The aim of this study is to analyze the change of Basque nationalism during the last ten years and discuss how the main nationalist party (PNV) tries to impose "we"- feelings and support for its cause. Theories of nationalism and national identity are used in the analysis.A textual analysis of PNV:s unofficial documents is discussed and compared with a discourse analysis of its official documents. Although the unofficial documents deal with similar view of basic political/territorial ambitions, language and identification, there are some differences in the latest documents regarding the view of who is defined as Basque and also to the detoriated relation to Spain. Although references are made to the regard that the Basque Country is for everyone, the persistence of emphasizing the uniqueness and myths of the Basque culture signals a different matter. The discourse analysis of the official documents supports this claim and although they contain an ambiguous relation to Spain it is clear that Basque nationalism has been radicalized.

Den här uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka vilken iransk identitet som skapas av landets ledning och på så sätt bidra till förståelsen av den iranska politiken. Frågeställningen är: "Hur ser den identitet ut som konstrueras av det iranska ledarskapet genom deras offentliga tal gällande kärnkraftsfrågan?". Frågan besvaras utifrån ett konstruktivistiskt perspektiv och med Laclaus och Mouffes diskursteori som metod. Analysen består av en kartläggning av ekvivalenskedjorna för Vi, "Den iranska nationen", och De Andra, "Irans Fiender".

The European Union's long-term budget negotiations during the summer of 2005 were obstructed from being successful due to a quite fierceful debate about the future guidelines of the Common Agricultural Policy. A quarrel about money and who gets what, was the common answer as to why it took the European leaders six months to accept the budget, and quite rightfully. This essay, however, goes beneath those explanations and tries to see what other reasons there might be for such a phenomena.With a new institutionalistic approach this study seeks to see what underlying reasons for why an institution such as CAP is so resistant to change. With special attention to the new historical institutionalism and the rational choice institutionalism the study successfully shows that though the front laying reasons to the problems with the budget might have been economical, several other factors also affected the outcome of the budget negotiations.Structures, national identity and decisions taken when outlining the Common Agricultural Policy in the 1960's still affect the European union, its members and foremost of all, the Policy/institution itself..

De senaste årens demokratidebatt har ofta handlat om passiva ungdomar som inte längre väljer att använda sig av de traditionella politiska och demokratiska uttrycksformerna. Hur framställs denna bild i forskningen? Det finns en tydlig motsättning i hur man inom forskarkåren återger ungdomsgruppens politiska deltagande och hur detta har förändrats över tid. Det politiska deltagandet påstås både ha ökat och minskat, alltihop på samma gång. Genom att redogöra för statliga demokratiutredningar och doktorsavhandlingar vill vi ge en översikt av de övergripande aspekterna utav ungas politiska deltagande.

This thesis aim to explain which part sound and music possess as a branding tool. We consider this to be of relevance since there is very limited reseach conducted on the subject. To fulfill the purpose of this thesis we have focused on three main issues. Our ambition is to describe this subject from a marketing perspective with the brand in focus.

Studien har till syfte att undersöka hur globaliseringsdebatten ser ut i svensk media och hur den har förändrats under de senaste 10 åren. Fokus ligger på begreppets skilda betydelse som media skapar. Metoden består av en diskursanalys som bygger på Laclou & Mouffes teorier, med fokus kring flytande signifikanter, vilket betyder att begreppet är öppen för olika betydelser och förändlig över tid. Även en innehållsanalys som undersöker mängden artiklar och vilka ämnen som tas upp kring begreppet. Materialet består av fyra svenska tidningar, 95-97 jämfört med 2006.Resultatet visade att det finns konkurrerande diskurser i globaliseringsdebatten bland förespråkare och kritiker, de använder olika begrepp kring fenomenet.

This thesis examines the process of securitization of the environmental issue in the United States. By using the theories of sectoral security and securitization by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, commonly known as the Copenhagen school we go beyond the traditional security frames and examine where the environmental issue in the United States stand today within the securitization spectrum. The securitizing spectrum includes three levels in which an issue can be place: non-politicised, politicised and securitized.The problem, which we wish to address, is if there is a movement of the environmental issue in the United States towards becoming a securitized issue. In the light of these circumstances we also wish to explore who is behind the movement and also find out where the issue stand today. We do believe that Al Gore is a securitizing actor and examine his role in the movement of the environmental issueWe have come to the conclusion that there is an ongoing process of securitization in which the environmental issue have moved from being politicised to becoming securitized..

Arktis är en region som har en mångfacetterad historia. Idag, när isen sakteliga smälter undan, och tidigare gömda naturresurser blir åtkomliga, blir tidigare obetydliga gränsdragningsdispyter nu konflikter, som kan komma att handla om mångmiljardbelopp. Detta sker samtidigt som multilaterala samarbeten blir allt vanligare och ämnesområdena de berör, allt fler. Vi visar att de båda teorierna neoliberal institutionalism och neorealism ger två olika förklaringar till situationen i Arktis, och att man beroende på vilket teoribildning man tillhör, har skilda synsätt gällande hur man ser på regimer i regionen. I studien har vi främst analyserat FN: s havsrättskonvention och Arktiska Rådet, vilka båda kan sägas ha haft stor inverkan på Arktis, men på helt olika sätt..

The thesis Den ?fria? rörligheten aims to give deeper knowledge to the notion of social sustainable mobility. My previous knowledge within the subject is focused around mobility being biased and therefore gaining particular groups of actors within society and leaving others worse off. Therefore I chose to do a critical analysis of social sustainable mobility and more precisely show which problems that exist and why.To start with, I have created a framework for social sustainable mobility, from which I have looked at the empirical material. The general empirical material is mostly based on mobility in Sweden also a more specific study is made of the Öresundregion.

USA:s president George W. Bushs planer på ett krig i Irak mottogs med blandade känslor av Europas ledare. Frankrike och Tyskland var två av de länder som tog täten för en stark opposition mot detta krig och deras beslut kom att orsaka en kris i de transatlantiska relationerna.Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera vilka faktorer som låg bakom Frankrikes och Tysklands ställningstagande, och klarlägga hur olika faktorer kan resultera i ett liknande beslut. Studien är av komparativ art och genomförs på de tre utrikespolitiska analysnivåerna internationell systemnivå, statsnivå och individnivå. Vår uppsats är en teorikonsumerande studie, vilket innebär att fallen står i centrum.

During the last decade a number of studies have been published that investigate how the most fundamental aspect of political organization, the regime type, affects population health. The results unanimously show that citizens of democracies live longer and healthier lives than citizens of non-democracies. Many explanations for this have been suggested, among these are that democracies redistribute more and invest more in salutogenic resources, and that the tendency of dictatorships to control the media negatively affects the ability to spread information crucial to public health. When these mechanisms are controlled for, however, it turns out that democracy has a large residual correlation with for example life expectancy, which suggests that other mechanisms are also involved.In this paper two new mechanisms regarding the possible psychosocially mediated health effects of the regime type are investigated, namely political repression, and the possible negative effects this might have on the levels of chronic stress, and autonomy, which connects to a large previous literature in social epidemiology. In the paper an ecological cross-country design is used and country-level data, provided mainly by the World Bank and Freedom House, is analyzed with a simple multiple OLS-regression model.

The aim of this thesis has been to analyze and interpret several different discourses in Japan and from the findings see how the Ainu people and their existence in Japan have been defined in today's Japan and in who's interest it is to keep it this way. My findings was that the Japanese nation in all channels of society are reinforcing and perpetuating the belief that it constitutes an ethnically homogenous nation and that there exists no ethnic problems in the country. I found that schoolbooks don?t give adequate information about the Ainu people and its history, and the Japanese press is reinforcing the status quo by their selective silence and limited coverage on issues concerning the Ainu. The government has defined and legitimized the problem of Ainu within the framework of culture and tradition.

Turkey has taken part in regular negotiations to gain membership in the EU since 2005. At the same time is Turkey a candidate that stands out from those of earlier rounds of enlargement, and its possible membership got both supporters and critics amongst the Unions member countries. The aim of this thesis is to, trough a textual analysis, investigate the prospects and obstacles Turkeys candidature faces. The material consists of documents from a number of think tanks connected to the European Commission, as well as the Commissions own documents regarding Turkeys negotiations.A recurring picture is that Turkey is treated differently then earlier candidates, and that the Commission has a hard time keeping an unambiguous line in its negotiation frame. The material of the think tanks attributes the public opinions distrust of the member countries of EU as a hindrance, and Turkeys meddling in the conflict on Cyprus is problemized.

Sustainable development is often pictured as containing of three interlinked dimensions- namely environmental, economic and social. ?Social sustainability? is a vague concept that is often thought of as highly context-dependent. This thesis sets out to investigate the meaning of ?social sustainability? in a given context.

In this thesis we have examined Västra Götalandsregionens ways to lobby and network in the European Union. Our aim was to examine which kind of methods the region uses to lobby in a successful way in Brussels. We found that the region uses both formal and informal methods of lobbying to gain advantages in Brussels. We also wanted to locate various networks which the region is involved in to more easily have their interests satisfied. We found that they had a lot of different alliances and that it is necessary to be involved in different networks to have a chance to lobby the EU institutions.