Fish. Why do fish matter? Fish are the main source of protein for three billion people on Earth (World Wildlife Fund, 2019), that is roughly 39 percent of the global population (United Nations, 2019, p. 11). Food, in particular, is essential to politics, as it literally fuels the brainpower of mankind. There is power in sustaining this essential resource for generations to come, it is a crucial aspect of the future of food. Power through Sustainability. Focusing on institutions and fishery politics, this research will try to uncover whether or not the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a non-state market-driven (NSMD) organization, holds power in global environmental governance by creating an effective international sustainable fishing regime.   The theories and frameworks utilized stretch across multiple disciplines, such as international relations, sociology, international political theory, economics, ecology, fisheries science, and environmental sciences. To better understand the Marine Stewardship Council this study will focus on the global political economy (GPE) and global environmental governance (GEG), international relations green theory and neoliberal theory, and Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD), Social-Ecological Systems (SES), and beyond panacea frameworks. The research will try to discover if non-state market-driven governance systems, specifically the Marine Stewardship Council matter in international relations and global politics, employing achieving sustainable global environmental governance goals. Does the MSC influence civil society driven GEG by being an active, international sustainable fishing institution, or is the MSC merely the only feasible option for international fisheries governance?

This thesis investigates the correlation between immigration and the tendency to discuss politics. The aim of the study is to analyse how often immigrated people in Sweden have political discussions compared to native-born people, by looking at several different social scenarios in which one can have these talks. The importance of birth region and time of residence is studied as well. As this is quite an unexplored area of study, a contribution is made to the knowledge about immigrated people’s political participation. By using regression analysis, the results show us that having immigrated leads to higher levels of political discussion in some of the social scenarios studied, but not all of them. Additionally, longer time in Sweden is linked to a small increase in discussions. The main conclusion drawn is that the difference in political discussion is bigger within the group of immigrated people, rather than between immigrants and natives, as there is a substantial difference in discussions between those born in the East and South compared to those born in the West. Finally, these results point towards a need for further investigation of the political integration of immigrated persons, as the lower levels of reported political discussion can be a result of poor integration. The differences found could also indicate the lack of social ties between immigrated and native-born people, which in turn can have a negative impact on the integration of immigrated persons.

How bilateral aid donors allocate their adaptation aid is of importance since the most vulnerable to climate change often lack the capacities necessary to combat climate change impacts alone. However, from a donor perspective, the lack of institutional capacity implies that the allocated resources might be managed less effectively compared to in a context with ’good governance’. Thus, a dilemma regarding whether donors should prioritise aid effectiveness or recipient vulnerability rises. This study aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of the two bilateral donors Sweden and the United States, in order to examine their reasoning behind adaptation aid with regards to the mentioned dilemma between recipient vulnerability and recipient capacity. The study is conducted on a policy level by analysing policy material, including donor objectives and government policies and strategies, that concerns the two bilateral donors’ adaptation aid work. With the help of the theoretical framework, based on established development aid allocation models in an adaptation context, a text analysis systematically categorises the donors’ rationales and statements concerning adaptation aid and with regards to the dilemma. The main results of the text analysis confirm the dilemma’s complexity since both donors recognise and discuss its implications. Further, the results indicate a divide between the two bilateral aid donors as they tend to emphasise different positions toward adaptation aid. Moreover, in this relatively new field of study, the following essay contributes with an in-depth study on donor level, in contrast to previous research that provides mainly comprehensive and aggregate findings. Lastly, this study’s findings are of interest concerning adaptation aid’s increasing significance due to climate change and it also provides possible future research opportunities concerning adaptation aid allocation.

This thesis explores the link between right-wing populist discourse and climate change-related policymaking in the European Union. Accordingly, it first reviews and examines previously conducted literature and theories regarding this research focus. This examination highlights the importance of the discursive themes of anti-elitism, people-centrism, anti-cosmopolitanism, and ‘othering’. Further, it stresses the significance of discursive practices of legitimation, as well as international anti-elitist norm building. Based on these findings, this paper chooses its methodological framework, a Quantitative Content Analysis relying on social constructivist thought for drawing inferences. To examine its leading research question, the study then analyzes amendments made to climate change-related policy drafts in the European Parliament’s Committee for the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety. The study’s results show a clear link between right-wing populist discourse and influence on policymaking. Specifically, the use of these discursive elements decreases amendments’ success (and therefore legislative influence) drastically. Discussing and theoretically reflecting on these findings, this thesis argues that this presents a clear disconnection between the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, and right-wing populists’ impact on climate change-related policies in the organization. Considering climate change a critical threat to humanity, this thesis’ findings are highly salient to International Relations.

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Throughout the years that followed the establishment of the state of Israel, the relations between the Arabs and Israel have never been open and transparent as they were after the announcement of the Abraham Accords. The Abraham Accords refer to the normalization agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain that was announced on the the15th of September 2020. A few months later, Sudan and Morocco joined the accords. The agreements were signed to promote peace and security in the region and improve cooperation on several fronts, mainly through trade and economic cooperation between Israel and the Arab states. The idea behind the title of the accords is to emphasize the prophet Abraham as the common ancestor of Muslims, Christians, and Jews (the main three religions in the region). This study will investigate the common security concerns and challenges, as well as the motives and drivers that led to the signing of the agreement. This thesis will be using two different analytical models, the neorealism theory and rational choice theory, in order to pursue an interpretation of the factors and the underlying patterns of the accord from two theoretical perspectives. The results presented in this study show that the accords have both neorealistic and rational theoretical elements in the decision-making process made by the countries that signed the accords.

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