This essay shows how the concept of virtue can deepen our understanding considering processes of empowerment. A virtue is understood as a trait of character, manifested in habitual action, that it is good for person a to have. Virtues are interpreted as socially constructed. Empowerment is presented as a process toward self-confidence and self-determination where recourses and freedom propels the development toward power for the individual, the household and the community. Why does the concept of virtue deepen our understanding? It is argued that our theoretical perceptive of empowerment needs to better encompass values, norms and practise.

In the 1920s the law against vagrancy had been unaltered since it?s introduction in 1885. During that period, Sweden had undergone great social and political transformation in the wake of industrialisation, urbanisation and democratisation. The political landscape had changed and the social sciences were organising knowledge in new ways. The public opinion realised the need for a review of the vagrant law that better corresponded to the modern times.

This study discusses the European Union´s influence regarding the Cyprus Conflict since 1998, when the EU began the official membership negotioations with Cyprus. The first aim of the study is to investigate in what way the EU has tried to practice influence concerning the Greek- and Turk Cypriots, but also Turkey, since Turkey is seen as a relevant party in the conflict. The second aim of the study is to examine what effects the EU´s influence has led to for the parties involved. The theoretical approach in the study is the theory Normative power, the theory stresses that Europe and the EU practices non-military power, and is able to do so because of the fact that the EU is based on internationally acknowledged desirable norms, as democracy and human rights and liberties. The result of the study shows that the EU has been an active participant concerning the Cyprus Conflict by successfully influencing the Greek- Cypriot government and Turkey e.g.

Before the general election 2006 all of the Swedish parties represented in the Parliament held their political party conference. At each political party conference, the leader for respectively party held their opening speech, a speech that was covered by the press. This essay deals with how the press covers these speeches. Analysing how the different speeches were covered by the press, some tendencies regarding how the press report could be visualised. In this comparison the ?quantitative content analysis? was used.

This paper develops a theory for understanding negotiation situations involving states and indigenous peoples. Using relevant constructivist theory as a starting point, the paper develops a theory about understanding the relationship between power and culture implicit in the concept of the state. This relationship is examined in negotiations situations involving states and indigenous peoples. States are constituted by social structure and are representatives of the national culture. At the same time states are actors within the international system and a part of the culture of Westphalia.

Groups that are often referred to as being dismissed in society in general is by some aspects also considered being so in political arenas. A recent compilation of existing research over structurally based objections of gaining power and positions within Swedish parliamentary politics highlight a lack of research considering whether sexual orientation could be such a discriminatory basis. Using a queer theoretical approach, and drawing on concepts such as heteronormativity and homophobia, the principal aim of this essay is to illuminate aspects of local parliamentary political areas where discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation become relevant. In order to do so six in-depth interviews with homosexual politicians have been conducted. Finding a queer potential in certain ideological parliamentary political environments that enable homosexual politicians to be open about their sexual orientation, it still relies upon the individual to be confident enough not to interpret the political context as homophobic and heteronormative..

The purpose of this study is to investigate the way George W. Bush used the language as a means to exercise power in an attempt to justify Operation Iraqi Freedom. The theories used to answer the purpose are discourse analysis and three different moral metaphors that are applied on the data.The collected material for the metaphors is constituted of cognitive linguistic books from prominent linguists, such as George Lakoff, Alan Cruse and William Croft, and the material for the discourse analysis is also collected from prominent discourse analysts such as Michél Foucault and Norman Fairclough. The official White House website provides the material for my data. The scientific method used in this study has been qualitative text analysis where the hermeneutic approach has been an essential part of it.The main question: In what way did George W.

Since the abrupt ending of the Cold Wars the international system of politics has been dominated by the unipolar United States. Leading scholars within structural realism sees this stage as just a temporary condition for various reasons. They also target China as aspirant to embody the role of a balancer against USA and pole in a bi- or multipolar system. Some even argue they are destined for superpower.With the help of realisms definition of power I estimate U.S., China's and India's capabilities and judge their potential superpower. I then go on to connect structural realism and role theory to estimate their different statuses in the system.

How effective is consumer power? Can consumers regulate corporate behavior?And if so is the case, could the mechanisms where consumers regulate corporatebehavior have any democratic value to contribute with? These are the questionsthat this master's thesis comprehends with. The purpose of this writing is toconstruct a theory of consumer power that is compatible with democratic theory,this in order to contribute to the ongoing discussion within the discipline ofpolitical science about the third democratic transformation. A discussion that hasbeen actualized due to the democratic deficit created by the growing corporatepower and the shift of power from state to private enterprises. Besides showingfor a parallel between the democratic mechanisms that exists in the relationbetween citizens and state on the one hand, and the consumers and corporationson the other hand, this paper argues that consumers do have a great potential inregulating corporate behavior towards a higher social responsibility andawareness.

AbstractWhy do Political Parties emerge? ? A Study of "Sjukvårdspartiet i Värmland"Political Science, Johan UtterThe political parties have important roles to play in contemporary society. They act as bearers of power and presents the voters with finished packages of ideas on how society should grow, develop and change. Political parties are essential to the survival and wellbeing of representative democracy. Many theories have been developed over the years concerning matters related to political parties, but one area of research remains largely unexplored, namely the topic on why political parties do emerge in the first place.

This essay is about power in the classroom. It is about the power dimension of the student-teacher relationships that arise in that space. The overall aim has been to investigate which categories are fruitful in a power analysis of these relationships. My aim has therefore been to develop power categories and to use them to identify and to categorise cases of power interaction that take place between those particular actors in that particular setting.In order to gather material for my study I have both read literature that approaches the study of the student-teacher relationships from a power perspective and done a series of observations in a high school.My theoretical frame comprises a concept of power and a series of power categories. These categories include strength, authority, inducement, coercion, violence, resistance as well as to possess power, to have power, to exert power, the scope of power and the base of power.

The aim of this report was to investigate if Sweden can have 100 % renewable electricity production in the year 2050. The conclusion is that it is possible but under certain conditions. For instance wave power must be in commercial use. When wind power and solar power represent a large percentage of the electric production there will be a lack of electric power during the winter but during the summer there will be a surplus of electric power. Both the surplus and the lack of electric power need to be taken into account.

This thesis intends to examine the role of the city, Dublin, in the Irish economic growth during the 1990s. It is a case study where Dublin is compared with current theories on post modern cities as growth machines and increasingly prominent actors in the global context. The study has an interdisciplinary approach but focuses on political science issues such as power distribution, global-local governance and local political organisation. It is a theory driven study that also intends to add aspects to the understanding of the cities of our time. I argue that Dublin has faced a lot of changes during the last decades in accordance with the post modern city.

In this study, the aim is to show how the social services fails to implement a specific rights law (LSS) wich is supposed to have the function of protecting the wellfare and provide specific rights to people with severe mental disabilities. By applying chritical theory on this case the aim is to provide an alternative answer on why it is possible for the social services to ignore these peoples rights.By revealing the power structures in the encounter between the system and a person with mental dissablilities, I conclude that people with mental disabilities does not fit in when it comes the social sevices way of implementing the law and further more that a private person is extreamly exposed to the systems arbitrariness..

In this thesis I examine the development and expansion of judicial power in Sweden. The concept of judicial review is defined and related to democratic theory, and the various forms of judicial review in use in Sweden are explained. The main focus is on the political and scientific discussion concerning judicial review since the mid 1970s. It is shown that judicial review so far has been used only to a limited extent and that the number of court cases has remained quite stable over time. The main cause of judicialization seems to be the supremacy of EU law following the Swedish EU membership in 1995 and the inclusion of the European Convention on Human Rights into Swedish law.