A Comissão Intergestores Bipartite (CIB) foi instituída pela Norma Operacional Básica 01/93 e responde pelos aspectos operacionais do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). É um espaço de negociação e pactuação entre gestores municipais e estaduais, promovendo a integração dos diferentes sistemas municipais de saúde sob coordenação do governo estadual. As normas expedidas pela CIB, na forma de resoluções, têm natureza jurídica de direitos-meio, isto é, estabelecem os procedimentos específicos para realização do direito à saúde, permitindo que todos os potenciais destinatários destas normas possam conhecer, aderir, criticar ou mesmo judicializá-las. O poder normativo da CIB decorre da previsão legislativa expressa para regular os aspectos operacionais do SUS e da legitimidade democrática, exercida diretamente pelo cidadão, ou através dos Conselho Estadual de Saúde (CES). As normas que emanam deste fórum deliberativo devem ser respeitas por integrarem o ordenamento jurídico e cumprirem sua função de instrumentalização normativa do SUS. Nesse sentido, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi discutir o poder normativos da CIB e a efetividade de suas normas, a partir do paradigma do discurso do direito. Realizamos uma análise documental, a partir das resoluções e das atas da CIB, para compreender sua dinâmica discurso-deliberativa e caracterizá-la, ou não, como um espaço de gênese democrática de direitos. Identificamos e classificamos as propostas aprovadas quanto à correspondência com as resoluções do CES, quanto ao conteúdo, à forma de aprovação à dinâmica da discussão das propostas aprovadas que resultaram em resoluções. Foi possível perceber que há um grande potencial democrático na CIB, um potencial que precisa ser explorado. Mas há também fragilidades e contradições na dinâmica das discussões no interior da Intergestores. Há indício de uma institucionalização que mina o potencial democrático-discursivo e se fecha à participação e controle social. Em tempos de uma democracia e de um sistema jurídico em crise de legitimidade, espaços como a CIB devem cada vez mais se abrir para a participação popular, estimulando uma radicalização democrática, construindo instrumentos de participação da sociedade civil e de abertura às novas formas de expressão da democracia participativa, que escapa às formas institucionais tradicionais / The Intermanager Bipartite Commission (IBC) was instituted by the Basic Operational Norm 01/93 and responds for the operational aspects of the Unified Health System (UHS). It is a forum for negotiation and pactuation between municipal and state managers, promoting the integration of the various municipal health systems coordinated by the state government. The norms issued by the IBC in the form of resolutions , have the nature of procedural rights, in other words, establish specific procedures for fulfill the right to health , allowing all potential receivers of these norms to acknowledge, support, criticize or even challenge them in court. The normative power of the ICB results from express legal prevision to regulate the operational aspects of the UHS, and its democratic legitimacy is the result of the control exercised directly by citizens or through the State Council of Health (SCH). The norms that emanate from the ICB should recognize as a part of the legal order and fulfill its operational goal inside the legal health system. Accordingly, the objective of this research was to discuss the normative power of the IBC and the effectiveness of its resolutions, under the paradigm of the discourse theory of law. The methodology was fulfilled through the documentary analysis of the resolutions and discussions of IBC, to understand its deliberative and discursive dynamics to characterize it, or not, as a forum for democratic genesis of rights. We identify and rank the proposals approved as its correspondence with the resolutions of the SCH, as its the content, its approval procedures, and the dynamics of the discussion to approve proposals that resulted in resolutions. We observed that there is a great democratic potential in IBC, a potential that needs to be explored. But there are also weaknesses and contradictions in the dynamics of the discussions within the Intermanager. There is evidence of a potential institutionalization that undermines democratic discourse and closes the IBC to social participation and control. In times of a democracy and a legal system in a crisis of legitimacy, spaces like the IBC must increasingly open to popular participation, encouraging democratic radicalization, building instruments for civil society to participate and openness to the new forms of expression of democracy, which escapes the traditional institutional forms

This research study takes a multi-disciplinary perspective, using critical discourse theory, transactional communication theory and cross-cultural theory to contribute insight into the experiences of alternative entry students as they strive to access and participate in higher education. The study seeks to determine how these students learn to persevere: how they construct their means of succeeding in the university culture. The methodological structure of the research comprises a collective case study design, encompassing critical ethnography, action research and reflexive approaches to guide a deeper understanding of the experiences of studying at a regional Australian university. The reflexive nature of the research facilitated the development of an original theoretical construct, the ‘deficit-discourse’ shift, which challenges higher education policy and practice, in particular, in relation to academics’ roles in making their discourses explicit and in collaborating with students to facilitate students’ perseverance and success. The research has also generated two models: the Framework for Student Engagement and Mastery and the Model for Student Success at University. The Framework re-conceptualises the university as a dynamic culture made up of a multiplicity of sub-cultures, each with its own literacy or discourse. The Framework recasts the first year experience as a journey, with students’ transition re-conceptualised as the processes of gaining familiarity with and negotiating these new literacies and discourses whereas perseverance is viewed as the processes of mastering and demonstrating them. The Model provides a three step practical strategy (incorporating reflective practice, socio-cultural practice and critical practice) for achieving this engagement: for empowering students to negotiate, master and demonstrate their mastery of the university culture’s multiple discourses. Together, the two models provide students with a means of succeeding in the new university culture.

Uppsatsen syftar till att studera svenska tidningars rapportering om Kina och klarlägga hur bilden av Kina konstrueras i tidningarna. Detta görs genom en diskursanalys av artiklar från tre av Sveriges största dagstidningar. Både teori och metod har sin utgångspunkt i Laclau & Mouffes diskursteori. Valet av artiklar grundar sig i att artiklarna på ett eller annat vis handlat om, eller tagit upp Kina och därigenom hjälpt till att konstruera en bild av landet. I analysen har det insamlade materialet sorterats in i tre olika teman utifrån vad artiklarna berör, dessa teman är, ekonomi, politik, och orientalism. De två första innefattar artiklar om Kinas ekonomiska och politiska förfarande. I det tredje temat, orientalism, innehåller artiklar där landet och dess invånare framställs som ”Den andre”, motsatsen till väst. Resultatet visar att de tre utvalda tidningarnas likartade rapportering kring de olika temana skapar en enhetlig bild av Kina. Det är den liberala demokratin och marknadsekonomins hegemoniska position som genomsyrar samtliga tidningars konstruktion av Kina. / This essay aims to study how Swedish newspapers are constructing China textually. This is done by a discourse analysis of articles from three of the biggest newspapers in Sweden. The essays theoretical and methodical background stems from Laclau & Mouffe’s discourse theory. The selection of newspaper articles is based on the simple fact that they are written about China or that they mention China, and thereby helps to construct an image of the country. In the analysis of the gathered articles, the material has been sorted into three different themes depending on what the subject matter of the articles was. The themes are economics, politics, and orientalism. The first two themes address Chinas economic and political actions. The third theme, orientalism, includes articles where the country and its inhabitants are portrayed as “the other”, the opposite to the western world. The results show that the three newspapers selected all portray the same things in regards to the different themes that helps create a unified image of China. It is the liberal democracy and the market economy’s hegemonic position that permeates the reporting on China in the newspapers.

This essay examines how the Baphomet symbol is understood in three different contexts. Firstly, the understanding of the Baphomet is analysed in the book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, written by the French 19th century occultist Éliphas Lévi. Secondly, I analyse the symbol in The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey, the person responsible for having introduced Satanism to modernity. Thirdly, the Baphomet as understood in contemporary metal music culture is analysed. Ultimately, I find the Baphomet to be viewed as a symbol associated with Satan, but in very different ways. The reason to why these differences exist I find to be partially explained by the initial mystery surrounding the Baphomet. The understanding of the Baphomet depends also on the role of Satan in each context. Due to Satan representing different things in the three different contexts, so does the Baphomet. / <p>All images removed.</p>

The goal of this essay is to analyse how women belonging to a right wing political discourse talk about feminism and equality. This analysis will be used to determine if right wing feminism exists. The analysis is based on Laclau and Mouffe´s  discourse theory as the primary base. The focus is articulation, antagonism and hegmony; the central terms of Laclau and Moffe´s theroy. The material consists of five interviews with representatives of women wings of liberal political in Sweaden; Liberala kvinnor, Centerkvinnor and Moderatkvinnor. The study shows that there are different opinions regarding feminism in the liberal political discouse, and that those opinions have an antagonistic relationship. This has resulted in a re-articulation of feminism and feministic issues.

This study explores the hegemonic articulation of ‘feminist politics’ by the Swedish political party Feminist Initiative (Feministiskt initiativ) during 2014 national parliamentary election campaign. The analysis is carried out on two levels: the construction of the hegemonic project of feminist politics and the construction of an antagonist.      Deploying the discourse-theoretical approach by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as well as the theories of radical democracy and intersectionality, it is shown how a new, broad collective feminist identity is produced by deconstructing womanhood as an identifiable and unproblematic category as well as expanding the signifying chain of feminism by including new social struggles into it. As a result, the feminist subject is conceptualized in radical-democratic terms as a citizen with equal rights, rather than an essentialized female subject. Two nodal points that fix the meaning of the hegemonic project of feminist politics are identified: one is human rights, which enables the expansion of the chain of equivalence, and the other is experience of oppression, which acknowledges differences existing within the movement and prevents it from muting marginalized voices. Discrimination, being the constitutive outside, both threatens and produces the subject: on the one hand, it violates human rights that underlie feminist politics; on the other hand, it produces the experience of oppression that gives a unique feminist perspective to each member of the collective identity. The hegemonic project thus emerges as dependent on the oppressive power of discrimination. The study suggests a critical discussion on how the constitutive outside – discrimination – empties the concept of feminism by a radical expansion of its meaning.    The research furthermore explores the construction of the antagonist of the hegemonic project. Utilizing analytical concepts from the writings of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, it is demonstrated how social structures and norms acquire agency and become the significant Other for the feminist identity. The thesis is concluded by a critical discussion on the fundamental impossibility of identification based on opposing oneself to something that can only be expressed with a signifier that ultimately lacks any signified.

The Austrian mental health care system has been characterized by reform initiatives since the 1970s. The reform strategies can be summarized under the term 'community mental health care'. The thesis focuses on an analysis of the reform (context) and the related challenges for mental health care financing with respect to its interdependencies with service provision in the process of change. In a qualitative research process, firstly, reform documents and transcripts of qualitative interviews have been analyzed via a discourse-analytical approach. Secondly, secondary data on mental health care financing in Austria and in western European countries have been collected. An analytical framework was, finally, applied to analyze the interrelations between mental health care financing and reform discourse with respect to its impact on the micro-level and on the macro-level of the mental health care system. The results show that the reform discourse reflects broader welfare state transformation processes. Yet, financing issues have hardly been addressed in reform discussions. Nevertheless, discursive elements are either explicitly or implicitly associated with financing issues or are even linked to specific financing models. A central impact from the restructuring processes on the micro-level is an increasing (financial) responsibility for people who are affected by a mental disorder and/or their relatives. On the macro-level, the processes of change are related to decreasing (financial) responsibility for the sector 'state' while responsibility for the sectors 'family' and 'voluntary/community' is rising. The international development shows similar characteristics. The thesis finishes with some recommendations for developing an alternative financing model and provides a guideline for a comprehensive discussion of alternative mental health care financing approaches. (author´s abstract)

Democracy Now! is an independently syndicated hour long daily audio and video program that is broadcast on 1179 radio, television, and internet stations throughout the world, as well as being freely available on their website under a Creative-Commons License. They are a global news organization based in New York City, with the stated goal of providing “rarely heard” perspectives in their coverage. Democracy Now! was one of the early independent news organizations to provide continuous coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York's Zuccotti park. Their early coverage of the movement is relevant to the extent that it helps to obviate the demographics of the OWS movement as well as highlight the potential for a “radically-democratic agonistic pluralism,” as conceptualized by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Through the dual frames of discourse and intersectionality theories, this qualitiative study examines the coverage of Occupy Wall Street by Democracy Now!, in an attempt to understand the interplay of the movement's demographic heterogeneity and the manner in which its public antagonism is characterized by this independent media outlet. The sociopolitical and historical context provided by Democracy Now! is used to understand where the outlet exists with in the media as well as if this coverage can be part of “radical democratic possibilities.”

Den här uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur vegetariska kampanjer, som exempelvis Köttfri måndag, framställs i svenska tidningar. Detta sker genom en diskursanalys av tidningsartiklar från både lokala och rikstäckande tidningar samt av artiklar som enbart finns publicerade på internet. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkt är Foucaults tankar om diskursen och dess samband med makt och kunskap samt Laclau &amp; Mouffes diskursteori. De tidningsartiklar som valts ut för analys har alla på något sätt kunnat relateras till vegetariska kampanjer. Under analysen har det insamlade materialet sorterats in under fem olika teman som de respektive artiklarna berör. Dessa teman är: politik, miljö, ekonomi, etik och hälsa. Resultaten visar att det, inom alla teman, har kunnat identifieras motstridiga diskurser som skiljer sig i sin framställning av vegetariska kampanjer och som använder sig av olika strategier i denna process. Ett av de mer intressanta resultaten visar på en tydlig skillnad i framställningen av vegetariska kampanjer mellan de två diskurser som identifierats inom det politiska temat. Vidare så anser vi att denna skillnad kan knytas till de politiska ideologierna liberalism respektive socialism och den motsättning avseende grundläggande värden som där föreligger. Något förvånande var frånvaron av artiklar under det etiska temat då de etiska implikationerna av köttätande förväntades spela en central roll i förespråkandet av vegetariska kampanjer. En slutsats som möjligtvis kan dras av detta är att vegetariska kampanjer bör betraktas som en del av miljörörelsen snarare än som en vegetarisk rörelse vilket namnet antyder. / This essay aims to study how vegetarian campaigns, for instance Meatless Mondays, are presented in Swedish newspapers. This is done by a discourse analysis of newspaper articles, which include both regional and nationwide newspapers, as well as articles that are only available through the Internet. The essays theoretical background stems from Foucaults thoughts on the discourse and its relation to power and knowledge as well as Laclau &amp; Mouffes discourse theory. All of the articles that have been selected for further analysis are in some way related to vegetarian campaigns. In the analysis of the gathered material, the articles have been sorted under five different themes, which in some way relate to the subject matter of the different articles. These themes are: political, environmental, economical, ethical and health. The results show that several contradicting discourses can be identified in all of the themes. These discourses differ in their presentation of vegetarian campaigns and utilize different strategies in doing so. One of the more interesting results showed that there is a clear difference in how the two discourses, that were identified in the politics theme, presents vegetarian campaigns. Furthermore we believe that this difference can been linked to the two ideologies liberalism and socialism and more specifically to the way in which they differ in their primary values. Somewhat surprising was the absence of articles in the ethical theme as we were expecting the ethical implications of meat eating to play a central role in the advocating of vegetarian campaigns. A conclusion that one might be able to draw from this is that vegetarian campaigns should be viewed as part of the environmental movement rather than as a vegetarian movement that the name suggests.

The aim of this study was to investigate how the position of the preschool teacher could come across in interviews with six teachers about their assignment to document and evaluate the preschool activity. The research done so far in this area shows that it can be a complex and difficult part of the preschool teachers work. A dilemma often described is how the teachers can be able to analyze and document the children´s learning with the aim to evaluate and develop the preschool activity without judging and mapping the children. A special focus of the study was to see how the methods and dsicourses described by the teachers possibly could affect the teachers´s position in the area of documentation and evaluation. To analyze the empirical data Ernesto Laclau (1935-2014) &amp; Chantal Mouffe´s discourse theory was used, a prespective witch also figured to be the theoretical foundation of the master thesis. The result of the study showed that the teachers often described themselves in a position between conflicting discourses. This was most apparent in relation to what seems to be a rather new material, focusing on mapping the individual children´s abilities. It could be interpreted that this material and the positioning of the preschool teacher in relation to it, is a part of a trend<img src="https://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png" /><img src="https://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png" /> that has been described by other researchers, where an Anglo-Saxon evaluation tradition with focus on the individual rather than the preschool as a whole is spreading.