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.

Every human being has the right to the highest attainable standard of health. This is regulated by the UN in the Declaration of Human Rights. However, Swedish legislation discriminate the group of irregular immigrants, regarding the right to health care. Therefore, Paul Hunt, the UN's special rapporteur on the right to health, draws serious critique on Sweden which has caused extensive debate regarding the matter, both in the civil and political sphere of society.Thus, the aim of this essay is through an analysis of the political debate; make visible the norms of citizenship which are dominating the argumentation of the seven parties represented in the Swedish Parliament. An analytical framework, consisting of three dimensions, is therefore used in order to interpret the material which is relevant for the debate.The conclusion is that Moderaterna and Centerpartiet mainly base their arguments on communitarian values, while Kristdemokraterna and Folkpartiet rather show influences of liberal ideas.

The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative study between France and Sweden analyzing the veil debate that took place in 2003 and 2004. This debate has been one of the central features of the renewed conflict between the West and Islam post 9/11, and has the presumed oppression of the Muslim veil in focus. With help of critical theory and a differentiated citizenship theory, including gender and post-colonial perspectives, I analyse the veil in a Western context in the arguments presented and the actions taken. Through that I try to distinguish the potential problems posed for the Muslim minorities living in the two countries.Three main areas are covered: the different political actions in the two countries, the consequences for this sidestep in liberal citizenship theory and in what way the view on equality splits the two parties. I conclude: that the French secularism and the Swedish equality have played key roles; the ideal of liberal citizenship is being abandoned for a more partial state; and the view of the veil as simply oppressive is part of a colonial heritage that can be challenged..

The purpose of this comparative study is to investigate if the views of Sayyid Qutb and Tariq Ramadan regarding social structure and religion are possible to unite with western liberal democracy. The basis of the study is the problematizing approaches written by Qutb and Ramadan regarding the possible unity between Islam and democracy. These problematizing approaches are then tested on the political philosophy of liberalism to see if a unity is possible.The result showed that Qutb's view did not meet the criteria of democracy, which wasn't surprising due to his negative views on the system. However, Ramadan's reformist view on Muslim identity did unite with the views of liberal democracy, though questions regarding the possibility of creating and preserving a European Muslim identity in the secular society were immediately brought to attention.The importance in Qutb's view is social equality, unity and submission to God and the importance of Ramadan's view is to create and preserve a European Muslim identity and adapt to the society where you live and participate as a citizen. Qutb's view will not tolerate diversity and one is to keep or convert to the Muslim faith.

This essay is about the asylum and immigration politics within the EU. Due to the heavy criticism the EU has been exposed to from among others different kind of human rights organizations I have become interested to find out what kind of asylum and migration politics right now is being formed by the member states of the union. Thus the purpose is also to see if the EU is creating a policy within this area that intends to live up to the human rights obligations.My overall research question is:Which ideas characterize the asylum and immigration politics within the EU?The theoretical perspectives of universalism and particularism are used as two analytical tools in order to understand the phenomenon I am investigating and to identify its characterizing ideas. In my essay universalism and particularism are used as opposite ideal types.

Homelessness has always been and will always be a problem in every society. How should we organize the work and care for these people? There are three different types of welfare states, the liberal, the conservative and the social democratic. In the liberal welfare state the market is the supplier of the public good. In the conservative state the family and church and in the social democratic the state is the supplier of the public welfare.The Swedish welfare state has been the archetype of social democratic welfare with de principal of ?Folkhemmet? in focus.

This essay aims to examine Martha Nussbaum's proposal for a classical defense of reform in liberal education and her critique of utility thinking in higher education. I want to explore how Nussbaum uses history to create an ethical alternative that cultivates both moral and intellectual virtues, which she considers to be crucial for the survival of democracy. In examining Nussbaum's use of Aristotle, I focus on her work as a proposal for institutional implementation of an Aristotelian epistemology and the cultivation of the individual as an ethical political subject. This study highlights the epistemological, educational and political ideas that form the basis of Nussbaum's ideals. I intend, however, to go beyond a contextualizing reading and thus establish a dialogue with a radical intersubjectivity to respond to Nussbaum's ambitions to recognize human vulnerabilities as assets for reason.

Participating in peace support operations has been and remains a significant part of the Swedish defense and security politics. Since the end of the Cold War, the Swedish national defence has been more and more dismantled, in favor of international peace support operations which have become an increasingly important task for the Swedish defence. Why then, is Sweden so engaged in conflicts so far from home? Using two classic theories of international politics, realism and liberalism, this study aims to shed light on arguments from the Swedish parliament on why it is important for Sweden to participate in international peace support operations. After analyzing arguments of the Social Democrat Party, the Moderate Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party concerning three different peace support operations which Sweden has participated in, the result shows that although both realism and liberalism are influencing the parties? argumentation, liberalism is the theory which is used more often.

This paper studies the Swedish Alien?s Act regulations regarding individuals in need of international protection. The purpose of the essay is to examine the differences between the three grounds of protection that are found in the Swedish Alien?s Act. Central questions have been whether the origins of protection statuses granted in this act are national or international, as the UN convention relating to the status of refugees and also the progress of the European Union?s Common European Asylum System both are affecting the Swedish legislation.

The purpose of this study is to examine the critically raised concern on whether the Liberal party of Sweden, in policies regarding the compulsory school, really represents a liberal policy or if it actually functions more as an ambassador for conservative ideals. An ideology analysis is employed for the purpose of answering the research question, which asks if the party?s changed viewpoint on the compulsory school between the years of 1990 and 2010 could be understood in terms of an ideological alternation. The analysis is carried out by an examination where the party?s policies are linked to common definitions of the two political ideologies, with the assistance of an analytical tool consistent of a series of educational philosophies.

The Swedish Moderate party, often also called the Conservative party, was founded with conservatism as the dominant ideology. During the years, however, liberalism has gradually found its way into the party. The aim of this study is to analyze the Moderate party?s political platforms from 1984 to 2013 from an ideological perspective. Is conservatism still a foundational ideology in the Moderate party, or has the liberal ideology taken its place? The study is based on an ideal type analysis that illustrates the Moderate party?s argumentation in six political issues in the years 1984, 1993 and 2013.

The purpose with this essay is to find out ifneo-fascist connection will change the next generationscitizens (in this specific case ninth graders) opinions about a specific political party. In modern day Sweden,only one political party stands for political ideas that can be seen as neo-fascist (Sverigedemokraterna). Whatwould happen if the next generation citizens saw this connection and how would they respond? That?s whatthis essay is all about, are the students ?positive?, ?negative? or ?on changed? to a neo-fascist politicalparty? The studies research type is mainly of a qualitative nature butquantitative elements occur. The data iscoming from two classes of ninth graders that answered eight questions each.

About 35 years ago the WHO advocated that countries with injecting drug users should introduce the so-called needle exchange programs (NEP) to curb the spread of infection by blood-borne diseases. In Sweden the first NEP started 1985 in Lund, but the program was extremely controversial in a country with such a restrictive drug policy like Sweden.The study you are about to read shall process this controversy, when a NEP opened in Stockholm, by analyzing the articles published in the newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. By using discourse analysis as a processing tool we?ll try to see the difference between the two chosen newspapers. We will identify and analyze the different participant?s, such as doctors, politicians, user associations and media, arguments in the needle exchange issue.

Klimatkonventionens ramverk, om att stabilisera graden av växthusgaser i atmosfären på en nivå som minskar människans påverkan på den globala uppvärmningen, fick i Kyoto 1997 ett protokoll som innebar bindande krav för ratificerande länder. Kyotoprotokollet trädde i kraft 2005 med resultatet att samtliga OECD-länder, exklusive USA och Australien, accepterade differentierade åtaganden om att sammantaget minska sina växthusgasutsläpp. Undersökningen utgår från detta faktum och med en jämförande studie mellan Sverige och Australien, genom teorin liberal institutionalism, syftas till att frambringa ett svar på huruvida Kyotoprotokollet är ett effektivt internationellt samarbete ur implementeringssynpunkt. Det empiriska materialet är hämtat från lagtexter och policydokument. Resultat och analys visar att Kyotoprotokollet är effektivt i avseendet att det har bidragit till uppkomsten av en omfattande universell diskussion som har påverkat även ett icke-ratificerande land som Australien att mer aktivt minska sina växthusgasutsläpp.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka om individer med en liberal hållning i alkoholfrågan löper en större risk att råka ut för olika alkoholrelaterade sociala problem än individer med en restriktiv hållning. Då tidigare forskning om relationen mellan hållning i alkoholfrågan och sociala problem är svårhittad, fokuseras resultaten av tidigare forskning på de enskilda variablerna. Resultaten kopplas sedan ihop för att härleda uppsatsens hypoteser. Tidigare forskning pekar också på att kön, ålder, inkomst och konsumtionsnivå är variabler som kan ha direkt inverkan på alkoholrelaterade problem. Datamaterialet som används är sekundärdata från Monitorstudien 2009 som bearbetades med hjälp av binär logistisk regressionsanalys.