ABSTRACT In this paper, the political implications of the EU's listing of the political branch of Hamas as a terrorist organisation are examined. The terrorist lists are perceived as a case of legalisation of a previously unregulated field in international politics, were power in two steps has been moved from the table of democratically accountable politicians: first from the level of the nat

Many of the worlds trade ministers gathered for the World Trade Organization ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December 2005 discussing the Doha agenda. Present at the negotiation as well as the delegates were a large number of non-governmental organizations or NGOs. My intention with this paper is to study the influence of the NGOs pre- and during the conference in Hong Kong. The influence w

This essay studies the practice of both the political and the administrative leadership at the municipal level from the point of view of the politicians and the chief officers leadership role, and the relationship between politicians and administrators. I discuss and analyse how politicians and senior officials practice leadership, differences or similarities and if their practice of leadership ra

This thesis is concerned with investigating the Roma, a group that is left out in most of the territory bound theories. The theoretical purposes are to develop theories that increase the understanding for the Roma as a diasporic nation without state and the advocacy networks they are organised in. The main empirical purpose has been to study two organisations as cases and how they position themsel

In this report I aim at establishing whether or not the European Security Strategy (ESS) of the EU is a securitization move by the EU and whether the EU is a credible securitizing actor in relation to the contents of the ESS. The first question will be answered through a discourse analysis of the ESS based on the constructivist theory of securitization. The answer to the second question will be ba

I have studied how network in a broad sense can affect decision-making. The primary purpose is to see if the political initiative somewhere disappears when it comes to understand the relations between power, actors and politics. The study discuss in a theoretical area that concerns the reliability in neoinstitutionalism to use as an analytical instrument. Some criticism is given to the theoretical

In this study I examine the ways that social policy and (step)family discourse are constituted by the cultural and legal priority granted to biological kinship ties. I call the discourses that perpetuate the primacy of biological kinship the politics of biology. The purpose of the study is to examine the ways that the politics of biology are constituted, expressed and challenged in Swedish late mo

New political parties are increasing as phenomena in Swedish politics. Some of these parties have gained much attention in the media, and recent examples are Junilistan, Feministiskt initiativ and Sjukvårdspartiet. Media plays an important role for political parties as it is a way for the parties to communicate with the citizens. Therefore this essay examines how these three new parties have been

This paper is a critique of the hegemonic democracy ideal in France today, the myth of the Republic. Based on critical theory, the paper also contains a normative attempt giving the chance to subaltern groups to tell their, less often heard, version of the "truth". The theoretical foundation is the ontological narrative perspective, where identities and actions are understood as being c

The thesis is based on a field study carried out in India, Nepal and Tibet during the period of June?August 2005. It examines gender structures in Tibetan society and seeks to explain the background and reasons to existing social and political structures. The object is to call attention to general conclusions regarding equality gathered in the field by focusing on social efficiency rather than

Foreign aid has the potential to produce dramatic changes, both economically and politically, in the countries in which it is received. This paper argues that the contemporary foreign aid regime does not always create positive results and is often detrimental to democratization in developing countries. This paper argues that poor foreign aid policy induces, both political and economic, and both di

The overarching aim of this essay is to analyze, from a feminist point of view, the moral responsibility for the structural oppression of women. In this discussion I focus on the issue of moral responsibility for sexual violence against women, such as rapes. I claim that a feminist theory of moral responsibility has to be based on a collectivist approach. I argue that men should be considered as c

This essay tries to explore the dynamics of sisterhood as an important narrative aspect in Dodie Smith´s I Capture the Castle (1949) and Rachel Ferguson´s The Brontës Went to Woolworths (1931). Sisters mirror each other both within and outside the family. They can serve as convenient character types with distinct capabilities, strengths or weaknesses, while the family setting makes for excellent p

15th of December 2005 was a historical day for the Iraqi people when they could vote for the first time in a free referendum for the draft of the new constitution. The result showed that 79% accepted it. The Iraqi constitution has been criticized by many for its Islamic ascendancy. By giving Islam the role as the source for legislation, will make the situation worse for the Iraqi women, so it has

This essay examines European Union policy-making in terms of its aims of promoting the Common Good of its citizens. It uses REACH, the new chemical legislation as a case study, since it is a good example of a piece of legislation which has both environmental and economic consequences, and hence pose great problems for legislators in deciding which of the aims for the Common Good to prioritize. It

In this thesis we examine the EU and its development aid distribution and co-operation with third parties. We have looked closer upon the Union's relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP), as well as the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). Our investigation explores how the EU as a donor has handled and affected the development in these regions. We approach t

Although many may argue that there is a developing norm of "the responsibility to protect", there has not been any decision by the UN Security Council to intervene militarily in the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. The aim of this thesis is to examine the factors that concern UN humanitarian intervention in Africa, and why the Security Council has not intervened to stop the atrocities comm

The study focus on the development of the bilateral relationship between India and the United States and the Next Step in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) from 2004 and the change in U.S. approach to India's neuclear program. With the rise of China to potential great power status I argue that the cooporation between the two is an act to balance the Chinese influence and to prevent future rivalry a

This thesis is a critical discourse analysis of the vision of Malmös contemporary urban development. By analysing official documents produced by Malmö municipality our aim is to make discursive and sociolcultural practices in the constitution and construction of the city visible and problematicize them. To do so we use critical discourse analysis and theories on Urban Studies. Malmö is a city hist

Homelessness has always been and will always be a problem in every society. How should we organize the work and care for these people? There are three different types of welfare states, the liberal, the conservative and the social democratic. In the liberal welfare state the market is the supplier of the public good. In the conservative state the family and church and in the social democratic the