AbstractIn the heart of Paris, you will find Sweden?s only cultural center abroad. Since the early 70?s a wealth of cultural activities has been offered, and every year the center receives more than 100,000 visitors. The center is a branch of the Swedish Institute (Si), a public authority which promotes mutual relationships between Sweden and other countries through culture, education, science and business.

In this thesis I will discuss how US respectively EU general international security policies are formed with the scientific theories Rational Choice and Cognitive theory in mind. I?ll discuss how come US tends to go towards a more sanction orientated strategy while European Union seems to prefer a dialog and diplomatic problem solving strategy. I?ll exemplify respective security strategy through the qualitative cases study of Iran and analyse why they have taken different cores of action while trying to solve the problem with Iran's alleged nuclear weapon.

Title: Images of Sweden in ItalyNumber of pages: 5252 (589 including enclosures)Author: Oskar GustafssonTutor: Martin NilssonCourse: Political Science C level ? Bachelor?s ThesisPeriod: Spring term 2010University: School of Social SciencesLinnaeus UniversityPurpose/Aim: The purpose of my research study is to, through the use of political science theories on soft power and marketing theories about nation branding and in comparison to previous studies on the image of Sweden in Italy, gains a better understanding of the image of Sweden in Italy, with special focus on national political institutions and young Italians.Method: The method of analysis is a combination of qualitative methods: interviews where information about the image of Sweden amongst national political institutions were gathered and a survey where information was gathered about the image of Sweden amongst young Italians.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained it can be concluded that a positive and well informed image of Sweden emerges when it comes to cultural and social factors but a more restricted and somewhat negative image come to light when asking national political institutions and young citizens in Italy about their views and knowledge on Swedish domestic and international politics and economics.Keywords: Soft power, Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding, Images of Sweden, Italy..

Problem: The authors have, during the process of development of this thesis, tried to create an understanding of how a number of organizations, all working with different approaches around the ?brand Sweden?, perceive the efficiency and benefits of using extended concept around embassies as a tool in their strategic work. The embassies in question have an evolved concept in the sense that they don not only hold a traditional political and legal role. The problem facing us authors was the issue whether theses embassies are efficient arenas to coordinate the forces and resources of the organizations concerned, in the mission to enhance the visibility and awareness of Sweden abroad.Purpose: The purpose is to describe the strategic work with marketing Sweden to be able to look in to whether the evolved concept behind the embassies in question are used as a tool in within the work of the organizations. We wish to research this to be able to evaluate if this arena is perceived as efficient for the organizations concerned.Method: In order to get a background to which one establish and communicate a nations brand the authors have studied literature within the subject.

This thesis scrutinises the material on post World War II Swedish architecture produced by the Swedish Public Diplomacy organisation "Svenska institutet" ("The Swedish Institute") during the period of 1945 through 1976. The outset is the dilemma encountered by every such organisation: how can the projected narrative of the own nation relate to as many countries as possible, without becoming too general? And how can the organisation address specific countries, without excluding others?By employing a two-sided model of interpreting the material, where it on the one hand is interpreted from the universal properties projected on the narrated architecture, and on the other hand from the particular ideological notions related to the same, the thesis suggests that the Swedish Institute continously relates the architecture to a West-European and American context by consistently connecting its universal properties to particular ideological notions orientated towards the West.The results underline the malleability in regard to ideological notions connected to modernist architecture. Earlier research in the Swedish context has focussed on how modernist architecture in Sweden, under the local tag "funktionalism", was established in regard to a Swedish audience as a particular Swedish architecture by relating it to a alleged continuos Swedish tradition, as well as to notions of a a progressive welfare state. By studying a similar material, though aimed towards a foreign audience, the thesis suggests that these allegations constitue an elucidatory example of how national and ideological narratives can form within the framework of technological-ideological dynamics of modernist architecture.