This design project takes the form of an illustrated story told from the perspective of a young adult middle-class Swede who feels uncertainty in the face of larger issues in the world. Where do all our stuff come from? Is he buying unethical products? Is he actively making a situation worse elsewhere through his choices? How would you even know, when the consequences of such actions might only become evident far, far away from Sweden? How do you relate to this? What should you do? As the protagonist wants for answers, he decides to try and find out what the situation is really like, and what could be done about it. But, as he would soon find out, the answer is not a simple one… In this work-in-progress story, a middle-class Swede must contend with the fact that he’s part of a subset of humanity that in large part benefits off of the thankless work that may be found in the so-called Global South. In his investigation, he seeks to find answers to important questions. What’s the nature of this economic relationship between the Global South and the Global North? Is it really enough to buy ‘more sustainable’ products to relieve the impact on environments and societies? What are the hidden perspectives and stories that those in the Global South experience every day? How can one try to be a good person and create positive change in the world when faced with overwhelming systemic issues on a global scale? Through the story, the nature of global wealth disparity is illuminated as the Swede tries to make sense of global power relationships in relation to labor and production, and so too offers a reader who may be having similar worries an opportunity to learn. As uncomfortable truths are revealed, a greater systemic issue becomes evident. As economic growth takes precedence over social and environmental wellbeing, who wins and who loses – and where? This is the written thesis section of the project, which seeks to elaborate on the different concepts included in the story, as well as surrounding it. Aspects such as the purpose of the project and target audience are gone over, emphasizing the need to communicate complex subjects to wider audiences while avoiding the act of oversimplification of the issues presented. The methodology of the work is presented, and aspects of the design process are documented. The project cumulates into a digital exhibition with other design students, where a work-in-progress version of the comic book is presented digitally for reading. The end of the thesis features a reflection of the result and the design process in order to identify where improvements could be made, as well as the answers the author of this thesis found in relation to the project questions. In summary, there seem to be an indication that working collectively as opposed to individually may be more effective towards creating positive change, in opposition to individual-focused solutions. Finding appropriate solutions to issues may not have to be found immediately, but may be found through a process affected by several different people in a collective that are able to contribute with their differing skills and knowledge to locate the most appropriate path forward. / <p>Here is an updated version, using the template of the front page that was suggested.</p>

Climate change is the worst long-term security issue humans has ever faced. The discourse around the problems and solutions connected to it are predominantly coming from the Global North. On the other hand, it is the Global South who are experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, in the form of floods, droughts, heatwaves, and lack of food, water, and energy. This asymmetrical relationship has rendered the Global South the vulnerable subjects in the current governmentality regime of climate change. Through a governmental lens, this paper analyses the similarities and differences in how climate change as a security and IR issue is problematized, and especially what solutions are seen as viable, across and between the North-South divide. This understudied relationship and its implications, is in this paper exposed and tackled. It shows that the Global North are slowly shifting the responsibility of coping with climate change away from the large GHG emitters, and on to the individuals in the Global South that are worst affected by the consequences of a changing climate. The recently updated NDCs within the Paris agreement supports this view and make up a key part of this paper.

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) are established actors in the global militaryindustry. The adaptation to utilize PMSCs as a complement to national militaries has increased their importance significantly. PMSCs have gained attention due to similarities with outlawed mercenary activity, causing legal implications and difficulties regulating them. However, the risks that PMSC recruits experience are not addressed sufficiently. Thus, this study aims to scrutinize and analyze how PMSCs recruitment relates to risk, which risks exist for the recruits, and how the recruits’ origin affects risks. By developing the idea of Risk-Transfer War with the Global South and Global North concept, the study gains insight into how Risk-Transfer can beextended to the private military industry. The study shows that economic, physical, and political risks are present for PMSC recruits, and the recruits from the Global South are the most affectedby them. The globalized private military industry enables countries that utilize PMSCs which recruit from the Global South, to get a cheaper, more flexible workforce with fewer politicalimplications. However, the Global South recruits are paid less than their Northern colleagues, they are getting little to no recognition for their sacrifices while risking their lives for the secompanies in hopes of a better livelihood. By understanding PMSCs and their recruitmentprocesses better, we can adjust issues in current regulations.

The climate crisis is an urgent threat towards people and planet, and rapid changes are needed to decarbonize the planet. The energy sector is in a current transition to renewable-based energy, which also includes a shift to electric cars. Electric cars are motivated to be the future, which will be beneficial for the economy and the environment. The industry has also received criticism, several human rights violations occur in the supply chains of the electric cars and that it is an industry that risk increasing global inequalities. This study explores the complexity of the car industry’s transition to renewable energy, based on case studies of Volvo, Mercedes, and Volkswagen, and their sustainability work related to the supply chains of electric vehicles batteries. The purpose is to show the relation between companies and power structures, as an exemplification of the possibilities for a just energy transition from fossil fuel-based energy to renewable-based energy. The findings shows that the transition is shaped by economical values, which risks broaden the gap between Global South and Global North. It emphasized that it is an issue that needs a collective effort to change the Status Quo, to create sustainable solutions based on the three pillars of sustainable development beneficial for all, not only the Global North.

The purpose of this study was to examine how SOS Children's Villages as an organization in Swaziland is affected by, and takes into account, the cultural, organizational and societal context in which it acts. Material was gathered through a field study during one month in one of the three SOS Children's Villages in Swaziland. The study has a qualitative approach and is based on the result from 12 semi-structured interviews with village mothers and other representatives from the organization. The other representatives were: social worker, program director, child and youth development coordinator, board member and educational manager. Since this study is both characterized by a specific historical, cultural and organizational context, we decided to connect the postcolonial perspective with an organization theory with focus on the concepts of culture, power and a children’s right perspective. The result from the study showed that SOS Children's village is affected by and takes into account the cultural and societal context in Swaziland in several ways. They do so, mainly by inlvolving the children in cultural values and activites. The result also showed that the village is influenced by the organizational field, because the SOS-Children´s village is in need of creating legitimacy. However, it becomes thus a dilemma how much the social work should be built upon, adapted, or should take into account the cultural, organizational and societal contexts to not maintain colonial worldviews.

The present thesis tries to Czech readers familiar with the concepts of development cooperation and development education in Spain, focusing on the practical implementation of development education by NGOs in Valencia. In the theoretical part are gradually presented the basic historical and political bases of both concepts and the reader is acquainted with the institutional prerequisites for their implementation in Spain. The empirical part contains the results of the analysis of interviews with representatives of NGOs in Valencia, which realize the practical development educational activities in elementary and secondary schools. The text is supplemented with illustrative graphs and tables, and includes examples of typical responses of respondents which contribute to the understanding and interpretation of the text. The final section includes a discussion of applied research methods and critical evaluation of the results that were presented in the empirical part.

The aim of this thesis was to find the seeds of Czech interest in the topic of female genital mutilation using a spectrum of approaches, as well as the experience of experts on this topic. The research consists of two main parts. The first part is devoted to the mapping of the institutional network; the second one to personal stories. Interviews with narrators have been analyzed using the method of triple coding. Themes that reveal the narrators' opinions about and attitudes towards female genital mutilation have been explored in the analysis in particular. In terms of theoretical approaches, the thesis explores whether it is possible to frame the debate on female genital mutilation in the Czech context using the various theses of global feminism and whether there is a general interest in this issue and its solutions. Key words: female genital mutilation, global and multicultural feminism, postcolonial feminism, institutional network, gender order, global North, global South

Recently, the implementation of feminist foreign policy (FFP) has gained traction in the Global South. The trend is most visible in Latin America, where Mexico, Chile, and Colombia have announced their commitment to the policy. Nevertheless, FFP has been dominated in the Global North sphere as Sweden pioneered the policy in 2014. Establishing the policy outside the Global North raises the question of how a Western-based policy will be adapted to the Latin American context and understanding of feminism. This study has aimed to investigate the feminist understanding and contextualization present in Mexico's, Chile's, and Colombia's FFPs. Based on previous research, this study has developed a framework of a Global North and Global South feminist discourse to analyze the foreign policies through feminist theory. A discourse analysis focusing on the policy texts' implicit and explicit representation of the central concepts of feminism: Structures, Oppression, and Change has been conducted. The policies include central aspects of feminist thought. The Global North feminist discourse dominates the FFPs, but distinctive elements of the Global South feminist discourse are present and adapted to international norms. However, this study also finds that the FFPs lack an explicit aim to address the fundamental causes of structural inequality and oppression. While the FFPs can still be a unifying framework for governments to promote gender equality internationally, the findings of this study raise questions about the possibilities of state-centered institutions to address the root causes of unequal societies since foreign policy tends to contain oppressive structures in itself.

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No / As of April 2020, the IMF categorised seven African countries as being in debt distress, whilst identifying twelve more that were at high risk of becoming distress. It is no longer a secret that considered immutable and eternally binding, debt by the global south (i.e., poor developing African countries) has become a tool for imperial powers in the post-colonial world to enforce and perpetuate their dominance over the global south. This is despite serious global crises that emerge from, and/or were caused by the rich countries of the global north; specifically, the negative effects of the global financial crisis of 2008, devastating impact of Covid-19 pandemic, and impact of Russia-Ukraine war on the African economies and contribution to these debt vulnerabilities. Yet, the rich countries of the global north have insisted on these poor countries to continue financing their debts. The paper considers how African countries could legally cancel the repayment of the debts by relying on the principles of international law (such as pacta sunt servanda, limit to legal obligation to pay, force majeure, State of Necessity or rebus sic stantibus) and States’ declarations to commitment to sustainable development agenda (such as the European Union’s response to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda featured in its Commission’s 2016 Communication) could be used as justifying grounds for cancellation of Africa debts. The paper draws on international law and development in the light of dependency and postcolonial theories and employs the human rights-based approach, interdisciplinary and critical-analytical perspective and using qualitative empirical evidence from rich countries and institutions of the global north and poor developing countries of the global south for analysis. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 8th June 2024.