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A strong linkage between the political views of the public and political elites is a fundamental feature of the democratic process. This master thesis aims to analyze the congruence between politicians and voters regarding the proposal to prohibit private welfare companies to earn profit. By using a matched pair of surveys collected during the years of 2012 and 2017, this essay analyses how issue
Climate change is becoming increasingly present and the individual responsibility of states, as well as global corporations, are emphasized as absolutely necessary in order to be able to achieve sustainable development for future generations. This essay is a descriptive discourse analysis about Norway's oil extraction in the vulnerable Arctic region. The goal of this essay is to examine how th
Historically being a success to the European Union and its integration processes, technical standardisation has been a dormant policy area low down on the European Commission’s agenda priority list – until now. The increasing international competition has arguably spurred the Commission to push for speedy developments in standardisation to establish the EU once again in a leading position, thus ef
This paper aims to understand the constitution of the al-Hol camp in Syria, where thousands of women and children from 57 different countries are detained in subhuman conditions. I did that by studying the case of the Swedish children, motivated by the contradiction that those children did not get help even though they belong to one of the most liberal welfare states in the world. As a result, par
The purpose of this thesis has been to explain and investigate Estonia’s democratization by studying the country to find the factors that contributed to the outcome of a democratic state. Estonia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1992 and quickly transitioned towards a stable democratic state, and 13 years later the country joined the European Union, which proved the ultimate consolidat
The Swedish foreign policy is based on values such as peace, human rights and democracy. Along with these values, Sweden has been exporting weapons to the Saudi-led coalition who is a part of the war in Yemen. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Sweden’s arms export to warring countries in Yemen should be conducted based on the legal framework, the guidelines and the commitments in the
This thesis examines how free establishment for private health care providers relates to the geographical distribution of primary care centers in the Skane region. Also, the region’s work with the primary cares’ reimbursement systems is examined. I theorize different ownership forms based on profit motive; publicly-run, private-in-own-operation, cooperative-private-limited-companies, and corporate
Climate refugees are becoming increasingly common due to increased global warming as a result of excess emissions, the vast majority of which come from the Global North. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the climate refugee issue is described in Swedish media against a backdrop of a potential conflict between a Swedish self-image as progressive in humanitarian matters, and the recent strict
This study aims to examine in which way the Swedish security discourse has been portrayed in Swedish media during a nearby conflict at two separate time periods, Prague spring 1968 and the war in Ukraine 2022. The purpose is to find out how the security discourse in the media reporting has changed between these events. Through a qualitative content analysis as a method, news articles that have bee
Nowadays, excessive congestion has become a pressing issue for many large cities. Traffic congestion is one of the main sources of air pollutants. A congestion tax is a priced-based policy instrument, aimed to reduce congestion and improve air quality in inner city areas. Revenue from the congestion tax is used for investments in public transport and a better road system in the city. In Sweden, a
The European Union is often characterised as a normative power; an actor that is driven by values and principles such as democracy, liberty, peace and the rule of law. This thesis investigates whether the European Union perceives itself as such through a qualitative case study of how the EU perceives its role in Africa. It utilises role theory – in the form of a typology of national role conceptio
The covid-19 pandemic has left an irreversible impact of an immense magnitude on the world. Over six million people have died after contracting the virus, and millions more are grieving and living with the aftermath of a loss of a family member. In Europe, countries have chosen different ways to tackle and curb the spread of the virus with varying degree of success, In order to save lives, complia
The way in which the Mughal rulers Akbar and Aurangzeb are commonly represented perpetuates a misleading and occasionally dangerous depiction. Akbar is described as a liberal and tolerant leader, whose only goal was to bring eternal peace to Hindus and Muslims. Aurangzeb on the other hand is characterized as a dogmatic and fiercly conservative Muslim whose main objective was the subjugation and ha
This thesis unpacks the similarities and dissimilarities between Connecting Europe and Asia – Building blocks for an EU Strategy from 2018 and the Global Gateway from 2021, two Joint Communications from the European Commission and the EEAS on connectivity. The comparison shows that the Global Gateway has followed up on the suggestions for change or creation from the 2018 strategy. It shows that th
This study aims to investigate a potential convergence between the Green and Liberal parties of Europe regarding cultural issues of the GAL-TAN-scale, such as the environmental issue in particular. The focus on this issue is inspired by the increased debate and focus on the issue in relation to the 2019 European Parliament elections and by the theory of issue entrepreneuring strategies of the Gree
This thesis seeks to investigate how the EU member states react to the occurrence of an internal crisis within the EU. More specifically, how a European identity gets either strengthened or weakened by experiencing challenges. When addressing a European identity, this thesis works with the term of “belonging”, an attachment to something greater when defining the concept of European identity. Throu
This study investigates the relationship between political trust and income inequality in 29 European countries, using Easton’s (1975) trust-as-evaluation approach. The theoretical basis consists of Easton (1975) and Rothstein’s (2011)Low Trust-Corruption-Inequality trap theory. Political trust is operationalized through, trust in parliament, legal system, and police, whilst economic inequality i
The today decentralised Swedish school system is argued to be within a crisis. Furthermore the debate on re-centralisation of the school system is active. The school principals, as central actors for their units, are part of a bureaucratic and hierarchical chain of command controlled by both the state and municipalities. Hence, this paper focuses on what steering difficulties school principals exp
Democratic backsliding is becoming a bigger trend around the globe. This study examines how democratic backsliding has transpired in two post-Soviet countries, Poland and Estonia. This study has been conducted with the help of the comparative case study method where the time frame has been demarcated from the year the countries joined the European Union (2004) to present year. The theory democrati
The postmaterialism thesis put forth by Ronald Inglehart stipulates a relationship between wealth and non-physical values. Among these values is the protection of the environment, meaning that wealthier populations should more readily prioritise measures that further this goal. The postmaterialism theory has been a matter of contention, however, and there’s substantial critique against it. One of
