The purpose of this study is to analyze if the workmethods in the European Commission's crisis management had post-bureaucratic characteristics, more specifically less hierarchy, horizontal communication, collective decision-making and own responsibility, during the Greek debt crisis 2010-2015. To carry out an analysis this study identifies four characteristics of a post-bureaucratic organization, in order to use the theory as a tool to clearly identify if there are any post-bureaucratic characteristics in the Commission's workmethods during the Greek crisis 2010-2015. The material used in the study is based on published reports from the European Parliament, European Court of Auditors, International Monetary Fund and the European Commission where facts on the European Commission’s crisis management are presented. This study's analysis shows that post-bureaucratic characteristics can be identified on the workmethods the Commission used in some situations during the Greek debt crisis 2010-2015. The study's conclusion is summarized by the fact that the European Commission’s workmethods in relation to post-bureaucratic characteristics are only found in some instances. Therefore the study can not conclude that the European Commission is a post-bureaucratic organization during the Greek crisis 2010-2015.

The FOCUS project is undertaking a range of research and piloting tasks which aim to improve understanding of dynamic integration and to assist the implementation of effective practices. As part of this work a detailed programme of qualitative research has been undertaken in four countries. This report presents the country-specific findings of this research, which will be further consolidated in a cross-site analysis to be completed in the coming months. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with members of the receiving communities and with members of the arriving communities in a total of 10 site in four countries which have different experiences of migration from Syria in recent years (Sweden, Germany, Jordan, Croatia). 

Segregation is frequently described as a consequence of the global restructuring of social, economic, and political expansions in which multicultural cities, like Malmö, become part of them. This study aims to highlight how visions of housing segregation and exclusion in the city of Malmö has been represented in the local policy documents (Master Plans) through the last three decades and to understand how a newly emerged glocal actor, known as BID Malmö, have impacted the urban governance in the city. In order to investigate these developments, this study applies two analytical frameworks. In terms of policy analysis, it employs a what’s the problem represented to be? (WPR) approach and for the conceptualization of BID Malmö applies the theory of the Global City. Policy analysis shows that urban segregation has been persistent in the city of Malmö through the last three decades, however the representation of problem has shifted vibrantly from placing citizens as the main cause of housing segregation during 1990s to an arena that includes contingent processes and practices that need to be tackled. Policy analysis also shows that Malmö municipality, through shifting the burden of responsibility, now promotes partnership between public and private actors to reduce exclusion based on specific district needs. Moreover, this study argues that the city of Malmö, because of the cross-border network of global cities, is now a space where one can identify formation of new types of global politics of place where informal political actors are emerging and can actually impact the urban governance. Finally, this study maintains that the city of Malmö, along with its newly emerged glocalized actor, fit into the theory of the Global City, by Saskia Sassen. Therefore, this study has also a deductive qualitative analysis.

This thesis examines how member nations manage their national identities within the supranational context of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) and the significance of the ESC in creating a shared European identity. Patterns of identification and attitudes relating to culture, ethnicity/nationality, religion/faith, and gender/sex are discovered by studying the winning submissions from 1998 to 2022 through content analysis and discourse analysis. The ESC acts as a soft power instrument by encouraging member nations' sense of solidarity and cultivating respect for and understanding of other cultures. It serves as a platform for cross- cultural dialogue, self-promotion, and nation branding, fostering diplomatic connections and providing opportunities for commercial and cultural exchanges. 

The ESC emphasizes the dichotomy between national and European identity, but it also demonstrates how these identities intersect and support one another. It advances the formation of a European identity while giving states a forum to showcase their national and cultural identities. The ESC influences notions of European identity and defines what it means to be European. 

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes explicit reference to children’s right to say what they think about matters relating to the quality of their lives and to have these opinions taken into account in accordance with their levels of competence and maturity. The voting results showed that over two-thirds (68.1%) of the children polled “educating every child” as their first top priority; the issue “putting children first and caring for every child” was placed second by 65.4% of the respondents; 50.1% of them placed the issue “fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS” as their third priority; followed by 37.6% who said “hearing and listening to children’s voices” is very crucial; 35.6% placed their fifth priority to be “not using children as weapons of war” while 27% of the children said “protecting the earth—investing in children” must be sixth on their list of top priorities. Other things thought to be important by these children included stopping crime, child abuse and family violence, racism/xenophobia, muti (black magic) ritual killing of children (especially the albinos), forced child marriage (Ukuthwala), racism and xenophobia, rape, drugs and shooting at schools, and other evils. They also advocate better education in general for children, computer literacy, good parenting, child-friendly government, peace and tranquility (absence of stress), and active involvement in environmental planning. The full burden of children’s rights has to be “shouldered” and internally operationalized by UN specialized agencies. Within that context, the Sangraal of successful implementation and cross-cultural sustainability of children’s rights can be limned as resemblant to the proper alignment of the sun, the moon, and the stars. “Irokotinditindi Irokotinditindi” phenomenon. Sadly, competing agendas—HIV/AIDS, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and COVID-19 pandemics implementation of Education for All and Millennium Development goals have taken priority over the pursuit of children’s rights models, in many countries. A rights approach built on effective health promotion model and based on an interlace of Bourdieu’s Sociology that helps break poverty cycles and depicts children as social actors, and by all means an end in themselves is recommended. Suggestions for future research and practice are also discussed.

This thesis aimed to explore which organizational ideal type dominated the Swedish Sports Confederation's central governing documents and how this could potentially construct the athletes involved. The chosen ideal types were "associative fostering" and "competitive fostering" (Peterson 2002). To identify these ideal types within the documents, a coding scheme was used to concretize the ideal types' inherent goals and logic. Subsequently, the theory of social entrepreneurship was chosen as it could connect the ideal types with overarching ideological currents in society which affect the organization of elite sports initiatives.

The theory of governmentality, operationalized through rationality and technology and subject formation, was employed. This theory was used partly to identify the various rationalities and technologies produced by neoliberalism, and to place the athlete within this context to examine the potential impact on the individual. By identifying neoliberal technologies, it was observed that goal management and economization significantly influence sports, primarily in favor of competitive fostering. Beyond this ideal type, the Swedish Sports Confederation has been fragmented in some aspects through projectification. Despite external pressures, the federation remains committed to its nonprofit roots and continuously applies educational programs internally on how to relate to what they describe as Sweden's largest popular movement.

The method used to analyze the source material was an idea-critical analysis with an actor focus on the Swedish Sports Confederation. The goal was to find ideological currents in the text that could provide answers as to whether there was a predominant ideal type that had gained more prominence in the organizational directions, without necessarily conducting interviews or observing multiple training sessions across different sports.

In summary, the findings indicate a significant neoliberal influence on Swedish sports governance, emphasizing competitive fostering through goal management and economic rationalities. The analysis highlights the federation's efforts to balance these pressures while maintaining its nonprofit roots and fostering associative education. This complex interplay between external neoliberal forces and internal organizational ideals reveals the nuanced construction of athletes within the Swedish sports system. 

During the year 2020, the world witnessed the reignition of an old conflict over the disputed land of Nagorno-Karabakh, between the countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Throughout the duration of conflict, curiosity arose with the different implementations of Enemy Images and how both countries used said enemy images. As both countries have their respective claims towards the land, either based on ethnic or historic facts, they did not shy away from pointing fingers at one another. Following the conflict, questions started formulating as to; how are the countries similar or different in the way they depict the “other’’; how are the countries visually depicting each other; how are they trying legitimize their actions; and how are two countries trying to depict themselves as the victim?Thus, a qualitative comparative case study analysis is implemented to help understand this phenomenon. Using readily available online data (i.e. new sources) allowed the researcher to compare the two countries and see how there is more to enemy images, and how they were used for legitimacy. The outcome of the study presented both similarities and differences between the two countries, and how they legitimize themselves towards the audience, through tools such as victimhood.

During the summer of 1935, approximately 20,000 Swedish women mobilized in a peaceful action - the Women's Unarmed Uprising Against War. The manifestation was a protest against rearmament and, in particular, against a militarization of everyday life that might result from a civil defense buildup. Thus, in a spirit of solidarity; women were encouraged to refuse to use gas masks or evacuate into cellars and air-raid shelters in the event of an air raid. Only then would men realize their responsibility; lay down their weapons, and solve the conflict at the negotiating table, the action was connected to a radical pacifistic tradition in which male conscientious objectors, among others, and the example of Gandhi were prominent. Liberal and Social Democrat women and members of the Swedish section of the Women?s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) carried out the action. The action was formulated in such a manner that women across the country were asked to vote for those who could serve in a women?s parliament. The goal was to create an international uprising among women by influencing the League of Nations? delegates and the women?s organizations in Geneva. In the same year, the central body of WILPF had decided to support an international peace plan, the People?s Mandate to End War. The mandate's aim was to present demands for disarmament to governments in different countries. This article examines why the Swedish women assumed a more radical position than that stated in the people?s mandate; what kinds of peace efforts in Sweden made such a radical, pacifistic women?s action possible; and what went on when the initiators attempted to influence WILPF, on an international level, into incorporating the radical protest into the people?s mandate campaign.

A central tenet of international law is the right to territorial integrity, a right for which states may have their reasons to interpret differently. This thesis sets out to give insights to how Russia approaches breaches to said right to territorial integrity depending on their own national interests, and how they frame said interests in the European cases of Kosovo and Crimea. This thesis uses realist, neoliberalist and constructivist lenses to shed light on this question, employing key concepts from these theories through a qualitative content analysis on documents from the United Nations Security Council as well as the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that display Russia’s position in above mentioned cases. This study reveals a change of the Russian perspective between both cases, as well as determining that Russia frames their reactions in a way that serves its own interests best.

What is the potential of inclusion of young Muslims in the Finnish media literacy education? In this thesis I answer this research question to draw a conclusion on the importance of coherently operationalizing performance indicators of inclusion in national media literacy policies, which can be transferred and utilized transnationally to counter social exclusion of young Muslims in media literacy education in Western Europe.

I define and highlight four core criteria of inclusion to evaluate policy process and input, which contribute with answering the research question posed in this thesis. Moreover, a qualitative content analysis based on a single case study approach is applied to uncover all relevant information from the primary and secondary literature concerning the case selected. Similar to a number of academic studies closely related to the topic of this thesis, I apply the theoretical framework of policy evaluation as a lense to explain and explore the phenomenon under investigation. 

Conclusively, this thesis suggests that the potential of inclusion of young Muslims in the Finnish media literacy education is moderate due to the existence of both coherently defined as well as less coherently defined goals, objectives, and related performance indicators of inclusion in the Finnish media literacy policy.

Key Words: Inclusion, media literacy policy, media literacy education, Islamist radicalization and extremism, social exclusion, transnational, young Muslims.

The practise of euthanasia is not new. There was general support for voluntary euthanasiathroughout Roman antiquity in lieu of prolonged suffering. This paper will use a normativeframework with an argumentative structure to argue for the legalisation of euthanasia andphysician-assisted suicide to support terminally ill persons' autonomy rights concerning selfdeterminationand well-being. Further, the paper will argue in favour of the Netherlands model ofeuthanasia and physician-assisted suicide as being superior to the Belgium model. The aim is toillustrate why the refusal to legalise euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide for terminally illpersons violates the person's rights.The paper also aims to contribute to the debate on this complex and relevant topic. The line ofreasoning will incorporate discourse and critiques concerning why euthanasia should not belegalised and assert that they seem to be founded on invalid argumentation. Moreover, thearguments presented will encompass the utilitarian theory of the right action being theconsequences with the most significant outcome. Finally, the thesis affirms that denying aterminally ill person access to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide when making end of lifedecisions violates and restricts their human right to autonomy concerning self-determination andwell-being. Thus, euthanasia and physician-assisted should be legalised, and if legalised, theNetherlands model is superior to the Belgium model.

This thesis conducts a case study on how the idea of a Scottish nation and Scottish independence have been constructed and changed within the political discourse produced by the Scottish National Party during the period around the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and around the Brexit referendum in 2016. This will be done by conducting a textual analysis with a set of operational questions on written material produced by the Scottish National Party during the period of time previoulsy mentioned, based on the theoretical framework of social constructivism and nationalism with a focus on "imagined communities". The thesis concludes that the idea of Scotland as a nation and Scottish independence is seen as a substantially fairer and more solidary nation than its neighbour to the south, as well that some aspects of the perception of Scottish independence and Scotland's future have changed over the process from the independence referendum to the Brexit referendum.

This paper maps out the public perception of TEMUs entry into the European market since its establishment in 2023. We do so through a qualitative data analysis technique and analysis of 36 articles which are authored by 17 of the largest European newspapers published since 2023, each reflecting a unique aspect of how this event is interpreted within European media. Our research categorizes the media coverage into five distinct areas: economic benefits, economic risks, geopolitical concerns, innovation & consumer impact, and regulatory & security concerns. Each category comprises specific frames that encapsulate different aspects of TEMU’s market presence, providing insights into how the company’s activities are perceived across diverse cultural and political contexts within Europe. The findings reveal a pronounced focus on regulatory & security concerns, reflecting deep media engagement with issues related to TEMU's adherence to European regulations, data security practices, and environmental impacts. Conversely, geopolitical concerns received the least media attention, indicating a potential underrepresentation of TEMU’s role as an instrument of Chinese soft power in European media discourse. Through this analysis, the study offers a nuanced understanding of the varying media perspectives that influence public discourse and perception related to TEMU’s integration into the European economic and cultural milieu.

How did ethnic Azeris in the Marneuli, Bolnisi and Dmanisi districts, located inside Georgia but bordering Azerbaijan, react to the reorganisation of political space along national lines after the Soviet Union’s dissolution? ‘Beached’ in foreign states bent on nationalising their domains, minorities throughout Eurasia sometimes rejected and sometimes accepted their alien rulers. This essay examines reactions to this predicament among Georgia’s Azeris. Drawing on elite interviews and data from a matched-guise experiment, it concludes that locals have come to accept their host state after its state-building nationalism took an inclusive turn and the distinction between aliens and natives faded.

Who are the guardians of separatism in Abkhazia and South Ossetia? These de facto states can be seen as self-determination movements or as outgrowths of Russian imperialism. We arbitrate between these competing scripts using a dataset that profiles officials in charge of high politics decision-making inside Georgia’s separatist entities from 1992 through 2020 (N=608). We find that most are sons of the soil, though Abkhazia’s guardians are more multicultural than South Ossetia’s. Russian emissaries seized influential posts inside the self-declared republics after 2003 and, since then, sit in on Security Council meetings, thus rendering them incapable of autonomous decision-making.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and understand how cities are using brandingefforts and strategies to further initiate projects of large scale. The study takes placewithin the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg that are both competing for gaining nationalsupport towards the initiation of megaprojects. Megaprojects are considered by a lot ofliterature to be high risk, which is why I want to understand how city branding strategiescan be used for justifying the implementation of these projects. In doing so the thesiswill conduct a document analysis to try and identify if there are any city brandingstrategies towards the megaprojects and where these strategies can be found. What isalso considered a main goal for this thesis is to uncover what city branding strategies thecities have and where these can be identified within their communication platforms. Thethesis will compare the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg and the megaprojects ofÖresundsmetro and HH-tunnel to find similarities, differences and ultimately try touncover the correlation between city branding and megaprojects. 

This thematic paper deals with integration policies concerning persons who aregranted international protection in EU Member States. It acknowledges that there are two general trends in integration policies - a civic turn and a local turn. The civic turn implies more integration requirements for migrants, decided upon by the state, that have an impact on the legal status of migrant newcomers. On the other hand, the local turn implies less national involvement with cities instead handling more of the integration policies, including funding and policy measures.

The paper then describes four different models for the integration of beneficiaries of international protection: a national government-led model, a project based/multilevel governance model, a laissez-faire model, and a NGO-led model.

According to several scholars, the EU anti-fraud structure is inadequate for the amount of fraud happening in the EU. Based on this scholarly debate this thesis sets out to investigate, how the EU anti-fraud structure developed. The motivation for this research is to find out why is EU anti-fraud structure in this unfavorable position and how it developed to get in such a position. To answer the main question this thesis studies the EU fraud scandals and the EU values as the two important influences on the development of the EU anti-fraud structure. The two main influences were pinpointed based on the theory used in this article and its core concepts. The constructivist theory of International Relations offers the concepts of identity and actor-structure problem to help study the topic of this thesis. The power relations between actors and structure are examined based on scandals across the EU history and values are studied by analyzing the core EU treaties and institutional reports. After exploring the development of the EU anti-fraud structure, this work concludes that values and scandals were the most important formative powers. 

Corruption and low judicial structures are two downsides that post-conflict reconstruction countries are experiencing when declaring independence. In the case of Kosovo, at the eve of its unilateral independence, there were no definite objectives launched by neighboring countries in order to counter the flaws introduced by the new actuality of things. The EULEX mission launched the same year of Kosovo’s independence is often seen as a major step by the EU in order to implement security in a post-war context, through the introduction of a tool said to help to strengthen policies: the rule of law. However, it has been seen that it is not the first time the EU is getting involved in such missions under such circumstances, leaving individuals speculating on the true intentions of the EU within its foreign policy. This research aims at analyzing the EU engagement in Kosovo from a rationalist lens, with the help of the theory of political and democratic capabilities introduced by March & Olsen in 1995. The research question being: ‘How and to what extent is the EU developing political capabilities to implement security in post-war countries?’, it is intending on assessing if EULEX Kosovo has developed political capabilities and the extent of it, in order to determinate the commitment of the EU to establish security in the country.

Agenda 2030, corporate social responsibility (CSR), football, globalization, Malmö FF (MFF), sport, sustainable development

Emerging in the 1970s as part of Brazil’s energy infrastructure development plans, the Belo Monte dam project has been a hot topic throughout the years. With decades of legal battles, the construction eventually started in 2011 and was inaugurated at its full capacity in 2019. But how did power dynamics and social inequalities shape the trajectory of the Belo MonteDam project? By conducting a deep thematic analysis, drawing from multidisciplinaryframeworks such as Political Ecology Theory, Post-colonialism, and perspectives fromscholarly discourse, this thesis delves into the intricate connections of how power dynamicsintersect with political, environmental, and economic dimensions and finally how these contribute to the decision-making process of major infrastructure projects such as the Belo Monte Dam. By creating a historical timeline, leading up to the inauguration and later on analyzing the major events from the multi-/interdisciplinary perspectives presented throughout, the thesis sheds light on the interplay of the power dynamics and social inequalities shaping the project’s trajectory. The thesis ultimately reveals a complex narrative marked by historical colonial legacies, political maneuvering, as well as a globalizing governance prioritizing development and economic interest over environmental and social concerns. 

This paper will investigate what role human rights can play in the reconstruction of a post-conflict society. The true root causes of conflict are not addressed by prior peace interventions, often governments are unable to deliver to their populations what they were promised. This thesis is guided by an overarching research interest in how during these situations, peacebuilding, human rights, and the construction of a new, accountable social contract can go hand-in-hand. The case study of the Central African Republic’s conflicts will be used to investigate the hypothesis. Nurturing and restoring society’s trust in the peacebuilding process is often underestimated. To break the vicious cycle of self-enforcing conflicts and their recurrence, a revitalisation of the social contract may be a strategy to optimize working towards reconciling the post-conflict society. The research finds that a human rights-rooted social contract approach in a post-conflict society can impact the peacebuilding positively.

The Nordic countries continued disregard for their colonial past and persistent discrimination and forced assimilation has created a hostile environment for the indigenous population within the nation-states. The contemporary situation faced by the Sámi peoples of northern Europe is beset with inadequate political representation, an unequal hieratical structure, and a neglect of the Sápmi region's nature preservation. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a contemporary perspective on the protection of indigenous rights as well as the political emancipation of the national Sámi communities contrasted against the academic research on the topic. Through the use of interviews with Sámi political and cultural figures various themes were developed that concerned the current situation. These were then used in the analysis to create a red thread through the academic literature and its connection and points of contention with the perception presented by the interviewees. This analysis showcases the hierarchical structure and subsequent insufficient political representation of the Sámi peoples and the current movement to reject the nation-states' agendas and challenge their policies rather than comply and try to negotiate for influence on matters that concern the indigenous group. Additionally, the green colonialism that continues the Nordic countries’ neglect and discrimination is outlined, as well as how international organisations work towards improving indigenous rights by criticizing the nation-states. The interviews confirm how the national assemblies operate and regard Sámi interests as non-issues. This is further reflected in the academic literature that showcases the insufficient political representation and better chances of influence on the international scene.

The purpose of this essay has been to investigate how the Trust Delegation constructs trust-based governance and leadership in the delegation's main report SOU 2018:47, and how this construction is reflected in municipal governance models. To answer the purpose of the essay, the main report and municipal governance models have been processed using a discourse methodological work process to then identify discourses that together construct trust-based governance and are reflected in the governance models. The discourses identified in the main report have then been analyzed from a governmentality perspective and Czarniawska's linguistic artifacts. The results show that the construction of trust-based governance and management is based on discourses about trust, the citizen, the leader, the employee, control, and dialogue. Of these discourses, dialogue is primarily reflected in all governance models, while the discourses about the citizen and the employee are present but to a lesser extent. The conclusion shows that trust-based governance, on the one hand, can be seen as a normative framework that shapes subjects, controls behavior, and forms an understanding of how governance and control are understood and exercised. On the other hand, it can be seen as an example of a management language that, through linguistic artifacts, creates a modernized version of New Public Management with trust as the new guiding principle.

This study examines the European Union’s 2018 Cyber Defense Policy Framework in an attempt to uncover how the issue of cybersecurity is framed in the 2018 CDPF and how that is problematic for the proposed solutions. 

The theoretical framework of this research is based on the Copenhagen School’s Securitization theory (Buzan et al., 1998) and Baldwin’s (1997) constructivist account of the concept of security. The study further incorporates Laura Fichtner’s (2018) theoretical as well as analytic approach. 

By employing a qualitative content methodology, the single embedded critical case study divides the analysis into four main categories, which were derived from the theoretical propositions. These categories are 1) referent object; 2) securitizing actors; 3) threats; and 4) responses. The findings of the research support the view that cyberspace is examined as a militarized domain. Even though there are two referent objects, EU citizens and critical infrastructures, the proposed solutions are primarily in the hands of military actors. 

The study confirms previous research on cybersecurity and Securitization, where scholars claim that precisely the combination of referent objects allows policymakers to insert their position, which in this case is embodied by EU specialized military and police units who use this as a reason to navigate security in individual-collective and economic-political terms. 

This thesis explores how ontological security shapes Ukrainian memory politics in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Russian invasion's effect on ontological security. Despite their interdependence, ontological security and memory politics are seldomly studied together. Ukrainian memory politics, particularly in the post-Soviet era and after the implementation of the 2015 decommunization laws, have attracted European scholarly attention, as the Russo-Ukrainian (Memory) war has impacted Self and Identity on multiple levels. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the role of memory political measures in creating securitized unitary narratives, emphasizing the significance of memory for stability of Self. While unpopular at first, the decommunization laws emerged from the conflict and enhanced ontological security by solidifying a common Identity.

Liberal political theory is often understood as being underpinned by an individualistic social ontology, and it is sometimes objected that this type of ontology makes it difficult to address injustices that involve social groups and informal forms of privilege. It is argued here that, to the extent that liberals do fail to properly address such structural injustices, the main problem can instead be understood to lie with a rules-centric understanding of institutions – one which is actually out of line with a proper ontological individualism. If institutions are instead understood as distributions of right and duties, held by individuals, it becomes much more straightforward to identify institutional privilege in terms of inequalities in those distributions. The relevant rights and duties can be explicated in terms of informal Hohfeldian incidents and it is argued that patterned distributions of such incidents can come to exist, and be maintained, through how we develop a largely intuitive sense of where our interpersonal boundaries run and form social expectations about which kinds of behaviour will typically receive pushback in some form.

This path-breaking book explains the processes through which the heterogeneous population of Roma in Europe constitutes itself into a transnational collective identity through the practices and discourses of everyday life, as well as through those of identity politics. It illustrates how the collective identity formation of the Roma in Europe is constituted simultaneously in the local, national, and European contexts, drawing attention to the mismatches and gaps between these levels, as well as the creative opportunities for achieving this political aim. Bunescu demonstrates that the differences and stereotypes between the Roma and the non-Roma, as well as those among different groups of Roma, fulfil a politically creative function for the constitution of a unified transnational collective identity for the Roma in Europe. The book is unique - comprising chapters ranging from local ethnographic accounts of inter-ethnic relations of rural Roma in a Transylvanian village, to interviews with international Roma political activists, controversial Roma kings, and an extensive chapter on their role of bridging the local and the higher levels of identity politics, visual depictions of a diversity of Roma living spaces and interpretations of the politics of space in private dwellings, as well as in public venues, such as at Roma international festivals.

The Common European Asylum System (CEAS) has been in a constant state of development since its conception in 1999, however the 2015 European refugee crisis demonstrated the need for several adjustments to be made. Since then, engagement between the European Union and Member States over what the future of this system could look like has increased. This thesis builds on existing Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation research by operationalising these concepts to use as lenses through which to view the EU’s engagement with the Swedish state over the sovereignty and responsibility and border management aspects of the CEAS following the peak of the 2015 refugee crisis. Employing data in the form of policy documents and speech transcripts from the Swedish Ministry of Justice and the EU, this thesis conducts a qualitative content analysis to examine the discourse between the two actors and determine whether or not dynamics of Europeanisation or de-Europeanisation can be identified. The results of this study conclude that dynamics of Europeanisation can be identified in the engagement between the Swedish Ministry of Justice and the EU over the solidarity and responsibility aspect of the CEAS while dynamics of de-Europeanisation can be identified in relation to discourse surrounding border management. 

In 2021 NATO addressed climate change individually for the first time in official public discourse at its highest level. Although climate change is addressed at the unit level, at the sub-systemic level official, formalized engagement with climate change by security actors is recent. The transnational issue of climate change requires a prioritized, collective response which makes securitization appealing, however there is caution concerning securitization to avoid a state-centric response that militarizes engagement with the issue and excludes other alternatives. NATO as the largest military alliance, a collective representation of the West and Annex I and II parties to the UNFCCC plays a significant role in this regard. The thesis’ purpose is to provide an exploratory starting point into NATO’s official engagement with climate change and security by using securitization theory to inform discourse analysis examining discourses stemming from the NAC and Secretary General. The analysis finds that NATO addresses climate change as a threat-magnifier instead of a threat, avoiding securitization but approaching the issue from a pre-dominantly military logic of threat nonetheless. The securitization framework additionally facilitates discussion of a possible future direction of Western security politics by discussing three future factors of climate change and security.

The thesis’ central, interdisciplinary topic can be inserted into the pool of “European Integration’’, understood as a process of industrial, economic, political, legal, and cultural integration of states in Europe.  Specifically, this thesis concerns the enlargement debate in International Relations. The paper will delve into a specific sector of European enlargement[1] namely, the realm of the EU negotiation processes aiming and with the aid of data and  prior research aims at identifying whether a double standard applied by the EU to different candidate countries can be established by examining the dynamics between the European Union and two               candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey).Understanding how the EU as a political and regulatory body admits new members, if a double standard exists when itcomes to the process of admitting them as candidates, are topics that are becoming central to the sphere of International Relations (IR). The theoretical perspective that the paper seeks to address finds its roots in constructivism and realism. The methodology will take into consideration qualitative types of data. The research presented in this study suggeststhat there is no evidence of a double standard and that it is hard to determine whether the EU uses distinct criteria for different countries. 

The overall process of enlargement is often referred to as European integration, thus the two words are often used interchangeably to outline the same concept. 

Main Findings:

AI systems are increasingly being used to shift decisions made by humans over to automated systems, potentially limiting the space for democratic participation. The risk that AI erodes democracy is exacerbated where most people are excluded from the ownership and production of AI technologies that will impact them.

AI learns through datasets but, very often, that data excludes key parts of the population. Where marginalized groups are considered, datasets often contain derogatory terms, or exclude explanatory contextual information, that is hard to accurately categorise in a format that AI can process. Resulting biases within AI design raise concerns as to the quality and representativeness of AI-based decisions and their impact on society.

There is very little two-way communication between the developers and users of AI-technologies such that the latter function only as personal data providers. Being largely excluded from the development of AI’s role in human decision-making, everyday individuals may feel more marginalized and disinterested in building a healthy and sustainable society.

Yet, AI’s capacity for seeing patterns in big data provides new ways to reach parts of the population excluded from traditional policymaking. It can serve to identify structural discrimination and include information from those otherwise ignored in important decisions. AI could enhance public participation by both providing decision-makers with better data and helping to communicate complex decisions – and their consequences – to wider parts of the population.

This thesis examines the issue of femicides in Germany and Spain, contextualized within the broader European Union (EU) framework. It employs feminist and postcolonial theoretical frameworks to analyze policy mobilization and the framing of gender-based violence in these two countries. Feminist theory challenges patriarchal structures and advocates for gender equality, focusing on the centrality of women's experiences and voices in research. Postcolonial theory explores the legacies of colonialism and imperialism, shedding light on historical power imbalances and their contemporary implications. Intersectionality, a core aspect of both theories, provides a nuanced understanding of how overlapping forms of oppression affect women, particularly in the context of gender-based violence. The study uses Critical Frame Analysis (CFA) to dissect how femicides are perceived and addressed in public discourse and policies in Germany and Spain. Despite similar femicide rates, these countries have distinct legal frameworks and cultural attitudes towards gender violence. The research highlights the EU's Eurocentric tendencies and the marginalization of intersectional perspectives on inequality policies. By integrating feminist and postcolonial theories, this thesis aims to uncover the complex dynamics of femicides, offering insights into the structural changes necessary to promote gender equality in the EU. The Analysis revealed that while Spain has a more gendered approach to legislation and a more intersectional approach to policies as a whole than Germany does, both countries struggle with explicitly addressing femicides and implementing effective interventions.

Moscow’s missile capabilities in the Baltic Sea region are not nearly as dangerous as they seem.

This study concerns the problem representation behind the goal of building more resilient states and societies in EU-Africa policies. As resilience is a recent feature of the European Union’s policy discourse, the study aims at uncovering the problematisation behind its use towards Africa and, consequently, what interests lie behind this change of language. The study is conducted on documents pertaining the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and through the employment of the “What’s the problem represented to be?” (WPR) approach. Moreover, the research engages with a postcolonial standpoint through which the findings are discussed, highlighting concepts such as ‘othering’ and ‘eurocentrism’. The findings of this study indicate that the problematisation behind the goal of enhancing resilience in the African context is represented as a lack of African capacities to deal with different issues, and that the EU’s ‘need’ of a more resilient Africa relates to the increase of ownership in the African territory. The problem representation is argued to contribute to the colonial narrative that characterizes EU-Africa relations and therefore clashes with the emancipatory features that concrete ownership should entail.  

In 2017, Australia officially recognized orphanage trafficking as a form of modern slavery, creating a precedent in legislation regarding children rights. This process intended to inspire global norms has been the result of a collaboration with NGOs, advocating against harmful practices in Cambodia. While research has been previously conducted on the impact of Western tourists and lack of thinking upon humanitarian intervention in Cambodia, there has been no study so far on the consequently Australian legislative process. This research intends to analyze the Australian attempt in becoming a norm entrepreneur, through the analysis of the writing of the 2017 Parliament report ''Hidden in Plain Sight''. The content analysis of the report will be put into perspective with previous global agreements on children rights and the Australian Code of Conduct for NGOs, using the framework of moral norms. The argument defended in the research is that NGO action in Cambodia has been monitored by the Australian government for decades, while leaving them relatively free in their action. But 2017 marked a historic turn in regulations, as Australia placed itself as regional policy leader by incorporating orphanage trafficking within the definition of modern slavery, under the pressure of NGO advocacy. 

Research on migration often focuses on non-citizens such as migrants being excluded from the framework of citizenship. This study suggests a novel approach by focusing on non-citizens and citizens alike, while exploring the strategies of othering in relation to how citizenship is constructed. It discusses and comparatively analyses the ways in which migrants, as non-citizens, and LGBT+ individuals, as a particular category of citizens, are framed as not conforming to the norms proposed by nationalist and populist ideologies in SouthEastern European (SEE) countries. Even if they are citizens, they are excluded from “national belonging” by populist political leaders in their communications. The study compares the category of LGBT+ persons to that of migrants and explores how both are framed in political communications using populist strategies of othering. It also shows that these two categories are placed at the outside of the nation state and of the notion of citizenship. Moreover, it highlights the multiple tropes that are employed in the process of othering and that refer to how nations are defined through their “traditional values”, “morality”, “religious views” and a strong opposition to what is considered to belong to the Western progressive values. The body of material comprises statements mostly made by highly positioned politicians such as Presidents, Ministers, Prime Ministers, etc. from Romania and the Republic of Moldova.These politicians shape the internal and foreign policies of the two countries and their communications have a great impact in different areas of the society. The analysis shows that the social dimension of citizenship is important in how a certain category of citizens is framed as not belonging to the nation state. The results based on the analysis of this less researched material are consistent with the trend of anti-gender movements and the increasing anti immigration stances in other Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

This study analyzes the European Union's governance methods in Kosovo during the negotiation process for EU membership, since the country's declaration of independence. To carry out an analysis, this study uses a theory-consuming case study as its method. The study uses Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way's theory of Western Linkage and Leverage as an analytical tool to analyze what governance methods the European Union has used in Kosovo. But also to find out if they have had an impact on Kosovo's EU integration since the country's independence. The results show that the levels of Western Linkage have been high but also have developed positively since 2008. In addition, the results show that the levels of Western Leverage have been high since 2008. Thus it appears that the EU has used different governance methods in order to lead Kosovo to an increased democratization. This study also concludes that the EU can be seen as an important, normative actor for Kosovo during the negotiation process according to the theory Normative Power Europe. 

The present paper proposes to examine the political use of history as it is reflected in the history textbooks of two Balkan countries, Romania and Serbia, and to discover what types of historical knowledge the local people have about themselves and their neighbours. This research paper explores the representations of the in- and out-groups as they appear in history textbooks and tries to establish a link between these representations and the potential for interethnic violence.