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This thesis sets out to answer if, and in that case how, the current development discourse, centring on instrumentalist arguments for gender equality and the “marketization” of aid, is reflected in Plan International Sweden’s campaign on the International Day of the Girl Child. The study draws upon critical feminist theories which stress that the instrumentalist approach, which scholars mean has become more common due to the marketization of aid, essentializes women and men in line with traditional ideas of femininity and masculinity. Through the use of discourse analysis, the study shows that the discourse of Plan’s campaign appeals to traditional constructions of femininity and masculinity where women and girls are ascribed signs such as maternal, responsible, altruistic and efficient, and men self-centred, irresponsible and potentially oppressive. Relatedly, Plan shows clear traces of instrumentalist reasoning, arguing that gender equality, besides being a social right, is an instrument to increase development efficiency. Additionally, the study finds that Plan shows traces of a marketized logic, something that can be seen in the organization’s cooperation with private companies which signifies an acceptance of them as actors in development, and the involvement of several celebrities which help validate, brand and “sell” the organization.

This thesis examines how the Sami people, as an indigenous people in Sweden, relate to the dichotomous concept of the global North and the global South. The study builds on the framework of postcolonial theory, its connection to development studies, and its critique of the concept of the global North and the global South. Another central part of the study is the concept of identity within postcolonial theory. By exploring material from the Swedish Sami parliament and the Sami info center, the research and analysis concluded that the Sami people relate to a dual identity of being both Sami and Swedish, meaning that they identify both to the global North as well as being an indigenous people. The Sami people do also associate themselves with other indigenous groups in the South, mostly in relation to colonialism and its consequences. Thereby the North-South divide is challenged.

This paper is a qualitative text analysis with a purpose of evaluating strengths and weaknesses of the Paris Agreement in the light of the eight design principles of Elinor Ostrom's theory on how to govern the common resources. The eight design principles are; clearly defined boundaries, congruence between appropriation and provision rules and local conditions, collective-choice arrangements, monitoring, graduated sanctions, conflict-resolution mechanisms, minimal recognition of rights to organize, nested enterprises. These principles then lay the ground for the chosen methodological framework. Processes of categorization and coding the Agreement into categories based upon the eight principles then allows for an understanding of strengths and weaknesses shown in the Agreement, in relation to the theory. The result is then also discussed in relation to further considerations that might be important factors to take into account when understanding the Paris Agreement. The paper is based around the document on the Paris Agreement as well as the book by Ostrom named Governing the Commons “The Evolution of Institutions for CollectiveAction”. Further documents and articles are presented throughout the paper, especially in the analysis and discussion to provide for a wider picture on the subject and to avoid an all-biased paper.

This essay is a bachelor’s thesis in the field of International Relations. The purpose is to make visible and analyse how problem representations in policies can reproduce norms, and how this has changed over a limited period of time. The purpose includes the ambition to be able to illustrate deficiencies in the European Union’s policies on gender equality. The essay intends to analyse the representations and norms in terms of a gender system. The theoretical framework consists of theories on normalization and gender system. The method used is called "What’s the problem?" developed by Carol Lee Bacchi. To achieve gender equality the EU produces policies on gender mainstreaming, this study analyses three of these policy documents. The result of the analysis shows that there has been no major change in the representation of problems in the documents and that they are reproducing stereotypical norms. The result also shows that the representations of problems are possible to explain with the theory on gender system, which allows further studies to develop a well-grounded critique of the EU policies.

Aiming to contribute to the discourse on the sustainability of consociational democracy in plural societies, this case study provides an examination of Lebanon’s power sharing model. The study begins with an evaluation of the Taif Agreement. After acknowledging its effect on Lebanon’s consociational system the function and operation of Lijphart’s four consociational elements are analyzed. From these evaluations one can argue that power-sharing principles have helped Lebanon to maintain a relative calm after its civil war, but also that they have failed in generating national cohesion and a strong state. A re-emerging proposition in this study is hence that consociationalism has been both a solution and an impediment to the development of Lebanon.

Sverige är ett av de länder i Europa som anses vara mest öppet för invandrare, dock är skillnaden i sysselsättning mellan inrikes- och utrikes födda på arbetsmarknaden stor. Tidigare forskning visar att utrikes födda oftare tenderar att vara utan sysselsättning och därmed oftare hamna i utanförskap än inrikes födda. I studien undersöks invandrares egen syn på integration och vilka svårigheter de intervjuade invandrarna i studien upplevt på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Genom att fokusera på individers historia kommer följande undersökning försöka gå bortom det föregivet tagna och peka på sprickorna i den ofta förenklade bilden av invandrare och integrationen på arbetsmarknaden. En kvalitativ fallstudie har utförts, där resultatet är baserat på semistrukturerade intervjuer. I studien deltog tio respondenter, fem kvinnor och fem män med utländsk bakgrund. Resultatet analyserades med hjälp av tidigare forskning och teorier som behandlat just ämnet integration. Genom detta tillvägagångssätt framkom både samband och olikheter sett till resultatet från studien och tidigare forskning. Resultatet av studien visar att majoriteten av respondenterna anser att det finns brister och problem inom integrationen på arbetsmarknaden. Resultatet visar även att invandrares framgång på arbetsmarknaden kan kopplas till tiden de spenderat i Sverige men framför allt viljan att delta i det nya samhället.

Miljörättvisa kommer från USA och har sina rötter i den amerikanska medborgarrättsrörelsen. Idag återfinns miljörättvisan som retorik både hos forskare och politiker samt gräsrotsrörelser. Detta är dock inget som återfinns i någon större utsträckning i Sverige. Denna studie fokuserar på debatten kring en gruvetablering i Kallak, Sverige, och vilken retorik olika aktörer använt sig av. Innehållsanalysen av tidningsartiklar visar på att det både finns likheter och skillnader i denna debatt jämfört med den globala retoriken kring miljörättvisa. / Environmental justice has its origin in the US and comes from the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Today the environmental justice rhetoric can be found among researchers and politicians as well as grassroots movements. However, it does not exist in Sweden to a great extent. This study focuses on the debate around the establishment of a mine in Kallak, Sweden, and what kind of rhetoric different actors uses. The content analysis of newspaper articles show that there are both similarities and differences in this debate compared with the global rhetoric of environmental justice.

There exists a scholarly debate on the cultural impact of globalization and how and to what extent it is affecting indigenous people in particular. Three theoretical standpoints can be discerned from the debate; the homogenization-perspective which holds that globalization is making world cultures more similar, the hybridization-perspective which emphasizes that it is fragmenting cultural boundaries and the differentiation-perspective which implies that globalization is augmenting differences and making humanity as a whole more diverse. As regards the cultural impact of globalization on indigenous peoples, many question marks can be raised. The objective of this research is to contribute to the debate by bringing to light the perspective of the indigenous movement in Ecuador, CONAIE. An analysis is made on how they perceive globalization affecting the maintenance of indigenous identities and culture among today’s youth. That information is then used as a foundation to analyze CONAIE’s level of success regarding their main objective; to preserve Ecuador’s indigenous nationalities and peoples. The study, which has a qualitative ethnographic approach and is based on semi-structured interviews, was carried out during an eight weeks long field study in Quito and in San Pedro de Escaleras, Cuenca, Ecuador. The research has an abductive approach and the theoretical debate on globalization’s cultural impact on indigenous peoples sets the analytical frame of the study. The three theoretical standpoints; globalization as homogenization, globalization as differentiation and globalization as hybridization play central roles in the analysis of the empirical material. The findings show that there are many elements that obstruct the maintenance of indigenous culture and identity among youth in contemporary Ecuador. There is a connection between youth being exposed to cultural globalization and that they lose cultural characteristics for the indigenous identity. Hybridization of identities due to globalization is presented as a possible factor to play a role in this. Indigenous youth tend to drop characteristics for the indigenous identity as they adopt features from the mestizo culture, in case they see no benefit in maintaining the former. This indicates that what ultimately might be at stake is cultural homogenization. Light is also shed on that CONAIE lacks strategies and possibilities to reinforce the indigenous identity among the youth that is in a process of identity change. The findings thus point at that despite efforts for cultural revival by the indigenous movement in Ecuador, the maintenance of rigid frontiers between the ethnically diverse nationalities in the country is threatened. Seen to a larger picture, this implies that globalization’s impact on indigenous culture among youth is very difficult to counteract. It appears as if the move towards more cultural similarity in Ecuador cannot be hindered.