Myanmar (former Burma) has not had an easy path towards democracy. Once a British colony, the country has struggled with the violent military junta for several decades. The international community has been said to have failed in trying to stabilise Myanmar, in spite of good intentions. Although Myanmar is still far from being a consolidated country, there has, however, been some progress with democratisation.   This research will study how we can explain the democratisation process in Myanmar. It will concentrate on three key events which are analysed within a framework of two theories: Joseph S. Nye’s soft power, and realism. This study is conducted as a theory testing case study and is therefore using a qualitative method. Previous research in the form of democratisation theories from Diamond and Linz & Stepan are discussed as well. With the help of the theoretical framework, the study aims to discover whether the democratisation process can be explained with the help of those theories.

Cette thèse examine la politisation dans un régime autoritaire à travers l’étude de deux mouvements rock contestataires en Biélorussie. Le rock « national » s’est constitué en tant que mouvement artistique dans les années 1980 autour de la production de la musique contemporaine d’inspiration occidentale chantée en langue biélorusse et de la promotion d’une vision hétérodoxe de l’« identité nationale ». Le tournant autoritaire des années 1995-1996 a provoqué la repolitisation contestataire de ce mouvement artistique. Les acteurs du rock « national » continuent de revendiquer le statut « underground » tout en aspirant à la professionnalisation dans le cadre du système de production commercial. C’est aussi au milieu des années 1990 qu’un autre mouvement contestataire se constitue – le rock anarcho-punk DIY imprégné des conventions du modèle Do it yourself internationalisé. Ce mouvement proche des groupements anarchistes prône l’amateurisme, la production artistique restreinte et le radicalisme des prises de position. Sur l’exemple de ces deux mouvements artistiques, la thèse étudie les logiques de politisation et les modes de contestation. / Based on a study of two protest rock movements in Belarus, this thesis examines the phenomenon of politicisation in an authoritarian regime. The “national” rock emerged in the 1980s as a modern artistic movement inspired by Western music conventions. Singing in Belarusian, this scene aspired to promote a heterodox vision of “national identity”. The authoritarian turn in 1995-1996 provoked protest re-politicisation of this artistic movement. “National” rock musicians continued to claim the “underground” status, while aspiring to professionalisation and commercial production. Against the backdrop of the authoritarian change, another protest movement emerged in the mid-1990s. Following the internationalised Do-It-Yourself model, the DIY anarcho-punk is closely linked to anarchist groups and promotes amateurism, limited artistic production and radical political expression. Based on the example of the two artistic movements, this thesis studies the logics of politicisation and the modes of political protest.

Ce travail cherche à comprendre comment le cinéma d’animation en Tunisie, une pratique artistique « en marge », à la fois dans son monde de l’Art et dans la société dans laquelle elle est produite, puisse s’ériger en tant que vecteur de contestation dans un contexte autoritaire. Il s’agit de tracer l’histoire méconnue de cet art depuis sa genèse et sur toute la période étudiée (1965-1995). Une histoire qui se confond avec celle des changements sociopolitiques du pays sous les deux régimes autoritaires postindépendance. Nous entendons dégager la ou les forme(s) de contestation en interrogeant, d’une part le matériau filmique etd’autre part les sources orales, mémoires vivantes de cet art. Nous confrontons deux discours celui du régime (du centre) et celui de l’art (la périphérie) afin de révéler le mécanisme de formulation du propos contestataire dans le cinéma d’animation tunisien. / This work seeks to understand how animation in Tunisia – an artistic activity on the fringes, both in the art world and in the society in which it is produced - became a vehicle for political protest within an authoritarian context. It recounts the hitherto untold history of this art form together with the socio-political changes under the two post-independence authoritarian regimes. We intend to reveal the form(s) of protest by examining, on the one hand, the cinematic material and, on the other, live testimonials, first-hand memories of the art form. We confront two different types of rhetoric, that of the regime (core values) and the art of animation(marginal culture) to reveal the mechanisms used to formulate the protest statements in Tunisian animation.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can enrich the ways in which citizens participate in civic and political matters. Indeed, many theorists on online participation, or eParticipation, proclaim the potential of digital technologies to empower citizens with convenient ways to participate in democratic processes and to hold leaders to account. However, it is not clear if and how digital technologies, notably social media, can contribute to a more democratic system and engaged public in a country where open expression is limited. This thesis studies Social Networking Sites (SNS) as Information Systems (IS) artefacts, including individuals’ motivation for using them, how their features enable participation - or not - and the impacts of their use in an authoritarian country. Through personal interviews and focus group discussions in Uganda, this thesis finds that the common enablers of online participation in often-studied, mostly Western democratic countries are rarely translated into the offline world in an authoritarian country with one president for the last 30 years. The thesis proposes ways to increase eParticipation in authoritarian contexts, citing the social accountability sector (where the thesis shows evidence of eParticipation working) as a pathway to greater citizen participation and government responsiveness. Findings also contribute to the Information Systems artefact discourse by illuminating the political, social, technological, and information artefacts in SNS when used for eParticipation. Moreover, the thesis shows how, in contexts with a democracy deficit, resource-based theories such as the Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM) fall short in explaining what motivates political participation. It also explains how social networks contain the various constitutive aspects of the IS artefact – social, technical, informational and political - and how these various aspects need to be aligned for eParticipation to work.

The purpose of this essay is to study what conditions Afghanistan and Iraq have in order to create democracy in their countries. The study is interesting in a political science perspective because it engages many scientists how democracy can be created in authoritarian states. The overall questions my study is based on are: - What are the conditions for Afghanistan and Iraq to develop democracy based on Dankwart Rustow's four democratization phases? and which of these countries Afghanistan or Iraq has bigger chance to develop democracy in its country? My approach to answering my questions has been to study Dankwart Rustow’s theory based on that the creation of democracy can be achieved by four different democracy phases: unit phase, dissolution phase, transition phase and consolidation phase. The conclusion of my study shows that Afghanistan and Iraq have the same conditions for democracy, but Iraq has come further in its democratization and has more opportunities to develop democracy in its country compared to Afghanistan. This is because Iraq has not been involved in any long term war and that Afghanistan is still in civil war with the Taliban, which prevents democratic development in their country. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera vilka förutsättningar Afghanistan och Irak har för att utveckla demokrati i sina länder. Studien är intressant ur ett statsvetenskapligt perspektiv eftersom det engagerar många forskare hur demokrati kan skapas i auktoritära stater. De övergripande frågeställningarna som min studie är baserad på är: -Hur ser förutsättningarna ut för Afghanistan och Irak att utveckla demokrati utifrån Dankwart Rustows fyra demokratiserings faser? och vilka av dessa länder Afghanistan eller Irak har störst möjlighet att utveckla demokrati i sitt land? Mitt tillvägagångssätt för att besvara mina frågor har varit att studera Dankwart Rustows teori, som bygger på att demokrati kan skapas utifrån att fyra olika demokratifaser uppnås: enhetsfas, upplösningsfas, övergångsfas och konsolideringsfas. Uppsatsens slutsats visar på att Afghanistan och Irak har liknande förutsättningar att skapa demokrati men att Irak har kommit längre i sin demokratisering och har större förutsättningar att kunna utveckla demokrati än Afghanistan. Det beror på att Irak inte har varit inblandat i några långvariga krig och att Afghanistan fortfarande är i inbördeskrig med talibanerna, vilket förhindrar en demokratisk utveckling i deras land.

Magister Artium - MA / This study aims to explore the family environment of non-admitting sex offenders in order to gain insight into the family characteristics that could be contributing factors towards the behaviour of denial. However, the focus will not be on the families of the sex offenders, but rather on the non-admitting sex offenders’ views of their family environment. The theoretical framework used is the Social Learning Theory, because it supports the fact that most behaviour is learned through modelling the behaviour of others. The researcher used a qualitative approach and the aim of the study was to generate information that would describe the family environment of non-admitting sex offenders. The population of this study was incarcerated, sentenced sex offenders with specific focus on the non-admitting sex offender as the unit of analysis. Ten (10) participants were purposively selected for the study and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each one in order to generate the needed information for the study

Titel: Ledarskap i den kreativa processen: En studie om dataspelsföretag Problem: I dagsläget finns det brister på studier som fokuserar på olika ledarskapsperspektivs påverkan på kreativitet inom arbetsgrupper. Hur ledarskap formas och ledarskapets roll i den kreativa processen saknas det information om, speciellt inom kreativt intensiva industrier. Stor del av tidigare forskning fokuserar på länder som USA och Japan, men inte Sverige. Dataspelsindustrin är en snabbföränderlig industri, därmed finns det flera utmaningar och affärsmöjligheter som organisationer möjligtvis saknar kunskap om. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att få en förståelse för hur ledarskapet ser ut i den kreativa processen i dataspelsföretag. Samtidigt vill vi bidra med kunskap och förståelse om ledarskapets inflytande på den kreativa processen. Metod: Undersökningen utgick från samhällsvetenskapligt tolkningsperspektiv med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi.  Fenomenologisk ansats har använts för att fånga intervjupersonernas upplevelser av ledarskapet i den kreativa processen i dataspelsindustrin med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Forskningsansatsen var abduktiv då forskarna pendlade konstant mellan data och kända teorier vid sökandet efter de mest sannolika förklaringarna. Vid bearbetning av data användes en fenomenografisk dataanalysmodell. Slutsats: Olika ledarskapsperspektiv fungerar olika under olika omständigheter. Enligt den teoretiska referensramen utesluter inte en ledarskapsteori nödvändigtvis en annan utan aspekter av olika ledarskapsteorier går att kombinera. Eftersom att det finns många olika typer av dataspelsföretag är det viktigt att förstå den egna organisationen och vara öppen för att plocka aspekter från olika ledarskapsteorier och skräddarsy ett ledarskapsperspektiv som passar organisationens kontext. / Title: Leadership in the creative process: A study about small computer game companies. Problem: Currently there is a lack of studies that focus on different leadership perspectives effect on creativity within groups. There is a lack of information about how leadership shapes and the leadership’s role in the creative process, especially in creative intensive industries. A big part of previous research focuses on countries like USA and Japan, but not Sweden. The computer game industry is a fast changing industry, therefore there are many challenges and business opportunities that organizations might lack knowledge about. Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to gain an understanding for what leadership in the creative process in small computer game companies look like. At the same time we want contribute knowledge and understanding about the leadership's influence on the creative process. Method: The study is based on a interpretive social science perspective with a qualitative research strategy. A phenomenological approach has been used to capture the respondent's’ experience of leadership in the creative process in the computer game industry with the help of semi structured interviews. The research approach was abductive due to the researchers constantly going between data and known theories when searching after the most probable explanations. During processing of data a phenomenographic data analysis model was used. Conclusion: Different leadership perspectives work differently under different circumstances. According to the theoretical framework leadership theories does not necessarily exclude one from another, rather aspects from different leadership theories are combinable. Since there are many kinds of computer game companies it is imperative to understand one’s own organization and to be open to pick aspects from different leadership theories to tailor a leadership perspective that fits the organization's context.

The diploma thesis deals with the regime change in the context of the Arab Spring 2011 with focus on Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. The aim of the thesis is to determine factors causing different progress towards political reforms in each country. Theoretical framework is provided by characteristics of undemocratic regimes, transitions to democracy and democracy itself. Each country is introduced from the historical point of view with focus on the 20th century, especially current methods of the governance. Several conclusions are made based on analytical -- synthetical method of reviewing historical, political and socioeconomical factors determining the domestic situation in compared countries and explaining their influence on different transition progress towards the new political system.

O tema desta dissertação é o patrimonialismo como um estilo político ainda atuante nos dias de hoje. Sob o ponto de vista da cultura política, o patrimonialismo pode ser entendido como um tipo de comportamento que deriva de crenças e valores tradicionais cultivados na história brasileira. Além da sua sobrevivência por meio da cultura, é argumentado que a ideologia do Estado autoritário também seja um meio sustentador e disseminador do fenômeno. O estilo político patrimonialista é caracterizado pelo poder arbitrário legitimado por uma tradição em tratar a coisa pública como privada. Sustenta e é sustentado pela cooptação política e pelas relações clientelistas e assimétricas entre os atores políticos. Esse comportamento antirrepublicano e antidemocrático é composto por uma lógica corrupta em sua essência podendo ser um estimulador da desmobilização social (que culmina na baixa participação política) e da reduzida qualidade democrática em nosso país. O objetivo é apontar alguns vínculos teóricos entre patrimonialismo, cultura política, ideologia do Estado autoritário, participação política e qualidade democrática. / The theme of this dissertation is the patrimonialism as a current political style. According to the theory of political culture, patrimonialism can be understood as a type of behavior that derives from traditional beliefs and values maintained alive during Brazilian history. Besides its survival through culture, it is argumented that the ideology of the authoritarian State is another way of sustaining and disseminating the behavior. The patrimonialist political style is characterized by the arbitrary power legitimated by a tradition used to treat the public as a private matter. It sustains and is sustained by political co-option and by client-based and asymmetric political relationships. This anti republican and antidemocratic behavior carries within a corrupt logic that can stimulate social demobilization (which results in low political participation) and the reduced democratic quality of Brazil. The objective is to point a few theoretical ties between patrimonialism, political culture, ideology of the authoritarian State, political participation and the quality of democracy.

The aim of this thesis is to study how electoral authoritarian regimes remain resilient over time, by observing how they handle challenges to their rule. More specifically, the thesis will focus on the strategies used to legitimize further rule. This will be achieved by conducting a case study on Rwanda and investigating how the Rwandan government uses insecurity and threat perception to legitimize further rule during the period 2010-2019. The theoretical framework consists of both Andreas Schedler’s definition of an electoral authoritarian regime as well as securitization theory. The material used is speech acts by important actors from the time period in question as well as law changes and information on how existing laws are used. With the use of critical discourse analysis, the thesis concludes that the Rwandan government has developed a discourse of traitor/patriot by securitizing traitors, strategically varying in intensity throughout the time period. Political opposition is effectively repressed by referring to the threats mentioned in the speech acts. To successfully circumvent the main flaw of electoral authoritarian regimes according to Schedler’s theory (uncertainty), the Rwandan government creates uncertainties themselves and then refers to the very same uncertainties to legitimize continuous rule.