Lobbying is an integral part of political decision-making processes. It is a relevant way of communication, during which lobbying companies and lobbyists try to influence different policy areas for the benefit of their clients. This also applies to foreign lobbying, where a given country tries to influence the foreign policy of the target state to its advantage through lobbying companies. This tool is also used by Taiwan, for which it is one of the crucial tools to break out of international isolation and to ensure one's own security. Thus, Taiwan has invested millions of US dollars over the years, and this trend continued in the period 2017-2020, the administration of Donald Trump. The work analyzes Taiwan's lobbying activities in the U.S. between 2017 and 2020 using publicly available reports from the US Department of Justice. It evaluates the number of companies hired by Taiwanese government entities, the funds they have received for their services, and the contacts made by these companies with U.S. lawmakers. At the same time, it maps political contributions made in favor of sponsors and co-sponsors of selected laws. The thesis also deals with the activities of the American organization Formosan Association for Public Affairs, which contributes significantly to the promotion of Taiwanese issues...

The purpose of this qualitative research study is to examine how the personality cult that has been built around Donald Trump is being sustained and upheld by Christian prophecies and statements. This has been done by analyzing five books that centers around prophecies and comments made by the evangelical Christian right in America. The study answers two main questions: How is the personality cult around Donald Trump maintained through the use of prophecies and statements by the evangelical conservative right in the USA? What purposes do prophecies for the evangelical right serve in the personality cult of Donald Trump? The result of the study shows that the evangelical right supports the personality cult of Trump by building an image of him as Gods chosen and anointed one, who will lead the nation to a better place. They do this by comparing Trump with biblical leader figures, by asserting that there is an ideological war coming to America where he is the savior, and by presenting him as the defender of conservative Christian values.

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Master of Arts / This thesis explores how public figures associated with the Tea Party movement used rhetoric to create and perpetuate ideas about who "real" Americans are, what they believe, and how they should act. I analyze books by Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck, and Jenny Beth Martin to demonstrate how they premise "real" American identity on whether or not individuals are perceived to hold a particular set of moral values and beliefs. I ultimately suggest that their rhetorical strategies primed the American public for anti-democratic rhetoric and led to the election of Donald Trump.

The purpose of this thesis was to analyze President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy and to determine if it fits the mold of one of the four historical foreign policy paradigms as described by Walter Russell Mead in his book, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World. Mead describes four U.S. foreign policy schools of thought, in which he titles after influential statesmen who embody the specific school's core principles. These paradigms include the Hamiltonians, who believe in a strong relationship between big business and government for foreign policy success. The Wilsonians, who encourage the spread of democratic principles abroad. The Jeffersonians, who favor the protection of domestic liberal democracy over other foreign policy endeavors. Lastly, the Jacksonians, who prioritize the physical and economic security of American citizens above all else. The primary research question in this thesis states, which of the four traditions of U.S. foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead helps explain President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy? President Trump's rhetoric and specific foreign policy actions were analyzed. His rhetoric was examined through his August 2017 Afghanistan Strategy speech and his specific foreign policy actions were measured through various air operation metrics, U.S. aid to Afghanistan, and U.S. troop deployment trends. Overall, this thesis gave support to my hypothesis that President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy contains various Hamiltonian and Wilsonian principles, but it has proven to be principally Jacksonian. / Master of Arts / The objective of this thesis was to further understand President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy through the theoretical framework of Walter Russel Mead's four historical foreign policy paradigms. Mead's four historical paradigms are useful tools to examine and understand U.S. foreign policy. Mead provides in-depth historical context, goes into great detail on core principles, and also provides a surfeit of advantages and disadvantages for each school of thought. His breakdown of U.S. foreign policy into complementary yet combative paradigms is one of the most complete explanations of U.S. foreign policy to date. The primary research question in this thesis states, which of the four traditions of U.S. foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead helps explain President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy? President Trump's rhetoric and specific foreign policy actions were analyzed. His rhetoric was examined through his August 2017 Afghanistan Strategy speech and his specific foreign policy actions were measured through various air operation metrics, U.S. aid to Afghanistan, and U.S. troop deployment trends. Overall, this thesis gave support to my hypothesis that President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy contains various Hamiltonian and Wilsonian principles, but it has proven to be principally Jacksonian.

The 2016 presidential election in USA was extraordinary from several point of views and the election was majorly covered by swedish media. The aim of this research was to examine how Swedish newspapers portrayed Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump from a gender perspective during the 2016 presidential election. We also wanted to analyse how other common political news frames were used to portray Clinton and Trump.   This is a qualitative framing analysis of 14 strategically selected articles, seven that were published by Aftonbladet and seven by Dagens Nyheter. The results showed tendencies of several gendered stereotypes that are being retained by the frames the newspapers use. Frames such as gendered traits and gendered issue emphases, but also game frames were offered to the reader.   We discovered that Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter offered a more positive opinion of Clinton than of Trump. While Clinton was framed as an experienced, emotional and compassionate candidate, Trump was framed as an inexperienced, insensitive and aggressive candidate. Clinton was framed with gendered issue emphases in both the public and private sphere, while Trump was framed with gendered issue emphases in only the public sphere. Furthermore, game frames showed that the newspapers had a tendency of polarizing and personifying the candidates.

Från Reagan till Trump: Populistiska uttryck inom det republikanska partiet 1980–2017 är en kandidatuppsats av Angelica Carlsson. Syftet med studien är att förklara förekomsten av populistiska uttryck inom det republikanska partiet i USA under tidsperioden 1980–2017. Populistiska uttryck i politiska tal av presidenterna Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush och Donald Trump undersöks och graderas utifrån Kirk A. Hawkins sex kriterier över populism. Talen analyseras också utifrån de teoretiska begreppen tunn respektive tjock populism. För att förklara de populistiska uttrycken beaktar studien den historiska kontexten och utvecklingslinjer inom det republikanska partiet. Utifrån studiens resultat kan konstateras att de populistiska uttrycken är högst i Reagans och Trumps tal, medan Bushs tal har en lägre grad av populism. I studien förklaras detta utifrån den historiska kontexten, där 1980 och 2016 präglades av mer politisk instabilitet än 2000. Studien belyser hur populism inte uppstår ur tomma intet utan ska förstås i relation till kontexten i vilken den uttrycks. / From Reagan to Trump: Populist expressions within the Republican Party 1980–2017 is a bachelor thesis by Angelica Carlsson. The aim of the thesis is to explain populist expressions within the Republican Party in the United States during the period 1980–2017. Populist expressions in political speeches by the presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump are investigated and graded based on Kirk A. Hawkin's criteria of populism. The thesis is also taking the theoretical terms thin and thick populism into consideration. In order to explain the populist expressions the historical context and the historical development of the Republican Party is taken into account. The main findings of the thesis is that Reagan's and Trump's speeches has the highest degree of populist expressions, while Bush's speeches has a lower degree of populist expressions. The study explains this from the historical context, where 1980 and 2016 were characterized by more political instability than 2000. The study illustrates how populism does not arise from nothing and should be understood in relation to the historical context.

Jana Leichterová Conservative Criticism of Obamacare and its Transformation in the Context of Donald Trump Running for President Abstract The thesis deals with the debate over the health care reforms in the United States. It focuses specifically on the debate over the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, a health care reform initiated by President Barack Obama that was signed into law in March 2010. The goal of the thesis is to identify the main arguments of the conservative criticism of the Affordable Care Act, and to determine whether the debate transformed with the emergence of Donald Trump onto the political scene. The thesis provides historical context of the three main approaches to the health care policies in the United States throughout the 20th century: the Social Security path of strong government in the 1930s, the mixed "American way" with government providing social benefits to citizens through private institutions in the 1970s, and the approach of unregulated free market since the 1980s. Obama's health care originates in the urge for a national solution of the high number of uninsured citizens (more than 50 million in 2009) and rising cost of health care. The reform has three essential pillars: 1. the reform of the health insurance market that unifies the diverse state approaches and...

[pt] O conceito de excepcionalismo americano permeou a história dos EUA e criou uma imagem de um país com um sistema e uma sociedade democráticos superior, capaz de promover a democracia, os direitos humanos e o Estado de Direito em nível nacional e internacional. Essa ideia legitimou a liderança dos EUA na construção de uma ordem liberal internacional. A ascensão ao poder do Presidente Donald Trump e a atual crise da ordem global contribuíram para questionar essa ideia e seus pressupostos. Esta dissertação tem dois objetivos principais: em primeiro lugar, discutir o conceito de excepcionalismo americano e, em segundo lugar, analisar como o conceito de excepcionalismo americano afeta a relação entre os Estados Unidos e o Direito Internacional. Será argumentado que o excepcionalismo pode ser definido como um conceito e analisado com as lentes teóricas e metodológicas da História Conceitual. Sem um significado definitivo, o excepcionalismo americano é composto de diferentes interpretações que variam de acordo com o contexto em que o autor se situa. Ainda assim, sua importância na história e na identidade americanas é inquestionável, tornando necessário levar em conta o excepcionalismo ao tentar entender as ações dos Estados Unidos. Para analisar a relação entre o excepcionalismo americano e o Direito Internacional, a dissertação se envolverá com a literatura sobre a Ordem Liberal Internacional, a hegemonia dos EUA e o multilateralismo. Além disso, será perguntado se a ascensão de Donald Trump pode ser considerada uma ruptura em duas tradições americanas: a relação dos Estados Unidos com o Direito Internacional e o uso político do excepcionalismo. Argumenta-se que, apesar de se distanciar claramente da tradição excepcionalista, Trump não se desviou da tradição do Direito Internacional como é comumente percebido. Essa percepção é derivada de seus discursos radicais, de sua personalidade estrondosa e de seus vínculos com a extrema direita, mas não se traduz na maioria de suas políticas. / [en] The concept of American exceptionalism has permeated U.S. history and created an image of a country with better democratic system and society, able to promote domestically and internationally the democracy, human rights and the rule of law. This idea has legitimatized U.S. leadership in the construction of a liberal international order. The rise to power of President Donald Trump and the current crisis of the global order have contributed to question this idea and assumptions. This dissertation has two main aims, firstly, to discuss the concept of American exceptionalism, and secondly to analyse how the concept of American exceptionalism affects the relationship between the United States and International Law. It will be argued that exceptionalism can be defined as a concept and analysed with the theoretical and methodological lenses of Conceptual History. With no definitive meaning, American exceptionalism is made of different interpretations that vary across the context the author was situated in. Still, its importance in American history and identity is unquestionable, making it necessary to take exceptionalism into account when trying to understand the United States actions. In order to analyse the relation of American exceptionalism and International Law, the dissertation will engage with the literature of International Liberal Order, U.S. hegemony and multilateralism. Furthermore, it will inquire if the rise of Donald Trump can be considered a rupture in two American traditions: the United States relationship with International Law and the political use of exceptionalism. It is argued that, although clearly distancing himself from the exceptionalist tradition, Trump did not deviate from International Law tradition as it is commonly perceived. This perception is derived from his radical speeches, loud personna and ties to the Far-Right, but do not translate into most of his policies.

Problemformulering: Det amerikanska valet år 2016 har gått till historien. Det stod mellan två oväntade kandidater, Hillary Clinton som var USA:s första kvinna att kandidera till president. Den andra kandidaten var Donald Trump, en framgångsrik affärsman utan politisk bakgrund. Segrare blev Donald Trump, vilket förbluffade världen. Presidenten började sin första dag med att kritisera medier för att dem ska använda sig utav “Fake News” när det publicerar nyheter. Det är presidentens begrepp “Fake News” som lade idén för vår studie. Syfte: Studien ämnar undersöka huruvida Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheters utformning och gestaltningar i nyheter framställs och därmed presenteras för medborgarna samt huruvida de två valda tidningarna framställer President Trump. Metod och material: En kvantitativ innehållsanalys har genomförts bestående av totalt 40 analysobjekt från Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheter. Huvudresultat: Nyheters logik och berättartekniker, nyheters beskrivande innehåll samt nyheters utformning utgör i samverkan med varandra, i större och mindre utsträckning, en god grund för hur individer väljer sin informationskälla och uppfattar verkligheten. Dessa skapar även förutsättningar för mediernas betydelse i samhället och vilken påverkan de har på individer i samhället. Utan medialiseringen och nyhetsvärderingen tenderar gestaltningen i nyhetsrapportering inom politik att bli intetsägande. Vidare är de politiska aktörerna och medierna beroende av varandra och samspelet mellan varandra för att fånga uppmärksamheten hos individer i samhället.