John Milton, par son œuvre polémique en prose, a exercé une influence importante d’abord sur les colonies américaines, et ensuite aux Etats-Unis. C’est autour de l’interprétation de son statut de Dissenter que se met en place la construction d’une figure d’identification qui traverse les époques, pendant la Révolution et la campagne abolitionniste notamment. Cette thèse cherche à identifier les mécanismes et les moments fondamentaux de cette transmission culturelle, à travers le parcours de plusieurs auteurs américains : le Quaker John Woolman, l’abolitionniste William Garrison, et le Transcendantaliste Ralph Waldo Emerson. On analysera comment l’évolution de la définition du dissent a permis à l’œuvre de Milton d’accompagner différents mouvements intellectuels américains. On verra comment, à partir de racines anglaises, les problématiques soulevées par Milton dans les années 1640 à 1660, ont pu frapper ses lecteurs transatlantiques comme étant pertinentes pour leur époque, et comment l’œuvre en prose de Milton a pu participer à la définition de la désobéissance civile. / : John Milton in his prose works had a deep influence in North America, first in the colonies, and then in the United States. His status as a Dissenter, subject to many interpretations, enabled him to remain relevant throughout the different stages of American history, allowing actors from the American Revolution or the abolitionist campaign to identify with him and his works. This dissertation aims at identifying the mechanisms and stages of this form of cultural transmission, through the study of several American authors: the Quaker John Woolman, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and the Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Rooted in the English Civil War, the issues raised by Milton between 1640 and 1660 nonetheless strike a chord within his American readers as germane to their time. This work shall also investigate how Milton’s prose work, through the shifting definitions of Dissent, directly influenced the concept of civil disobedience.

The study “The Mobilization of Civil Disobedience” intends to shed light on how environmental movements frame climate change issues, present solutions and mobilize climate action through their communication on the social media platform Instagram. This study will examine the case of Återställ våtmarker (Restore wetlands), a Swedish movement known for its civil disobedience protests. The study’s theoretical framework consists of Collective action frames, Core framing tasks, and Emotional frames. The qualitative content analysis method is used to analyze the content together with the multimodal analysis tools of modality, lexical choices, denotation, and connotation to analyze both textual and visual modes.   The analysis showed that the organization makes a unique case by communicating strong emotions and opinions through its Instagram content. The main issue is explained as excavated wetlands that produce huge amounts of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The cause of the issue was claimed to be the lack of action from the Swedish government, and they are also argued to be responsible for restoring the wetlands and saving the climate. However, the organization strongly emphasizes the Swedish citizens' democratic and civil responsibility to fight climate change and engage in protests. Occasionally, the organization even blames individual citizens for not prioritizing climate change or saving their children’s futures. The motivational reasons to act are made by an apocalyptic doom narrative, where the climate crisis is explained as urgent and as an ongoing catastrophe or a future “climate hell”. Despite the presence of moral emotions, such as guilt and shame, the organization sometimes offers a more hopeful motivational framing that citizens' collective action is a powerful and successful way to pressure politicians to act.

In an era where civil disobedience is more commonly used as a tactic for climate movements and media coverage is key for the success of the movement, this study explores the interplay between news media portrayal and activists strategies in the context of environmental activism, focusing on civil disobedience actions targeting famous artworks. By analyzing articles from prominent international newspapers and interviewing activists, this study delves into how news media frame these particular actions, and how activists themselves navigate challenges posed by news media portrayal. Drawing on research on the protest paradigm, the public nuisance paradigm and the activist dilemma, this study reveals that while media coverage often employs negative language to depict their actions and tactics, activists strategically utilize civil disobedience to amplify their message regardless of the risk of backlash. Despite initial challenges, activists remain committed to fostering dialogue and raising awareness of climate change by targeting iconic images, with the belief that people will hate them and their actions, but start talking about the climate.

Denna kvalitativa studie ämnar undersöka vilka diskurser, perspektiv och aktörer som speglas i media kring ämnet klimataktivism. Detta har undersökts genom en kritisk diskursanalys i vilken tematisk analys har använts för att analysera 193 stycken medieartiklar från de fyra mest lästa svenska tidningarna. Studien har utförts i en svensk kontext och begränsats till ett tidsspann mellan 2018-2023. Ytterligare presenteras tidigare forskning inom ämnet för ny klimataktivism samt klimataktivism och media. För analysen av resultatet har Foucaults (2003, 2009) teorier kring disciplin, makt och kunskap, ideologi, diskurser, den reglerande apparaten samt olydnad använts som ett övergripande ramverk, vilka kompletteras med begrepp från Mathiesen (1982). Utöver detta har Becks (2009, 2012) teorier om risksamhälle och hot använts, vilka kompletteras med begrepp från Altheide (2013), för att kunna analysera resultatet på omfattande och djupgående sätt, anpassat till det moderna samhället. Medelst detta visar undersökningen en djupgående och omfattande bild genom att rama in mediers speglande av ämnet klimataktivismen i samtiden. Det visades olika, delvis motstridiga, diskurser: ”kampen för klimatet”, ”klimataktivismen som hot” samt ”politiken som hot”, vilka också innefattar olika mindre diskurser om exempelvis ”domedagen” och ”civil olydnad”. Vidare framkom att alla diskurser innefattar positiva och negativa diskursiva aspekter, där dock alla diskurser och aspekter ramas in av en allomfattande ”riskdiskurs” som uttrycks genom de olika perspektiven inom ämnet klimataktivism. Sist förs en avslutande diskussion om konsekvenserna och utkomsterna av denna diskursiva framställning av klimataktivism; en reflektion kring vad som sker och kan ske genom mediers porträttering och vilken vikt media har för produktionen av upplevelser i samhället. / This qualitative study aims to analyse discourses, perspectives and actors which are represented in media within the topic: climate activism. The study was implemented through critical discourse analysis (CDA) in which thematic analysis was used to analyse the material of 193 news articles from the four most read Swedish newspapers. Furthermore, the study was delimited to Sweden and in a timeframe from 2018-2023. Also, previous research about today’s climate activism and climate activism and media is represented. For the analysis of the results, Foucault’s (2009, 2003) theories about discipline, power and knowledge, ideology, discourse, the ruling apparatus, and disobedience have been used. These theories have been completed by concepts from Mathiesen (1982). Moreover Beck’s (2009, 2012) theories of risk society and threat have been used and completed by concepts from Altheide (2013), to be able to analyse the results in an extensive and profound way which fits today’s modern society. Through that, the study shows a deep and including picture that frames how media portraits the topic: climate activism. The study has shown discourses, that in some ways are contradictory: “fight for the climate”, “climate activists as threat” and “politics as threat”. These discourses include several smaller discourses, for instance “doomsday” and “civil disobedience”. Also, it has been shown that all discourses include positive and negative aspects, yet all discourses and aspects of them set in an all-encompassing “risk-discourse”, which takes form through the different perspectives that are included in the subject of climate activism. Lastly, a final discussion is held about the consequences and outcomes of the discursive representation of climate activism; a reflection about what is and what can be happening because of the representation through media and what significance media has in the production of experience in society. / <p>2024-05-30</p>

This written thesis is a companion to a 30-minute documentary video of the same title. The documentary is a presentation of the historical conflict between the United States Navy and the people of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. For over 60 years the island was used by the United States Navy as a military training facility. The documentary attempts to present an analysis of the struggle between citizens of the island and the Navy. This written component presents a summarized history of Puerto Rico, Vieques and the conflict with the United States Navy. In addition, the preproduction, production and post-production process of the documentary are discussed. A theoretical analysis of the filmmaker's approach and technique are addressed and analyzed as well. The thesis's goal is to provide a clear understanding of the Vieques conflict to United States audiences who do not a familiarity with the topic. The thesis is presented from the perspective of a person who grew up in Puerto Rico.

Diese Arbeit verbindet zwei Perspektiven, nämlich den Blick auf die soziale Praxis des digitalen Ungehorsams mit dem anhaltenden Diskurs über zivilen Ungehorsam in der politischen Theorie. Digitaler Ungehorsam entwickelte sich im Verlauf der Evolution digitaler Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien in überraschendem Facettenreichtum: vom BTX Hack des Chaos Computer Clubs über den Widerstand der Cypherpunks für die weltweite Verbreitung von Verschlüsselung hin zu Anonymous, Aaron Swartz und Edward Snowden. Reload Disobedience plädiert für eine Revision des dominierenden Verständnisses von zivilem Ungehorsam und stützt sich dabei auf Theorien von Hannah Arendt, Michael Walzer und Etienne Balibar. Viele Beispiele in der Geschichte des digitalen Ungehorsams werden diesem neuen Verständnis durchaus gerecht, doch gibt es gleichzeitig Faktoren, die weitere Fragen aufwerfen: Kann ziviler Ungehorsam anonym sein oder automatisiert durchgeführt werden? Wie verändert sich das kollektive Handeln, das maßgeblicher Teil der Tradition zivilen Ungehorsames ist, durch die globale Vernetzung? Um diese und andere Effekte digitalen Handelns zu verstehen, diskutiert die Autorin die Entscheidungen der digital Ungehorsamen sowie Möglichkeiten und Grenzen digitalen Handelns im Kontext demokratie-theoretischer Überlegungen. Eine Kernthese der Arbeit ist, dass ziviler Ungehorsam in digitalen Formen potentiell eine neue Direktheit des Politischen erzeugen kann. Gleichzeitig muss sich diese Praxis einer besonderen Unsicherheit sowie neuen Risiken und Herausforderungen stellen, um dem demokratischen Geist des zivilen Ungehorsams unter neuen Bedingungen gerecht zu werden. / This work combines two perspectives, namely the social and activist history of digital forms of disobedience with the ongoing discourse around civil disobedience in political theory. In the course of the internet’s evolution, digital disobedience developed in a surprisingly multifaceted nature: From cases like the BTX Hack of the Chaos Computer Club, to the Cypherpunks and their effort to spread encryption, from Anonymous to Aaron Swartz or Edward Snowden. This work argues for a broader understanding of civil disobedience than the mainstream in political thinking suggests based on arguments from a radical democratic line of thinking, inspired by Hannah Arendt, Michael Walzer and Etienne Balibar. Many cases of digital disobedience meet the spirit of this new understanding, while at the same time their digital nature provokes a new set of questions as well. For instance the question, if civil disobedience may be anonymous or even automated. How does the internet change collective action which is often seen as a core element of the tradition of civil disobedience? The author discusses the choices and principles behind digitally disobedient action as well as the possibilities and limits of digital action in the context of democratic theory. She shows that civil disobedience in digital action even develops a new directness of encounter that adds a new potential to this delicate form of political action. Nevertheless, digital practices of civil disobedience are at the same time precarious and faced with new risks and challenges, like automation of and the risk of elitist tech-avant-gardes overriding the democratic spirit that civil disobedience is rooted in.

<p>The aim of this study was to examine how the social services could investigate and support children of irregular immigrants within the boundaries of the law. More specifically it aimed to examine the legal possibilities and obstacles for the social services to support irregular immigrants, how the officials at the social services act considering the legal aspects, and how they reason morally and ethically when dealing with irregular immigrants. To answer the aim of the study the theory of positive law was used combined with qualitative interviews with two officials at the social services. Moreover a small quantitative telephone study with officials in the social services and with voluntary organizations was made. The study has used theories of sociology of law, law and ethics, and professional (civil) disobedience. The conclusions were that children of irregular immigrants are included by the Swedish law for social services, but are hindered from getting support by the legal obligation to inform the police authorities when the social services are dealing with foreigners who did not apply for a residence permit. There is a need for the officials to be extra committed in such cases and they break the obligation to inform to be able to support the children.</p>

The aim of this study was to examine how the social services could investigate and support children of irregular immigrants within the boundaries of the law. More specifically it aimed to examine the legal possibilities and obstacles for the social services to support irregular immigrants, how the officials at the social services act considering the legal aspects, and how they reason morally and ethically when dealing with irregular immigrants. To answer the aim of the study the theory of positive law was used combined with qualitative interviews with two officials at the social services. Moreover a small quantitative telephone study with officials in the social services and with voluntary organizations was made. The study has used theories of sociology of law, law and ethics, and professional (civil) disobedience. The conclusions were that children of irregular immigrants are included by the Swedish law for social services, but are hindered from getting support by the legal obligation to inform the police authorities when the social services are dealing with foreigners who did not apply for a residence permit. There is a need for the officials to be extra committed in such cases and they break the obligation to inform to be able to support the children.

The work examines the antislavery writings of Francis Wayland (1796-1865). Wayland pastored churches in Boston and Providence, but he left his indelible mark as the fourth and twenty-eight year president of Brown University (1827-1855). The author of numerous works on moral science, economics, philosophy, education, and the Baptist denomination, his administration marked a transitional stage in the emergence of American colleges from a classically oriented curriculum to an educational philosophy based on science and modern languages. Wayland left an enduring legacy at Brown, but it was his antislavery writings that brought him the most notoriety and controversy. Developed throughout his writings, rather than systematically in a major work, his antislavery views were shaped and tested in the political and intellectual climate of the antebellum world in which he lived. First developed in The Elements of Moral Science (1835), he tested the boundaries of activism in The Limitations of Human Responsibility (1838), and publicly debated antislavery in Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution (1845). The political crisis from the Mexican-American War through the Kansas-Nebraska Act heightened Wayland’s activism as delineated in The Duty of Obedience to the Civil Magistrate (1847), his noncompliance with the Fugitive Slave Law, and his public address on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill (1854). In 1861 he became a committed Unionist. I argue that Francis Wayland was a mediating figure in the controversy between abolitionists and proslavery apologists and that his life was a microcosm of the transition that many individuals made from moderate antislavery to abolitionism. Wayland proved unique in that he was heavily coveted by Northern abolitionists who sought his unconditional support and yet he was respected by Southerners who appreciated his uncondemning attitude toward slaveholders even while he opposed slavery. I argue that Wayland’s transition from reluctant critic to public activist was not solely due to the political sweep of events, but that his latter activism was already marked in his earlier work. Most importantly, his life demonstrated both the limits and possibilities in the history of American antislavery.

The diploma thesis Public sphere in networked society concerns about the relation of public sphere and cyberspace. Cyberspace is defined as new social institution, which is not embodied Habermasian normative ideal of critical public sphere, but in contrary it constitute new forms of inequalities and new forms of fragmentarization and commercialization. Explored are therefore also theories which critically deal with concept of public sphere and better describe the reality of cyberspace. The expansion of Cyberspace and horizontal communication network also relate with transformation of contentious politics. The thesis provides an overview of historical development of new action repertoire of contention - virtual sit-in. As an embodiment of all these societal shifts, which are seen as an elements of change in power balance, is presented Operation Payback orchestrated by hacktivist group Anonymous. Keywords Cyberspace, public sphere, hacktivism, action repertoires, repertoires of contention, virtual sit-in, electronic civil disobedience, Anonymous, Operation Payback