This paper attempts to survey the debate in the Swedish parliament on state surveillance on the Internet, from 1994 to March, 2007. With a discourse analysis inspired by Foucault, we follow how the idea of state surveillance is viewed by politicians during the period. By focusing on the Internet, we expect to find how politicians in the parliament regard the idea of an unregulated forum for citizen communication and interaction, and how the need for state surveillance on the new arena that is Internet, is expressed and argued for. Theoretical framework is given by Foucault?s theory of the Panoptic state, as well as his thoughts on discourse, power and governmentality.

The aim of this paper is to try to explain how specific, foreign policy decisions are made, and why one state decides to use violence against another state. A qualitative method is used, and text and documents are analysed. The two theoretical points of departure are central within foreign policy analysis: realism´s theories on external threats and constructivism´s theories on ideas´ policy influence. The empirical case chosen is the US decision to use military violence against Iraq. The paper investigates whether the real threat from Saddam Hussein´s Iraq was the cause of the American military attacks, or whether the ideas of leading politicians in the USA were decisive for the decision to invade the country.

Symbols in the hands of politicians can be a powerful tool of manipulation. The usage of symbols in speeches or texts can change a person?s will, without him or her ever knowing it.We have compared the usage of symbols in the articles surrounding the ratification of the constitution in 18th century America with that of today?s European Union, to see if any similarities between these two cases exists, and what implications this could have for the future of the EU. We have divided the symbols in both cases into different categories so as to enable us to compare the cases to each other. With the help of Masters Theory and the writings of Benedict Anderson and Murray Edelman we have concluded that there indeed exist some similarities between 18th century America and the EU.

This essay deals with how young adult literature describes and characterizes young homosexual men. Two novels are analyzed within a framework of queer theory and cultural studies. The focus is on how sociality enforces heteronormativity. The analyses of the novels investigate how the characters think of themselves and their sexuality, what their view of love and relationships are, and how their closest friends and parents react to their homosexuality..

The purpose of this paper is to see how politicians use Internet communication in their daily work and how they use it to interact with citizens of Vasteras city. To reach my conclusions I used both theoretical methods such as literature studies and qualitative interviews with the towns 11 trustees. Accoarding to this study the politicians saw not only a lot of potentials and advantages in Internet communication but also many difficulties and obstacles. In this case the cons far exceeded the pros. One of the main reason is the bad experiences which caused by rasist attacks/threats made to politicians and also the difficulties in handling of sensitiv documents which was seen as a stress factor.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the FRA-law. The focus of the study is to examine how Swedish politicians relate to the new draft of this law on intelligence. Key themes in the study are security, threats, surveillance and privacy. The power relationship between the individual and the state is also examined. Empirical data used in this study consists of a spoken plenary debate in the House which was held in connection with the adoption of the FRA law in June 2008.

In the rural districts of Sweden, especially in Skåne, the political party Sverigedemokraterna is gaining more and more territory. The aim of this thesis is to examine if the presence of Sverigedemokraterna has had an effect on the other political parties in Kävlinge and Svedala municipality, with focus on images and collective identity. The aim is also to examine what influence Sverigedemokraterna might have on the political agenda of the two municipalities. In order to be able to fulfil the purpose of the essay, we chose to combine three kinds of qualitative methods; interviews, observations and literature studies. We used theories about images and collective identity to examine in which way the municipal politicians tend to classify Sverigedemokraterna in terms of different images and if their presence has effected the other politicians in terms of forming a collective identity.

Abstract Title:                       Grades at Primary School ? A study of local politicians' arguments in                       connection with the division into grades at Swedish primary schools.Author:                       Annie LinderUniversity of KalmarC-essay in Social StudiesAutumn 2011 The study aims to investigate local politicians' decisions since municipalities took overSwedish primary education in 1990/91. The arguments put forward in support of how stages are organised have been studied, likewise whether municipalities have acted rationally when making their decisions.Six municipalities are included in the survey. They were divided into three educational categories: lower, middle and high level schools; previous and recent schools and F9 schools with pre-schools and primary schools integrated.Minutes from politicians' and civil servants' meetings have been studied and categorised according to arguments for and against. The most common supportive arguments are about economy and organisation, others concern school premises, trends and the wish for a comprehensive compulsory school.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the FRA-law. The focus of the study is to examine how Swedish politicians relate to the new draft of this law on intelligence. Key themes in the study are security, threats, surveillance and privacy. The power relationship between the individual and the state is also examined. Empirical data used in this study consists of a spoken plenary debate in the House which was held in connection with the adoption of the FRA law in June 2008.

Abstract Title:                       Grades at Primary School ? A study of local politicians' arguments in                       connection with the division into grades at Swedish primary schools.Author:                       Annie LinderUniversity of KalmarC-essay in Social StudiesAutumn 2011 The study aims to investigate local politicians' decisions since municipalities took overSwedish primary education in 1990/91. The arguments put forward in support of how stages are organised have been studied, likewise whether municipalities have acted rationally when making their decisions.Six municipalities are included in the survey. They were divided into three educational categories: lower, middle and high level schools; previous and recent schools and F9 schools with pre-schools and primary schools integrated.Minutes from politicians' and civil servants' meetings have been studied and categorised according to arguments for and against. The most common supportive arguments are about economy and organisation, others concern school premises, trends and the wish for a comprehensive compulsory school.

The aim of this work is to understand the recruitment of candidates to the local representative assembly in the municipality of Täby. The method used is qualitative interviewing, of a total of eight local politicians in Täby. The theory in which this work rest upon is based on a new-institutionalist perspective. Of great importance is the thoughts of the politicians involved in the recrution process, what do they think were the reasons that controlled the order of priority in the party list among the pool of candidates? Were there any obstacles for minorities in the politics like for example foreigners, women or young people? The study is taking it?s departure from the politicians who candidated in the election of 2002-2006 and the ones which are candidating to the election this coming autumn.In conclusion the aim is to understand the reasons that gives some of the candidates electable places to the assembly, and what the actors themselves think are the conclusive qualities that matters the most.

This study is mostly based on previous research, which includes Sub-national actor?s attitudes and regional action towards the European Union. The purpose of the study is to investigate if four Swedish municipalities in Värmland operate internationally towards the European Union and deepen an understanding of their actions. The main research question is: - How can we increase our understanding of municipal action against the European Union? The research questions of this study are answered through qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were conducted.

Essay in political science, C-level, by Ronak Bozorgi, fall semester 2007. Tutor:P.O. Norell. ?The affect of financial decline on politician?s activity.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how homosexuality and homosexual adoptions are manifested in children's comic "Bamse" and study the result in the light of a brief background about the western society and gay history. The study has a historical gender perspective and focus homosexuality primarily in modern times. Drawing on critical theory and semiotic analysis, the study shows how ideas and ideology surrounding same-sex relations and parenting are negotiated in the ?Bamse? comic. 2010 was the year when the Bamse cartoon took a step into the gender debate and introduced two gay rabbits who adopted an infant.The study shows that despite the obvious intent to anchor homosexuality as normal and integrated in the society there are hidden ideologies that reveals homosexuality as abnormal and excluded.

The title of this essay is Project: The Veil ? an investigation of the trends in the Swedish veil debate compared with the veil debate in France and Great Britain written by Cecilia Lindvall. The purpose of the paper is to analyze how the argument has been conducted by the Swedish politicians from the time when the veil was first recognized in Swedish media up until today. The questions I wanted to answer was each countries definition of the three concepts secularization, freedom of religion and multiculturalism, how Islam as a faith with Muslims has developed in Sweden, France and Great Britain and each countries integration politics with the politicians attitude towards the veil. The method being used is a qualitative study with three kind of theories for analysis; two who derives from a feminist point of view where the first one advocates for the rights of each women, the second for the rights of religious groups and a third theory which discusses different models of integration logics.