This thesis is a comparative analysis of language policy in the Post-Soviet states Ukraine and Kazakhstan, wherein the states are seen as rational actors using language as an instrument in the nation-building process. With a take-off point in an underframe of theories on the nation, national identity, instrumentalism, power and the particular role of language in the nation-building process, this thesis shows that language is a key instrument used by the two states.The Ukrainian and Kazakhian language policies create and put across a certain image of the nation, by emphasising the titular languages as symbols of the new states. The line of argument in the language policy is a balance act between large-scale promotion of titular languages and a careful and inclusive attitude towards the Russian language. The biggest differences are that Ukraine, compared to Kazakhstan, has a more comprehensive and consequent language policy with a deeply rooted historic rhetoric. The most obvious instruments of the states in language policy is censuses, corpus-planning and the state choosing one official language..

Åland har ett av världens mest omfattande nationalitetsskydd, men med snart hundra år på nacken är det inte alltid det går ihop med nyare konventioner om mänskliga rättigheter. Denna uppsats undersöker hur det åländska nationalitetsskyddet har kommenterats av Europarådets rådgivande kommitté i deras arbete med att övervaka implementeringen av ramkonventionen om skydd för nationella minoriteter. Dessa kommentarer och den åländska utvecklingen granskas i förhållande till Will Kymlickas teori om minoritetsnationalism, vilken framför att nationella minoriteter, liksom majoritetsbefolkningar, kan frångå en främlingsfientlig och exkluderande nationalism baserad på etnicitet och anta en inkluderande medborgerlig nationalism som är öppen och välkomnande gentemot invandring. För att detta ska ske menar Kymlicka att minoriteten behöver ett visst inflytande över immigrationsflöden och integrationsbestämmelser, där framför allt de senare utgör en viktig del av det åländska nationalitetsskyddet. Med hjälp av idéanalys har den åländska nationalismen analyserats, och resultaten visar att den har gått från att ha etniska inslag till att anta tydligt medborgerliga drag.

AbstractThe aim of this thesis is to analyse a proposition that was made by the Swedish liberal party in the election campaign in 2002. The proposition was part of an integration program and the main point was that to become a Swedish citizen you should do a test to prove your ability in Swedish. In this paper, I?ve been investigating the way that this proposition was presented and the reactions that it met among the Swedish people. In my work I have noticed that there are some specific arguments that were very powerful and which were the ones that attracted most people.

This is a paper about the process of creating meaning in speeches held by president Bush after the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001. People need tools to orient and understand the surrounding world. They need to create a meaningful orientation in a chaotic world. Some meaning is favoured due to the prevailing social structures. Thru language discourses are produced that helps us understand how the world is constructed.

This thesis is intended to respond to the extent to which South African textbooks on the subject of history is linked to the governmental policy documents and whether they are producing and reproducing national identity. The two textbooks are aimed at students in grade 10. Both books were produced in 2008 but published by different publishers.The essay is based on Norman Faircloughs critical discourse theory which has been supplemented by Michael Billings theory Banal Nationalism, which assumes that it is the national words that remind us daily of our homeland that is producing and reproducing national identity.  The survey shows that both textbooks are closely tied to the government policy document for the teaching of history. The textbooks refer to the policy, both explicitly and implicitly. The two textbooks reproduce a common national identity in South Africa based on the discussions taking place in society.

This thesis is about how nationalism is constructed from two competing groups, Kosovo Albanian and Serbs. Kosovo for Serbs is a deep symbolic value that continues to be a Serbian identification. This is one of the main reasons why no Serbian politician has the courage to give it up. On the other side of the coin we have the Kosovo Albanians that only settles for independence. To recognize the independence for Kosovo could jeopardize the security for the Serbian minority living in Kosovo.

This thesis is intended to respond to the extent to which South African textbooks on the subject of history is linked to the governmental policy documents and whether they are producing and reproducing national identity. The two textbooks are aimed at students in grade 10. Both books were produced in 2008 but published by different publishers.The essay is based on Norman Faircloughs critical discourse theory which has been supplemented by Michael Billings theory Banal Nationalism, which assumes that it is the national words that remind us daily of our homeland that is producing and reproducing national identity.  The survey shows that both textbooks are closely tied to the government policy document for the teaching of history. The textbooks refer to the policy, both explicitly and implicitly. The two textbooks reproduce a common national identity in South Africa based on the discussions taking place in society.

Children who have fled to Sweden, without their parents or guardians, have been a controversial subject during the winter of 2002. Their situations on refugeestations and the responsibiliy by community and the state have been discussed. My composition is about these children. The composition is not about the situations of the children - focus is instead on the people who operate with the children; community, state and organisations. I want to find empirical levels which show what the children associate with.

Nation branding innebär att profilera och varumärka ett land. Här ingår att kommunicera immateriella värden såsom det upplevelsebaserade, och att visa på det unika med landet. Globaliseringen har skapat förändringar som gör att Sverige inte längre klarar sig på att vara välkända enbart i Europa. Ökad handel med områden där Sverige är relativt okänt betyder att Sverige måste kommunicera sitt varumärke på ett nytt sätt. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur kommunikationen för profileringen av Sveriges nation branding ser ut, med fokus på webben som kanal.

Uppsatsens syfte är att söka förklara politiska våldet i Indien utrifrån tre perspektiv; territoriell odelbarhet, nationalism och fundamentalism. Avgränsningen är de etniska minoriteterna; assameser, bodo, kashmirer, muslimer, naga, sikher, tripura och ursprungsstammar. Åren som uppsatsen har fokus på är 1985-2000. Uppsatsen är en fallstudie av Indien där åtta olika etniska minoriteter är studieobjekt. Maryland Universitys MAR-databas, Uppsala universitets UCDP-databas samt South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP-databasen) fungerar som huvudsakliga källor.Resultatet visar att den territoriella odelbarheten har stark förklaringskraft i de flesta av fallen (sju av åtta) i Indien.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the writings of Hayashi Ichiz?, a Christian from southern Japan who on the 30th of May 1945 died while carrying out a kamikaze attack against Allied ships outside Okinawa. Hayashi?s writings, most notably his diary and some of the letters he sent to his mother, have been published posthumously by his sister in a volume called Hi nari tate nari. In this thesis, I conduct an in-depth analysis of these writings in an attempt to understand for what Hayashi died.In the two parts of the thesis, divided by two major themes in Hayashi?s writings ? faith/family and nation/emperor, I discuss his thoughts around these issues.

Uppsatsens syfte är att studera porträtteringen av nationell identitet i Don DeLillos Falling Man och Amy Waldmans The Submission i förhållande till efterverkningarna av 9/11. Studien utgörs av undersökande och jämförande analyser av romanerna utifrån ett litteratursociologiskt samt postkolonialt perspektiv med fokus på nationalism, religion och commemoration.  Studien har presenterat hur amerikansk identitet har ifrågasatts och problematiserats i romanerna Falling Man och The Submission, och visat hur religion, commemoration och nationalism hänger samman med den amerikanska identiteten. En identitet som visat sig föränderlig och problematisk i efterverkningarna av 9/11. Studien har också kunnat visa att böckerna inte ämnar att lyfta fram en gestaltning av identitet som något allenarådande eller fast, utan att de istället visar hur identitet ständigt förändras och skiljer sig från karaktär till karaktär, genom problematiserandet kring tillhörighet, trygghet och trauma..

AbstractLarge states are not as interdependent as small countries are. Due to the extent of the home market, producers in large countries can sell the greater part of their products at home. Accordingly large countries become less dependent of other states. Large states are consequently in a better position to promote their self- interests internationally than smaller states are. Applying this reasoning on a large state such as France I come to conclude that she probably exerts this policy of self- interest in an area like free trade.

Denna uppsats behandlar nationalism i mångetniska federationer. Inom alla federala system finns en spänning mellan den federala nivån och delstaterna. Denna spänning brukar vanligen beskrivas som en konflikt mellan centrum och periferi. Även nationalism i mångetniska federationer kan beskrivas som en konflikt mellan centrum och periferi. En vanlig kategorisering av nationalismen är den i kulturnationalism och statsnationalism.

The topic of homosexuality was until recently a taboo in Russian public discussion, but has during the last years become a hotly debated issue. Analyzing what I call the new homophobic narrative I isolate and examine two ways of ?othering? homosexuals, constructing them as strangers, when sexual minorities are discussed in today´s Russia. Sexual deviants are portrayed as threats to the nation and are connected to the West and its influence. Using analytical tools from queer theory, security studies and postcolonial approaches I discuss different ways of configuring the relation between nation and sexuality, identities that are interwoven in the homophobic narrative.