It is in political scientific theory commonly understood that the politics of microstates are defined by a lack of ideological plurality and strong public consensuses. This study aims to investigate whether such characteristics may contribute to the emergence of party systems that hinder the full democratization of countries. The study has been conducted as a multiple-case study including the prin

The Swedish national election of 2022 paved the way for potentially witnessing European issues being more prominent and contentious than ever before among the national parties. However, as the Member State has historically been characterised by its ambivalence towards the EU, there exist reasons to question this assumption. By drawing upon the context of the election, both before and after electio

This study delves into Systembolaget's advertising campaign "Experten" to investigate its influence on public perception and cultural identity. Launched in 2015, the campaign successfully bolstered trust in Systembolaget by 14 percentage points. Employing qualitative content analysis and multimodal semiotic analysis, this thesis explores expert and public opinions of the adverts, aim

The thesis focuses on the use of social mix policies within the framework of Denmark's public housing system and their impact on economic connectedness and upward mobility for low-income, vulnerable beneficiaries. By conducting a meta-ethnographic review, the research aims to examine a total of six key ethnographic studies on the implementation of social mix strategies, with a view to generati

This case study investigates the involvement of private military companies (PMCs) in two African conflicts. Nigeria and Mozambique hired PMCs in 2014 and 2019 respectively to combat internal insurgencies. The paper aims to answer why these countries hired PMCs and if the PMCs were successful in combating the insurgencies. For the first question, the intensity of the insurgency and the state of the

Over the last two decades, Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has come under increased scrutiny from academics and the public alike. Despite this, there remains a crucial need for further research to understand the variations and extent of CRSV across conflicts. This thesis introduces natural resource conflicts as a variable of interest, by examining the relationship between natural resource

Sweden and Canada are internationally recognised for their contributions to defending human rights and managed to establish a reputation as humanitarian superpowers. However, both countries deal with the aftermath of a long violent past, concerning the dreadful treatment of their respective indigenous populations. In two separate contexts, the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in Canada and t

This thesis combines regional security complex theory and relational peace in a theoretical framework which is used to analyze the relationship between Armenia and Russia to the backdrop of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Using qualitative content analysis, important events and statements concerning the relationship before and after the war are analyzed, respectivel

According to the UCDP database, roughly 60% of all armed conflicts between 1944 and 2016 have recurred, an issue which has become increasingly incorporated into the framework of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Economist Paul Collier has theorized upon the importance of economic recovery for building sustainable peace, proposing that economic recovery should be the true exit point of UN pea

Over the last 25 years, the Europace journal has greatly contributed to dissemination of research and knowledge in the field of syncope. More than 400 manuscripts have been published in the journal. They undoubtedly improved our understanding of syncope. This symptom is now clearly differentiated from other forms of transient loss of consciousness. The critical role of vasodepression and/or cardio

BackgroundAnxiety disorders (ADs) are common in youth with autism and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may be less efficacious than among anxious youth without autism. Yet, little is known about which aspects of anxiety are targeted less effectively by CBT in youth with autism.MethodWe pooled youth with autism and ADs randomized to CBT or a control condition from five randomized controlled trial

Misophonia is characterized by decreased tolerance of ordinary human-generated trigger sounds and associated visual stimuli (e.g., chewing, sniffing, lip smacking), coupled with intense affective reactions. The disorder often begins during childhood or adolescence and is associated with impairment and distress in numerous life domains. Research has begun to examine the underlying psychological mec

I will present the results of our investigation of the Gaia Phase Spiral using Gaia Data Release 3. The phase spiral is a pattern in the plane defined by the vertical velocity (VZ) and vertical distance from the Galactic plane (Z). We have been able to determine the phase spiral's orientation and strength, or amplitude, at different locations in the Galactic disc by using a model we developed for

Precipitation in clouds can form by either warm-rain or ice crystal processes, referred to as warm and cold formation pathways, respectively. Here, we investigate the warm and cold pathway contributions to surface precipitation in simulated continental convective storms. We analyze three contrasting convective storms that are cold-based, slightly warm-based and very warm-based. We apply tracer-tag

This conceptual article contributes to the post-growth strand of political ecology literature, which seeks to find sustainable ways of organizing the economy that do not require economic growth. It explores the idea that transitioning to post-growth societies requires a transition in the relationship-to-profit of business. I first conceptualize relationship-to-profit as the intersection of purpose

Since the Lisbon Treaty failed in strengthening the EU’s global actorness – not least within Russia’s sphere of interest – the EU has been described as ‘a global actor past its peak’. However, following Azerbaijan’s aggressions on Armenian sovereign territory in September 2022, Armenia invited the EU to deploy a CSDP mission in the country. Since Armenia is one of Russia’s closest allies and CSDP

In light of the EU’s growing compliance problem and the generalized decline in Commission-led enforcement, this thesis studies the phenomenon of Commission inaction against breaches of EU law, and, specifically, Art. 2 TEU. By focusing on its lack of action against Spain’s non-renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, a long-standing breach of the rule of law, this thesis aims to shed light

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the level of conict in the media between the government and the opposition at dierent time periods, and specically regarding EU policies. Opposition towards policy is a crucial ingredient in democratic systems of government that do not only allow the people to send dierent personalities to represent them in government, but rather dierent policy agendas that