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During the last decades, a growing scientific focus has been aimed towards climate change and climate mitigation. As local communities often have more ambitious climate policies than their governments, the role of municipalities and local climate governance has received an increased scientific focus. An area where climate mitigation has been especially hard to achieve is the transport sector. One
Eric Voegelin and Leo Strauss are two prominent critics of modernity. In this paper I inquire into whether or not these two thinkers share a core understanding of modernity, what that would be, and what kind of relevance that would have. I find that they do indeed share a core understanding of modernity, and that this understanding is characterized by modernity as an artificial limitation of the h
There are many policy areas where the different governmental bodies need to work together to provide a service. Healthcare for elders in Sweden is one example where the region and municipality need to coordinate. The collaboration of eldercare has been criticised over the years for not living up to the set standards. The responsible authority for eldercare has changed a number of times since its i
This thesis dives into the issue of conflict-related sexual violence through the empirical case of the African Union and its Peace and Security Council (PSC), aiming at understanding how conflict-related sexual violence is constructed within the PSC between 2010-2020. Applying a feminist power theory and through a discourse analysis, the thesis asks four open-ended questions regarding: conflicts,
This thesis explores a prominent practice in modern society: critique. More precisely, the institutionalisation of critique is investigated, as the thesis aims to understand what sort of critique the Swedish Gender Equality Agency performs. Through a synthesis of thoughts from the poststructuralist tradition and contemporary critical theory, two ideal-types of feminist criticism – system bursting
Bolivia holds among the biggest reserves of lithium in the world. Lithium-ion batteries are essential components in electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines, and are therefore crucial for a global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Meanwhile, the extraction process of lithium can cause large environmental damage. Bolivia has previously failed to industrialize its lithium,
’Populism’ is a term with contested meanings in both academia and media, but the focus of debate on this topic is often directed towards the former category. This essay focuses on the latter and so examines the different meanings of the term ’populism’ in Swedish opinion journalism. It does so by applying terms and theoretical concepts from the poststructuralist discourse theory developed by
With the adoption of its Global Strategy from 2016, the European Union set an ambition of becoming strategically autonomous in global affairs. The aim of strategic autonomy has been extensively studied as a defence strategy, though scholars have found that little has been achieved due to lack of will in the Union. At the same time strategic autonomy has received increased political attention in mo
The politicization of scientific facts, such as climate change, is a highly debated phenomenon in the US. It is well established that climate change is both real, and human-caused. Still, significant parts of the American political community refuse to adhere to this scientific fact. During the Trump administration this resulted in the American Environmental Protection Agency becoming the focal poi
The aim of this study is to investigate whether crops are a mechanism through which drought affects terrorist activity. The theory suggests that drought can affect conflict if the group or country affected also is dependent on agriculture, experiences low economic development and is politically excluded. This study adds the perspective that decreased crop harvests, due to drought, can be understoo
Why certain decision-making actors frame different conditions as problems within policymaking depends on various political factors. However, in the end, these actors aim to attract attention and cause change. The actors who produce these problem frames can from a theoretical point of view be perceived as problem brokers. A new model, titled Social Impact Bonds, has during the past years attracted
This master`s thesis designed to understand the social policy preferences of unemployed people from human capital investment perspectives. The aim of the research is to explain social policy preferences by referring to human capital theory to understand unemployed people`s preferences between unemployment cash benefits and labor market trainings. The research takes upskilling, earnings, together w
Previous conclusions in the research area established a decline of the European Union actorness on a global scale. One reason for this could possibly be that other international actors have increased their involvement from several aspects in regions where the European Union previously had a major influence, such as Africa and the Western Balkans. Therefore, the aim of this study is to broaden and
Although considered to be one of the greatest achievements of the European integration process and continuously shown to be favoured by a majority of Europeans, the principle of Freedom of Movement (FOM), with an emphasis on Freedom of Movement of Persons (FOMOP) has been increasingly politicised over the past few years. In the light of reintroduced border controls in 2015, and a heightened debate
This thesis builds upon the recent literature criticizing the conceptual flaws and liberal bias of soft power studies. It will be argued that these shortcomings have resulted in a faulty understanding of soft power and a rejection of the possibilities of authoritarian soft power. It will also be contended that the rejection of authoritarian soft power has resulted in a fallacy portraying Russian s
This essay is a qualitative study of the Swedish primary care and covers the medical professions’ experiences and opinions about the organizational governance of health care. Eight semi structured interviews have been made with four doctors, two physiotherapists, one psychologist and one nurse. The interviews aimed for the respondents to talk about their experiences of governance and compensation
As many societies are digitally transforming, citizens need to adapt and acquire digital skills to participate. Research has shown that low levels of digital skills can increase digital exclusion, and that skills needed to participate in society should be addressed in digital policy. The European Union (EU) with its many citizens has the potential to affect them all through its policies. In this t
In order to stay globally competitive, the European Union is in the process of transforming into a data economy. Therefore, the European Commission has published its Strategy on Data in order to address this macro development. Further, the private sector directly affected by policies has its own strategy to address this issue. One particular initiative, GAIA-X, envisions a European federation of c
In recent decades, the Republic of Turkey has emerged on the global stage. Through a number of state-run organisations, the country has built a notable presence across former Ottoman territories as well as in the broader Muslim world. This thesis investigates the activities of the Turkish state against the backdrop of Joseph S. Nye’s theory of soft power through a case study of the Turkish presenc
Despite the well-known threat that the use of fossil fuels poses to the climate many countries continue to provide large subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. The EU has declared that its member states should phase-out fossil fuel subsidies, but progress has been lacking and subsidies for fossil fuels in the EU remain large. This paper aims to understand which factors explain the persistence of s
