrived at the Congo Consulate in Sweden between 1895 and 1906 have been used as the paper's primary sources. Application letters from 32 different Swedes, seeking to join the Congo Free State Army, to the General Consul of the Congo Consulate, Hans Hugold von Schwerin, have been used as primary sources, and constitute the basis of the paper's analysis. The letters arrived at the Congo Consulate in Sweden between 1895 and 1906. The applicants were all men of different social classes, and were between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. Their chief reasons for applying were primarily for own financial gain or because they did not get a chance to serve in the Swedish army.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att enligt nämnda frågeställning utvinna en systematisk klassificering av Londons karaktärer utifrån Nietzsches text. Detta innebär i en imperialistisk kontext, med utgångspunkt i den postkoloniala teori formulerad av Edward Said, en problematisering av dikotomin västerländsk och icke-västerländsk samt ett uppdagande av en etnisk-kulturell hierarki, där det västerländska, i form av den londonska övermänniskan, gestaltas som högst och urinvånaren, det icke-västerländska, som lägst.Den kulturella representationen ska i denna studie undersökas i valda litterära texter av Jack London utifrån en nietzscheansk matris. Det är alltså inte en historisk granskning av hur imperialismen och kolonialismen i Nordamerika inverkat på dess urinvånare, även om denna studie undersöker en problematik som kan inplaceras i den historiska kontexten..

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if there exists a superiority between developed and developing countries, which then in turn effects the negative consequences, for the local inhabitants of Thailand, that follow from mass tourism.To be able to answer the questions that we have selected for this thesis, we chose to perform open interviews with six respondents which were all involved in the tourism industry in Thailand. Four of the interviews were carried out on location in Thailand. In order to deepen our understanding of the selected questions even further literary studies have been made as well. The theories we have chosen concern the topics of imperialism and figurations.Our empirical material gave significant results. It showed that there is indeed an imbalance of power between the western world and Thailand.

This master thesis deals with the looting and destruction of the Iraqi cultural heritage in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in April 2003. My ambition is to analyse the narratives conveyed by journalists and intellectuals to see which truths that were established. Using discourse analysis methods, my aim is not to find an objective truth in the matter at hand, but rather to se which truths the writers put into view regarding the question of liability and the seriousness of the looting and destruction. This paper further discusses these truths from the perspectives of imperialism and of Edward Saids thoughts about Orientalism.

Since Africa?s decolonization a number of foreign economic actors have begun toemerge in several African countries and they prove a vital role in many ways. China isone of the largest actor and they have a long history of political and economic ties withAfrica. China act primarily in Africa to meet their growing economy?s demand fornatural resources, and by providing aid and trade with development countries in Africathey get important natural resources like oil and iron ore in return.

The name of the study means ?The short arm - a study in diversity and arm?s length in the cultural collaboration model?. Right now there is a reform in the Swedish cultural administration where the responsibility for handing out state funds and grants to cultural organizations is changing from the state government to the local regional governments. The purpose of this study is to map the organisational changes caused by the reform and investigate how this affects the regional policies concerning cultural diversity and the arm?s length principle.

This paper examines the concept of heritage and which factors that determines how we evaluate and select what should be considered cultural heritage. This has been examined using a qualitative study involving interviews with seven people working within different parts of the cultural heritage sector. The purpose was to get a picture of what the public sector?s cultural heritage consists of and why so. The research question was: What gives the status of cultural heritage? This was examined by looking at further questions: What defines the concept of cultural heritage? Who decides what should be considered cultural heritage? What is significant when discussing cultural heritage? One conclusion is that the concept itself is experienced as diffuse but that the meaning can be summarized as the traces we leave behind to be preserved by future generations.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine the use of the concept cultural heritage in Swedish governmental cultural policy. Ten official reports, reaching over a time period of seven years (1997-2004) are examined in the following way: What is cultural heritage? What functions/ values does the cultural heritage have? Whose heritage is a cultural heritage? With some simplification you can say that there are two different views on cultural heritage in the documents. The most common way to refer to cultural heritage is a category of chosen historical objects whose preservation is motivated by their function as sources of information and knowledge about the history and development of the Swedish society.

Civilsamhället har på senare tid kommit att spela en allt större roll i biståndspolitiken. Att arbeta för att skapa eller stärka civilsamhället har fått en central roll i relation till hur bistånd ska fördelas. Men samtidigt är begreppet civilsamhälle problematiskt. Definitionerna har skiftat under årens gång och dess innehåll fortsätter att förändras.Den här studien har sin utgångspunkt i den kritiska diskursanalysen och fokuserar på hur sex publikationer på SIDA: s hemsida tar upp och berör begreppet civilsamhälle.I analysen av dessa publikationer har det framkommit att det finns tre dominerande diskurser som relateras till civilsamhället. Dessa diskurser tar upp vad civilsamhället är och hur det definieras, rollen som civilsamhället spelar eller kan spela samt hur SIDA arbetar för att stödja civilsamhället.

This thesis aims to develop a theory in the under researched field of international comparative cultural policy studies. lt does so by combining theories from the fields of political scienceand cultural studies, researching how and to what extent the concepts of culture of different states have an impact on the way cultural policies are constructed.The thesis uses this theoretical development in order to research a specific problem, namely the perceived possibility that Swedish and German cultural structures are slowly converging. Two recent official policy documents from each country are the objects of study. Through comparative idea analysis and with Michiel S. D Vries theories on decentralization, the thesis explains the convergence between the countries by differing cultural views between them.

AbstractEn förklaring till Irakkriget tror vi inte kan finnas i vare sig retoriken eller i påståendet om att det var ett folkrättsligt legalt internationellt sanktionerat krig. Detta är en teoriprövande studie där de två teoretiska perspektiven i statsvetenskaplig internationell politik; Marxism och Realism undersöks, vi vill se om de bättre kan förklara varför USA invaderade Irak. Huvudproblemet i uppsatsen är att identifiera orsakerna till varför Irakkriget blev ett faktum. Vi går i b-uppsatsen igenom olika perspektiv inom respektive skola och redogör i kortfattade drag för dess synsätt. Vi har samlat in material både om Irakkriget i sig och om de teorier vi vill pröva.

The aim of this thesis is to map the intellectual base, and identify the general research interests, of Cultural Policy studies. In addition to this the thesis also aims to trace the uses of theoretical and conceptual approaches within the identified research interests. This is done by analysing citations from 130 articles published in the leading scientific journal International Journal of Cultural Policy between the years 2002-2007 using the bibliometric method author cocitation analysis (ACA). The results of the ACA confirm the overall notion that the research field of cultural policy studies is an ambiguous one, even when it?s studied with a quantitative method specialised in uncovering hidden structures within a given field as ACA.

The aim of this study has been to explore local cultural policy documents in some municipalities in the geographical region of Västra Götaland. Do the municipalities have these kinds of documents for their local cultural activities, and how are they designed? These are questions which the study has focused on. The study has been concentrated on the library activity in the local cultural policy documents. The research has been a comparative one.