In my diploma thesis, I deal with the federal budget of the US as an instrument designed to promote partisan policies on the example of the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama in order to find out whether there are ideological differences in the budgetary policy of Democrats and Republicans at the beginning of the 21st century. The main part of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of the revenue side and spending side of the budgets of both presidents and the development of the balance they managed. The analysis suggests that, although the nature of the time, phase of the economic cycle and other external influences have a significant impact on budgets, the federal budget can still be considered as an effective tool for expressing partisan preferences.

<p>The purpose of this essay has been to describe and compare the personal qualities that the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) tried to associate Barack Obama and John McCain with during the American presidential election campaign 2008. The main question to be answered is: What social and physical characters as well as what personal experiences, interest and resources did DN tried to emphasize regarding John McCain and Barack Obama during the American presidential election campaign 2008. The theoretical starting-point has been John B Thompson’s theory of the mediated publicity and John Corner´s theory of political persona and spheres of action. Various DN news texts, in all 38 articles, have been examined by content analysis from 25th of august to the 4th of November. The main results show that the most frequent mentioned qualities about Barack Obamas was his skin colour, ethnicity and speech talents. The most frequent mentioned qualities about John McCain was his age and his military experiences from the Vietnam War. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the qualities described in DN created a picture of two different politicians. Many of the qualities that was mentioned have no connection to politics and even if they was just mentioned one time can they play a significant role in trying to build confidence. Many of the qualities that was mentioned are qualities that necessary not have to be seen as positive.</p>

The purpose of this essay has been to describe and compare the personal qualities that the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) tried to associate Barack Obama and John McCain with during the American presidential election campaign 2008. The main question to be answered is: What social and physical characters as well as what personal experiences, interest and resources did DN tried to emphasize regarding John McCain and Barack Obama during the American presidential election campaign 2008. The theoretical starting-point has been John B Thompson’s theory of the mediated publicity and John Corner´s theory of political persona and spheres of action. Various DN news texts, in all 38 articles, have been examined by content analysis from 25th of august to the 4th of November. The main results show that the most frequent mentioned qualities about Barack Obamas was his skin colour, ethnicity and speech talents. The most frequent mentioned qualities about John McCain was his age and his military experiences from the Vietnam War. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the qualities described in DN created a picture of two different politicians. Many of the qualities that was mentioned have no connection to politics and even if they was just mentioned one time can they play a significant role in trying to build confidence. Many of the qualities that was mentioned are qualities that necessary not have to be seen as positive.