This essay tries, in different levels, to explain and create a deeper understanding for the phenomena ?private security companies?. By using Mary Kaldors theory about new wars, I will come to the conclusion that the insecurity that these wars create is an important part in understanding the emergence of a security need that these private security companies can provide. Later I investigate and explain howthe neoliberal privatization policy that is spreading through the world today has laid ground for development of the private security industry. When I have answered these questions I analyze how the private security companies can affect the state, war and peace both positively and negatively.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the development of the use of private securitycontractors in Iraq. The reason is that there has been a considerable increase of the number ofprivate security firms operating in Iraq during the last couple of years. The legislation in thefield of private military and security is indistinct and my hypothesis is that the lack of nationaland/or international legislation can be connected to the increased globalization. To come toany conclusions about this I have chosen to make a comparative study between the two casesthe Gulf War and the War in Iraq which started in 2003. In this comparison, I ask thefollowing questions: 1) Are there any signs of anarchy in the field of private security duringthe Gulf War respectively the last War in Iraq? 2) In what way has the use of private securitycontractors changed from Case 1 to Case 2 ?According to my research, there were signs of anarchy in the field of private security bothduring the Gulf War and during the latest war in Iraq.

Sedan kalla krigets slut har en ny typ av aktör dykt upp i internationella konflikter och krig världen över. Denna aktör är privata företag som i dagsläget erbjuder allt från supplementär logistik till att helt ersätta nationella arméer. Utgångspunkten i denna uppsats är att ta reda på vilka faktorer som har skapat en marknad för dessa företag generellt, samt vilka av dessa faktorer som kan förklara framväxten i Sverige specifikt.I uppsatsen undersöks befintlig forskning kring vad som drivit utvecklingen. Därefter kommer befintlig teori att prövas som förklaringsmodell för expansionen i Sverige.Den befintliga teorin som prövats på Sverige består av sju faktorer beskrivandes politiska och samhälleliga förutsättningar vilka förklarar expansionen. Av dessa återfinns samtliga i Sverige, men genom en analys av deras respektive giltighet i svensk kontext uppstår en mer nyanserad bild, där endast fyra av faktorerna är relevanta som förklaringar.

In this essay I analyze the concepts security and security policy from a critical, feministic point of view. The traditional way of thinking security is state-centred and narrow with its military oriented threatening pictures and solutions.I advocate that the two concepts need a more feministic and holistic approach to be able to cope with the threats of our time and include the security for women explicitly.To suggest how this can be done I introduce a model; security-sphere, which should be seen as a way to constructively connect my objections to the existing research with a new approach to security problems. The security-sphere is based on two analytical parts; the private security sub-sphere and the public security sub-sphere, in order to make new images of security problems visible.It is a fact that most of the threats against women specifically, take place in the private sphere where no traditional analytical tools reach in - these threats have not been seen as 'real' security problems. My aim is therefore to integrate these issues into the agenda of security policy..

Big dangerous Russia, environmental thief or house warmer? The Nord Stream pipelines are a highly debated theme in Europe and the EU. A number of different countries will be subject to the pipelines direct or indirect. This paper aims to figure out what kind of threats and possibilities Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Germany consider to be the consequences with the pipelines.The study takes as a standpoint the area of security studies and the widened of the same. The three standpoints within the security study that will be used are military security, environmental security and energy security.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate what kind of motives where behind the long term decisions for the Swedish military defense in 2000 and 2004. This leads to the questions that the essay is meant to answer; 1. Were the motives behind the two decisions for the Swedish military defense of economic character or an adjustment of security and defense policy? 2. Was the parliament united in the two decisions and if they were not, why? 3.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate what kind of motives where behind the long term decisions for the Swedish military defense in 2000 and 2004. This leads to the questions that the essay is meant to answer; 1. Were the motives behind the two decisions for the Swedish military defense of economic character or an adjustment of security and defense policy? 2. Was the parliament united in the two decisions and if they were not, why? 3.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate what kind of motives where behind the long term decisions for the Swedish military defense in 2000 and 2004. This leads to the questions that the essay is meant to answer; 1. Were the motives behind the two decisions for the Swedish military defense of economic character or an adjustment of security and defense policy? 2. Was the parliament united in the two decisions and if they were not, why? 3.

In our world, more than two billion people are living under insecure food conditions and more than eight hundred million people are estimated to be starving. The majority of these people live in developing counties which are poor and often subject of civil war. The past fifty years the main subject of security analysis has been the sovereign and rational state and the threats have been viewed in terms of military and weapons of mass destruction. This has come to change over the last decades and security as a concept has broadened, which better represents the reality of today. Within this broader conceptualization of security the main referent of security is the individual, rather than the state, and threats are not only analyzed from a military point of view, but also seen as threats against human rights and freedoms.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study is to analyse if the UN today constructs the water issue as a security issue and to argue about in which way the organization in that case does so alternatively why it can be said that the UN doesn?t construct the water issue as a security issue.In order to reach this purpose the following questions will be answered:?Does the UN construct the water issue as a security issue today?-If yes, in which way?-If no, why can it be said that the organisation doesn?t?The methods used are qualitative literature studies of policy documents on water from the UN. The focus is to analyze the ideas about water and to apply my theory on the concept of security, which is Barry Buzan?s framework on security, to these ideas.The main results showed that the UN strongly constructs the water issue as an environmental security issue for environments and species and in relatively strong terms also constructs it as an environmental security issue for civilisations. In rare cases the organisation constructs it as a societal security issue, but the UN doesn?t construct the water issue as a military, political or economic security issue..

During 2009-2010 Sweden participated in an international military operation whose intention, according to the Swedish news media, was to fight Somali pirates. The purpose of this thesis is to study various decisions and documents behind the Swedish efforts, both military and foreign aid, regarding the matter of Somali pirates during the years 2009-2010 and analyze the results using an interpretation of the security-development-nexus-theory. The method used is text analysis based on the hermeneutic idea of understanding and interpretation.The thesis studies the international resolutions and national decisions that lead to the military operations in the Gulf of Aden and also the international strategies and national approaches regarding Sweden's assistance in the development of Somalia. The theoretical section contains an interpretation of the vast security-development-nexus-theory. The concepts of security and development are first presented separately and then collectively in terms of military security, societal security, economic security, regime security and human security.

The 1900s saw two incidents of states using their military in civil disorder situations, which resulted in the killing of unarmed citizens. May 14, 1931 in Ådalen, marks a significant part of Swedish history and its view of the use of military force.  On that day, a peaceful protest march escalated, which resulted in live firing by the military stationed there to uphold law and order. This resulted in the deaths of five civilians and the prohibition of the use of military force in incidents of civil disorder. In 1972 in Northern Ireland a similar event took place on January 30, which is commonly known as Bloody Sunday. The Troubles were raging and resulted in protests for civil rights by nationalists.

This thesis describes and examines a new line of business, CleanTech. CleanTech comprises a wide range of different types of companies and is not yet well defined. In this thesis only the Swedish market is considered, and a variety of players on the market are included to give the most extensive picture of the current situation. Recent research shows that a gap has arisen between governmental financing and private equity-investments in CleanTech-companies. This gap occurs mainly in companies in expansive phases and causes problems both for the companies and for the line of business as a whole. To investigate this gap the Swedish CleanTech-business is described in terms of earlier and existing financing, age and size of the companies and their turnover and profit.

Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

The concept of security is a contested one. The United Nations definition in UNDPs Development report of 1994 is the most authoritive and commonly cited. The civil war in Sudan has led to 2 million deaths and over 5.5 million refugees. In a resolution from 2005, the UN decided that the war in Sudan was a threat to international security and peace. The 10th of January UN decided that a peace commission ought to be send with 10 000 military and civil men including 700 policemen.The main purpose of this thesis is to improve our knowledge of those factors which can cause an increased risk of conflict within a state, and how that can affect the social conditions for individuals.