This is a comparative case study of the Committee of the Regions and regional offices. It explores using written records whether history can unveil contrasting features between these two systems using historical institutionalism as the guide. First, it examines the beginning of regional engagement in the European Union with the formation of European Regional Development Fund and the Single Europea

This paper examines the relationship between feminism and nationalism in a contemporary society. With the development of an autonomous region in Iraq, the autonomous Kurdish region in the country saw the rise of new actors in the society. This study has focused on the case of Kurdish women in Iraqi Kurdistan and investigated how nationalism and feminism can be complementary. Using tools from disco

According to data by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) one third of all food produced for human consumption goes to waste. This phenomenon is both normalized and socially obscured within a discursive regime that is materially sustained in the squander of natural resources, the most severe consequence of which is an overall threat to the life-support system of the pl

The genocide in Cambodia has come to be known as one of the bloodiest in the modern history. During a period of only four years, 1975 – 1979, between 1,5 to 2 million people in the country was butchered. The responsible behind this slaughter was Khmer Rouge under leadership of Pol Pot. The focus for this paper is to make an analysis of the ideology that Khmer Rouge pledged for and test it empirica

The war on drugs has failed. The 'world drug problem' is bigger than ever. The repressive law-enforcement policies are counterproductive. What now? A new approach is needed, one that accepts the fact that drugs cannot be eliminated from society, but focuses on the harm that it causes, so says science. But is the world ready to adopt this new approach? It does not seem to be the case. This

Voluntary Sector Organisation Public Partnerships (IOP) are a new collaboration form for voluntary and public organisations aiming to give financial support to a welfare service provided by the voluntary actor. The aim of this study is to examine to what extent a voluntary organisation can be independent in order to be able to advocate as an IOP-participant. The object of study is the Red Cross an

Historically, animals have been excluded from the realms of political theory and political science. The underpinning disposition of this thesis is that animals belong in politics, considering it is the political processes and ideologies that determine our treatment of animals. The European Union started to legislate on the protection and welfare of farm animals during the 1970s. Over time, a slow

Reception of asylum-seeking minors has recently gained a lot of attention in the EU, due to the dramatic increase of minors fleeing war and conflicts. Since no EU regulation exists regarding how the reception of minors should be conducted, it is up to the member states to legislate domestically on the matter. In 2014, the Swedish parliament approved an amendment to the law on reception of asylum s

Since 2010, the EU`s External Action Service (EEAS) is the permanent chair of the Council working groups on the EU´s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), thus terminating the procedural rule of EU member states alternatingly holding the presidency of such working groups for a period of sixmonths. This thesis aims therefore at exploring the consequences of the EEAS taking over the chairmanshi

In this thesis, I have conducted a descriptive, comparative study to highlight the differences between the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali and the special political mission (SPM) in Libya, with regards to the promotion of democratic development and direct support to facilitate such development. My study will show that even though the ambitions and the nature of the support is almost identical, the

The Swedish prostitution policy that prohibits the purchase of sexual services has been the subject of considerable debate. Internationally, prostitution is predominantly criminalized due to religious reasons. This makes the Swedish policy, motivated by feminist arguments on women’s rights, unique. Recently, a debate has arisen where domestic human rights organizations criticize the policy using a

The study reformulates neofunctionalism as a theory of regional integration by adding insights from liberal intergovernmentalism and the theory of incomplete contracts which has been developed in new institutional economics. This framework is then applied to the integration processes that have been undertaken in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) of the European Union (EU) since the outbreak of

The purpose with this studie is to see if it is possible to call Svergiedemokraterna a feministic party and if you can explain the diffrent views of feminsim inside the party whit the teory of partyculture. Whit the help of ideal types created from four diffrent feministic perspektives (difference feminism, existentialist feminism, nationalistic feminism and intersectional feminism) and a discussi

This thesis examines remittances effect on development in less developed counties through human capital attainment, by evaluating the evidence for remittances effect on girls’ primary education. Remittances, the sum of money migrants send back to a household when migrating to work, have potential to contribute to development by directly supplying families with additional income. A major inhibitor

The aim of following thesis is to deepen the understanding of the decision to re-inforce border control at Swedish borders in a time referred to as the “refugee crisis”. The situation which prevailed was described as being an issue of safety, a threat to the common order. This is a study of the government’s motives and aims behind the measures, and the consequences which arose from it. Inspired by

How do decision makers problematize unestablished EU citizens in terms of the Swedish welfare model? By utilizing Carol Bacchi’s critical policy analysis de-scribed as ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’, the aim of this study is partly to identify and map out what problem representations are made by Swedish deci-sion makers, and partly to illustrate how to understand these by means of the wel

The essay explores the legitimizing, rationalizing, universalizing and naturalizing effects of ideology with focus on the Swedish trade union LO and employers’ organization Svenskt Näringsliv. The material consists of two reports both concerning the issue of lowering the minimum wage. Ideology is discussed in relation to the use of expert knowledge and how the use of expert knowledge can be read a

The great climate impact of the agri-food sector has only recently been brought into light, and become a concern of political actors around the world. Standardizations as an initiative to govern this sector have received increasing attention, but while these initiatives can prove an effective tool for influencing consumer choice, they also hold certain problematic characteristics. Although they ar

The Populist Radical Right party family consists of parties often stigmatized by the political establishment around Europe and is regarded as a rather heterogeneous party family in comparison with other traditional party families in Europe. By comparing Populist Radical Right parties using methods found in the academic literature on party families, this study sets out to test the cohesiveness of t

This paper investigates the recruitment of foreign fighters to the Kurdish armed forces YPG and YPJ, who combat the jihadist Islamic State in Western Kurdistan. The research question addresses the mystery of how people with no ties to the conflict area can be motivated to risk their lives in a distant conflict abroad, when they could just choose not to. David Malet´s theory of the framing of the c