Lobbying in the Swedish political system – understood as direct contact by organized interests with elected representatives to influence public decision-making – has increased and diversified as the system has transformed from corporatist to pluralist. Even if lobbying may be perceived as a threat to democracy, particularly challenging towards the basic notion of political equality, there is no pu

This thesis addresses the relationship between politicians and officials in the Swedish municipality of Eslöv. The study investigates the conditions for officials to exert informal influence over politicians. The aim is not to conclude whether this influence is good or not, rather, it sees the influence as a part of the system that is possible to misuse. It is based on interviews with politicians

This master thesis discusses the growth of radical right wing political parties in Europe. The point of departure is the theoretical framework, which consists of four chosen theories, trying to explain the reason behind the increasing support for radical right wing parties among the voters in Finland and Hungary. The theories are postindustrial developments, a legitimacy crisis for political insti

The externalization of migration policies, also known as the externalization of border control, has emerged as an increasingly popular way for more developed countries to tackle the issue of irregular migration. In the Mediterranean region, increasing migration from North Africa to Europe is closely associated with the concept of security – security for the countries that must face constant flows

In Malmö today there is a situation, which is represented by a high rate of organized crime. Due to that situation there have been a large number of killings in the city, often associated with organized crime. These killings have lead to a negative debate about Malmö. And due to the negative focus on the debate surrounding Malmö I decided to evaluate how the discourse about Malmö is presented in t

In a time of global unpredictability, the vision of security and assertiveness is highly appreciated by the citizens of our societies. The European Security Strategy from 2003 and NATO’s new strategic concept of 2010 are intended to promote the EU and NATO as reliable security actors in a global reality of uncertainty. In this thesis, I compare the two generic security strategies to assess how th

In response to the challenges that modern societies pose for citizen participation in representative democracies, theories of participatory democracy are experiencing a revival. Whereas the means suggested to reach the participatory end are numerous, focus is on the local level and its potential to serve as a breeding ground for the enhancement of political citizen participation. For the same reas

The aim of this thesis is to test a fundamental assumption in Fukuyama´s theory of the miniaturization of society. That assumption is that large organisations foster a larger radius of trust than smaller organisations do. Data of individuals memberships and trust in 14 western developed countries is derived from World Value Surveys and European Value Surveys. A series of logistic regressions is ma

The global community has long been fascinated by – as well as terrified of – nuclear weapons. Since the introduction of the weaponry to the international arena in 1945, the goal has been to halt its proliferation. An ideal, future world is one that is free from nuclear weapons. If the goal is to ensure stability and peace in the world, one assumes that the presence of nuclear weapons has the oppos

Many argue that Victoria Park is the introduction of gated communities in Sweden. In this paper I explore what kind of need this type of housing satisfies by doing interviews with residents of Victoria Park in Malmö, Sweden. Current research on the subject is primarily developed in a North American context and existing theories and discussions might not be directly applicable to Swedish condition

The concept of actor capability outlines the basic features for the EU to be an international actor, separating it from nation-states and international organizations. This thesis applies this diagnostic concept to the case of EU-relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). More specifically, it studies how the actor capability has changed by comparing the years 2001 and 2011 re

In the last twenty years, cooperation on security issues in the Nordic countries has gone from non-existent, to a range of close-knit security and military collaborations. With the 2011 signing of a declaration of solidarity, Nordic security cooperation is moving into a new era. My aim with this study is to explain the particularly apparent emergence of a network for Nordic security cooperation in

The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge and to understand the grounds for divorce between Iranians living in Sweden. The subjects were nine Iranians, (seven women and two men) who were married in Iran and later divorced in Sweden. The interview method was used to get a deeper understanding for their situation. The study, which has a social psychological perspective, shows that central fact

Terrorism is being seen as one of the most important threats against society. However, the response of states and organisations to this threat varies. One of the ways to counter terrorism is through legislation that limits the freedom of speech. This thesis explores the reasons for why some political actors have come to illegalize controversial or polemical statements about terrorism. The terroris

This thesis seeks to investigate what factors played a role when Sweden took the decision to lessen the amount of countries it should give aid to, commonly called the land focus. It seeks to do so using foreign policy decision making theories and the rational actor model commonly assumed by those. The study is made part through the study of official materials, part through interviews with people a

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att förklara vilka faktorer som påverkar de icke-finansiella företagens val att tillämpa säkringsredovisning under åren 2007-2010. De valda åren utgör också de år då den finansiella krisen slog till på såväl internationella finansiella marknader såväl som på den svenska finansiella marknaden. Det empiriska materialet som har samlats in utgörs av 871 årsredovisning

In order to explain the driving forces behind the development of a common external energy policy, the thesis investigates the gas interdependence between EU and Russia, and the implications for EU of being highly dependent on supplies from a single provider. The main argument of this thesis is that external stimuli, challenging European energy security, spur intergovernmental cooperation and lead

The brief 2008 war between Russia and Georgia constituted a major military and political defeat for the Georgians and the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili. The conflict rendered much of Georgia’s military capability obliterated and Georgian dreams of regaining control over the two breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia shattered, and severely damaged relations between Russi

Member States failure to comply with EU-legislation challenges both the realization of the common market as well as the legitimacy and effectiveness of the European integration process. Integration between Sweden and Denmark in the common Oresund Region has received both regional and national political support as engine to economical development, and as both states are generally known for their hi

This essay follows my attempt to explain how power structures dictate a state’s susceptibility to the actions of nonstate actors. Specifically, is there a way to determine if a onetime incident perpetrated by a nonstate actor can effectively reduce or increase bilateral relations between states? I hypothesized that I could effectively gauge the likelihood that political and economic activity betwe