A common feature within political debate is the decline of parties as organizations. Political theorists have in general, without proper empirical investigation, embraced the idea of the freezing of party systems and of the catch-all party model as the end point of party development. This essay aims to analyze and explain the emergence and increasing amount of political secretaries within Swedish

The essay evaluates Trelleborg´s attempt to enhance local democracy. The study first describes how the municipality has implemented the measures in developing democracy. Then, an assessment is made regarding if the measures have contributed to a strengthened local democracy. The result of the study indicates that some of the measures have helped to strengthen the local grassroots democracy, while

In this master's thesis I analyse how partially changing ideas and procedures regarding democracy can be incorporated into local politics. I argue that you can see a development of a democracy policy field, democracy politics, in Sweden, where politicians introduce initiatives with the aim of involving citizens in decision-making processes. I have chosen to conduct a case study on the city of

This essay is a study conducted within the global political theory branch of political science. The essay’s main concern is that of cosmopolitan imaginations, in this case illustrated by Ulrich Beck’s concept the cosmopolitan outlook. The purpose of this essay is firstly to interpret the idea of the cosmopolitan outlook and show the significance that a cosmopolitan outlook may have for the emergen

Westernization is a centuries long project started in the Ottoman Empire, in order to fix the dysfunctionalities of the empire inside and to boost the empire’s image outside. It has transformed into a quest of transformation of Turkey into a modern state and it found its reflection in the foreign policy as a pro-Western approach in the Turkish Republic. Historical institutionalism suggests that th

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a relatively new technique which allows for parents to choose an embryo for implantation based on genetic information obtained from different embryos. The technique has potenatial beneficial effects such as the elimination and treatment of genetic disorders, but is also highly controversial due to its ethical and moral aspects, and the possible future sce

International climate change negotiations are a complex phenomenon, which is characterised by coalitions. The developing countries are represented by the Group of 77, G-77, whose member countries differ largely with regard to political as well as economic matters, but also concerning their exposure to climate change. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the question why the G-77 coope

Ecuador is one of the countries in Latin America where an indigenous movement has a significant influence on politics. This qualitative study examines the indigenous movement in Ecuador and how it relates to the state, in an analysis departing from theories on social movements. This thesis, emphasizing the indigenous perspective, is based on empirical material collected in a minor field study in E

In 2007 the preferential trading agreements between the EUs and its former colonies elapsed. The need for the new Economical Partnership Agreement had been known for long and the new agreements were claimed to have a larger development element and aimed to stimulate regional integration in the African communities. Making African states negotiate in Regional Economic Communities to reach region-wid

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att diskutera anställningsbarhet. Anställningsbarhet är ett begrepp som förknippas med högre utbildning och som i samband med Bolognaprocessen har fått förnyad popularitet. Sveriges beslut om en ny utbildnings- och examensstruktur (2007) har tvingat många utbildningsinstitutioner att revidera sina kursplaner och i det arbetet har anställningsbarhet blivit en viktig

This master’s thesis examines the motives of non-aligned, geographically peripheral and smaller European Union (EU) Member States (MS) Finland, Sweden and Ireland to participate in EU military crisis management operations. It also studies the effects that these MS have had in the development of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Theoretically this thesis is based on a typology that Aly

This thesis examines the evolution of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) in the EU. The overarching purpose is to give an example of ideational causation in the EU, and concretely, to illustrate how a norm can cause changes to policy and to policymaking. It is argued that the PCD concept is essentially a norm, because it provides a guideline for how to prioritize between differing and often co

The concept of terrorism is deeply negative. This effects the politics of the world but as well the studies of terrorism it self. This paper will try to categorize these studies. Because the author believes that you can find disparate understandings and premises of fundamental issues about the state and political violence in the research of the terrorism. The political scientists Hans F Petersson

The EU has recently shifted its trade policy from multilateralism to bilateralism, and this has highly affected Turkey via the existing trade regime with the EU. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reactions of current actors in Turkey to the EU’s increasing FTAs with third countries in the EU-Turkey trade regime context. To do this, a theoretical framework has been established by using

This master’s thesis contributes to the theoretical development of the role of intelligence services in state-building. To that end it establishes a theoretical framework consisting of current research in the field of intelligence and state-building. The role of the Kenyan intelligence services in the Kenyan state-building endeavor is then thoroughly analyzed using a range of primary and secondary

With the puzzle of one-party dominance still looming large, I seek to shed some light on which factors might be considered as explanatory to the long period of hegemony of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. Using existing theories on one-party dominance I examine and argue for Japan’s historical and cultural heritage, the pragmatic flexibility of the LDP, the failure of opposition parties, the

The objective of this paper is to understand the debate around the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 and find a tool to describe it. In connection with the games a great debate occurred around the world: whether the games should be boycotted or not. The reasons for the boycott threat was because of the Chinese attitude towards human rights. By following the debate in the two bigger Swedish newspap

Bosnia, a country torn by war in the 1990s, has yet not experienced reconciliation. Fifteen years after the war, fears are mounting, that Bosnia is again teetering toward crisis. This paper explores an under-studied factor in reconciliation – the meaning of the city. The analysis is carried out and inspired by Scott. A. Bollens theoretical framework, arguing that cities are physically, socially, p

The thesis aims to explain to the development of the European Court of Justice into a constitutional court. The transformation of ECJ into a de facto constitutional court is studied using three perspectives, constitutionalism, neofunctionalism and by a judicial activism perspective. By using the three mentioned theories it’s made possible to understand the court’s development from a political and

The purpose of this thesis is to inspect the very foundations of the preventive war, in form of its moral justification. In terms of exploring that fairness, the War on terror will be used for challenging the matter of justification as well as demonstrating a new and transformed way of referring to preventive aggression, as have been done by the Bush-administration since September 11. The methods