The aim of this paper is to clarify the up till now somewhat shady definition of legitimacy, and to investigate what happens to this concept when it is transferred from the boundaries of the nation state to the realms of the international arena. By creating a model of legitimacy from which an institution can be evaluated, the purpose of this paper is to investigate what legitimacy is and how important it is for the actors within the international society. The next step involves evaluating what makes the UN a legitimate institution and how its foundation is affected by the blatant disregard of its authority by one of its? most influential members.The theoretical framework consists of a summary of what contemporary analysts? views of legitimacy are, which I have incorporated into my own institutional model of legitimacy. The role of institutions is central to all aspects of this study.

The purpose of this thesis has been to explore in what ways Franz Kafka?s ?The Metamorphosis? can be read as a story of gender. By bringing together Judith Butler?s theory of materialization and Lennard J. Davis?s crip theory I have spoken of Dismodernity as the domain of abject bodies that have been repudiated by (post)modern societies as untintelligible and dysfunctional.

?African Solutions to African Problems? är en av Afrikanska Unionens nya ledord. Denna vilja om att ta mer ansvar för den afrikanska kontinenten och kunna agera som en säkerhetsaktör har resulterat i en ny säkerhetsdoktrin. För att kunna agera som aktör på den internationella arenan krävs att vissa förutsättningar existerar enligt en modell framtagen av Gunnar Sjöstedt. Dessa strukturella och institutionella förutsättningar kommer i denna studie att undersökas för att analysera huruvida AU kan agera som säkerhetsaktör.

The aim of this study is to examine how girls from the discussion group "Coolt med koll" understand the phenomenon honor-related violence. The study is based upon three issues; how do our informants understand honor-related violence, where do the interviewed obtain information concerning honor-related violence and how do it affect their point of view, last but not least what do the girls know regarding children?s rights. The theoretical points of this study are theories about honor-related living conditions and radical feminist theory. The study is carried out through six semi-structured qualitative interviews, which all are conducted separately.

Social work as an traditional aid is an area that provides welfare services financed from public funds, which is one of the methods of microloans. Microloans have since the mid-1970s has become an increasingly common tool in the fight against poverty. Instead of purely assistance is now offered microloans from more banks and other institutions, as well as NGOs (non governmental organization). This paper aims to study whether and how microcredit can contribute to the empowerment of women in Bangladesh and India. This study is based on a qualitative text analysis, and has hence been based on a number of reports and articles. The paper examines, from a radical feminist perspective how microcredit can fight and eliminate poverty, and how empowerment can help women in developing countries to become independent and liberated. The introduction of micro-loan is considered to have positive effects on women's empowerment in the short term. But it is, however, the longer term effects that are considered to have the greatest positive impact on society's unequal structures.

The aim and purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the effects of affirmative action as a tool to improve the equality of the sexes in a male dominated organisation such as the Swedish armed forces. The study takes a qualitative approach, using feminist theory as a point of departure. Primarily socially based differences between men and women are identified and the resistance towards change is taken into account.To understand the impact of affirmative action I have observed the political debate on the subject and contrasted it to the ongoing debate from within the armed forces. Extensive interviews have been held with both men and women from varying ranks and ages to understand what the overall opinion of the method is.My results show that there is a widespread animosity towards affirmative action as a method of improving equality. Both in the political debate and within the organisation in question.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the narrative elements in three of the Swedish artist Karin Mamma Anderssons paintings and try to see what kind of stories that might be hidden in these paintings. I have chosen three different themes as tools for this study. They are: the meaning or the importance of the titles, painting as a medium and the narrative elements or components in the paintings. Furthermore I also use the semiotic method in my analysis based on the ideas of Roland Barthes combined with a feminist theoretical standpoint with a gender perspective. This means my study is based on the reception of these images and what kind of message they might carry.

Det sker omfattande omstruktureringar i samhället vilket har medfört att förhållandena i skolan också påverkats. Antalet elever har minskat i de flesta inlandskommuner och som en konsekvens medför det totalt sett besparingar, vilket innebär skolnedläggningar. Staten styr vårt handlande genom formella regler och på arbetsplatserna har informella regler utvecklats under lång tid. Genom arbetsmiljölagstiftningen görs det möjligt för samhället att reglera kommunernas sätt att sköta arbetsmiljöarbetet. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om formella och informella regler kan ha betydelse vid omfattande omstruktureringar.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.

Denna uppsats undersöker normer för översättning av könskodat språk. Genusvetare menar att könskodat språk inte bara upprätthåller stereotyper om kön utan också förstärker dem. Därför tycker feministiska översättningsvetare att det är viktigt att vara medveten om vilka stereotyper som översättningar överför mellan kulturer. Denna uppsats behandlar stereotyper om kön i japanska serier, så kallade manga. Med hjälp av den översättningsvetenskapliga metoden sammankopplade par jämförs källtexterna och måltexterna med varandra.

This essay is about publishing on the Internet and aims to understand the differences between publishing information on the webpage Wikipedia (Swedish version) in contrast to other information pages on the Internet, for example blog, discussion pages, homepages etcetera. The study is based upon an article which described that 90% of the information publishers at Wikipedia belongs to a small elite of white, western, well educated men between the age of thirty to thirtythree. This study examines why people who does not belong to this heteronormativity publish information in other Internet places but not at Wikipedia.Wikipedia is an open source site, where anyone can publish and are even encouraged to do so and is often described as an utopian dream of the digital democracy, so why don´t people express themselves on Wikipedia? The method is based on two discussion groups, which are compared and analyzed. The study is based upon theoretical competence within feminist theory and conceptions such as intersectionality, heteronormativity and digital divide as well as theories about digital devices and social order.

The purpose of this thesis has been to explore in what ways Franz Kafka?s ?The Metamorphosis? can be read as a story of gender. By bringing together Judith Butler?s theory of materialization and Lennard J. Davis?s crip theory I have spoken of Dismodernity as the domain of abject bodies that have been repudiated by (post)modern societies as untintelligible and dysfunctional.

The aim of the present paper was to see why a recommended course of action is not always followed in the way it is supposed to. The paper deals with a new method (SFA-metoden) used by The Social Insurance Agency in working with sick-listed people. Aspects that are elaborated on are local effects of the method at its introduction, case managers work conditions, and control of the implementation of the method. Two different methods of investigation have been employed. On the one hand, previous reports on the method have been analysed, and, on the other hand, two focus groups interviews, one consisting of case managers´ working with the method, and one constituted by their supervisors have been carried out.The results have been analysed in accordance with, on the one hand, the theory of street level bureaucrats and, on the other hand, certain concepts applied in the new institutionalism.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka jämställdhet som en samtida svensk diskursordning, med fokus på konflikter mellan olika diskurser inom den. Metoden består av diskursanalys av material från tre fokusgrupper med kvinnor som har erfarenhet av jämställdhetsarbete inom partipolitiken, högskolan och näringslivet. Utgångspunkten är att diskurser är betydelsebärande system som är relativt stabila över tid, som skapas genom kampen mellan olika aktörer med intressen i diskursernas utformning. Utifrån tidigare forskning framstår två aktörer vara särskilt relevanta: välfärdsstaten och kvinnorörelsen. Analysen av materialet visar att två diskurser kan urskiljas, som delvis kan relateras till dessa aktörer.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.