This paper examines the relationship between societal exposure to conflict and support for nationalist parties in the 2018 Turkish parliamentary election. In a qualitative small-n within-country study, two provinces, Gümüşhane and Kars, are examined by using a structured focus comparison. Based on previous research, I argue in my hypothesis that support for nationalist parties should be higher in societies that have been exposed to high levels of conflict violence. However, contrary to my hypothesis, the results of this paper show that support for nationalist parties is lower in societies that have been exposed to higher levels of violence than in societies that have been exposed to low levels of violence.

This case study explores a recent argument claiming improvements in refugees' healthcare encounters in Norway primarily occur due to the refugee's own effort of adjusting, rather than the healthcare system's efforts. While investigating the perceptions of three Middle eastern refugees in the municipality of Kvinnherad, the aim of the paper was to gain a deeper understanding of the gaps between refugee patients and the healthcare service. By discussing the refugees' perceptions of important factors for improvement in their healthcare encounters, and linking them to the theories of social and cultural capital, the research finds that despite legal right to services and healthcare systems principle of offering equal access for all, refugees can hold a disadvantage in accessing and recieving care. Additionally to being a contribution to the academic research field on refugees meeting with new healthcare systems, the case study brings a new layer of knowledge about refugees' familiarization process in the municipality of Kvinnherad.

According to the Global Trends Report 2021 provided by UNHCR (2022), there were 89.3 million forcibly displaced people in the world at the end of 2021, of which more than a quarter were refugees. This implies that there are more forcibly displaced people who cannot be called as refugees. The contemporary refugee and forced migration issue has developed from the social transformation in line with globalization and neoliberalism. This thesis aims to reveal how transnational migration and social transformation affect the refugee policies of the two countries where there is nothing geographically, historically, and culturally in common. To do so, the methodological approach of comparative case studies (CCS) is used to examine the refugee policies of Sweden and South Korea.  As empirical data, semi-structured interviews with government agents and NGOs from each country are analyzed and assessed with the use of theoretical framework of neoliberalism and its impact on social transformation. The results suggest that the refugee policies of the two countries converged on the minimum level of protection. Furthermore, not only refugees or asylum seekers but also many other people, including migrants and even native born cannot get appropriate protection from the current system. An additional finding is that countries should develop reasonable migration policy to meet both the demand of the national economy and humanitarian protection. This would be possible by preparing the entry rights for economic migrants in accordance with their labor market demands and guaranteeing appropriate entitlements for them.  This thesis demonstrates that comparing the refugee policy between Western and non-Western countries has significance for understanding the power relations that bind the seemingly dissimilar countries together. Therefore, the refugee policies in non-Western countries and their relationship with Western counterparts should be researched further.

The Keffiyeh, a traditional headdress, holds symbolic significance for Palestinians in their struggle for freedom against the occupation, yet its utilization in the fashion industry has drawn criticism for its exploitative nature and disregard for its cultural importance to Palestinians. Hence, this thesis examines Palestinians' perceptions of the use of the Keffiyeh in the fashion industry and the significance of this garment for their cultural identity. It is based on semi-structured interviews with five Palestinian women who were born in Palestine and in Europe. This paper draws upon cultural appropriation as a foundational element in the academic background, while utilizing cultural identity as a theoretical framework. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the Keffiyeh plays an important role in the cultural identity of the interviewed Palestinians’ and that its use in the fashion industry is viewed as an appropriation of their culture. By situating this paper within the current body of research on cultural identity and cultural appropriation, it aims to provide valuable insights into the importance of the Keffiyeh for Palestinian identity through an examination of the Palestinian perspective, thereby contributing to existing scholarly discourse.

This thesis aims to investigate social integration experiences of Nigerian students in the United Kingdom, focusing on the influence off participating in social activities and building connections with the local community. The research aims to understand how these factors contribute to the overall social integration of Nigerian students in the United Kingdom. Study shows that many of the participants form meaningful social connections with natives in their host communities. However, few expressed a preference for maintaining cultural boundaries and avoiding social connections. Findings show that, sense of belonging within the host community was found to be influenced by personal ideologies, experiences, cultural background, and attitudes. The outcome of this study provides deeper understanding of the challenges faced by migrants during the process of acculturation, it also reiterates the significance of establishing inclusive and supportive environments to facilitate migrants’ integration into the host community.

One of the pillars of a democratic society is social trust. It strengthens the perception of group values and creates a social environment that may influence attitudes toward immigrants. This paper delves into the dynamics of frequent social interaction (FSI), attitudes towards immigrants (ATI), and the mediating role of social trust (ST). The research aims to investigate the connections that underpin the relationships within this democratic system in Sweden. Does social trust and frequent social interaction influence attitudes toward immigrants? This paper uses the European Social Survey (ESS), particularly the 2018-2019 Round 9, focusing on Sweden. Hayes Process Macro Model 4 simple mediation is used to regress and explore the relationship between these variables. The quantitative analysis result indicates that there were statistically significant relationships between FSI and ATI with the presence of social trust as the mediator. The research paper provided findings that are beneficial in the study of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) and added information on how attitudes toward immigrants influence Swedish society. Lastly, a proposal for future research is then discussed and concluded.

Indigenous peoples have special relation to the land, and they might seek to gain landrights based on their historical acknowledgment within a nation state in the modern days. The acknowledgment for the rights of these lands is based on their ethnic identity, historical and colonial roots and by the concept of self-determination. The structures and power are held by the nation states and guided by the international frameworks, which determine who are the people who hold rights to these lands. The research uses comparative political analysis in the special case of indigenous peoples in Sweden and Finland to illustrate recent political debate concerning land rights and self-determination. This paper offers analysis about the recent political trajectories regarding the ratification of C169 in both countries by combining political analysis and approach from the social sciences. The findings suggest that the question of self-determination, land and domestic legislation play a role why these countries have not ratified the legally binding convention C169.

Taking the form of a case study on an interpellation on ‘youth crime and street gangs’ and its consideration in plenary debate in the Finnish Parliament in December 2022, the purpose of this study is to examine how politicians narrate the Finnish community of value and its boundaries. The methodological framework of this study consists of strategic narrative analysis, poststructural and critical research theoretical underpinnings, and the operationalization of the concept of ‘community of value’. The findings of the study show that the strategic narratives on the Finnish community of value are diverse but return to similar points of boundary-making problematizing the ‘Migrant’ as part of a ‘suspect population’. The character of the community of value is simultaneously defined through the ordinary actions of its ‘Good Citizens’ and Finland as ‘not-Sweden’. Ultimately, the role left to play for the ‘Migrant’ is one of a ‘Tolerated Citizen’. These findings add a contribution to the field of critical migration and integration studies, as well as to the field of Finnish and Nordic political discourses.

This study has analyzed five different judgments from the colonial anti-sodomy law Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code using the frameworks of Foucauldian genealogical discourse, and Judith Butler’s heterosexual matrix. The aim was to understand and expose how sexuality and lesbianism were constructed within these judgments and to make the norms within the discourses visible. The findings showed sexuality as dependent on a heterosexual and gender-binary norm. Gender hierarchy creates structures of the gender binary that positioned the man in the center of sexual interaction, desire, and sexuality. In contrast, the woman played a passive and often invisible, and nonsexual role. Further, the gender hierarchy produced a sexual hierarchy with natural heterosexuality as the most desirable. To maintain good heterosexuality, differentiation was crucial hence the undesirable and perverted male homosexuality acted as a hostile opposition. Due to the role of women as passive lesbianism appeared invisible. The discourse of the nonsexual woman made lesbian sexuality unimaginable. As a consequence, the lesbian was assumed asexual.

Refugee children and adolescents living in refugee camps are a vulnerable population, at high risk for developing mental health disorders, behavioural problems and experiencing violence or trauma. However, not all children exposed to these stressors of displacement show negative outcomes; several refugee children and adolescents show adaptive functioning and resilient outcomes. Given the rising number of refugee minors, it is increasingly important to examine and understand protective factors for resilience among minors living in refugee camps. This knowledge could be used to develop resilience-building programs. This systematic literature review sought to identify protective factors for resilience, and available programs in the refugee camps targeting the development of resilience. Six databases were used for the searching process; ten studies were identified meeting predefined selection criteria and quality standards. Based on bio-ecological theory and the model of “7 Crucial Cs of resilience”, numerous protective factors were identified on multiple levels, including personal resources, social support, education, and connection to culture and community. Findings of this review highlight the need for a multidimensional view of resilience; the use of the “7 Crucial Cs of resilience” showed that focusing only on individual sources of resilience is not sufficient as these individual resources emerge from higher levels and systems. Two intervention programs were identified showing a resilience-building approach. Based on these results, recommendations for interventions and programs in this context are discussed. Limitations and the need for future research on sources of resilience and resilience-building interventions are outlined. / Kinder und Jugendliche, die aus ihrer Heimat geflüchtet sind, und temporär in Flüchtlingscamps leben, sind besonders gefährdet, psychosoziale Dysfunktionen zu entwickeln sowie Gewalt oder andere traumatisierende Erlebnisse zu erfahren. Dennoch zeigt sich, dass nicht alle Kinder, die diesen Stressoren ausgesetzt sind, negative Auswirkungen auf ihre Entwicklung aufweisen; einige Kinder bleiben resilient und reagieren mit erfolgreichem Anpassungsverhalten. Die hohen Flüchtlingszahlen und die steigenden Zahlen minderjähriger Flüchtlinge verdeutlichen die Notwendigkeit, Faktoren zu evaluieren und identifizieren, die zur Resilienz von Kindern, die in Flüchtlingslagern leben, beitragen. Es ist essenziell für Interventionsprogramme und Professionalisten, diese Schutzfaktoren zu erkennen, um Interventionen in Flüchtlingscamps durchzuführen, die auf eine Stärkung und Verbesserung der Resilienz von Kindern und Jugendlichen abzielen. Die vorliegende systemische Literaturarbeit evaluierte Schutzfaktoren, die positiv zur Resilienz von minderjährigen Flüchtlingen beitragen, sowie verfügbare Interventionsprogramme in Flüchtlingscamp, die präventiv auf Prozesse der Resilienzentwicklung einwirken. Sechs Datenbanken wurden ausführlich nach verfügbarer Literatur durchsucht; zehn Studien wurden schlussendlich ausgewählt, welche vordefinierten Ein- und Ausschlusskriterien entsprachen. Basierend auf ökosystemischer Theorie und dem „Modell der 7 essentiellen C für Resilienz“ wurden mehrere Schutzfaktoren in verschiedenen Systemen identifiziert. Persönliche Ressourcen des Kindes, soziale Unterstützung, Bildung, sowie kulturelle Faktoren und enge Verbindungen mit ethnischen Gemeinschaften zeigten sich als Schlüsselfaktoren für erfolgreiche Anpassung in diesem Kontext. Die Ergebnisse dieser Literaturarbeit betonen die Notwendigkeit einer multidimensionalen Sichtweise des Konzeptes Resilienz. Zwei Interventionsprogramme wurden gefunden, deren Ziel die Stärkung von Schutzfaktoren und Resilienz ist. Folglich werden Empfehlungen für Interventionen in Flüchtlingscamps diskutiert. Limitationen dieser systematischen Literaturarbeit und Implikationen für zukünftige Forschung werden debattiert.