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Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka möjliga förklaringar till den ryska statsledningens beslut att invadera Ukraina. Forskningsfrågan löd: Hur kan den ryska statsledningens beslut att invadera Ukraina förstås utifrån ett rollteoretiskt perspektiv? Forskningsfrågan har undersökts genom att analysera uttalande från centrala aktörer inom den ryska presidentadministrationen och utrikesministeriet utifrån ett rollteoretiskt perspektiv. Tre kompletterande rollföreställningar har kunnat identifieras: (1) beskyddare av landsmän utomlands (2) upprätthållare av principen om odelbar säkerhet (3) återställare av det historiska Ryssland. Rollerna är nära sammanflätade med varandra och används alla av ryska beslutsfattare för att på olika sätt motivera invasion av Ukraina. Jag finner att de tre identifierade rollerna manifesterar sig i Rysslands politiska målsättningar med kriget i Ukraina. Den första Rollen tar sig uttryck i Kremls politiska målsättning att avsätta det politiska styret i Kiev, för att sedan ersätta den med en Moskvavänlig marionettregim. Den andra Rollen manifesterar sig i Kremls politiska målsättning att bevara Ukraina i den ryska intressesfären och ersätta den rådande unipolära världsordningen med en ny multipolär världsordning. Den tredje rollen uppenbarar sig i den överordnande politiska målsättningen att forma ett storryskt rike, bestående av Ryssland, Ukraina och Belarus, likväl erkännandet av en rysk intressesfär i det postsovjetiska området.

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This thesis examines the extent to which European journalistic coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) supports the nation branding of individual countries, focusing on Ukraine's participation during 2016 and 2022. Through an analysis of 16 selected articles from British and Swedish media outlets, the study investigates how Swedish and British media outlets report on how Ukraine's portrayal in the ESC contributes to its nation branding efforts. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks of strategic narrative and nation branding, the research explores two main questions: To what extent does media coverage support Ukraine's nation branding in the ESC? And has there been any change in coverage since 2016? Furthermore, the study reflects on why nation branding within the profession of journalism has become accepted and not questioned, examining the implications for the profession and its role in society. Through a qualitative narrative analysis based on the concept of framing, two distinct narratives were revealed: "Ukraine's Resistance Against Oppression and Invasion" and "Support and Solidarity from Europe." The findings demonstrate differences in reporting between Swedish and British media, with shifts in focus observed between 2022 and 2016. This study underscores the role of media in shaping perceptions and nation branding, offering insights into the dynamics of strategic narratives and media influence, and the evolving role of journalism in society.

Il dissolvimento dell'Unione Sovietica, alla fine del 1991, ha avuto un impatto di straordinaria rilevanza sull'Asia Centrale. Se il controllo di Mosca sull'area portò alla formazione di entità statuali con confini artificiali e caratterizzate dalla presenza al loro interno di un intricatissimo melting pot etnico, il crollo dell'Urss ha fatto sorgere un inedito scenario geopolitico. Il vuoto di potere registrato nel centro asiatico, infatti, ha generato una serrata competizione diplomatica tra i principali attori del sistema internazionale, ansiosi di accrescere la propria influenza sulla regione. Ciò sulla base dei principali fattori della sua rilevanza strategica, primo fra tutti quello energetico. Prendendo le mosse da tali considerazioni, il progetto di ricerca – utilizzando un approccio storico-politico – mira ad analizzare la geopolitica dell'energia relativamente al Turkmenistan, paese che dispone delle quarte riserve mondiali di gas naturale. Sulla base, da un lato, delle peculiari caratteristiche di tale risorsa e, dall'altro, dell'impatto del suo possesso sulla sfera politica interna e la proiezione internazionale della Repubblica centro asiatica, ci si propone di stabilire se quest'ultima abbia la possibilità di accrescere in futuro il proprio ruolo geopolitico, diventando un attore al centro delle dinamiche strategiche regionali e globali. / The crumbling of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 has represented a decisive moment for Central Asia. Moscow's control over the area favoured the formation of state actors characterized by artificial frontiers and an extraordinary ethnic mix. On the other hand, the soviet dissolution has led to a new geopolitical situation. The lack of power experimented in the region has generated an international diplomatic race, with the main state actors eager to increase their influence over Central Asia. This mainly due to the strategic relevance of the area, especially related to the energy dimension. By starting from these assumptions, the research project aims to analyze – by adopting an historical-political approach – the geopolitics of energy with reference to Turkmenistan, a country that has at its disposal the fourth biggest reserves of natural gas globally. On the basis of the specific properties of this raw material on the one hand, and of the impact of its possession on the turkmen political sphere, on the other, the issue is defined. The goal is to establish whether Turkmenistan has the chance to increase its future geopolitical role, becoming an actor at the heart of regional and global strategic dynamics.

The playing field upon which actors, both state and non-state, develop strategies to secure existing supplies of oil and seek access to new ones is as systemically, politically and strategically complex is as it is geographically vast. In considering this activity, the terminology used by pundits and journalists to describe the significance of issues such as oil demand, the complexities of access to petroleum and concerns over security threats to supplies of oil is familiar. Juxtapositions such as the ‘geopolitics of oil', ‘energy geopolitics', the ‘geopolitics of resource wars' and the ‘geopolitics of oil and gas' are all familiar. But what do they mean when they use ‘geopolitics' in this context? Thus, by extension, can petroleum geopolitics - a hybrid conceptual construction used in this thesis - be disassembled into its component parts, analysed and systematically understood. This is the aim of this thesis. This thesis contends that the very nature of oil and gas reserves, the processes of exploration and production, and the means that govern and characterise the transportation of petroleum overland and by sea is inherently geopolitical - that some core features of geopolitical theory and key geopolitical concepts are pivotal in determining the ontology and process of the international oil business. Indeed, so central has oil been to the advancement of industrial capacity, technology, warfare, transportation and economic prosperity of states since the 20th century, it could be argued that petroleum is the single largest determinant of the geopolitics that characterises the modern international system. In order to address the interrelationship and correlations between core aspects of the petroleum industry and causal geopolitical phenomena, I begin by advancing a framework of analysis that systematically binds key geopolitical features and concepts – specifically: Spatial Phenomena; Environmental Ontology; Territorial Access; Geopolitical Features; State and Non-state Concepts; and, Strategic Resources and Geopolitics - with examples of empirical findings revealed in subsequent chapters in the thesis. Fundamentally, this process works to assess causality and correlations between geopolitical phenomena such as space and distance, sovereignty, territory, boundaries, chokepoints, resource nationalism, transnationalism, resource security and conflict, and the features and processes inherent in petroleum reserves and the exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas. The framework is followed with a sequential analysis of the three empirical foci of the project: the ontology of oil and natural gas reserves; the planning and processes of exploration and production; and, the processes of the conveyance petroleum. I have concentrated my research to activities within Eurasia, which comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, and the Indo-Pacific maritime realm, which extends eastwards from the Red Sea to the western Pacific Rim. After systematically assessing the empirical findings and examining key areas of geopolitical theory, I conclude that there is an identifiable and logical correlation between geopolitical phenomena, petroleum reserves, and the means to produce and distribute oil and gas between source and market.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study attempts to analyse the global economic system in light of the ongoing financial crisis, which is seen as a symptom of a larger crisis of the legitimacy of the capitalist system. It takes a critical approach based, first and foremost, on the theories of Karl Marx. To broaden this application, it also adopts the perspective of the World Systems and neo-Gramscian schools of thought. The study analyses, and synthesises, the theoretical contributions of these approaches, allowing for the conceptualisation of a World System, based upon the tenets of capitalism, with a hegemon, the United States of America, at its apex. Using the historical materialist method, it traces the genesis and progress of the capitalist model. It analyses the particular style of accumulation which precipitated the current crisis. From there it examines the situation in the semi-periphery, the locus of past socialist revolutions. To this end, it regards the case of South Africa, an intermediary, between the industrialised core and the underdeveloped periphery. It uses Robert Cox‟s assessment of the importance of social forces in maintaining or supplanting a hegemonic project. Although the study finds South African society fraught with contradictions, alternative social movements currently remain unable to produce a coherent emancipatory programme. While the crisis, and other recent events, have illuminated the contradictions inherent to capitalism, despite widespread popular mobilisation, coherent responses from the Left remain deficient. The hegemonic structures and institutions are bereft of the necessary prescriptions for a resolution to the situation, yet in this moment of opportunity, the Left appears unable to articulate and mobilise sufficiently to bring about an emancipatory, counter-hegemonic, movement. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie probeer om die globale ekonomiese stelsel binne die konteks van die voortslepende finansiële krisis Hierdie krisies word beskou as 'n simptoom van 'n meer omvattende krisies onderliggend aan die legitimiteit van die kapitalistiese stelsel. Dit volg in die eerste plek ʼn kritiese benadering gebaseer op die teorieë van Karl Marx. Om hierdie toepassing te verbreed, word daar ook gebruik gemaak van die Wêreldstelsel- en neo-Gramscian denkskole. Die studie analiseer en sintetiseer, die teoretiese bydraes van hierdie benaderings, met inagneming van die konseptualisering van ʼn Wêreldstelsel, gebaseer op die beginsels van kapitalisme, met ʼn hegemoon, die Verenigde State van Amerika, aan sy spits. Met behulp van die historiese materialistiese metode gaan dit die wordingsgeskiedenis en verloop van die kapitalistiese model na. Dit analiseer die besondere vorm van akkumulasie wat grondliggend is aan die huidige krisis. Daarna ondersoek dit die situasie in die semi-periferie, die lokus van vorige sosialistiese revolusies. Met daardie doel voor oë fokus die tesis op die geval van Suid-Afrika, ʼn tussenganger, tussen die geïndustrialiseerde kern en die onderontwikkelde periferie. Daar word bevind dat die die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing vol teenstrydighede is, maar, nietemin, alternatiewe sosiale bewegings tans nie daartoe in staat is om ʼn koherente emansipatoriese program tot stand te bring nie. Terwyl die krisies en ander gebeure, lig gewerp het op die teenstrydighede inherent aan kapitalisme, ontbreek, desondanks wydverspreide algemene mobilisering, koherente reaksies vanuit die Linksgesinde kamp. Die hegemoniese strukture en instellings ly gebrek aan lewensvatbare voorskrifte vir 'n oplossing en Linksgesindes, nieteenstaande die opportunistiese oomblik, is nie daartoe in staat is om te ʼn emansipatoriese, teen-hegemoniese beweging te artikuleer en te mobiliseer nie.

「有社會，斯有法律」法律上之諸制度，應反映各時代之政治背景，經濟結構與社會 需要；捷運系統地下化工程為一立體分層使用模式，現行有關的平面使用法制業已不 符所需，容有必要參照各捷運先進國家之相關立法、實例，配合國內的法律體制和社 會實情，研擬一套合理可行的穿越權利模式，以便為捷運系統地下化工程和類似的重 大工程建設或一般民間的立體分層使用，提供立法上之參考依據，此為本論文之研究 目的。 本研究分別蒐集了德國、法國、日本、新加坡、香港、英國、美國等國外之捷運系統 有關法令或實例，並將國有關論文目的之期刊、法規、實務上之判解、學說加以整理 歸類，形成了本論文之文獻基礎。 本論文之研究係以外國有關之捷運立法例或實例為主，配合我國現行之法律體制、社 會和經濟之背景、學說及實務上之見解，作立法上之比較研究；對於各種可行之制度 予以分析比較其優劣，最後建立起最適合我國法律體制和社會實情之權利模式。 本論文共分五章，大致內容如下﹕ 第一章 緒論 內含前言、研究動機和目的、研究範圍及研究方法。 第二章 德、法、日、香、新、英、美各國相關制度之研究。 第三章 我國應採行制度之探討。 第四章 相關配合立法制度之研究。 第五章 結論與建議。 本論文之研究結果建議﹕應在大眾捷運法中創設「區分地上權」立體分層使用制度， 並準用徵收之程序加以取得，以便利捷運系統地下化工程之興建和保障私人之權益。

第一章 緒論：說明本文之研究動機、研究目的、研究範圍及研究程序。 第二章 現行規定地價作業之探討：分從土地政策上、估價技術上、行政作業上三方 面探討現行規定地價作業之問題及其改進方式。 第三章 規定地價作業電腦化目標與可行性分析：根據上章所述問題、需求，確立電 腦化作業目標。然後從作業時效上、設計技術上、成本效益上、資料處理正確上、電 腦應用安全上及民眾接受性上等幾方面，分析規定地價作業電腦化之可行性。 第四章 規定地價作業電腦化系統之建立：乃試擬電腦化之作業方式；並提出電腦化 之系統架構與綱要設計。 第五章 規定地價作業電腦化配合措施與未來方向：說明施行電腦化作業應有的配合 措施，如教育訓練、朿關法令的增修訂等；並提出未來地價查估改進方向及整體發展 地政資訊的目標與策略。 第六章 結論與建議：就各章節所研討的主題作一摘要，並陳示研究結果及未來研究 的向；同時提出幾點建議，以期本研究成果能儘速規劃實施。

第一章緒論：說明本論文之研究動機與目的、研究範圍、內容與方法、及研究之程序 。 第二章基本理論文獻回顧：分別探討農業區位理論、農地使用計畫及國外都市有關農 地之發展策略。 第三章為現有農業區發展趨勢及利用之一般的課題分析。包括農地利用課題及行政部 門協調課題。 第四章為農民意願調查結果分析。 第五章為專家學者意見調查分析。 第六章為提出具體之解決辦法，分別提出數個替選方案，進行評估，以為具體辦法之 擬定。 第七章結論與建議。