The purpose of this study is to explain if the existence of ethnic groups in Rwanda has complicated its democratization and explain what opportunities Rwanda has to be democratized. To fulfill the purpose of the study, I intend to answer two questions: 1) Does the existence of ethnic groups obstructed democratization in Rwanda? and 2) What opportunities has Rwanda to be democratized? To answer the first research question Dahl's theory of subcultures and democratization is used and to answer the second research question van de Walle's theory of democratization is used in the region of sub-Saharan Africa. Literature used in the study are Dahl's Polyarchy and van de Walle Africa?s range of regimes and Freedom House annual reports.

Why participate? Many studies focus on explaning non-participation in politics. The political parties are loosing members and the particiaption of young people are given extra attention. This thesis is about young people who do participate in party politics. The question is how they experience their participation and how they feel that they can have a politcal influence by being a member of the youth section of a political party.

In this thesis I discuss and analyse the relationship between USA and Europe since the end of the Cold War. Many authors claimed that the Soviet threat was the glue that kept the continents together. Now that threat is gone and new challenges have risen. In what way has this relationship been influenced by the new challenges this new era stands for? By doing a case study and by using two quite different theorists, John Mearsheimer an offensive realist and Joseph Nye who is a liberal institutionalist, I?ll try to show how for example September 11, anti-amerikanism and NATO can be explained and understood.

This thesis analyses the 2005 UK presidency of the Council, and more particularly the negotiations on the future financing of the European Union. The purpose of the study is to discuss whether the holding of the presidency implies political influence for the member state. To analyse the power of the country holding the chair the thesis focuses on the presidency functions of brokering and leadership. The theory suggests that the influence of the presidency is derived from informational and procedural power resources, as well as some leadership resources, such as coercion and reward. A case study was used to analyse whether these power resources were used by the British presidency.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate industrial branding, which as a relatively new concept, both for practioners as well as academia, comprises a less explored application of the brand concept. The theoretical background of the study consists of marketing theory concerning the brand concept, and theory concerning industrial marketing. The empirical foundation consists of case studies of four industrial companies, based on interviews with representatives from the companies. All four companies have engaged in activities which they themselves see as industrial branding. Initially, the study sets out to determine the occurence of industrial branding, according to this study?s definition, and continues to tentatively explore the implications of branding in an industrial context.

Abstract: The purpose with this study is to analyse the political debate about freedom of speech in Sweden and Denmark, after the caricatures of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed that the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten published in September 2005. For this debate four political parties have been chosen. These are: Socialdemokratiska Partiet and Moderata Samlingspartiet in Sweden and Socialdemokraterne and Venstre in Denmark.An idea analysis has been chosen as method, and dimensions as an analysing tool. The overall result of the analysis is that right- and left political parties in Sweden and Denmark are more alike, than different in their political debate about free speech. They all wish for total freedom of speech, and see that as the foundation of the democratic society.

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..

This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

Why engage if it risks your life?Motives to participation in labour unions among women in ColombiaEssay in Political Science D-levelAuthor: Susanna SvenssonTutor: Hans LödénWhy do people choose to participate in politics when it is such a small chance that you actually make a change? Also political participation favours the collective and therefore you do not get any personal advantages for your contribution. Even more interesting is the question of why you participate when it puts yourself in a position of danger? Colombia is considered to be the most dangerous country to be a member of labour unions in and it would therefore be a context where it is unlikely to find participation. This study is based on thirteen qualitative interviews with Colombian female union members with the aim to understand why people engage in labour unions despite threats of violence and other obstacles, when the most likely would be to abstain from action.

The empirical material of this study consisted of tweets by four leading politicians in Sweden: Carl Bildt of Nya Moderaterna, Annie Lo?o?f of Centerpartiet, A?sa Romson of Miljo?partiet and Jonas Sjo?stedt of Va?nsterpartiet. The aim of the study was to examine how they use Twitter as a political tool and what that says of the mediatization of politics. What content did they publish, how did the content differentiate between them and what political messages and other subjects occurred in their tweets? Does the political debate become fragmented because they?re only allowed to use 140 characters on Twitter? The theoretical framework and method applied for the research was based upon critical discourse analysis (CDA), with special interest in ideology and mediatized discourse.The result of the study showed that the content they published consisted mostly of criticism towards political opponents, rather than of independent political opinions.

On the third of August 2002, in the middle of the ongoing Swedish election campaign, Lars Leijonborg beeing the leader of Folkpartiet (the Peoples Party) presented the partys new intergration programme for foreign nationals. One of the proposals was to instigate a language test for all immigrants seeking to obtain Swedish citizenship. This thesis addresses the medial debate that followed the proposal in the daily press. Using discourse analysis and postcolonial theory this thesis looks into the fact that there were not unity in the wake that followed the language test proposal resulting in one medial and one popular discourse. The newspapers investigated were largely negative in their tone, whereas on the opinion pages, the view of the people seemed much more positively inclined.

The development aid from Sweden to developing countries is a activity thatinvolves a great deal of monetary founds as well as an opportunity to influence the environmental situation in a partner country. It´s also an opportunity to promote Sweden's values in a field like the environment, setting a good example is important. This thesis aims to evaluate Sida´s environmental policy and find out if there in fact is a Environmental Policy Integration Policy (EPI) taking place. EPI is a policyimplementation theory that emphasise the importance of the total integration of the environmental in the organisation as a whole. To identify this I will use a theoretical framework of indicators invented by William M.

Today Europe is faced with an identity crisis concerning its borders. Turkey stands at the threshold for an EU-membership while the EU-Commission is trying to formulate what constitutes a European identity. This identity seeking process will determine the future not only for Turkey, but also for immigrants now living in Europe.In this thesis a discourse analysis, underpinned by socialconstructionist theory, is conducted to explore how the European identity has been constructed throughout history up until today. A starting point is that identity always is defined through a dialectical relationship to "otherness". Therefore the analysis is focused not only on what a European identity consists of but also what and who it excludes.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the democratization process in Kurdistan on the basis of consolidation democracy with focus on arenas defined by Linz and Stepan (1997), namely economic, political, legal, civil society and arenas of state bureaucracy. Furthermore, I intend to explain Kurdistan?s road toward democratization in Kurdistan from 1991 until today, with a focus on the years 2003-2012. The main results are that Kurdistan has developed conditions that support a future consolidation of democracy. However, there are weaknesses in the economic situation, rule of law and the arena of bureaucracy.

The aim of this study is to explain and analyse political steering of public libraries in Swedish municipalities and the roles of politicians and administrators in this process. To fulfil this purpose five municipalities have been studied. It is argued that both politicians and administration have to be included in a study of steering and that the relation between politicians and administrators should be seen as an interplay. Planning and evaluation are discerned as the two main activities in the steering process. The material in this study consists mainly of information collected through interviews with library responsible politicians and library managers in all five municipalities.The results show that libraries are considered politically uncontroversial and that politicians see little need for political interference and steering.