The debate concerning face veiling has been brought in to view by several governments in Europe. Luca Mavelli studies the debate regarding the burqa using the concept of securitization and from that the objective of this study is to analyze the medial- and the political discourse in Sweden regarding the burqa. The formulated questions drawn from this is; who are the securitizing actors? According to the securitization actors, who can de defined as a referent object? Wherein is the threat according to the securitizing actors? Is it possible to recognize a difference between the medial and the political discourse?Furthermore the paper adopts the theoretical framework that is the concept of securitization, formulated by the Copenhagen School of security. The methodological foundation is based on a social constructivist approach and consequently uses Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analyzes as an analytical tool.

This thesis on the sustainable urban development has the intent to discuss the conservator?s position in alteration of the built environment. An essential component of the thesis consists of a case study in the form of an entry in an open architectural competition for the development of Furuset, an urban residential area in Norway. The thesis? discussion is based on two approaches to change and socio-economic transformations, considered being dominant within the heritage theory and practice: the production of ideas and great narratives and conservation as an instrumental tool.

The purpose of my work is to understand and examine the reasons why Ethiopia has not developed a larger decline of female genital mutilation, despite their ban on it? A ban that has been operating for ten years should reasonably have reached a greater change than the one Ethiopia has developed today. Based on two different branches of feminist theory, the liberal feminist theory and radical feminist theory, I will try to understand the potential power relationship that can be a immense reason for Ethiopia's continued practice with regard to female genital mutilation. I will examine the liberal feminist approach when it comes to seeing the state as the source of the balance of power that generate inequality in the world between men and women. I will also apply the radical feminist theory on my case study and understand the problem of patriarchy and its already set roles for men and women that we are following in the society today, resulting in gender inequality. The result shows that the radical feminist approach with patriarchy as essential explanation, which articulates that because of ancient traditions and the exercise of power, the amendment must be the changing of power relations between men and women in the private sphere rather than the liberal feminist approach which applies that the state repair the problem..

This paper is a critique of the hegemonic democracy ideal in France today, the myth of the Republic. Based on critical theory, the paper also contains a normative attempt giving the chance to subaltern groups to tell their, less often heard, version of the "truth".The theoretical foundation is the ontological narrative perspective, where identities and actions are understood as being constructed by the telling of stories. The interdependent relations of different narrative dimensions are analyzed. The power over who gets to tell the story of the "truth" is understood as decided in the interaction by dimensions of metanarrativity, public narratives, ontological narratives and conceptual narrativity. The author argues, inspired by Chantal Mouffe, that consensus is an illusion based on exclusion of those that differ.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how public libraries in Norrbotten provide multilingual media and how the commitment is legitimized. In January 2014 there was a change to the guidelines for the International Library?s service for providing multilingual media. The responsibility for the provision of this service was also changed. The result shows there has been different ways of implementing the guidelines in practice; this has led to inequalities in the local library service.We have assembled data through qualitative interviews with five different public libraries in the north of Sweden.

Children are said to be the future of our society. Hence, how we take care of our children is a cause of concern. This is evident in much of the social work that is carried out in Sweden. One of the times when we find children to be the most vulnerable is when they, for different reasons, are separated from their biological families and placed in foster care. Based on the fact that Sweden over the last century has experienced an increased immigration intake we wanted to take a closer look on how this change of the population dynamics has influenced foster care in the country.

Hållbar utveckling har, allt sedan Brundtlandrapporten 1987 och Rio 1992, utgjort den fundamentala idén för långsiktiga miljö- och utvecklingspolitiska strävanden och kommit att dominera miljöpolitiken/policyn i många länder. Med utgångspunkt i Hajers teori om diskursiva strategier för ekologisk modernisering, studeras i denna uppsats (1) hur hållbar utveckling påverkat svensk miljöpolitisk diskurs samt (2) hur den diskursiva dynamiken kring skiftet i svensk miljöpolitik - från kretsloppstänkande och Agenda 21 till ekologisk modernisering - efter socialdemokratins nya vision om 'det gröna folkhemmet', bör förstås.I en fallstudie i Malmö studeras närmare hur förändringen av den miljöpolitiska diskursen återspeglas i en lokal kontext samt huruvida det är nationell styrning, lokal logik eller ömsesidiga samspel inom ramen för de diskursiva förändringarna som gör att den lokala praktiken 'blir vad den blir'..

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to study cultural sponsorshipof cultural institutions and cultural events in some particular pointsof views. Namely, how do the Moderate party look at culturalsponsorship based on their motions and how these motions havebeen received by the Swedish parliament. The aim has beenbroken down into three questions. Firstly, how does the Moderateparty look at sponsorship of cultural institutions and culturalevents based on their motions on the subject. Secondly, whatviews have been existed in parliament both in committee andplenary, against the motions? Thirdly, what are the most relatingparagraphs for the different material groups.

The main argument of the thesis is that multinational companies (MNCs) can promote democracy through corporate social responsibility (CSR). MNCs hold some prerequisites giving them the means to create positive changes. But they lack one important prerequisite: knowledge about local conditions. Therefore the best CSR result is reached through partnerships with local NGOs.H&M's CSR-work in Bangladesh, including a partnership with the Bangladeshi women's rights organisation Karmojibi Nari, serves as an illustrating case. It is argued that the CSR-work promotes democracy through strengthening the civil society, through indirectly implementing national laws concerning labour legislation and human rights and through raising awareness about rights and legislation among the workers.The CSR process changes the terms for both NGOs and MNCs.

The purpose of this Masters-thesis is to examine the impact of identity politics on (a) Turkey's foreign policy towards Europe and the EU, and (b) Europe's/EU's political attitude towards Turkey, and what implications this may have on a possibly future Turkish membership in the EU. It is a more interpreting thesis than it is an explaining one. The examination shows that Turkey has considered Europe as a political model, while Europe has used the muslime Turkey as a threat to determine its own identity. The negotiations between EU and Turkey this autumn will have great impact on the identity of both sites. If the EU accepted Turkey as a member, the union could gain a chance to spread democracy to the islamic world and thereby earn global respect.

Over the last decades there has been a steady increase in the representation of women on the political arena. Despite of this there are still fewer women in comparison to men in political organs particularly at the municipal level. It is therefore of great importance to examine which different factors that tend to effect the female representation at this level. Doctor of philosophy at Umeå University Jessika Wide presented in a study from 2000 that the share of women in the municipal councils tended to depend upon cultural, socio-economical and political factors. Other scholars also mean that women have specific interests and therefore are more represented in some areas.

In this essay we try to find explanations as to why Denmark went to war, to-gether with the United States and other nations, against Iraq. We have exam-ined several factors which we believe to be the most important for Denmark`s decision to go to war. In particular, we have looked at Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his belief system, Denmark`s recent domestic policies especially the immigrations policies, relevant parts of Denmark`s past foreign policies and Denmark`s role within international organizations like UN, NATO and EU. Throughout the essay our attention is focused on Rasmussen as a main actor in forming and pushing through Denmark`s policies..

This paper investigates the science fiction novels of Swedish crime writer Per Wahlöö, most famous for his collaboration with his writing partner Maj Sjöwall on the ten Martin Beck mysteries. During two important years, 1964 and 1968, Wahlöö wrote the novels Murder On the 31st Floor and The Steel Spring, set in a near future land ruled by a social fascist power structure where political opposition is eradicated. The pretexted notion of this paper is that these novels consists of extensive quantities of criticism against the Swedish welfare state and the monopoly-capitalistic Swedish press during the sixties. Through the lens of science fiction theory and the notion of the novels as historical sources this paper concludes that PerWahlöö´s science fiction becomes a bridge between the classic Swedish detective novel and the new social critic crime fiction in the style of Sjöwall-Wahlöö and others. The novels are also representations of the historical process in the mid-sixties during the radical turn: the sci-fi novels as social criticism of the contemporary society ? an utopian flare.

An inquiry into the post-war European aesthetic and political landscape should take the international organization Unesco?s colour reproductions and travelling exhibitions of paintings into consideration. In these, the organization implements André Malraux? idea of the ?imaginary museum? as a framework for a future cosmopolitical, aesthetic (and utopian) community. During the late 1940?s, the Swedish government also discusses the need for raising an ?aesthetic awareness? amongst their citizens as a consequence to a poor knowledge in the fine arts.

Civil disobedience constitutes an interesting ethical phenomena in the democraticstate since the people performing it consciously brakes laws and norms in societyfor purposes they themselves judge to be morally good and just. This thesisexamines whether the phenomena of civil disobedience is justifiable in ademocratic society.In this study civil disobedience is analyzed on two levels. First the problem isanalyzed on a theoretical level in relative to the three, by us established, values:respect for the law, the will of the majority and equality. Second, civildisobedience is analyzed on a more practical level where we test our theoreticalline of argument with the help of two example groups who engages in civildisobedience. The justification of civil disobedience is also analyzed through twoethical perspectives on acting, deontology and consequentialism.Our conclusion is that civil disobedience is justifiable on a theoretical level inrelative to the values we discuss.