Participating in peace support operations has been and remains a significant part of the Swedish defense and security politics. Since the end of the Cold War, the Swedish national defence has been more and more dismantled, in favor of international peace support operations which have become an increasingly important task for the Swedish defence. Why then, is Sweden so engaged in conflicts so far from home? Using two classic theories of international politics, realism and liberalism, this study aims to shed light on arguments from the Swedish parliament on why it is important for Sweden to participate in international peace support operations. After analyzing arguments of the Social Democrat Party, the Moderate Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party concerning three different peace support operations which Sweden has participated in, the result shows that although both realism and liberalism are influencing the parties’ argumentation, liberalism is the theory which is used more often. Thus, the answer to why Sweden participates in peace support operations is to be found in arguments that clearly express views of liberalism, rather than views of realism.

Ce travail propose une sociologie historique du Parti démocrate turc, qui est fondé en 1946, arrive au pouvoir en 1950, et y reste jusqu’à un coup d’Etat de l’armée, en 1960. La sociologie de ce parti permet d’éclairer la compréhension du passage d’un régime de parti unique à un système de compétition partisane en Turquie. Pour cela, nous avons choisi une séquence chronologique longue, qui va de la fondation du parti en 1946 à sa chute en 1960. En effet, observer la création, puis la structuration du Parti démocrate nous permet de voir le rôle qu’il joue dans l’acculturation à la civilisation électorale, la promotion de nouvelles élites, mais aussi les continuités avec le parti unique, et le verrouillage progressif du champ politique, pour retourner à une situation autoritaire vers la fin des années 1950. Une sociologie fine du parti nous permettra ainsi de comprendre comment il se constitue en parti dominant. Pour ce faire, nous étudions le parti à travers ses implantations locales dans quatre départements de Turquie, Adana, Diyarbakır, Erzurum et Izmir, en portant une attention aux aspects informels de son fonctionnement. A partir de sources variées, archives de la presse locale, mémoires d’hommes politiques locaux, rapports diplomatiques, et divers témoignages, nous montrons que le Parti démocrate s’est imposé comme parti dominant sur la scène politique, en s’appuyant sur divers groupes sociaux, dont les hommes d’affaires et les petits commerçants conservateurs (esnaf). Dans ce processus, la capacité du parti à recruter des hommes politiques locaux, qui pouvaient mobiliser une large clientèle, a joué un rôle essentiel. / The aim of this study is to make a social history of the Turkish Democrat Party from 1946 to 1950. There are many essays about the Turkish Democrat Party in political history. Mainly, these works are based on macro and state-centered sources: state archives, national press, and parliamentary debates. Very few studies attempt to assess the social dynamics that led to the Democrat Party coming to power and holding it for a 10-year period. My claim is that to understand the social dynamics that led to the Democrat Party’s rise, we must look at its grassroots organizations and local recruitment. Therefore, I examine four different areas of Turkey—Izmir, Erzurum, Diyarbakir, and Adana—in order to better understand the Democrat Party’s social base. I use sources like the local press and memoirs of local politicians, as well as diplomatic reports, sociological works, and oral interviews with eyewitnesses from the period. This work aims to paint a comprehensive picture of the Democrat Party’s social base by revealing the important role that rural elite, artisans, and small-town shop-keepers played in shaping the party's conservative character.

This thesis discusses the working class formation, particularly the class consciousness formation of the working class during the Democrat Party period. Class consciousness formation is evaluated as a dimension of class formation process. Getting organized, trade unionization and collective action, especially calling a strike are among the significant aspects of class consciousness formation. During the DP period, right to strike is the most controversial and noteworthy issue. It is the basic debate in the trade union newspapers. This is the reason of discussing class consciousness with reference to right to strike as handled by the trade union newspapers. According to this study, class consciousness should be perceived as a phenomenon composed of different levels. In addition, class struggle can take place in different ways and class consciousness can have different forms. Although, it is hard to say that there is a class consciousness in the Leninist sense of the term, it is possible to talk about an economic-corporate consciousness with Gramsci&rsquo / s words. Trade unionization during the DP period and trade union publications are important experience of the workers in class consciousness formation process. Working classes do not generally taken into consideration in the studies of the DP period and also in the researches on Turkish labor history. The study also asserts that, experiences of trade unions or the workers in general during the DP period are worth to analyze for the Turkish labor history.