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 study examined if individuals act in a less discriminating way and in a more fair way when they receive instructions about justice and not being discriminating while recruiting. 96 randomly assigned students at the University of Lund participated in this study. The participants were informed that they would act as a recruiter. They would then choose and place three of the best personal record in order of preference. There were three different kinds of company policies/instructions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ongoing changes in German family policy. It explores the issue of whether the German welfare state, in this policy field, can still be regarded as a conservative welfare model or rather approaches a more liberal or social democratic model. A qualitative method is used to analyze the material, especially from the German government, including press releases, other public documents and also articles from the political weekly magazines Der Spiegel and Die Zeit. The changes analyzed are the new parental benefit, the expansion of child care, the concept of whole-day schools and the system of joint taxation. The point of departure is Gösta Esping-Andersen?s categorization of three types of welfare states: the social democratic, the conservative and the liberal.

Begreppet medarbetarskap är långt ifrån ett välkänt uttryck idag. Det handlar om medarbetarens förhållningssätt till sin arbetsgivare, till sitt arbete och till sina kollegor. Syftet med denna uppsats är för det första att få mer kunskap om begreppets innebörd. För det andra är syftet att få kunskap om hur medarbetare i en kommunal verksamhet uppfattar och praktiserar medarbetarskap utefter en kommunal policy. För det tredje är syftet att ge förslag till hur medarbetarna i undersökningen fortsättningsvis kan bidra till att uppnå ett gott medarbetarskap.

Body image is a term that refers to a person?s feelings and attitudes toward his or her body. There are many different factors that influence a person?s body image: historical, cultural, social, biological and individual. The purpose of this study was to investigate young Indian women?s body image in India from a cultural perspective.

This essay, with the title: Among children, laser swords and lions. ? How do we approach and utilize the cultural experiences of children? is an approach to participate in a scientific discussion in the field of cultural experiences. This text is an attempt to show the importance of paying attention to, how children express themselves, and place their activities in social and cultural contexts. By doing so and approaching children and their activities with an intercultural point of view, I can use my new found knowledge and use it to stimulate their future learning progresses in different fields.

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze the history and the current situation of the Church of Sweden. The renovation of Skalljö church in Lerum municipality has been used as an example to enlighten the common changes in the church buildings. The long history of the Church of Sweden as the state church has resulted in the fact that it carries a remarkable part of the Swedish cultural heritage. The reason why the Heritage Conservation Act (1988:950) was altered in January 2000 was due to the change of relations between the State and the Church of Sweden. According to the Act, all church sites owned or managed by the Church of Sweden shall be maintained in such a way that their cultural historic value is not diminished and their appearance and character are not violated.Sweden is today considered to be a secularised country where religion is an individuals? private matter.

The aim of this paper is to describe which view the Chinese government in connection with the Olympics wants to display for the natural world and analyze if this view coincide with China?s foreign-policy goals. A qualitative content analysis is used. By using the theory of rational choice and a model with three different political approaches I want to examine whether or not the foreign-policy goals of the Chinese regime comport with the view that displays in two major newspapers in China. Since the runoff voting in Moscow in 2001 for the 2008 Olympics the Chinese government has been able to act rational and to compose different strategies to use the Games in Beijing for political propaganda.

This essay focuses on the theory of classical realism from two points of views. Realism is often told to be quite immoral and cynical and only interested in the power relations among nations. In the first part I am arguing that this picture is wrong and should be revised. By using the ethical theories of deontology and utilitarianism I am arguing that both these perspectives can be used to analyse classical realism. By defining a value that should be guiding one can assert that realism is a good moral theory.

This thesis aims to describe and characterise the impact of the Kurdish question for Turkey's decision-making process and foreign relations from the 1980's until today. The Kurdish question as perceived by Ankara, is separatist, and poses a security threat to the entire country but has also international dimensions, which are responded with foreign policy actions by Turkey. Initially, a systemic view is considered in order to investigate Turkey's position in this issue in a global perspective. Moreover, this is completed with an ?Internal Politics Perspective?(Joe D Hagan), which gives a deeper understanding of the actual structures and actors in Turkish domestic policy that shape the foreign policy.

This thesis highlights the importance of social relationships for high school adolescents? identity in a multicultural school in Stockholm?s suburb. The second purpose of this thesis is to shed light on, if the school sees the students? cultural background as an asset and how teachers can take advantage and implement it to the way they teach .The theories in the study were developed by Urie Bronnfenbrenner; The ecological theory, Pierre Bourdeau; The three forms of capital and George H. Mead; The significant other, The generalized other and "I" and "Me".

The aim of this study is, using the Swedish expression ?kulturtant? (cultured lady) as starting point, to understand how and why women consume the products of the culture industry more eagerly than men. The study is using the concepts put forward by Pierre Bourdieu; fields, capital and habitus. It is a qualitative study based on discussions in focus groups, interviews and material gathered through Google Alerts. In the literature this gap between the sexes with regard to the higher consumption on behalf of women has been referred to as the ?puzzle? of women´s cultural consumption.The empirical results show that the women in the study are well aware of what they want to gain by participating in cultural activities like reading, going to concerts, watching plays or going to the movies.

The study?s purpose is to find out how important cultural competence is for the guidance of people with multicultural backgrounds. I also want to illustrate that what is seen as normal in one culture may mean something different in another culture. The study will also in some extent explore culture clashes and its problems in the guidance context. The method used in the study is qualitative and the five respondents were all practicing Muslims.

This thesis focuses on the perception of immigration and refugees in the commonEuropean refugee and immigration policy. It identifies different discourses andstudies their development and interrelated power structures.Using the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, documents from theEuropean Council, the Commission, the Justice and Home Affairs Council andParliament debates are analysed. The study is defined in the time span of 1999-2006, i.e. from the European Council's first agreement on developing a commonEuropean asylum system, following the period up till today.Four discourses are distinguished, focusing respectively on rights, security,European Union's needs, and cultural identity. I use Sandra Lavenex theory ofrealism and idealism to analyse one of the main points in the thesis: There is afundamental schism between the one rights-based discourse, focusing on universalhuman rights, and the three sharing a particularistic focus on immigration as asecurity concern.

This thesis has aimed to study steering process and institutionalization in the context of educational policy work. This has been conducted by using empirical material from the political decision-making process that preceded the implementation of a new national program on how principals should be educated and certified. By using an aggregated theoretical point of view containing new institutionalism and traditional Swedish curriculum theory, the process was analyzed from different perspectives. The results depict a process that contained several actors who tried to shape the principal education program differently. From the theoretical perspectives, the decision-making process could be understood as an act of both self-interest as well as trust in their own beliefs and cultural values.