This thesis, drawing from several empirical investigations, reaches the conclusion that there seems to be a positive correlation between the level of democracy and the level of state capacity in Latin American countries. This correlation is explained by a hypothesis derived from Rational Choice theory. With some important caveats, this conclusion is then applied to the discussion about democracy as a form of government. Within democracy, the thesis also offers an insight into different electoral systems and its possible implications, mostly on a theoretical level. The thesis only exists in swedish as of yet..

This paper deals with institutional and structural factors' influence on democratic transition in limited multiparty regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Comparing the cases Kenya and Tanzania, of which the former has made a transition to democracy and the latter has not, this paper reaches the conclusion that political traditions, the coalescing of the opposition, and the elites ability to learn from the electoral process is essential for a transition to democracy. In the specific cases, the harshness of the Moi regime and the Tanzanian vision of national unity may possibly carry some explanatory power, alongside the pressure from international actors.These results have been reached through the application of a comparative case study, where democratic transition constitutes the dependent variable. It should be noted that a harsh definition of the term transition has been applied, according to which the incumbents actual loss of an election is a necessary indicator for transition. However, the Freedom House and Polity scores have been brought up as complement of this definition.

The purpose of this thesis is to explain why states obtain nuclear weapons and the role variousactors and interests play in the making of states´ nuclear policies. The main questions are asfollows: (1) What big theories exist concerning states obtaining nuclear weapon and nucleararmament in International Relations and what relevance do they have of the post cold-war period?,(2) What is the meaning of the perspective of the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC)?, and (3)Arethere empirical studies which supports the existence of a MIC in the United States?The focus lies on actors and driving forces that are internal to states and it is also important toinvestigate if the theories have relevance for the post 9/11-era. The study uses the method ofqualitative literature-study with some quantitative segments. It is claimed that states might beinterested in justifying their behaviour in a morally appealing way and that real reasons may behidden.

The purpose of this study is to survey how the Sweden Democrats? success in the latest election to the Swedish parliament has changed teaching in social science. The main question is: in what way has the success of the Sweden Democrats influenced social science teaching? This leads to following sub-questions: 1) how do the social science teachers define the Sweden Democrats, 2) how do teachers relate to the Sweden Democrats in the classroom, 3) has there been a change in students? political opinions and 4) were there any discussions or proposals from the school administration which followed the parliamentary election of 2010? To answer these questions, interviews were made with four teachers. The main conclusion of this study is that the Sweden Democrats? success led to a simplification of teaching because phenomena and opinions that were previously taboo nowadays are normalized and thus have its place in the classroom.

I wanted to focus this essay on the operative?s perspective of running religious organizations in the city of Karlstad and to see positive and negative aspects of their day-to-day life working with their organization, following up with a comparison of the difference and the similarities between those groups. After delimitating which groups I was going to examine, I implemented a qualitative study of four people, from two different religious groups, whom I performed interviews with. My method of performing these interviews and understanding the perspective of the informants, I had a semi structured interview guide along with a recent study that was opting for similar conclusions, only in a different county and with different input perspective. The result of my study showed a difference in establishment of their region but with a lot of similarities in problems with their religious and structural premises.

This paper is a statistical examination about how the European Parliament views questions about equality between women and men. It focuses on how the members understand gender equality depending on ideological standpoint, nationality and gender. In other words, it focuses on whether the politicians have different point of views depending on which parliamentary political group they belong to, which member state they are coming from or which gender (man/woman) they have.Equality between women and men is a complex problem. This paper is concentrating on two questions; the problem about setting up a European gender institute and the problem about gender mainstreaming.The examination, which is a statistical examination about how politicians were voting in both questions, shows that all variables, ideological standpoint, nationality and gender, are determining factors for their voting behaviour in questions about gender equality. Ideological standpoint is the most important variable, second in place is gender and the least important factor is nationality..

This thesis analyzes the media debates generated by the election of Omar Mustafa to the board of the social democratic party, and the appointment of the conservative Minister of Labour, Elisabeth Svantesson. More specifically, the aim is to analyze newspaper material through a discourse analyze, to see if and how religious affiliation effects the possibilities to act as a political representative. Theories of othering and intersectionality serve as theoretical points of departure. Further, chains of equivalence from Laclau and Mouffe?s discourse theory are used to study how categories as ?us? and ?the other? are constructed in the material, and how these processes of categorization relate to the intersection of religion, gender and ethnicity.

The hypocrisy of democracy is to help autocratic rulers to stay in power because it benefits their own country. This thesis examines how the United States of America justified their cooperation with the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during the period of 1953-1979, until he was overthrown by his own people. This case-study doesn´t make general conclusions about the US foreign policy towards other countries except Iran.The theoretical starting point for the empirical analysis is the political dilemma of dirty hands. With the analytical instrument, constructed with a normative analysis about the concept of dirty hands, it´s possible to discover which ethical discipline the American presidents had to uphold to justify their actions.There are three different aspects of their cooperation which are lifted in this thesis. The first one is about the circumstances that made them begin their cooperation, the second regards the features of the cooperation.

AbstractTitle: What TV-glasses do you wear? A study in how party-political people decode the TVshow Scooby Doo (Vilka tv-glasögon har du? En studie i hur partipolitiskt aktiva personer tolkar tv-serien Scooby Doo)Number of pages: 47 (54 including enclosures)Author: Christopher LandstedtTutor: Amelie HössjerCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Autumn term 2007University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University.Purpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to make a study in how party-political people, 18-25 years old, both female and male, decode the messages in the TV-show Scooby Doo from 1969. Do they decode the show differently because of their political view, their gender or, and their social background? Is there a pattern in the decoding or is it based on a more individual level?Material/Method: A qualitative method containing a total number of 16 individual interviews with young adults, 18-25 years old, half of them female, the other half male, were used. All of the participants are members of political youth parties/organizations, equally divided in left and right wing parties.

The aim of this thesis is to spread some light over the coming into being of the 2005 Pension Reform in Norway. The point of departure lies within an interest in Welfare State politics and the development in this field. Pensions constitute a cornerstone in the Welfare State. Making use of J. Kingdon´s Theory of the Agenda Setting Process, Discourse Theory and Institutional Theory the thesis seek to visualize the implications of structures, central actors and discourses on the reform processes.

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.

The aim of our thesis was to gain greater knowledge of how young people relate to religion, religiosity and life, and this behavior might show influences of a gender perspective. Part of the aim was also to have greater awareness of how our education should include a gender perspective. To get to this goal, we have assumed the qualitative investigation method which we discussed with a number of students who read last year of high school. First, the interviews were aimed to let students talk about matters concerning religion and life. The next step was to examine their thoughts with a gender perspective as a starting point.

The purpose of this essay is to give the reader an insight in the subject of torture. This is done through both an historical perspective and by showing how torture methods are used today, even though torture is prohibited by law. Many refugees who come to Sweden today have survived torture, and the trauma can cause multiple illnesses related to the tragic memories. In addition to physical damage many also suffer from depression and post traumatic stress, due to the experiences of torture.Together with the Swedish Red Cross we designed a questionnaire which was sent to politicians and elected officials. In the questionnaire we asked questions concerning knowledge of injuries due to torture and what treatment options these people have in Sweden.

The aim of our Master´s thesis is to investigate the development of the different libraries in the former communities of Flisby and Lofta during the former part of the twentieth century. We ask the following questions:How did the libraries in Flisby and Lofta develop between the years of 1905 and 1952?How can we understand the libraries? dependency of funding of different kinds? We have used case study as a method, and we have adopted a source criticism approach. We have mainly used our local archives and among other things we have investigated various sorts of protocols, annual reports, auditor?s reports and the accounts that were sent to the Board of Education.

Early intervention is important on different levels and must be justified as a social and economic long-term investment. There is no doubt about the importance of early detection when helping children/students in need of support. What kind of support that is deemed suitable and who provides the support can be viewed from different perspectives and with different approaches. Seen from a relational perspective the special education process is a long-term process and affects not only the individual but the whole school culture and systems may need changing. This study intends to describe the importance of the learning environment and what efforts are initiated early for students in need of support from the special education point of view.