The purpose of this essay is to examine how gender equality can be used in the workplace, its possible effects, and what collaboration can contribute to the subject of gender equality. A combination of legal sociological and legal dogmatic methodology has been used to examine the EU and Swedish law, how equality should be approached and what previous studies have concluded. An interview has been conducted to provide a clearer picture of how gender equality appears in practice, in the modern workplace.  An equality plan should be conducted every three years and applies to employers who are responsible for more than 25 employees. The manual should include a description of the measures considered necessary in the workplace in order to promote gender equality. How an equality plan should be developed is not specifically outlined in the current law, and thus this is left up to the employer to determine. The equality plan should be drawn up in collaboration with the employees, and usually in the presence of their union representatives.   According to current studies the general workforce has seen an increase in the number of gender equality plans carried out, since the Equality Act was established, however few correctional measures are implemented. It has also proven difficult for employers to see any immediate effects of implementing these measures. One of the reasons for this may be that employers do not need to act on the measures outlined in their equality plans, but solely identify the measures deemed necessary. Similarly, studies and the interview conducted revealed that cooperation regarding gender equality in many cases is limited.    A new investigation has suggested a more significant change in discrimination law, whereby the equality plan is replaced with systematic work on active measures. This systematic work seeks to clarify the legislation and make equality work a more liquid process that is continually evaluated and improved upon. Furthermore this approach aims to make active participation in equality promotion an obligation in the workplace.

To not be discriminated against is a right that is expressed by the UN, EU and Sweden's government as a basic human right. Despite that, discrimination occurs daily, not least in the workplace. This essay describes the active measures in the form of preventive work to counter discrimination and promotional work for equal rights and opportunities in the workplace. These rules can be found in the third chapter of the Discrimination Act (2008:567). In the second chapter of the essay, the Discrimination Act is briefly described and what requirements there are as well as how cooperation between the parties takes place. A more detailed description of the employer's obligations can be found in chapter three. These obligations include, among other things, mapping and analyzing possible risks and obstacles within the working relationship, salaries, recruitment, skills development and the possibility of combining work with parenthood. The work is described in an action plan on how risks and obstacles are to be remedied and then followed up. In the essay's fourth chapter, the law's specific regulations are dealt with in areas such as guidelines and policies, salary charting, and documentation. The fifth chapter contains practical examples of how the work is carried out at a couple of different businesses. The law provides very limited guidelines on how the work should be carried out and so far, fines have only been imposed on one occasion. The essay's sixth chapter describes what responsibility DOs have and whether their work creates sufficiently strong incentives to motivate compliance. In the final chapter of the essay, what emerged from the legal investigation and interviews is discussed, as well as what changes could increase employers' willingness to comply with the law.

Russia's renewed interest and involvement in the African continent is reminiscent of a time when the Soviet Union supported various ideologically aligned groups to win a geopolitical power struggle and assert its position as a global superpower. The motives seem to have changed, but the question is whether Russian warfare in Africa has changed as well. In this comparative study, the Soviet Union's support for the MPLA and their takeover in Angola in 1975 is compared with Russia's support for the military junta that seized power in Mali after a military coup in 2020, aiming to determine how Russian/Soviet warfare in Africa has evolved over time. Supported by Thomas Rid and Lars Ulfving's theoretical framework on so-called active measures, three operationalized variables are identified and analyzed as: white, gray, and black. Through qualitative text analysis, reports and literature from the cases are examined. The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of how hybrid warfare has been and is currently used as a means of Russian influence in Africa. The methods for this have rather been reinforced than changed historically by global development trends, especially the spread of information technology and the utilization of private companies and other actors. This study has confirmed that there is a historically rooted common Russian strategy to acquire and exert influence, a strategy based on the Soviet Union's traditional methods, active measures. A dual strategy consisting of both official policies and unofficial means where the unofficial means are driven by private actors, facilitating Russia's plausible deniability.

Sweden has become an increasingly multicultural society where different religions and values ​​meet. Recently, the Swedish Labour Court decided, whether a company´s policy that demands an employee to shake hand, prevent the employee´s freedom of religion or if the policy had a legitimate purpose since it was a way of achieving equality between men and women at workplace.  The aim of this essay was to investigate how the court judges when the employer´s obligation not to discriminate on the ground of gender collides with an employee´s freedom of religion. In order to answer the question and achieve the purpose of this essay, the author has used a doctrinal method.  By studying the current law, the author of this essay has concluded that freedom of religion is protected by European Convention on Human Rights, article 9. The right to believe is complete, and is called forum internum. The right to practice a religion through a religious manifestation, is called forum externum. This right is not complete and can be restricted.  Freedom of religion has a strong legal protection, but there are situations where the right of others also must be considered. A employee has, in working life, not only rights, but also obligations towards the employer. This may imply restrictions on a employee's freedom of religion since the employer has the right to lead and distribute the work. An employer is obligated to work for an equal workplace. If the means used to achieve gender equality are appropriate and necessary, the freedom of religion in working life can be restricted.

In recent years, Sweden has received a huge amount of immigrants and the number of people who have been granted residence permits has been record high. At the same time, the statistics show high unemployment among immigrants and many of them experience ethnic discrimination by not being called to employment interviews. The purpose of this essay is to investigate whether the active measures that oblige the employer to counter discrimination are an adequate measure to break the power structures in the workplace, or if any form of unidentification of job applications should be required to ensure the legal protection in the recruitment process for people with different ethnicity than Swedish. In order to answer the purpose of the essay, the doctrinal method has been used. This method is based on establishing the current law through a systematic and critical interpretation. The material obtained in this essay is further examined through an intersectional perspective based on the power structures in society. The result of the study shows that the method of unidentifying jobapplications can be a reliable complement to the employer’s work with the active measures,as this method ensures that discrimination does not occur during the first recruitment phase and that issues of discrimination and diversity arise through the practice of the method. From there, the employer can focus the active measures on the second phase of recruitment. Furthermore, the study has shown that both the active measures and the method are insufficient to break the power structures in society, but that they together to some extent contributes to this.

I efterbörden av Rysslands annektering av Krim 2014 uppstod diskussioner kring rysk krigskonst och hybridkrigföring. Bland tvetydigheterna som uppstod identifieras bland annat vilka strategier som det samtida Ryssland har för att uppnå strategisk överraskning. Denna studie har syftat till att undersöka rysk militär vilseledning i samband med Rysslands strategiska överraskningsanfall på Krim 2014. Studien har genomförts som en teoriprövande fallstudie varvid såväl västerländska som sovjetiska/ryska vilseledningsteorier prövats på det ryska agerande under annekteringen av Krim 2014. Sammantaget visar studiens resultat på förekomster av ryskt agerande i enlighet med samtliga av studiens prövade teorier varvid det i huvudsak var distraktion, dolda aktiva åtgärder samt desinformation som bidrog till den ryska strategiska överraskningen. Studiens oväntade resultat pekar på ett aktivt deltagande av den ryske presidenten personligen varvid det inte går att underskatta betydelsen av en politisk företrädare som Vladimir Putin. Studiens resultat kan vidare tolkas som att den vilseledning som Ryssland genomförde får ses vilande i huvudsak på tidigare dokumenterade sovjetiska teorier. Vidare visar studiens resultat på en hög rysk förmåga till anpassning där tidigare etablerade sovjetiska/ryska teorier kring vilseledning utvecklats till dagens konfliktmiljöer. Studien visar därmed att äldre sovjetiska/ryska teorier på inget sätt är obsoleta utan i allra högsta grad fortsatt är aktuella i dagens globala världsordning. / In the aftermath of Russia's annexation of Crimea 2014, discussions arose about Russian military art of war and hybrid warfare. Questions were identified regarding strategic surprise and what strategies todays’ modern Russia was using. This study aims to investigate Russian military deception in connection with Russia's strategic surprise attack in Crimea 2014. The study was conducted as a single case study in which Western as well as Soviet/Russian theories of military deception was compared with the Russian activities during the Crimea annexation in 2014.  The result shows Russian activities in accordance with both Western and old Soviet/Russian theories of deception. According to the study Russian main focus was distraction, active measures and disinformation leading to the Russian strategic surprise. The study shows unexpected results regarding the amount of personal activity involving the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The result shows that the significance of a political representative such as Vladimir Putin cannot be underestimated. Additionally the study also shows that the military deception conducted by Russia in and around the period of the Crimea annexation 2014 mainly extracts from previously documented old Soviet theories. It highlights Russia’s ability to adapt into today's conflict environments by bending and adjusting old theories and doctrines. By that meaning old Soviet/Russian theories are in no way obsolete but instead being very much relevant in today's global world order.

Västerländska och ryska perspektivär oförenliga. Detsamma gäller för uppfattningenom mjuk makt. När möjliga framtida scenarion av rysk utrikes-och säkerhetspolitik analyserasär ettav det mest framträdande skapandet av nya och kreativa metoder för att försvaga motståndare utan att tillgripa militära medel. Aktiva åtgärder är en uppsättning av sådana instrument. Ur ett akademiskt perspektiv är det förbryllande att en av de främsta experterna på rysk mjuk makt, holländaren Marcel H. van Herpen, förbisåg aktiva åtgärder som metod för att främja rysk mjuk makt i sin teori som beskrivs i Putin’s Propaganda Machine. Studien har en teoritestande ansats och undersöker samma instanser av mjuk makt som Herpen i den tidigare nämnda boken men adderar ytterligare en dimension till forskningen, nämligen aktiva åtgärder. Dessa analyseras med stöd av ett modifierat metodologiskt ramverk av Jonas J. Driedger. Slutsatsen av denna studie är främst att Herpens teori är tekniskt korrekt men de facto saknar relevanta dimensioner. Således kan teorin enbart demonstrera fall av rysk mjuk makt, men inte förklara eller operationalisera. Genom att addera perspektivet aktiva åtgärder för att analysera fallen i källor, metoder och konsekvenser, stärks den vetenskapliga förståelsen för mjuka maktmedel i den ryska arsenalen. Studien resulterar även i utvecklingen av en metod för att upptäcka ryska mjuka maktmedel med hjälp av identifiering av aktiva åtgärder. Vidare påvisas även att flertalet mjuka maktförstärkande strategier används för att genomföra Kremls aktiva åtgärder samt ryska utrikespolitiska mål i allmänhet, vilket framgår av de kvalitativa fallstudier som presenteras. Slutligen ifrågasätter resultaten av studien och efterföljande analys den västerländska uppfattningen om mjuk makt som en global företeelse. / Западная и российская точки зрения несовместимы. То же самое относится и к понятию мягкой силы. При анализе возможных будущих сценариев внешней политики и политики безопасности России одним из наиболее примечательных является создание новых и креативных методов ослабления противников без применения военных средств. Активные меры представляют собой набор таких инструментов. С академической точки зрения вызывает недоумение тот факт, что один из ведущих экспертов по российской мягкой силе, голландец Марсель ван Херпен, упустил это из виду в своей теории, описанной вкниге «Путинская пропагандистская машина».  Настоящее, исследование основано на проверке теории и, таким образом, рассматривает те же примеры мягкой силы, что и Херпен в ранее упомянутой книге, но добавляет к исследованию  ещё одно параметр, а именно активные мероприятия. Они проанализированы при поддержке модифицированной методологической базы Джонаса Дж. Дредджера. Вывод исследования в основном состоит в том, что теория Херпена технически верна, но в теории фактически не хватает некоторых важных аспектов. Таким образом, теория может только продемонстрировать случаи российской мягкой силы, но не объяснить или операционализировать их. Другим результатом исследования является разработка метода выявления российских мягких средств силы посредством выявления активных мероприятий. Кроме этого, нами показано, что большинство стратегий усиления мягкой силы используется для реализации активных мероприятий Кремля, а также целей внешней политики России в целом, что видно из представленных в работе качественных тематических исследований. Результаты исследования и последующего анализа ставят под сомнение западное представление о мягкой силе как о глобальном явлении.