The issue of unaccompanied migrant children (UAM) in the European Union is one of the most acknowledged and one of the most under researched topics. Close to 100,000 minors arrived in Europe in 2015 alone, without parents or guardians. And more than 10,000 disappeared shortly after. These children have been and continue to be under high risk of human trafficking, child labour, sexual and physical abuse, and exploitation of some other kinds. It has been 6 years since the initial crisis, but the statistics are not getting better. Tendency remains as close to 19,000 UAMs have perished in the past 3 years, which accounts to 17 disappearances a day. Despite the European Union's commitment to protect the rights of UAMs, the conditions of these children are dire. In some member states the situation is so much poorer, that basic human rights are violated. This raises the following questions: Q1: Why does the EU struggle to adopt common policies on unaccompanied migrant children? Q2: How does the EU contribute to the disappearance of UAMs? Qualitative and quantitative data, as well as large amount of primary and secondary sources help navigate through the problem of UAMs. Content analysis of European media contributes to the illustration of perceptions towards migration and unaccompanied children. Social...

[pt] Este trabalho propõe uma interpretação alternativa da eleição de Donald Trump à presidência dos Estados Unidos, a partir de uma releitura do conceito de ultraimperialismo, de Karl Kautsky. Para esta releitura, o trabalho se apoia na literatura marxista sobre o imperialismo, nas contribuições teóricas de Antonio Gramsci e Robert Cox, e no conceito de Classe Capitalista Transnacional. É empreendia uma análise histórica do desenvolvimento do império estadunidense em sua dimensão doméstica – a emergência do bloco hegemônico em torno do New Deal – e externa, a expansão do modelo hegemônico à ordem mundial. A partir de uma análise histórica e ideacional, é observado o papel do conservadorismo e do neoliberalismo, dentro dos EUA, na formação do novo bloco que alcança supremacia mundial a partir dos anos 1980. Este bloco tem orientação globalista, ou seja, tem por objetivo a integração de todas as economias nacionais ao capitalismo global. Argumenta-se que o bloco é liderado por classes capitalistas transnacionais que empregam o poder estatal para avançar essa integração, enquanto a articulação entre conservadorismo e neoliberalismo legitima o processo. Neste contexto, o império estadunidense assume o papel de Estado líder em um cartel de países capitalistas avançados – o ultraimpério – promovendo integração desigual e mantendo relações de dependência. As contradições deste arranjo, somadas às contradições do bloco globalista, contribuíram para a ascensão de Donald Trump, que foi capaz de articular, eleitoralmente, um desafio à agenda globalista. Conclui-se argumentando que a permanência dessas contradições resultará em novos fenômenos como Trump, no futuro. / [en] This work proposes an alternative interpretation of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency of the United States, through a rereading of Karl Kautsky’s concept of ultra-imperialism. For this, the work is supported by the Marxist literature on imperialism, on Antonio Gramsci’s and Robert Cox s theoretical contributions, and on the concept of Transnational Capitalist Class. It undertakes a historical analysis of the development of the US empire in its domestic dimension – the emergence of a hegemonic bloc around the New Deal – and external, the expansion of the hegemonic model to the world order. It is observed, through a historical and ideational analysis, the role of conservatism and neoliberalism, inside the US, in the formation of the new bloc that achieves world supremacy from the 1980s onwards. This bloc has a globalist orientation, that is, its objective is to integrate all national economies to global capitalism. It is argued that the bloc is led by transnational capitalist classes that employ state power to advance this integration, while the articulation between conservatism and neoliberalism legitimates the process. In this context, the US empire assumes the role of leading state in a cartel of advanced capitalist countries – the ultra-empire – promoting uneven integration and the persistence of relations of dependency. The contradictions of this arrangement, added to the contradictions of the globalist bloc, contributed to the rise of Donald Trump, who was able to articulate, in the elections, a challenge to the globalist agenda. In the conclusion, it is argued that the permanence of these contradictions will result in new phenomena like Trump, in the future.

This dissertation investigates the brand identities of the South African Broadcasting Corporation television channels SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 during the first decade of the 2000s (from 2000 to 2009). The study explores the manifestation and dissemination of dominant political ideologies and myths by the SABC television channels and their respective brand identities. It is argued that SABC television channels are structured and organised according to specific brand ideologies that match dominant political ideologies prevalent in South Africa. This is evident from the manner in which these channels have been organised, defined and redefined over the past years, and also from the self-promotional visual imagery shown by the television channels. The visual brand identities of each channel create the elements that make up each channel’s visual vocabulary, and each visual vocabulary in turn contributes to notions of “South Africanness” and definitions of South African identity. The study also explores the main concepts of ideology theory as a critical discursive practice to assist in a better understanding of the power relations in the SABC and its channel brands in particular. Some developments and changes in the SABC brand identities and the organisation of its television channels are studied from a historical perspective and correlated with ideology theory. In order to do this, the study also draws from semiotic theory. The author notes the semiotic quality of a brand and argues that the process of branding, the process of semiosis and the process of the dissemination of political ideologies bear structural resemblance. Basic definitions and key concepts of branding and corporate identity contribute to an enhanced understanding of the visual brand identities of the SABC television channels. An exploration of the elements specific to television channel branding helps to determine the signs, codes and meanings in SABC television channel branding. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

Uppsatsen “Nuförtiden får man ju inte säga ett skit” ‘ är en debattanalys av Europaparlamentarikers kritik gentemot politisk korrekthet i EU. Studien tar ett avstamp i tidigare forskning berörande populism, euroscepticism, GAL-TAN dimensionen, och applicerar detta till ett inte tidigare tillämpat teoretiskt perspektiv för denna typ av forskning, politisk korrekthet. Syftet med studien är att beskriva och kategorisera de huvudteser samt argument som förs i kritiken gentemot ett påstått PK-etablissemang i EU:s viktigaste och enda demokratiskt valda organ. De huvudteser som återfanns i argumentationen var följande: att EU består av ett etablissemang som underminerar EU-medborgarnas sanna vilja med PK-het, att EU är i politisk kris då yttrandefriheten förtrycks, att EU bär på en dubbelmoral av vilka åsikter som får uttryckas och inte, att EUs överstatlighet försummar nationernas egna intressen, och att PK- etablissemanget i EU förvrider den objektiva sanningen och kallar sina motståndarna för populister likt ett retoriskt vapen. Det nytillämpade teoretiska perspektivet, PK, bidrar med ett nytt synsätt på den politiska debatten och de dimensioner av sociala normer som tycks styra det politiska talrummet.

Cette thèse examine, depuis une perspective durkheimienne, le conflit politique en Allemagne sur le multiculturalisme, l’immigration, et l’identité nationale. L’analyse se fait dans la période entre le début de la crise des réfugiés en 2015 et l’élection fédérale allemande de septembre 2017. J’identifie quatre idéaux moraux, soit des visions idéales de la communauté allemande qui motivent les acteurs politique : l’idéal des Autonomen qui rejettent tout forme de pouvoir et de domination, l’idéal du Verfassungspatriotismus (le patriotisme constitutionnel) de la SPD (et une partie de la CDU), l’idéal de la nation (ethno)culturelle de la plupart de l’AfD (et la CSU et la WerteUnion), et l’idéal de la nation biologique de l’extrême droite. Au cœur de chaque idéal est un objet sacré qui sert d’autorité morale qui légitimant des prescriptions morales et qui amène à une série de vérités morales et de jugements moraux, la totalité duquel Émile Durkheim identifie comme un fait moral. Pour les Autonomen et les adhérents du Verfassungspatriotismus, l’objet sacré est l’individu conçu à travers le concept de la dignité humaine. Pour les autres, l’objet sacré est la nation allemande, conçue en termes (ethno)culturels ou en termes biologiques. Cette thèse argumente que ces idéaux moraux sont intrinsèquement profanatoires, dans le sens que les prescriptions morales d’un objet sacré (la dignité humaine) violent directement l’objet sacré de l’autre (la nation), et vice-versa. Ces idéaux sont tous en concurrence pour le pouvoir et l’influence, avec comme but d’avoir accès au pouvoir étatique allemand. Le résultat est un conflit politique qui traduit essentiellement un conflit moral. Ces conflits ont lieu dans le domaine légal, au sein des partis politique, et à travers la violence politique. Ces conflits touchent un nombre de sujets clés comme la liberté d’expression, le multiculturalisme, et l’extrémisme politique. La présente thèse cherche à comprendre ces conflits à travers le prisme du concept durkheimien du fait moral, et développe une sociologie du conflit moral durkheimien. Cette thèse s’inspire également de la théorie de conflit de Randall Collins, qui s’inspire elle aussi de l’œuvre de Durkheim. / This dissertation examines, from a Durkheimian perspective, political conflict in Germany around the issues of multiculturalism, immigration, and national identity within the context of the Refugee Crisis beginning in 2015 and ending roughly with the German Federal Election in September 2017. It identifies four moral ideals, or ideal visions of the German community, that motivated political actors during this period: the Autonomen ideal that rejects all forms of power and domination; the ideal of Verfassungspatriotismus (Constitutional Patriotism) of the SPD (and parts of the CDU); the ideal of the cultural or ethnocultural nation of much of the AfD (and the CSU and WerteUnion); and the ideal of the biological nation on the far-right. At the heart of each moral ideal is a sacred object that serves as a moral authority that legitimates certain moral prescriptions, and leads to a set of moral truths and moral judgments, the totality of which Émile Durkheim identifies as a moral fact. For the Autonomen and adherents of Verfassungspatriotismus the sacred object is the individual understood through the concept of human dignity. For others the sacred object is the German nation, understood either in an (ethno)cultural sense or a biological sense. As the dissertation argues, these different moral ideals are inherently profanatory to each other, such that the moral prescriptions inspired by one sacred object (human dignity) directly violate the sacred object of the other (the nation), and vice-versa. These ideals all compete with each other for power and influence within the German political sphere as a means to gain access to (or to dismantle) state power. The result is political conflict that takes place essentially within a moral framework. These conflicts occur in the legal domain, in battles over party leadership and membership, and through political violence; they touch on a number of key issues such as free speech, multiculturalism, and political extremism. This dissertation seeks to understand these conflicts through the prism of Durkheim’s concept of the moral fact and to develop a Durkheimian sociology of moral conflict. In this analysis, the dissertation draws on Randall Collins’ conflict theory, which Durkheim’s work also largely inspires.

The thesis examines the development of right-wing populist discourse in the Czech Republic and aims to define the forms and possible changes in populist discourse with a special emphasis on argumentation, then to interpret the changes in a broader social and political context. The research focuses on three organizational incarnations of right-wing populism: Public Affairs, Dawn of Direct Democracy - Tomio Okamura and Freedom and Direct Democracy - Tomio Okamura. The research method is a discursive-historical approach, which draws on the analysis of topoi. An analysis of the programs of the two movements and the party showed that the right-wing populist discourse has shifted from the original themes that the Public Affairs party has raised. These are included in the other two movements, but each adds something extra. From the initial anti-elite attitudes, social chauvinism and emphasis on direct democracy in the case of Public Affairs to nationalism and the promotion of national pride in the case of the Dawn, to the harsh euroscepticism, Islamophobia and anti-immigration appeals in the case of the SPD. The topoi used in the VV program is primarily topos of abuse, but the Dawn, with its specific appeal to national awareness, also introduces topos of people or topos of advantage, and the SPD clearly...

This thesis employs the globalization and integration-demarcation cleavage theory formulated by Huttar [2014] and Kriesi [2012], conception of populism formulated by Mudde [2017] and draws on Gramscian conception of civil society and hegemony. Aim of this thesis is to build a model of causal influence of globalization on cleavage and on populism, as was suggested by Hutter [2014]. After building this model, the aim is to explore how this theoretical relationship hold's over the 30 years since 90's, when the connection between globalization and new sociocultural cleavage had been theoretically suggested. For this model I am using KOF Globalization Index, European Values Survey datasets and Authoritarian Populism Index constructed and published by Timbro in years 1990, 1999, 2008 and 2017. This model is built on a dataset containing 38 countries on European continent or being a candidate country for EU. I am elaborating Hutter's theoretical suggestion and framing it in Gramscian conception of civil society. This allows me to suggest that populists are using organic crisis in a society to attract people who feel disjointed from current hegemonical elite and to create counterhegemony. The theory is, that globalization increases the tension between winners and losers of globalization sides of cleavage...

Although the world has experienced great progress in the area of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), the contemporary transnational turn towards nationalist, right-wing and populist politics has generated a backlash, primarily affecting women and members of the LGBTQ-community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning). Yet, opposition to gender and sexual equality, particularly in the European context, is undertheorized. Hence, this thesis sets out to explore and understand the dynamics of political homophobia as a conscious political strategy in Poland and how the homophobic rhetoric pursued by the governing party PiS and their allies has achieved resonance. That is, how anti-LGBTQ ideas have gained support as they echo the ideas, beliefs and values central to potential adherents. The advancements of political homophobia in today’s Poland is rather puzzling since there has not been an upswing in homophobic values among the population. Although the Polish society is not intrinsically homophobic, the dominating values, norms, rules and practices are generally patriarchal and heteronormative. Due to the heteropatriarchal bias of the institutional context, this thesis suggests that both informal and formal institutions may enhance the resonance of the ideas embedded in the anti-LGBTQ ideas framing. Drawing on framing theory and new institutionalism, this thesis develops a framework to analyze this dynamic and reciprocal relationship between framing strategies and the institutional context. The first section of the two-stepped analysis describes how LGBTQ has been framed by identifying the core framing tasks and various framing strategies while the second part outlines various formal rules and informal norms that have facilitated the campaign and identifies how these institutions are heteronormative. The main findings suggest that conservative elites have managed to enhance resonance for their anti-LGBTQ ideas by framing the issue in congruence with heteronormative informal norms, which are perceived to be fundamental for Polish national identity and by exploiting pre-existing formal regulations, which are seemingly neutral but produce heteronormative effects.

The aim of this graduate thesis is to analyze if and how the extra-parliamentary subject Akce D.O.S.T. influence the society and if the subject can be described as radical right-wing populist. Case Mudd's concept of the populist radical right was applied in the Citizen Association Akce D.O.S.T. to answer to these questions. On the basis of the Piero Ignazi' s theory silent counterrevolution follows the evaluation if the current conditions for the growth of the extreme and radical right-wing parties and similar subjects are favourable in the Czech Republic and if their growth could be expected. Attention is also focused on whether the economic conditions that have an impact on voters, influence their support for right-wing parties.

The Diploma thesis will deal the main actors who support elements of direct democracy in Czech political system. Concurrently I want critically approach to their thesis and valorize its relevance, viability and potential impact for Czech society. First of all I will present each of elements of direct democracy, which are town meeting, initiative, referendum and recall. I refuse that a direct election of president or other political actor is an element of direct democracy. I classify a direct election of political actor like a synonym of representative democracy in this Diploma thesis. I will also present examples of countries like Switzerland or California, which has huge experience with using of direct democracy. Focus of my interest will be also on Scottish independence referendum and Slovak referendum about family and marriage. After this theoretical and empirical introduction I will critically approach to thesis about elements of direct democracy of Czech political actor like the Dawn of Direct Democracy, the Public Affairs, the Movement for Direct Democracy and the Czech Pirates Party, however I will mention other political actors and theirs ideas of elements of direct democracy, mainly I will mention the Czech government's proposition of law about general referendum in Czech republic. The...