There are several studies regarding immigrants in Sweden with focus on integration and their situation in the labour market. However, few studies have focused on people with immigrant background and their view on identity, and even fewer have focused on women. In this paper, the aim is to highlight how young women with immigrant background in Sweden choose to identify, explained through an intersectional perspective. The research is conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews, containing a small group of eight women. The results were presented through four different themes: identify factors, society’s impact on identity, “Swedishness” and experiences and challenges. The results were analysed by using previous research and using intersectionality as the theoretical framework. The results showed that aspects such as family, culture and social environment were some of the factors that affected their identity. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents felt that society had a large impact on them and that society’s view of “Swedishness” plays a big role in their identity perception. Lastly, the respondents shared experiences and challenges that they encounter in the Swedish society, such as exotification and racism. Concluding this, it was found that societal structures contribute to the women’s experiences of discrimination and the challenges they face because of their multiple identities.

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This thesis examines how global development goals affect Fijian plans and policy strategies to achieve food security. The concept of food security is vast and complex, as several development issues contribute to the difficulty in achieving such security. It is therefore relevant to look at some of the dominating and underlying causes that challenge the possibility for Fiji to achieve food security. Built on previous theoretical and empirical evidence, this thesis identifies poverty and vulnerability as two dominant causes that hinder food security on Fiji. However, other causes, both internal and external, are recognised. Global development goals such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals have highly influenced the strategies built within Fijian plans and policies. Millennium Development Goal 1 and 7, and Sustainable Development Goal 1 and 2, are of particular interest to this study, as the different goals target the issues of poverty, vulnerability and hunger. Although the different goals all target the underlying causes of food insecurity, this thesis finds that they differ in influencing a focus on achieving sustainable food security. Therefore, as the aspects of poverty, vulnerability and food security are highly intertwined, this thesis examines how strategies tackling poverty and vulnerability reduction have influenced strategies on food security on Fiji. By comparing the plans and policies built in consistency with the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals, it has been possible to analyse whether such global goals have had an influence on addressing the underlying causes of food security on Fiji. Using the method of structured focused comparison in combination with an in-depth text analysis, structured questions have been built in order to analyse the chosen materials. The analysis has been conducted using information from different national plans found to be of relevance to the purpose of this study. The results show that goals with greater focus on social and environmental vulnerability, as well as long-term targets to eradicate poverty, provide a greater success in influencing a focus on food security in Fijian plans and policies. However, additional factors such as political instability, climate change and globalization need to be integrated into further studies on the chosen subject, in order to provide a greater understanding of how to achieve food security in a Pacific Small Island Developing State such as Fiji.

Sverige är rankat som ett av världens mest sekulariserade länder och frågan om religionens plats i det svenska samhället är ofta aktuell i samhällsdebatten. Samtidigt är flera av Sveriges mest etablerade biståndsorganisationer och Sidas ramorganisationer verksamheter med kristen bakgrund.  Detta är en teoriutvecklande studie som undersöker hur representanter från sådana organisationer upplever att bedriva biståndsarbete på kristen grund ifrån ett av världens mest sekulariserade länder. Hur påverkar i sin tur de upplevelserna hur de formulerar sin verksamhet?  Metoden som har använts är en kvalitativ fenomenologisk analys av semistrukturerade intervjuer med representanter från sju organisationer. Resultaten framhäver bland annat att representanter från organisationerna ofta får anpassa språket i kontakt med representanter från den svenska staten och den sekulära svenska allmänheten. Undersökningen visar också att representanter från organisationerna upplever att ett sekulärt synsätt ses som en värdeneutral utgångspunkt i Sverige och att förhållningssättet från svenskt håll försvårar samarbetet med deras betydligt mer religiösa partnerorganisationer och mottagare. Detta gör att representanter från organisationerna tycker att handläggare på Sida och andra representanter behöver mer religionskompetens och förståelse för deras sammanhang. Studiens resultat kan vara till hjälp för aktörer inom svenskt bistånd och möjliggöra en fördjupad förståelse för organisationer med kristen prägel.

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) has for long been a neglected topic within development research, policy and practice, despite findings recognising how insufficient MHM poses obstacles to women and girls’ well-being and quality of life. Those living in low-resource settings are especially vulnerable to such challenges. This thesis aims to provide empirical evidence for the relationship between improved MHM and human development. Amartya Sen’s capability approach serves as the starting point, suggesting that development is the process of expanding capabilities to lead a life one has reason to value. It is argued that the use of menstrual cups enables the achievement of capabilities, by removing obstacles to these. This hypothesis is tested using material collected during a field study in Uganda. Two groups of women and girls have been interviewed and compared – one in which everyone is using menstrual cups, and one in which everyone is using pads or cloths. The results show that capabilities to a larger extent are achieved among the women and girls using menstrual cups, than among those using pads or cloths. Moreover, obstacles to capabilities were predominantly present in the second group. The findings thereby support the theoretical argument, demonstrating that the use of menstrual cups removes obstacles – positively impacting capabilities. This highlights the importance of considering MHM as a key aspect of sustainable development.

This thesis investigates in what way democracy affect climate change policy output. The aim of the study is to test the positive correlation between democracy and climate change policy output that Bättig and Bernauer (2009) found. A contribution is made in the form of a new database including 193 countries and a newly constructed climate change policy index. The method of regression analysis using ordinary least squares is utilized. The results confirm a significant and substantial positive relation between democracy and climate change policy output. Furthermore, the effect of civil liberties on climate change policy output seem to be stronger than the effect of political rights. The results underline the instrumental value of democracy for sustainable development. To protect and enforce democratic institutions in high emission countries is important to avoid interruption of social and economic development all over the world, due to the consequences of climate change. Additionally, the results speak in favour of democratization aid to avoid development of carbon dependent economies. Finally, they underline the importance of analysing the possible environmental impact of different kinds of aid. In sum the thesis shows that democracy can affect the likelihood of collective action and increase the provision of public goods in the form of ambitious climate change policies.

The aim of this thesis is to study personal empowerment processes and theinfluence religion have in such processes. The theory of Naila Kabeer,Srilatha Baltiwala and Sara Mosedale has mainly been used as thetheoretical framework in this thesis. In order to study the influence ofreligion i.e. conversion to Christianity in personal empowerment processesfive Santali women in India have been interviewed. The interviews weredone through WhatsApp with the help of a translator. The results of thisthesis have shown that religion influence women’s personalempowerment. In the sense that religion contribute to important changesin lifestyle, self-esteem and self-confidence.

This thesis examines how efforts regarding the commercial sex industry in Thailand can be positioned in relation to an agent-victim framework. In the context of the expanding sex industry in Thailand, it becomes relevant to look at how efforts regarding it risks reproducing notions of ‘the prostitute’ as the victimised Other, and thus reinforcing neo-colonialism. However, the response in the form of an agent narrative has also been criticised for not taking into account intersecting forms of oppression. Here, a model coming from an emerging literature on the ‘third way feminist approach’ is used to illustrate how these instead can be combined. Using critical discourse analysis, this study draws on postcolonial feminist theory to scrutinise the ways in which non-governmental organisations imagine women as either agents or victims, or rather a combination of the two. The starting point has been that this binary definition might not be sufficient, neither for theoretically addressing the issue, nor for describing discourse. Two ideal types based on the agent-victim framework has been used to study to what extent the discursive practice of the organisations NightLight and Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers can be placed neatly into one of these ideal types, or whether a third perspective is indeed needed to account for their perception of the women they work with. The analysis has been conducted using different forms of information gathered from the official websites of the organisations, in order to understand they ways in which the organisations themselves choose to communicate their work. The results show that the discursive practices of these organisations to some extent can be accounted for using this framework, yet that in order to fully understand them, one should consider the third way which combines the strengths of both.

The purpose of this study is to analyze if and how cultural values and expectations in society influence the experiences and perceptions of happiness and well-being. Applying a quantitative research methods approach, a survey based on previous research was conducted to compare and analyze experiences and perceptions between two contrasting cultures, China and Sweden, using Hofstede’s national culture dimensions as an analytical tool. The sample consisted of students from China and Sweden. The findings from the study show that both groups ranked family as being the domain of life most important for their well-being, followed by health for the Chinese group, and friends for the Swedish group. There were statistically significant differences in the mean responses in some questions that may be attributed to cultural differences. For example, finishing long-term difficult tasks was ranked more important for the well- being by the Chinese group. As for the Swedish group, they felt to a higher degree that they had the freedom to choose what they would like work with. The majority of the responses, however, were similar between the two groups. The paper discusses how globalization may contribute to converging values in the current generation of students. Furthermore, other factors such as internal abilities and societal and cultural structures have an influence on the possibilities to pursue goals in life. Happiness is achieved by finding a balance in life between what you can achieve and accepting what you cannot. The themes and concepts used in the study are inspired by Jongbloed and Andres’ concepts of happiness as balance and gears of well-being. The study contributes to the research fields of human-centered development, and happiness studies on how subjective indicators as a complement to objective indicators can be used to better measure growth from a cultural perspective.

I denna uppsats undersöks det potentiella sambandet mellan minskade försvarsutgifter och ett ökat försvarsmaterielsamarbete i Europa och Norden. Perioden som studeras är åren 1991-2012. Variablerna konstrueras från data hämtade från SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) och utgörs av (i) genomsnittliga försvarsutgifter som andel av BNP, samt (ii) andelen försvarsmaterielaffärer som inkluderar samarbete vid produktion för de två grupperna av länder. I ett första steg görs en statistisk analys vars resultat visar på ett statistiskt signifikant samband mellan variablerna när det gäller de europeiska länderna, samt ett statistiskt insignifikant samband mellan variablerna för de nordiska länderna. I ett andra steg genomförs kvalitativa intervjuer i syfte att undersöka orsakerna till denna skillnad mellan de två samarbetena. De sammanvägda resultaten från studien ger inget entydigt svar på hur skillnaden mellan Europa och Norden med avseende på detta samband kan förklaras. Även om minskade försvarsutgifter överlag beskrivs som en drivkraft till internationellt försvarsmaterielsamarbete finns det sammantaget anledning att ifrågasätta att länder per automatik åstadkommer kostnadsbesparingar genom att ingå i ett försvarsmaterielsamarbete. Resultaten tyder på att försvarsmaterielsamarbete försvåras avsevärt om samarbetet varken kan erbjuda länderna kostnadseffektiva lösningar eller bidra till upprätthållandet av nationernas enskilda säkerhetspolitiska intressen. Inom ramen för det nordiska försvarsmaterielsamarbetet tyder mycket på att denna problematik är närvarande. Detta kan också vara en potentiell förklaring till frånvaron av samband mellan minskade försvarsutgifter och ett ökat försvarsmaterielsamarbete för de nordiska länderna.