I nutid förefaller samtalet om seger och förlust vid användningen av det militära maktmedlet omformulerat till något annat än uttryck som seger och förlust. Detta kan upplevas som förunderligt, då målet med militärmakt borde vara konstant över tiden. Vad har orsakat denna transformering av att uttrycka sig i termer av seger eller förlust vid användningen av det militära maktmedlet? Är segerbegreppet rent av inte tillämpligt i moderna konflikter eller är det så att Sverige, ståendes utanför militära allianser, inte har ett behov av sådan retorik? Syftet med undersökningen är att, med hjälp av hypotesprövning hitta svaret på hur segerbegreppet används i den nutida svenska politiska retoriken. Hypoteserna som ligger till grund för undersökningen, skapas ur teorier om svensk strategisk kultur. Undersökningen visar att den politiska retoriken kring seger och förlust och nyttjandet av segerbegreppet, påverkas av strategisk kultur. Resultatet visar en skillnad mellan den politiska retoriken med utgångspunkt i den nationella kontexten av strategisk kultur i förhållande till en utgångspunkt i den internationella kontexten. Undersökningens resultat visar även att den politiska retoriken kring segerbegreppet påverkas av utvecklingen i den aktuella insatsen och är således föränderlig.

La mission canadienne en Afghanistan constitue la plus longue intervention étrangère de l'histoire du pays et a été marquée par un effort important dans la province de Kandahar depuis 2006. Aujourd'hui, il s'avère que la mission à Kandahar présente des échecs importants. Afin d'appréhender la nature de ces échecs, ce travail propose des pistes de réflexions pour améliorer notre compréhension face à cet enjeu. Pour ce faire, le mémoire se questionne à savoir dans quelle mesure le Canada a-t-il respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine au sein de sa mission à Kandahar? La mission britannique dans la province de Helmand en Afghanistan est également utilisée comme outil de comparaison. En guise d'hypothèse, il est proposé que le Canada n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine et que cela pourrait contribuer à la compréhension des échecs de la mission à Kandahar. D'abord, les bilans détaillés de ces missions sont présentés et il est démontré que la mission britannique a connu un meilleur bilan que la mission canadienne. Ensuite, à l'aide de la méthode de l'analyse de contenu et d'un codage, les missions canadiennes et britanniques sont analysées afin de déterminer leur correspondance respective face à l'approche de sécurité humaine. Les résultats démontrent que la mission britannique respecte l'approche de sécurité humaine de façon plus importante que la mission canadienne. Finalement, une analyse documentaire propose des pistes de réflexions afin de comprendre en quoi ce déficit de sécurité humaine pourrait permettre d'expliquer les échecs de cette mission lors de futures recherches. Ce mémoire apporte donc deux conclusions. D'abord, la mission canadienne n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine malgré le fait que le Canada ait affirmé l'avoir fait. De plus, il est clair que le non-respect de l'approche de sécurité humaine constitue une avenue intéressante afin de comprendre les insuccès canadiens. / The Canadian mission in Afghanistan is the longest foreign intervention in the history of the country and an important part of it was the mission in the province of Kandahar which started in 2006. Today, it appears that this mission presents important failures. In order to have a better understanding of these failures, this work proposes reflection tracks to improve our knowledge on this issue. To do this, this work asks the following question: how did Canada respected the human security approach in its mission to Kandahar? The United Kingdom mission in the province of Helmand in Afghanistan is also used as comparison tool. The hypothesis suggests that Canada did not respect the human security approach and this may contribute to our understanding of the failures of the mission to Kandahar. First of all, detailed results of the missions are presented and it appears that the UK mission obtained better results than the Canadian mission in Kandahar. Afterwards, the human security approach previously conceptualized is used to compare the two missions. With a coding process, Canadian and British reports are used to compare the correlation of the missions with the human security approach. The results show that the UK mission respected much better the human security approach than the Canadian mission. Finally, a content analysis is proposing reflection tracks that may help to explain the failures of the Canadian mission for future research. This work brings two main conclusions. On a first hand, the Canadian mission did not respect the human security approach even if the Canadian officials declared having respected it. Furthermore, it is clear that a lack of human security approach is a strong reflection track for a better understanding of the failures of the Canadian mission in Kandahar.

Ce mémoire se penche sur les raisons ayant mené à l’isolement du secrétaire d’État Colin Powell au sein du processus décisionnel de politique étrangère de l’administration de George W. Bush entre 2000 et 2004. Plus précisément, cette recherche mobilise le concept de dynamiques de groupes afin d’expliquer l’isolement de Powell dans le processus décisionnel ayant mené aux interventions en Afghanistan (2001) et en Irak (2003). Ce mémoire se veut une contribution à la littérature sur le processus décisionnel de politique étrangère ayant mené à ces deux interventions militaires. Cette littérature est abondante et témoigne d’un consensus au sujet de l’isolement de Powell au sein de cette administration. Toutefois, aucune contribution, à notre connaissance, ne s’était concentrée jusqu’ici à fournir une explication concernant cet isolement. Dans un premier temps, ce mémoire démontre que l’isolement de Powell ne peut être simplement attribué à la nature de la fonction qu’il occupait au sein de l’administration Bush. Par la description des dynamiques de groupes au sein du cabinet de guerre, il établit qu’une série d’indicateurs cognitifs et bureaucratiques permettent plutôt d’expliquer, du moins en partie, cet isolement. La présence d’un sous-groupe décisionnel déterminé utilisant des manœuvres bureaucratiques afin de marginaliser Powell, l’omniprésence de l’idéologie néoconservatrice et l’importante polarisation au sein du cabinet de guerre ainsi que la distribution inégales des ressources bureaucratiques sont des facteurs explicatifs développés dans ce mémoire. / Abstract: This master thesis focuses on the factors that led to the marginalization of the Secretary of State Colin Powell inside the foreign policy decision-making process of the George W. Bush administration (2000-2004). More precisely, this research uses the concept of small group dynamics to explain Powell’s isolation in the decision-making process that led to military interventions in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). This thesis is a contribution to the literature relating to the decision-making process that led to those military interventions. This literature is plenteous and testifies to the consensus about Powell’s marginalization inside this administration. So far, to our knowledge, no contribution has focused on providing an explanation for this marginalization. In the first place, this research reveals that Powell’s marginalization cannot be attributed to the function he occupied in the Bush administration. By describing the small group dynamics within the war cabinet, it establishes that a series of cognitive and bureaucratic indicators are more explanatory of this isolation. The presence of a determined subgroup using bureaucratic strategies to marginalize Powell, the omnipresence of neoconservative ideology that led to important polarization within the war cabinet, and the unequal distribution of bureaucratic resources are some explanatory factors developed in this research.

This thesis is about the lives and civic engagements of Afghans in Germany and the UK. It shows how Afghans living in these two countries relate to Afghanistan, and to what extent they engage in transnational action aimed at promoting change there. In particular, it explores the emergence of diasporic communities and how members exercise agency as development actors in Afghanistan. The research rests on a qualitative case study conducted among Afghan populations in Germany and the UK. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were primary methods of data collection. Relational sociology is used to capture emerging social identities, patterns of social organisation and forms of social engagement. A first notable finding is that Afghan populations abroad are fractured and cannot be seen as a united diaspora. People tend to coalesce in narrowly defined subgroups rather than under a shared national identity. Second, Afghanistan remains a crucial reference point, notwithstanding fragmented social organisation. Home country attachments tend to be tied to a desire for change and development in the country. Third, despite these shared concerns, transnational engagements are typically carried out by small groups and directed towards confined social spheres. Although people may take action in the name of an imagined Afghan community or an imaginary Afghanistan, this imagined community does not provide a basis for social mobilisation. Thus Afghans do not act as a cohesive diaspora. Fourth, transnational engagements are often a response to the specificities of the social environments in which people are embedded, notably their host countries. The findings show that a relational approach can specify how different dimensions of people’s social identities drive social action and are shaped in interaction with various elements of their social context. Such an actor-centred perspective helps to improve our understanding of how members of diasporas come to engage with their countries of origin.

This diploma thesis analyzes the approach of the Soviet Union and that of the US-led coalition to state-building in Afghanistan, which today, as in the past, takes place against the backdrop of counterinsurgency warfare. The analysis in the field of politics, economy and security shows that in both cases the intervening powers have focused on building a strongly centralized system of government, in spite of the fact that the Afghan countryside's relationship to the Kabul-based government had traditionally been characterized by broad autonomy. The intervening powers' efforts have futhermore been associated with the export of exogenous political structures and for this reason attention is also drawn to the question to what extent the intervening powers' approach to the modernization of Afghan society has contributed to the escalation of unrelenting conflict.

No description available.

It is common by states to deny asylum for asylum-seekers with the argument that the applicant could find protection within their own country of residence instead of receiving international protection. This is called internal protection alternative (IPA). This research is a comparative case study and aims to explore and compare two neighbouring countries, Sweden and Norway, on how their immigration authorities differ in their assessment on both the security situation and IPA in Afghanistan. Furthermore, this thesis aims to compare the Swedish and Norwegian immigration authorities with international laws, agreements and guidelines which, therefore, is the conceptional framework for this research. This study concludes that IPA is not mentioned in the 1951 Refugee Convention and that there are no clear directives on how to apply it. States tend to interpret the already existing laws and guidelines in their own way. The result of this is that there are differences between states practice and the consequence could be that asylum-seekers could receive different assessments and decisions from different countries. This research is, therefore, highly relevant from a humanitarian- and academia perspective as it highlights differences in national practice which is crucial since these differences will affect the refugee situation of individuals and the possibility of obtaining asylum.

This research aims to analyze an asylum seeker's choice of asylum country and why Sweden inparticular. The study is based on Professor Lee's (1966) push- and pulltheory and the questionson which the study is based are "what impact do push and pull factors have on the choice ofrecipient country?" and "are there differences between asylum seekers from Syria andAfghanistan when choosing a recipient country?" The method used is an interview study, morespecifically semi-structured interviews. The conclusions found in the study are that the resultsof this study and previous studies are consistent, the main pullfactors that are consistent withthe theory and that explain the reason why Sweden is chosen, are the possibility of educationand work, a relative or friend who already lives in Sweden, human rights and that Sweden isconsidered a safe country. The respondents' pushfactor which explains the reason for leavingthe country of origin, was first and foremost that everyone needed to flee due to war and misery.It does not matter where an asylum seeker comes from as everyone has the same goal and thatis to survive.

Do Afghan women need saving? This study focuses on the discourse of the USA’s First Lady Mrs. Laura Bush in the years (2001-2009) and how she represents the women in Afghanistan in the context of the USA-led intervention in Afghanistan. My aim is to understand how the USA intervention can be legitimized through Mrs. Bush’s argumentation of bringing human rights to Afghan women. In the analysis in this thesis, Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis is used in combination with feminist and postcolonial theory to understand her discourse about the women in Afghanistan and how her resulting discourse functions in connection with the USA-led intervention in Afghanistan. The study concludes that Mrs. Bush constructs the Afghan women as in need of help and in connection the USA as the helping hand who have an obligation to save the women in Afghanistan. In combination with strategic use of ‘embedded feminism’ and an oriental discourse Mrs. Bush’s discourse functions to make the USA-led intervention in Afghanistan seem legitimate.

The war in Afghanistan has been a core component of the so called ‘War on Terror’ for over twenty years. These decades of hostilities have caused many people to flee and seek refuge in other countries. This study aims to explore and thereby gain a better understanding of the various forms of violence experienced by Afghan refugees living in Germany. The overarching research question to achieve that aim, was: ‘What role did, and do, different forms of violence play in the experiences of the participants?’The study used the framework introduced by Johan Galtung of direct, structural and cultural violence to analyze the data of qualitative in-depth interviews that were conducted. The interviews showed that participants to varying degrees were subjected to a complex combination of all three types of violence in Afghanistan, on their journey to Europe and in Germany. Most direct violence occurred in Afghanistan, on the hands of the Taliban as well as on the journey. Structural violence was omnipresent, and varied from context to context. Whilst in Afghanistan, it was mainly in the realms of poverty, education and water and electricity infrastructure, in Germany it shifted to adequate housing, language courses, prolonged bureaucratic procedures and access to health care. The study found clear signs of cultural violence which normalized other forms of violence.This study indicated that whilst the types of violence are complex and transform continuously; direct, structural and cultural violence are always to a certain degree present in the lives of the Afghan refugees.