This thesis deals with the concept of soft balancing, traditionally defined as the diplomatic means of restraining a dominant state's ability to exercise its military power. As the dominant power in today's unipolar system, the United States, and other states? behaviour towards it, is the focus of analysis. The aim of this thesis is to explore the possibilities of developing the concept of soft balancing so as to include strategies to restrain also the political and economic capabilities of a dominant power. The thesis also considers the possibilities of soft balancing that small states ? to a large extent overlooked in existing theories on the subject - can possess.As a state with policies that aim to reduce the U.S.

The aim of this essay was to investigate the effects of adopting a site to the UNESCOs World Heritage List. Thefocus laid on the example of the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, which was the most recent Swedishadoption. With the question of impact of the World Heritage List in mind, the region of Hälsingland became themain focus. The study was made with particular focus on Gästgivars, a farm located in the municipality ofBollnäs, to which the theory of social life of things was applied. The result of the World Heritage was, in the caseof Gästgivars, an increase of the cultural value and social status.This case study has shown that the impact of the nomination has not been immense, but suggests that longtermeffects can show.

The Swedish political organization is subject for the investigation of this thesis, with regard to the realization of universal human rights. There is a discrepancy between the Swedish state's international undertakings in legally binding treaties and theactualization of human rights by local authorities. The local authorities are ruled by a complex function of both national and local government. Of interest here, is the effect that these, and other organizational aspects, between the national and the local, have for the realization of human rights in local authorities. Also, the discrepancy between the national and the local is attempted to be understood.

The concept of security is a contested one. The United Nations definition in UNDPs Development report of 1994 is the most authoritive and commonly cited. The civil war in Sudan has led to 2 million deaths and over 5.5 million refugees. In a resolution from 2005, the UN decided that the war in Sudan was a threat to international security and peace. The 10th of January UN decided that a peace commission ought to be send with 10 000 military and civil men including 700 policemen.The main purpose of this thesis is to improve our knowledge of those factors which can cause an increased risk of conflict within a state, and how that can affect the social conditions for individuals.

Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen iKulturvård, Bebyggelseantikvariskt program15 hpInstitutionen för kulturvårdGöteborgs universitet2014:09.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the institutional effectiveness of the environmental institutions Helcom and the Mediterranean regime, by using Haas, Levy and Keohane's "the three Cs"; governmental concern, contractual environment, political and administrative capacity. The method used is a comparative analysis.This study takes into consideration the specific structural and economic factors that are prevailing in each region where the environmental regime operates. This study also takes into account the influence of the European Union as a factor that affects the environmental progress.By focusing the study on the line of conduct concerning hazardous substances by respectively regime this study shows that the institutional effectiveness is fulfilled in neither Helcom nor the Mediterranean Regime, although Helcom has been more successful. The lack of state capacity is the most restraining factor for both developing countries and countries in the transition towards being developed, to achieve a good environmental status of the sea. This study also shows that the European Union sometimes has a greater impact on the environmental progress in states, rather than the environmental regime in countries that were/are aspiring members, thus showing the ineffectiveness of the regime..

This essay attempts to examine the discourse of the Sweden democrats in relation to thevalue system of the Swedish national school.To analyse the political texts I use discourse analysis and especially the method and approachconducted by Judith Lee Bacchi. Bacchi focuses on the construction of a problem in variouspolitical discourses. When performing this kind of analysis the main question is (accordingto Bacchi): ?What is the problem represented to be??I find that the Sweden democrats construct the ?migration politics? and the ?multiculturalpolitics? that is guiding the society as the cause of most problems in our society. To solvethe ?problems? they promote a nationalistic and a cultural racist discourse especiallypinpointing the ?Muslims? as being a problem.Since the Sweden democrats are striving to implement their discourse in the society andschool, and since their discourse already are reproduced by solar students in the classroom,I find it important to examine the essence of their particular discourse and contrast it withthe current value system of the Swedish schools.I don´t find the nationalistic and racist discourse of the Sweden democrats to correspond tothe value system of the Swedish school, mainly due to their strive to create alienation, andby labeling individuals in a reductive manner, instead of using apparent differences as asource for democratic discussions in the classroom.

Motives and reasons behind a decision to change the asylum process in Sweden are the central concern for this thesis. A symbolic political perspective will be applied in order to elucidate the symbolic factors that have influenced the decision process.The Aliens Appeal Board in Sweden will close down at the end of March 2006 and all pending and future cases will henceforth be decided by three administrative courts. This will be done in order to enhance the principles of legal certainty by making the process more transparent and oral. It is an extensive reform, but since very few amendments are made to the applicable substantive law it raises questions about the actual motives behind the change.One reason that seems to have had a major impact on the decision to close down the Aliens Appeal Board is the fact that the board is perceived as a symbol for an inhuman asylum policy. Transferring the process to the courts might ease the attempt to increase the legitimacy of the asylum process.

The purpose of this investigation is to compare the teaching in reading of three pedagogues in form 2 in three different schools from a second language perspective. Among other things it implies to investigate how the pedagogues think of teaching in reading and the reading field to be compared with if these fields are adjusted to a diverse cultural perspective. This investigation is carried out through observations and interviews. To compare the schools they have been picked out from the number of pupils and the number of second language pupils, that is 15 %, 67 % and 95%. The investigation also includes how the pedagogues weigh the pros and cons within reading and working methods.The further reading is built upon theories and previous research that have an attachment to the view of the sociocultural and the diverse cultural perspectives of teaching.

Travellers på Irland är ett resandefolk som håller fast vid sin kultur och grupp trots en politik som arbetat emot dem. De har länge, men inte alltid, betraktats som en grupp med egen identitet men inte som en särskild etnisk grupp. FN rekommenderar Irland att ge dem erkännande som etnisk minoritet. Varför irländska regeringen ännu inte gjort det har en historisk förklaring och olika politik har styrt behandling av Travellers under de senaste 50 åren som uppsatsen behandlar. Attityden till hur de ska bemötas har gått från assimilering till integrering, från att ha sett dem som en problemgrupp till att uppmärksamma dem som en diskriminerad grupp.

It has since long been noticed that savior figures from different religions have reminded of each other, and there are different theories trying to explain why. This study examines religions operating in the same culture, and in this case, judaism and zoroastrianism, and their influence on each other. In particular, focus is on zoroastrianism's image of the savior figure Mithra, and how this representation may have influenced the description of the Messiah in the Talmud. How are the two figures represented in the scriptures and what similarities can be identified?By a thorough content analysis the studie examines the Avesta of zoroastrianism and the Talmud from judaism.

In this essay the aim is to look at difficulties in preservation of buildings in general, andespecially the ones of the modernist era. To navigate in this huge field the study is narroweddown to take place in Finspång, a small Swedish town. In Finspång there was a swimmingpool facility built in 1967. In 2003 the facility was closed down due to its unusable conditionsand then after seven years with discussions of different plans about what to do with thefacility it was demolished in 2010. This case is the base in the essay, and why it was notpreserved.The purpose of this essay is to look at what the people in Finspång think about preservation ofbuildings with the demolished swimming hall facility as base, and what impact materiality hason questions regarding preservation, cultural heritage, memory and history.

The purpose of the essay is to analyze the welfare state from a gender perspective. Further, the paper analyzes and critically examines three different normative solutions provided by Irish Marion Young, Nancy Fraser and Jürgen Habermas for the realization of a welfare state that includes women.Habermas argues that the welfare state has created a situation of dependency and state paternalism which reduces both individual and collective self-determination. Young follows Habermas? argument. She argues for a political climate where justice is reduced to the distribution of material goods rather than the elimination of underlying relations of domination and gender specific patterns.

Denna uppsats handlar om vad som ledde fram till att IRA valde att lägga ner sina vapen och ingå vapenvila 1994. Vi har hittat flera olika orsaker vilka vi har klassificerat som interna eller externa. Här återfinns orsaker som kalla krigets slut, attitydförändringar, vinster med vapenvila och internationellt samarbete. För att förstå bakgrunden har vi även tittat på vikten av en avväpning i en fredprocess samt hur Sinn Féin och IRA är sammanlänkade. Slutligen har vi även gjort en applicering av våra resultat på en terroristgrupp vilken delar många av IRAs drag, PLO, men även tittat på en grupp vilken inte är så lik, ETA..

The aim of this master?s thesis is to investigate how Paul Feyerabend?s anarchistic theory of knowledge can help our understanding of bibliographical classification and to analyse how epistemological assumptions are manifested in bibliographic classification. Paul Feyerabend?s anarchistic theory of knowledge and science is the theoretical approach of this thesis. The first part of the thesis consists of an introduction to bibliographical classification and epistemology.