Attitudes towards out-groups have been of academic interest for a long time, and two often-used theoretical frameworks are intergroup contact theory, and group threat theory. This article combines insights from both to investigating attitudes among youth in Sweden using multiple regression analysis. I seek particularly to understand the role that contact has on reducing attitudes, and what role different contact situations, and forms may play. Specifically contact in schools and the local area is investigated after controlling for the effect of personal friendships. The analysis finds that high quality contact does have an effect on attitudes among Swedish youth even after controlling for background variables. Superficial contact has no additional effect in the investigated context. Group threat effects are also found to be important for the groups that are most directly in competition with immigrants in the labor market.

Banverket Production has always been a male homogenous and “ethnic Swedish” workplace, however since the organisation is undergoing changes due to retirement there has been a great demand of recruiting new employees. Thereto the project 20-10-10 was established with a will to recruit formerly underrepresented groups such as women and people with another ethnic background than Swedish. The study has been conducted in cooperation with Banverket Production since there was a need to investigate normality and including and excluding values. This constitutes the aim of the study and the construction of gender and ethnicity will also be examined in a workgroup in the organisation. This will be conducted through an ethnological inspired perspective where observation and interviews will compose the collection of data. The theories used as a foundation for the analysis of the material are an organisational theory in relation to social construction, gender and ethnicity. The analysis shows that the normality that has been constructed is reproduced by routines and values that appear as ”common sense”. Gender and ethnicity are constructed by the technicians through asserted and assigned characteristics which defines a workgroupidentity and consequently including and excluding values.

Models of learning style or approaches to learning have been operationalized in the Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ). Guided by an assumed framework, the authors examine the construct validity of the LPQ in Botswana and investigate the similarities and differences in the process of learning in a non-Western context. Six structural equation modeling are used to test the association between cross-cultural variability and learning. Responses to this instrument are shown to have good internal consistency reliability, and support is provided for its construct validity in terms of its factorial structure. Results further reveal support for dimensions of deep and surface strategies, despite the differences in learning conceptualizations. The strategies utilized by students in the Western educational context are similar to those used by their African counterparts. Taken together, the interaction of gender and culture, makes us propose a relationship between culture, learning and life adaptations, thus extending the concept of learning style to account for the influence of culture. Tentatively, conceptual issues in learning process and suggestions for further research are presented.

This chapter explores through an understanding of the history and development of the situation of statelessness across the region – a consequence of nation-state formation, state succession and/or discriminatory ethnic, religious and gender law and policy – the striking commonalities in both the causes and consequences of statelessness. It focuses on how the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region lacks a common language on statelessness which may have contributed to the fact that these groups are often discussed in isolation of one another, with a limited sense of having a shared cause. The chapter also focuses on how the current framework for understating statelessness in the region can obstruct opportunities to address the issue regionally and can even be used to perpetuate statelessness. Discrimination against women in nationality laws can be found in legislation around the world. Statelessness has also resulted from the 'Arabisation' movement that took hold of the region in the 1960s and 1970s.

This thesis is concerned with the reformation of the Swedish Armed Forces from an operational defense force to a rapid action force on the basis of a comparative theoretical perspective. The main purpose being to analyze whether it is necessary to have an understanding of the Social Democratic Party’s moral and normative reasons to understand this shift or if it is enough to apply the realistic explanation model to appreciate the reformation. It has been shown that theoretically, the theories of realism and constructivism both satisfactorily cover the reformation; and that the Swedish security polity rhetoric is dominated by the logic of maximizing relative gains. In conclusion, this thesis shows that it does not require an understanding of the Social Democratic Party’s moral and normative reasons to comprehend the reformation of the Swedish Armed Forces. Notably, it is sufficient to apply the realistic explanation model to obtain a deeper understanding of the reformation.

This thesis seeks to examine the normative pattern and positioning involved with the Swedish security policy discourse as it pertains to the recent conflicts in Kosovo 1991, Afghanistan 2001, Iraq 2003 and the ongoing conflict in Darfur; as seen through a realistic point of view. The main purpose is to test the hypothesis that there are paradoxes in the Swedish security policy discourse concerning the norms that are decreed and that the rhetoric lacks internal consistency. This thesis is also concerned with whether the normative positioning of the Swedish state is governed by maximizing relative gains. Upon examining the Swedish security policy discourse, the results show that the values behind the norms undermine each other and that the normative pattern of the Swedish political security discourse is inconsistent. Furthermore, it has been shown that the paradoxes and the inconsistent normative pattern in the discourse are governed by the logic of maximizing relative gains. In conclusion, the normative standpoint and actions of the Swedish state, concerning the conflicts in this thesis, are not governed by the norms but of the national interests of the Swedish state.

This essay investigates if different parts of the principle of the best interests of the child are mentioned and/or considered in 24 judgments from the migration courts. It is also investigated in what way the principle is considered in these judgments, which are from August 2006 – January 2007 and concerns families and residence permit according to 5 chapter 6 § in the Swedish immigration law. A theory of the best interests of the child as an open concept is used to create an understanding of how to interpret the mentioned principle. The investigation shows that the migration courts in a larger extent mentions than considers the best interest of the child. Whether the principle is considered and how, is not always obvious in the judgments. The investigation also shows that some parts of the principle are given a prior importance. In only two of the investigated cases the best interests of the child are considered as an open concept.

The purpose of this study is to examine how gender and (non-) whiteness are portrayed in the three Marvel movies Iron Man, The Avengers and Avenger: Endgame. The analysis is based on Fairclough's critical discourse analysis, and is analyzed with the theories of Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Judith Butler, among others. The results show that the films help to produce and reproduce an image of the woman and non-white people as inferior to the man, and the woman as primarily a body. However, there has been some progression between the films released in 2008, 2012 and 2019.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that international trade, or trade dependency, had on China’s propensity to achieve peaceful international relations in the period between 1970 and 2005. The hypothesis put forward is that there will be a negative correlation between China’s international trade pattern, or trade dependency, and the state’s aggressive international relations towards other states. For easy assessment three research themes are formed; trade, conflict and peace, each considered separately. Evaluation of the research themes is done by means of simple regression and statistical analysis. In order to support the hypothesis, a negative and significant correlation between the two variables has to be found. The conclusion of the study is that no negative correlation between the variables can be established, proving the hypothesis wrong. Furthermore no significant correlation, negative or positive, is found. However, there are indications in the data that there might be something to the liberal peace theories that form the basis of this study and further study is encouraged and recommendations for alterations are given.

Vi gör ett avstamp i Klippans kommun och de uppmärksammade konflikter som finns i kommunen mellan den aktiva rasistiska gruppen och en del invandrarungdomar. Detta leder oss in på en diskussion om subtil- och öppen rasism, dess olika former och effekter samt hur samhället kan arbeta förebyggande och antirasistiskt. Vi diskuterar även vilken roll invandrarungdomar spelar i motsättningarna samt vilka faktorer som kan påverka en individ till att gå med i eller ur en aktiv rasisktisk grupp. Vi illustrerar antirasisktiska åtgärder med "Stocken" och "Krocken" som har anordnats i kommunen. Avslutningsvis berör vi kopplingen mellan subtil- och öppen rasism och faktorer på strukturell nivå som kan ha en legitimerande funktion, Klippans kommuns antirasistiska arbete mot rasism samt vilka aspekter ett antirasistiskt arbete bör inkludera. Ett genomgående inslag i uppsatsen är att vårt empiriskt insamlade material appliceras på de resonemang vi för.

This Study analyses some key trans-border situations in which citizens may find difficulties in exercising their electoral rights – both to vote in elections, and to stand as candidates. It focuses on the electoral rights of EU citizens when resident outside the state where they are citizens, and on the electoral rights of third country citizens resident in the EU Member States. It also covers several complementary issues by examining the consular representation of EU citizens outside the territory of the Union, and also the restrictions placed by the Member States on the access of non-citizens to high public office.

This thesis presents and analyses the role of religion in the insurgency in the south of Thailand, that is sometimes labelled terrorism. By using theories on nation building and nationalism, religion as a cultural identity and theories on globalisation and terrorism, this thesis shows that it cannot be concluded that religion is the sole problem of the insurgency in the south of Thailand. This thesis, in addition, shows that religion is political and a source of identity and that neither religious terrorism nor religious nationalism have to imply religious belief, since religion can be a marker of cultural belonging, among many things.

The report summarises the key findings of the EU-funded ACIT (Access to Citizenship and its Impact on Immigrant Integration) Project conducted by the European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship. It outlines the project's main findings and the indicators developed to measure the inclusiveness of citizenship law, implementation, acquisition and integration. The final part sets out certain standards against which these can be measured.

This article discusses some of the opportunities and challenges that the Estonian Council Presidency is facing during its first term in 2017. We also explore how Estonia is likely to appreach this position. The Council presidency provides a position to propagate national interests and an opportunity for leadership within the Council but can also be preceived as a silencer of domestic narrative. We claim that the Estonian presidency is expected to silence its interests in most policy areas in order to portray Estonia as a pro-European mediator. Through qualitative text analysis of key documents, interviews with Estonian, Danish, Finnish, and Latvian officials and comparative reflections on these states' presidencies, we find that Estonia is likely to excercise a problem-solving leadership during its term and that the main challenge and opportunity will be the further Europeanization of its public administration.

This study deals with the process of norm diffusion in international politics. It primarily analyses and explains the diffusion of the norm of ’good governance’ initiated by the World Bank in 1989. In so doing the study delivers an analysis of the norm entrepreneurship of the World Bank in this specific case of norm diffusion. Moreover, the analysis reflects on the capacity of the World Bank as a norm entrepreneur from a more general point of view. An analytical framework that mainly draws on social constructivist literature on norm evolution is developed and applied to the empirical case at hand. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first section focuses on normative structures and the second section concentrates on the norm entrepreneur. The last concluding part wraps up the analysis of the empirical case by explaining how the first and the second part of the inquiry relate. The present study suggests that social fitness is the key analytical concept to understand the process of norm diffusion in the case at hand. The analysis shows how the social fitness of the norm of ‘good governance’ and the social fitness of the World Bank as an international organisation are fundamental to understand the diffusion of the norm of ‘good governance’. The theoretical conception of norm diffusion delivered in the present study suggests that international organisations can be influential and powerful norm entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the study incorporates a theoretical conception of power into the analysis of norm diffusion and shows how power in different forms is a fundamental element to understand and analyse the social construction of intersubjectivity.

This study deals with how NGOs make human rights impact assessment in relation to their Rights-Based Approaches (RBAs) and discuss what a common framework for impact assessment could look like. The study deals with Oxfam, CARE and Amnesty International, and analyse how their different backgrounds and approaches influence their work with measuring impact. It is showed that they are not able to link development to human rights and not successful in reporting impact in human rights terms. The NGOs with a background in the development field focus on empowering rights-holders while the NGO with a background in the human rights field focus on duty-bearers. The paper concludes that to be accountable to people in the south NGOs need to co-operate on impact assessment and link it clearly to human rights law. It is important that this is done in a process that empowers partners and rights-holders, rather than reinforces old power structures.

This master thesis is based on a field study, conducted in Lugufu 1 and Mtabila 1 refugee camps in Kigoma, western Tanzania, where we held twenty-eight interviews with Congolese and Burundian refugee women. The Congolese and Burundian refugees have fled to Tanzania due to long-lasting conflicts in Congo and Burundi respectively; most arrived in mid-1990s. Thereby, the camps are no longer in phases of emergency and refugees have, since long, established everyday routines and habits that shape their everyday lives; our main interests lie in these. Accordingly, our aim with this study has been to attain a deepened understanding of how these refugee women experience their everyday lives with regards to safety. Since the women themselves were the narrators, security-related problems connected to firewood collection were, inevitably, frequently brought up and are therefore given much space throughout the study. Of great importance for the study is the Sphere Project, in particular the three Cross-Cutting issues - Gender, Environment, and Security – which are all, we believe, intimately related to Feminist Geography. Moreover, our purpose has been to interpret the answers given by these refugee women through arguments and concepts included in Feminist Geography and thereby enable new ways of understanding how, for example, the physical environment affects the everyday routines of refugee women. Furthermore, as several feminist geographers (who, to this date, mainly have focused on western, urban areas) approach women’s fear by looking at the prevailing social and power structures, such structures have also been given much space in our study. Consequently, our study sheds light on security-related issues, which refugee women face in their everyday lives. From the results found in our study, we believe, that if feminist geographers were to include refugee women residing in a non-western, rural context, they would stand to gain a broadened knowledge of how different women experience and are affected by fear and safety.

This thesis is a study on Polish irregular migrants living and working in the Stockholm metropolitan region. The aim of the paper is to find out why Poles choose irregular migration to Stockholm as a strategy, and how the Swedish labour market structure and control authorities influence them. This study shows that most Poles had contacts with Polish networks already established in Sweden before contemplating irregular migration as a strategy. Strong links could be found between these networks in Stockholm and two regions in northern Poland. Clear links were also found to three regions in southern Poland. Swedish labour market structure has helped to make domestic cleaning a niche for undocumented Poles in Stockholm although many were also working in the gardening and building/renovation sectors. Results from this paper show that strong Swedish control functions make a number of survival strategies necessary to enter and live undocumented in Sweden. Transiting through Germany was a common way for undocumented Poles to bypass strong Swedish migration controls before Poland joined the EU. Internal control functions such as the Swedish personal ID number make renting apartments difficult for undocumented Poles, which make renting rooms a better option. A majority of undocumented Poles do not believe that Poland%u2019s membership will affect their work and lives in Stockholm and they will therefore continue to work undocumented.

The process of ethnic changes, that started in southern Georgia (Meskheti/ Samtskhe-Javakheti) in the 16th -17th centuries, was aimed at forming a new ethnic group out of the local population (Georgians, in particular, Meskhetians) and the immigrant population (Turks and Kurds). This was a complex and long process and was going on under the control of two powerful states: Turkey and, later, Russia. To create a new ethnic group and use it as a “tool” for mastering this strategically important territory was a policy of these states and has remained unchanged during three to four centuries. The gradual development of the features, unifying these groups, is documented in the historical sources: 1. Change of confession (encouraged by economic and other means); 2. Language shift (first within some domains and within high social classes and later in all domains and even among lower classes of the population), 3. Change of surnames (as a result of or final step of identity change), 4. New perception of own identity. Changing of the group name has reflected the group's development dynamics: Georgians who remained Christians retained their name Kartveli (Georgian in Georgian), Georgians who became Muslims in the 17-18th centuries were called Jerli (local in Turkish), and immigrated Muslims, who where ethnic Turks and Kurds, were called Tarakama. The next step was a unification of Jerli and Tarakama by the confessional feature and the naming of these two groups as Tatari (resp. Muslim). In the Russian censuses since the 19th century the unifying name of these groups, indicating confession (Tatari), has been changed with the unifying name indicating ethnicity (Turk) (regardless of the fact that ethnical composition of "Turks" was diverse). The Muslim population of this area also obtained an economic advantage. After the power change in Georgia in 1918, fear of losing the property strengthened the loyalty of this group to Turkey. In the 1920s Georgian schools were closed and Turkish schools were opened for the Georgian Muslims in Samtskhe-Javakheti. When the political climate changed, during the census before the Second World War, it was suggested that they should be registered as Georgians but this attempt failed. In the 1939 census they were called Azerbaijanis by officials and, thus, avoided the term Turk in the census. The group was deported to Central Asia in 1944. The group has retained and strengthened its unity after the deportation. Later, all Muslims deported to Central Asia from Samtskhe-Javakheti (Meskheti) irrespective of their ethnic diversity (Georgians, in particular, Meskhetians, as well as non-Georgians: Turks, Kurds) received the new shared name Turkish Meskhetians where two different names denoting the different ethnic origin are presented on the same level which is quite confusing. Nowadays people named as "Turkish Meskhetians" protest this name and demand to be called "Meskhetians" (Such a change, in turn, can cause new misunderstandings). It is noteworthy that Muslim Georgians try to avoid the term Turkish as a name of the Turkish language spoken by them and regularly call it "Our language". This seems to be a way to differentiate "our language" as a language obtained through the new confession and indicating the confessional loyalty, on the one hand, and the Turkish language that is spoken by ethnic Turks as a part of their ethnic identity and an indicator of their ethnic belonging, on the other hand. At the same time, it emphasises "our language" as a distinctive feature from the Georgian speaking Georgians. The group strives and acts for repatriation. The history of this group is an obvious case of the attempt to form one ethnic group out of different ethnic groups in the process of interaction between internal and external forces. It also confirms that the identity features function as an entire complex. Strive to reconstruct the whole complex of the features and overcome the lack of the missing feature (language, ideology, territory…) may exhibit vitality of the group. It is another matter that this strive may be employed for different goals by different political forces.

The purpose with this paper is to analyse whether the meaning of the central principles according to the use of force, article 2(4), 2(7) and 51, in the UN charter could be changed due to how states act. The paper contains of a teoretical review of the non-violence as a principle and the right to self-defence. Further, the paper focuses on interventions, with the emphasis on humanitarian interventions to put the paper in relation to the Human Right subject. Finally, the paper contains of an application of the teoretical part through a study of the Iraqi conflict 2003. The paper, among other things, brings up the issue about the use of preventive self-defence and humanitarian interventions for the future, and how the US governments acting in the Iraqi conflict 2003 effect this issue. My conclusion is that the interpretation of international law can be changed through states acting (if the acting developes into states practice), but central principles like non-force is not that easily changed, instead it contitiues to be an matter of deliberation. One principle that might be changed through, among other things, the Iraqi conflict is the right to self-defence.

The primary aim of this essay is to search and verify variables of significance, in the formative process of the climate change regime, which holds causal influence in explaining this formation. This is done by the construction of a theoretical framework based on components of the regime theoretical perspectives of interest, power and knowledge with the focus on regime formation. Hence, this serves the purpose of firstly determining when the regime was established and the scope of the process leading to the establishment, and secondly to clarify the variables of significance. With these premises in mind the variables of importance were essentially; the actors possibility and interest to adopt a problem-solving and integrative bargaining approach under the veil of uncertainty, stemmed by the use of decision-making procedures by consensus and focus on the issues of justice and equity; the exercise of power and use of relative power capabilities in the power struggle of determining the rules of the game; and the rise of scientific consensus about the human influence on global climate and suitable adopting strategies, and its prospect of influence actors with decision-making possibilities.

For the first time since the Second World War, the total number of refugees amounts to more than 50 million people. Only a minority of these refugees seek asylum, and even fewer resettle in developed countries. At the same time, politicians, the media, and the public are worried about a lack of economic integration. Refugees start at a lower employment and income level, but subsequently “catch up” to the level of family unification migrants. However, both refugees and family migrants do not “catch up” to the economic integration levels of labor migrants. A faster integration process would significantly benefit refugees and their new host countries.

Immigration to Sweden in the last three decades consists mainly of refugees and family reunion migrants. The increasing numbers of asylum seekers in the world together with a relatively liberal admission policy toward refugees and family reunion implied an increased population for Sweden due to net immigration. In the same period, various integration policies have been implemented to increase both labor market integration and political participation. Settlement policies toward newly arrived immigrants have been shifting over time according to the political and labor market context. Citizenship policies have over time changed and today include both the possibility of dual citizenship and the right to vote by noncitizens in local and provincial elections. Although intentions are good, both the employment integration and the voting participation by immigrants are substantially lower than for native Swedes and this questions the effectiveness of integration policies.

The employment integration of immigrants and in particular refugees in Swedish society has been the subject of many debates and constitutes one of the major political challenges faced in the last two decades. Like in many European countries, refugees are more likely to be unemployed, have temporary jobs and lower income. Most studies of immigrant economic integration have been undertaken at the national level, taking into account place of birth, but not by admission status. This study focuses on the employment integration by admission status by looking at the outcomes for resettled refugees, asylum claimants (asylum-seekers who may subsequently obtain a residence permit), and immigrants who arrive via family reunion migration. Using logistic regression methods we estimate the probability of having a job after controlling for a set of personal and immigrant intake characteristics as well as contextual factors. The results of the analysis indicate that family reunion immigrants have a faster employment attachment than asylum claimants which in turn have faster employment integration than resettled refugees in the Swedish labour market. The understanding of the results of the analysis is that selection processes (self-selection as well as selection through policy mechanisms) and networks are important factors explaining the employment integration of immigrants.

Three decades ago, Sweden extended municipal and provincial voting privileges to non-citizen residents on the grounds that this would increase political influence, interest and self-esteem among this group of immigrants. Three decades later, in the political and public debate, electoral participation on the part of immigrants is perceived as being substantially lower than for native-born citizens. As a result, questions have arisen regarding the degree to which this may be symptomatic of a larger integration issue. The aim of this paper is to explore the determinants of voting in municipal elections for immigrants—both naturalised and non-citizens, in Sweden, by controlling for a number of socio-economic and demographic and immigrant specific characteristics. More specifically, using cohort analysis, the idea is to study the impact of time spent in the country on the voting behaviour of immigrants, foreign citizens and naturalised over time. Two unique sets of data were used in the research. The 2002, 2006 and 2010 electoral surveys (participation study) all contain information about individual electoral participation in municipal elections. This information is matched to registry data from Statistics Sweden, which also contains information relating to every Swedish resident. From these two sources of information, a database is created that matches voting to individual characteristics. This study analyses 60 thousand immigrants of which 43 thousand are non-citizens. After controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the results show that the acquisition of citizenship makes a real difference in the voting odds. Immigrants who obtain citizenship are far more likely to vote than those who do not. Country of birth also makes a difference: Compared to immigrants from the Nordic countries, Europeans and North American immigrants are equal or less likely to vote, whereas immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America are more likely to vote. Finally, immigrants’ odds of voting increase as their length of stay in the country does.

Higher-level skills are increasingly demanded by the knowledge-based economy. But with rising mobility and demographic change, it is no longer so simple to invest in a skilled workforce for the future. Actions are needed on a variety of fronts, including attracting and retaining talent, better integrating disadvantaged groups into the labour force, and upgrading the skills of low-paid workers. Much of the responsibility for these actions falls squarely on the shoulders of local policy makers. Drawing from a wide array of case studies, this book analyses best-practice local strategies for increasing workforce skills. And it also takes a close look at the opportunities and challenges presented by international migration. The in-depth case studies in this report range from Shanghai’s “Highland of Talent Strategy” to new “career ladders” which help immigrants escape low-skilled, low-paid employment in New York. National and local-level recommendations on local skills development are provided, for both OECD and non-OECD countries.

With the exception of economists, social scientists have a long and detailed history of analyzing the political and social implications of citizenship acquisition by immigrants. Economists, on the other hand, have occasionally entered the field in an ad hoc manner with limited speculations about the possible earnings or employment effects that may derive from immigrant citizenship ascension. This book goes one step further by providing an economic model to predict immigrant citizenship and its impact in the labour market and the public finance spheres in a comparative framework. Five countries – Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway – with five different immigrant selection and citizenship-granting procedures are analyzed to test the robustness of the economic model. The results indicate that the immigrant selection process in turn influences a given country’s citizenship-granting process and affects the size of the economic premium derived from citizenship. Thus, the authors conclude that the design of a country’s immigration and citizenship policies influences the degree of economic integration of its potential citizens.

The study sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeting the labour-market integration of refugees. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access into employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study is based on nine detailed country case studies of the following EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.