The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine which type of regime the state Iran is. There has been much research on this issue and the discussion is not over yet. I have departed from three theoretical perspectives in order to understand which type of regime the Middle Eastern nation is: theocracy, democracy and hybrid regime. The theocratic regimetype is composed by David L. Websters archeological theory about governments ruled by God. For the democratic theory in this study Robert Dahls analytical framework about democracy and polyarchy is used. The hybrid regime is mainly represented by Andreas Schedler indicators. A qualitative case study approach is used for the purpose of this study where I have constructed an analytical framework containing indicators in order to apply these on the three regime models. The results and conclusion I can draw from this study is that Iran is more like a hybrid regime. However, there are several reservations and there need to be more studies to qualify this suggestion.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka strömningarna i diskursen kring hur den svenska staten bör organisera sitt anti-diskrimineringsarbete. Teoretiska utgångspunkter och använda teorier är makt, diskriminering, grupp, diskursteori, intersektionalitet och författarnas eget begrepp för att benämna motståndarna till intersektionalitet; särsektionalitet. Metoden bygger på den anglosaxiska diskursteorin genom en identifikation av tre teman byggda på teorierna. Uppsatsen tar avstamp i SOU 2006:22 En sammanhållen diskrimineringslagstiftning Slutbetänkande av Diskrimineringskommittén och låter sju huvudaktörer komma till tals. Genom dessa aktörer identifieras två huvuddiskurser; en delvis intersektionell diskurs som är för en sammanslagning och en särsektionell diskurs som är mot en sammanslagning. Uppsatsen slutsats är att förståelsen för intersektionalitet bland berörda aktörer är väldigt låg och att en sammanslagning av ombudsmännen i dagsläget därmed inte skulle uppfylla det intersektionella syftet flera aktörer verkar förespråka.

The purpose of this essay is to increase knowledge about how latinamerican women are potrayed in American popular films. We examine whether ther are apparent sterotypes in relation to gender, ethnicity and class. With the support of an intersectionality approach and with the use of conceptual explanations of ''latino'' represantations in films, we aim to analyze three Hollywood films over the time period of 2003 to 2011. These films are ''Chasing papi'' (2003), ''Ask the dust'' (2006) and ''Without men'' (2011). The used method to enable us to further analyze the material is a qualitative content analysis. The crucial aspect of a qualitative content analysis is to work with themes, which we have done. These themes are (1) sexual discourse (2) rasified discourse (3) class marked femeninities.  Through our analysis we have found that the latinamerican female character is stereotyped in relation to her gender, ethnicity and class in the sense that she is portrayed different and exotic in contrast to other actors in the films.

This article presents survey results on Swedish and Finnish parliamentarians' perceptions concerning their influence over domestic decision making in European Union (EU) matters. In the literature the parliaments in Sweden and Finland are classified as powerful ones that can exert considerable influence over domestic EU policy making. Moreover, Finland and Sweden joined the EU at the same time. Therefore the overall expectation is that the parliaments should be equally powerful. However, the results from this survey indicate a significant difference in perceived influence between the two parliaments. It is obvious that Swedish parliamentarians perceive themselves as more marginalised in relation to the government than Finnish parliamentarians. After trying different explanations, it is concluded that the differences can be ascribed to the parliaments' different organisational set-ups for government oversight.

Denna uppsats har för avsikt att undersöka det negativa sambandet mellan arbetslöshet och tillväxt i svenska län. Sambandet vi använder oss av är den inom nationalekonomin välkända Okun’s lag. Denna lag kommer vi att applicera på Sveriges 21 län mellan åren 1986 till 2003. Vi förväntar oss att sambandet kommer att variera mellan länen. Vi har även tagit med tidigare regional forskning från USA där man har estimerat Okun’s lag för 26 delstater. Uppsatsen tar även upp troliga faktorer som inverkar på sambandet, detta är gjort för att läsaren skall kunna bilda sig en uppfattning om de bakomliggande orsakerna till variationen i sambandets styrka mellan de svenska länen.

The study aims to obtain a deeper understanding of how the opinions of security guards differ between their professional and the private roles that they occupy. Furthermore the purpose is to find out how violence and threats prevent the performance of a successful guard role. The method we have used was qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight security guards. The result of the study suggests that the professional life and the personal life may form two separate spheres. The presence of threats and violence shapes a professional role where the internal cooperation is the main key.

In this article, we examine the occurrence of pre-electoral coalitions (PECs). Recent research points to when and why they are likely to occur, but these explanations are pitched at aggregate level, and they are less satisfying when applied to our particular cases. Rather than institutional or party-system features, we concentrate on the parties themselves – a level of analysis that raises theoretical and methodological challenges, which we discuss. Empirically, we investigate two cases of PEC in 2005–2006. One involved three Norwegian left-of-centre parties, the other involved four Swedish right-of-centre parties; both marked major departures from established behavioural patterns. We suggest certain conditions that may be necessary for a PEC to be formed. In particular, we argue that ‘decisive’ parties must prioritize office at the moment of decision, and that this preference order may be induced by some sort of environmental or intra-party stimulus.

This article examines the institutional arrangements between Social Democratic parties and trade unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. First, the authors show how these relations have weakened at a varying pace. Party–union ties are now quite distant in Denmark, but remain relatively close in Norway and, especially, Sweden. Second, the authors explore this variation using a simple model of political exchange. The finding is that the intensity of the relationship is correlated with the resources that each side can derive from the other, which in turn reflects national differences. Yet it is also clear that the degree of change is related to the formative phase of the institutional arrangement itself: the weaker the ties were from the beginning, the more easily they unravel in response to environmental changes.

The aim of this paper is to describe which view the Chinese government in connection with the Olympics wants to display for the natural world and analyze if this view coincide with China’s foreign-policy goals. A qualitative content analysis is used. By using the theory of rational choice and a model with three different political approaches I want to examine whether or not the foreign-policy goals of the Chinese regime comport with the view that displays in two major newspapers in China. Since the runoff voting in Moscow in 2001 for the 2008 Olympics the Chinese government has been able to act rational and to compose different strategies to use the Games in Beijing for political propaganda. The analysis show that the governing in China make use of domestic media to put across their political message and some of the most important foreign-policy goals also occur in articles that handle the Olympic Games of 2008.

The objective of the thesis is to make a stakeholder evaluation of the regularization process that in 2005 gave the right to irregular immigrants in Spain to apply for a legal status. I want to portray how different groups at the labour market experienced the process and identify the factors that contributed to the result. I further want to study if regularization can be seen as an effectual measurement for managing irregular immigration. The methods are qualitative interviews and text analysis combined with evaluation method. The main theories are Venturini’s and Levinson’s suggestions for a successful regularization. Other prominent theories are Soysal’s theory about citizenship, Jordan’s and Düvell’s and Castles theories about irregular immigration. The result shows that the main argument for carrying out the process was to improve the situation at the labour market. The most prominent factors that affected the outcome were the social consensus preceding the process and the prerequisite of having a job contract. The regularization of irregular immigrants had an overall positive outcome but the stringent prerequisites for being regularized together with problems with sanctions of employers probably had a somewhat negative outcome on the result of the regularization.

The aim of this work is to define the party structure of Feministic Initiative (FI). We want to examine the structure of an organization that doesn’t start out with a hierarchical order. We further intend to examine the party’s leadership; whether or not it is equal, between the three spokespersons.We find it interesting as a topic from a democratic point of view as well as to see if a flat structure could work in practice. We use several theories among them Michel’s “iron law of oligarchy” and Holmberg’s and Söderlind’s theory on flat organizations. There is modest research on leadership in Swedish political science; we therefore consider it important to highlight. Shared leadership is interesting to examine, for it might be an alternative to the traditional order.We use a mixed-methodology based upon qualitative interviews and text analysis. We have interviewed the three spokespersons and examined materials like official weekly letters written by the spokespersons and the party’s constitution.The result shows that a flat structure is hard to carry out in practise and it appears that some form of hierarchical order appears in the party structure. Despite efforts towards equality the shared leadership is not totally equal.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in tuberculosis (TB) mortality by level of education in male, female, urban and rural populations in several European countries. DESIGN: Data were obtained from the Eurothine Project, covering 16 populations between 1990 and 2003. Age- and sex-standardised mortality rates, the relative index of inequality and the slope index of inequality were used to assess educational inequalities. RESULTS: The number of TB deaths reported was 8530, with a death rate of 3 per 100000 per year, of which 73% were males. Educational inequalities in TB mortality were present in all European populations. Inequalities in TB mortality were greater than in total mortality. Relative and absolute inequalities were large in Eastern European and Baltic countries but relatively small in Southern European countries and in Norway, Finland and Sweden. Inequalities in mortality were observed among both men and women, and in both rural and urban populations. CONCLUSIONS: Socio-economic inequalities in TB mortality exist in all European countries. Firm political commitment is required to reduce inequalities in the social determinants of TB incidence. Targeted public health measures are called for to improve access to treatment of vulnerable groups and thereby reduce TB mortality.

Since the 1990s, the Swedish school system has become increasingly more diversified. Decentralization, the introduction of private schools, the challenge of globalization & increased ethnic diversity among pupils have contributed to an increasing heterogeneity. This project analyses the prospects for civic education in different institutional settings & contexts, in both public & private schools. Using unique survey data 1999 & 2009 we ask which effects different institutional settings have on "citizen competences," i.e., civic engagement, political efficacy, knowledge about democracy & political issues, & democratic values & tolerance. The project breaks down into three distinct but interrelated parts. The first deals with changes over time in young Swedes' civic competences. The second subproject focuses on the way & consequences when controversial issues are taught in different schools & institutional settings. The third sub-project adds a comparative perspective by analyzing similarities & differences among young people & schools in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland & England. Adapted from the source document.

Despite a general acknowledgement that knowledge about identities is essential for understanding international relations, surprisingly little has been written about what actually activates one of a state’s many identities and not another. More generally, the article suggests that situational relevance and commitment are of importance. More specifically, it is suggested that a policy area’s legitimisation is a factor that may affect the commitment to a collective identity. The argument is illustrated by the case of ‘Norden’, as the inhabitants of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden call their territory. The end of the Cold War and Sweden and Finland joining Denmark in the European Union (EU) put Nordic identity under severe stress in the beginning of the 1990s. As shown, this collective identity was intensely active in the case of the Nordic Passport Union, but less so in the case of environmental negotiations.

It is a contested issue to what extent international conventions on human rights actually constrain states. While earlier shown that courts may invoke international conventions, this article investigates to what extent legislators, when it comes to migration, are similarly restrained. In a context where the trend is that states limit immigration and curb asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants' social rights, the answer would seem to be that states are obviously unhampered. However, in Sweden there have been changes to the Swedish Aliens Act and to the entitlement to health care which have rather safeguarded asylum seeking and undocumented children's situation. This article discusses the role that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has played in this development and considers whether this has restrained Sweden's ability to act.

The most direct way to regulate immigration is to decrease the possibilities to reach a state’s territory through visa demands, carrier sanctions, and limiting the chances of granting a residence permit even when a person succeeds in reaching a state’s territory. However, during the last decade several scholars noted that in an attempt to decrease the number of asylum seekers, states have also started to curb asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants’ right to work and social benefits. Intriguingly, even though Sweden has followed this international pattern of using direct ways to curb the number of asylum seekers, this paper shows that to a large extent Sweden has abstained from using the more recent indirect methods. Although there are examples of reductions in social benefits, the trend has generally been the reverse in Sweden. Unexpectedly, we suggest that an economic crisis, such as the one that occurred in Sweden in the early 1990s, may lead to an increase of certain rights. We also discuss a number of possible explanations for the Swedish case, including whether a proportional electoral system creates possibilities for small parties to influence policies pertaining to social rights. Furthermore, since we demonstrate that in recent years children have been the primary beneficiaries of an increase in social rights, we suggest that groups perceived to be vulnerable are more likely to experience an increase in social rights.

The aim of this paper is in part to distinguish the ideas raised in the Swedish political debate on the new discrimination law in relation to protection of groups. Is protection by law against discrimination needed for the individual or the group? If it is needed for members of groups, are these groups viewed on as static or variable. Are there any conflicts present between group interests? We link these ideas to three different theoretical perspectives: multiculturalism, feminism and intersectionality and further examine the differences and contradictions between the perspectives represented by members of parliament. Drawing on the political debate and documents formulated within the government, this paper analyzes views on identity by group through the use of idea analysis. The main conclusions of this paper are the following. All theoretical views chosen are present within the debate. The representatives of feminism and multiculturalism call for distinctive needs. However, the philosophical debate current them between is not represented in the political debate on the discrimination law. The feminist concern stands without a multicultural opponent. The perspective on intersectionality is included in the debate but the understanding is quite incoherent. The government representatives choose to propagate for the principle of equal treatment instead of a variable view on groups.

Our purpose was to investigate when a specific phenomenon is taken out of context and used in a manner not originally intended for. Facebook is meant to be used in the private sphere as a way for individuals to communicate and keep in touch with family, friends and acquaintances. However, Facebook has begun to be used increasingly in the professional context like recruitment. We have through qualitative interviews explored how the respondents, professional recruiters and future job applicants, think about the use of Facebook in a recruitment process. By applying theories dealing with roles and lifestyles we have been able to pinpoint our empirical data. The results showed that the respondents agreed that Facebook is for private use and hence is Facebook a misleading assessment tool and can easily create false perceptions about an individual's suitability for a job. Although the recruiters showed a tendency to weigh in information from Facebook in some cases. Future job applicants said they did not adjust their Facebook profile for a possible review of recruiters. Our results indicate that this may be necessary to minimize the risk of being excluded in a recruiting process.

The aim of this study is to analyse the Swedish state´s ambition in achieving equality among its citizens. By studying the new urban policy introduced by the government in 1998 from a theoretical perspective the purpose of this essay is to understand the ideational dimensions in this policy project, in regard to established understandings about equality.

The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of two different parts. The first presents dominating models on welfare states, mainly focusing on the socialdemocratic welfare state. The second introduces influential theoretical views on equality, primarily discussing universalism and a differentiated equality view. It also presents theoretical views on how to understand the relationship between the state an its citizens. This essay is taking its departure from a perspective based on constructionism, by asking how the problem was constructed and what the policy tells us. It is a case study using a discoursive approach in analysing the policy from an understanding of policies as arguments shaped by normative assumptions made by actors whose assumptions are limited by the discourse in which they exist.

The main result of the study is that since the policy was created while the socialdemocratic party was in government, the normative assumptions, on which the party base its analysis on society, therefore had a main influence on the policy. Even though the analysis of the policy shows a tendency in Swedish welfare politics moving away from universalism towards a differentiated view on equality, with the state still marked by communitarian ideals, there appears to be a resistance towards including the perspective of cultural recognition next to the traditional view on economic redistribution based on a class theory.

The aim with this paper is to study how the integrational ideology of the Swedish parliaments party platforms, including the right wing Sverigedemokraterna, is formulated. The integration theories examined are assimilationism, multiculturalism, universalism and residualism. In turn these theories are simultaneously applied to the party platforms extracting explicit or implicit messages of the four former mentioned theories. The Swedish history of integration as well as immigration, which per capita is one of the highest in the European union, pinpoints the reason why this subject is due to further investigation. The results show that most of the parties contain traces of more than one integration theory, with the exception of primarily Sverigedemokraterna which focuses on assimilationism. On the other hand Vänsterpartiet, Socialdemokraterna and Centerpartiet are in favour of multiculturalism whereas Folkpartiet, Kristdemokraterna, Miljöpartiet, and Moderaterna contain more than one integration theory.

This paper addresses how political parties make decisions. Parties often have to choose between conflicting objectives such as influence on policy, control of the government, and support among the voters. This paper examines the behavior of the two Swedish parties on one of their particular policy positions: Swedish withdrawal from the EU. The aim is to describe why the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) and the Green Party (Miljöpartiet) retain this

specific policy position when it on one hand seems damaging to their chances of getting into government, and on the other seems to be an unrealistic policy to realize. I undertake a twocase study of the two Swedish parties, which I assume to represent a population of Nordic parties critical to the EU. I employ a theory based on an analytical framework of three models of party goals and behaviors: office, policy or votes. The analysis seeks to identify the factors

and the motives behind the parties’ stubborn policy. By studying material from two party congresses and interviewing representatives from each party, I conclude that the policy position is important mainly for reasons of principle and symbolism. The structure of the EU represents all that the Left and the Greens dislike and, together with the Swedish critical EU opinion, it becomes almost a duty for the parties to keep their strong aversion towards Swedish membership in the EU. And while the parties do not perceive that the keeping of the policy would be an obstacle for other party goals, it will not be cut out from the party program.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze two factors contributing to child labor in Ghana, one of the world's largest producers of cocoa. These two factors are: poor countries economic and political dependency on the rich countries, political leader’s ambitions and decisions. We will also describe and analyze the UN's efforts and measures to combat child labor. The method we used was a case study of child labor in Ghana‘s cocoa industry together with interviews. Questions to be answered were: How is poor countries economic and political dependency towards rich countries a contributing factor to child labor? How do political leader’s ambitions and decisions affect child labor? Despite UN efforts to combat child labor it does not diminish in some parts of the world such as West-Africa, why? The theories used were the Dependency Theory and Political Leadership Theory. Our results show that dependency theory can contribute to child labor. It does that because of colonialisms effects still are showing in poorer countries. This in turn leads to that children need to work to help their family economically. UN broad actions and measures to combat child labor did not help to reduce child labor. UN must specify its policies and actions in each country depending on what kind of child labor it is. Political leadership was important to ensure that child labor should decrease. The political leader should have understood the issue and ensured the protection of children under 15 from hazardous work, this by ensuring that there were laws that protected them, but also by accepting the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

This study examines the relationship between SAHA’s corporate governance rating score and firm performance in Turkey for the period between 2008, 2009 and 2010. The purpose of study is to analyze whether there is a relationship between Saha’s corporate governance score which is based on the principles of Capital Market Board of Turkey and firm performance for 16 companies listed in corporate governance index Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) by using Saha’s Corporate Governance. It also aims to determine this relationship by attempting to answer the question of whether better governed firms as measured by high corporate governance score have higher firm performance in Turkey. With this purpose three analyses were conducted and random effect model, one type of panel data, is used to analyze whether there is a relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. The conceptual framework for this study is a combinationan of approaches to agency, stakeholder and stewardship theory. Panel data is created as unbalanced data and random effect model is used.Accounting based performance measures of firms: return on asset, return on equity and returnon sales were used to compare with Saha’s Corporate Governance Rating Score based on four sub-indices: 1) shareholder rights, 2) public disclosure and transparency, 3) stakeholders and 4) board of directors. The results based on Saha’s Corporate Governance Score show that corporate governance does matter in Turkey. The study shows that better governed firms measured by high corporate governance score have better performance in Turkey. The result of regressing return on asset, return on equity against Saha’s corporate governance rating score indicates that there is a significantly relationship between corporate governance and firm performace. However, the result of regressing return on sales indicates that there is no statistically significant relation between Saha’s corporate governance score and return on sales.

In this essay, we examine the introduction of three points for a win in senior football, a reform that eventually became universally adopted. We have two objectives. First, we seek to answer the question of whether the effect of the new system has justified its proliferation. The second objective is to present a methodological discussion about how to measure this effect, which involves judgments that many would say are entirely subjective and which, at best, are hard to operationalize - a problem that is not unusual in social science. We measure the ’excitingness’ of football through constructing an index of two distinct features of any match. We then apply the index to our data by combining quantitative analysis with strategic case-selection. Our preliminary findings are that three points for a win does seem to boost football’s excitingness, but that the improvement takes four to five years to take full effect.