Some states, like Israel and USA, has carried out preventive attacks on other states’ nuclear programs. The attacked stated have been autocracies rising in power with a violent history and with a different political orientation than those attacking. However, there are states that have fulfilled the same criteria, but that has not been attacked. What motivates a state, due to relative power, to attack another states’ nuclear program? Israel has attacked nuclear plants both in Iraq and Syria, two autocratic states that has been aggressive towards Israel. Iran, which is another state that is acting aggressive towards Israel and has a developing nuclear program, has not been preventively attacked. The purpose of this study is to find out what generally motivates states to attack nuclear programs, and particularly why Israel in particular has not bombed Iran’s nuclear program. A comparative case study with text and data analysis has been used. The comparison is between Iraq in 1981 and Iran 2009-2013 and the analysis consists of questions about Iraq and Iran in relation to Israel about regime type, military capacity, threats and violent conflicts. The result of the analysis shows that Israel has not attacked Iran because there is no history of violent conflicts between the two countries. Israel, on the other hand, has been at war with Iraq several times. Increasing power in a state that possesses nuclear weapons appears more threatening if there is a history of violent conflicts. This is probably the case with Israel and Iran since the definition of power in this study handles only military capability. More investigation on the subject is needed due to this narrow definition of power.

After the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan that followed, the debate about counterinsurgency (COIN) has once again been stirred up. Some researchers claim that the old proven theories and methods of successful COIN are still relevant. Other researchers, however, consider that today's opponents have developed and differ compared to the earlier, claiming that yesterday's theories are out dated and inadequate in a modern context. Today's view of successful counterinsurgency is heavily influenced by David Galula, whose theories were developed in the 1950s and 1960s. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether past theories are useful in contemporary insurgency. To investigate the question, the study examines whether the United States followed Galula's strategies in practice during the counterinsurgency in the Al-Anbar province (2003–2008). The study's findings indicate that there are similarities between U.S. action in Al-Anbar and Galula's models for successful COIN. Galula implies that the local population's support needs to be gained in order to achieve success in counterinsurgency. The focus on the population is clearly reflected in the U.S. approach and can be interpreted as the cause of success. In addition to similarities regarding the central parts of the theory, differences can also be found. In the two cases studied, the importance of cooperation with local armed forces and the media's role in the conflict is clearly highlighted, which is not mentioned in Galula's theory. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that other aspects not declared in Galula's theory might have influenced the outcome of the conflict as well. To be able to determine the usefulness of Galula's theory in modern time with greater certainty, further research is proposed to investigate more recent cases, using the results of this study as a starting point.

Den svenska migrationen karakteriseras av en stor invandring, vilken nådde en rekordhög nivå under år 2015. Det är framförallt Afghanistan, Irak och Syrien som står för majoriteten av invandringen till Sverige från år 2010 och framåt. Syftet med denna studie är att analysera skillnader i sysselsättningsgraden hos utrikesfödda i Sverige, där framförallt flyktinginvandringen från Afghanistan, Irak och Syrien är av intresse. Genom jämförelser av data från SCB gällande utbildningsnivå och sysselsättning bland män och kvinnor i olika åldrar finner studien att utrikesfödda från dessa tre länder har en lägre sysselsättning än den totala gruppen av utrikesfödda personer. Sysselsättningsgraden och utbildningsnivån är högst i åldern 35–44 år. Den yngre generationen och framförallt kvinnor tenderar att vara väl utbildade men också ha en lägre sysselsättningsgrad än män. Flyktingar från dessa tre länder har sämre förutsättningar på arbetsmarknaden än utrikesfödda totalt sett och därför bör etableringspolitiken rikta särskilda åtgärder till flyktinginvandrande kvinnor som invandrar i unga år.

2003 invaderade USA tillsammans med ett antal av dess allierade Irak. Invasionen genomfördes utan mandat från FN:s säkerhetsråd. Uppsatsen handlar om hur USA och Bushadministrationen motiverade den invasionen och om hur FN:s och FN-stadgans regelverk reglerar internationell våldsanvändning.Syfte med uppsatsen är att se hur Bushadministrationens motiveringar förhåller sig till FN-stadgan och till den tillhörande resolutioner.Detta har gjorts genom en kvalitativ textanalys där tal och officiella dokument analyserats. Som teoretisk grund har realismen använts. Realismen har även använts som en förklaringsmodell för varför USA handlade som de gjorde.Resultatet i uppsatsen visar att USA:s invasion av Irak 2003 ej var förenlig med FN-stadgan och till den tillhörande resolutioner. Men tydliga kopplingar mellan USA:s aggerande och Realismen kan identifieras.

What is democracy? Is it something that suits all countries. The western world encourages the outside world to democratize according to their guidelines. The purpose of the essay is to present two reasons, one about Iraq's failure to democratize, and the other about Tunisia's democratic success. The method in this essay include qualitative methods, where a democratized comparative study as well as the most similar systems design approach will be used. These studies will attempt to determine the composition of democratization outcomes, using three of the dimensions internal and external democratization factors as suggested by Larry Diamond in his book, as well as like the regime transition of Daniel Silander. The results of this study indicate that Iraq had more political dissent as well as ethnic and extremist groups during the invasion and less international support for its democratization beside the United States. On the other hand, Tunisia has a more unified civil society and thanks to the democratic support of the European Union, a peaceful transition to a democratic system is possible. In this essay, a deeper analysis of democratization will be highlighted, including how these essential factors have caused different outcomes in each country.

Should classical theories about counterinsurgency remain in the past or be considered in relation to future insurgencies? Scholars have discussed the relevance of classical counterinsurgency theories earlier in this century and disagreed about how relevant the classics are. The aim with this bachelor thesis was to study if Robert Thompson's Basic Operational Concept could explain the progress U.S. troops made in the insurgency that took place in Iraq under Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the early years of Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. troops had problems controlling the insurgency but other scholars asserted that progress was made after 2006 when classical theories about counterinsurgency were applied to the emergency. This thesis has a case study design and the author used qualitative text analysis of secondary sources, including interviews and research material from RAND Corporation. The theory used was based on Thompson's Basic Operational Concept. The majority of the concept was found to have been rigorously applied after 2006 and therefore, based on the result from this thesis, should be considered as a possible rationale for the progress U.S. troops made in the emergency.

As this essay goes we have come to believe that an explanation for the Iraq war cannot be found in either the rhetoric or the claim that it was a legally internationally sanctioned war under international law. This is a theory-testing study where we use a theoretical perspective in political science from the international relations studies; Realism is examined, we want to see if it can better explain why the United States invaded Iraq. The main problem in the essay is to identify the reasons why the Iraqi invasion became a fact. In the C-thesis, we go through the perspectives content in a detailed way and briefly describe its views. We have collected material both about the Iraqi invasion and about the theory we want to test. Based on our pre-understanding of the theories, we interpret the developments in Iraq and try to explain them. We have come to the conclusion that realism is very much relevant to our subject and argues for it well. In realism it is the state that is the main actor and concepts like anarchy, self-help, survival and balance of power can best explain USA:s actions. This essay focuses on the means it took (the bush-doctrine) to legitimize such an act, but the mainspring of this essay is how we can understand the reasoning USA must have had behind the decision to invade Iraq. We believe that a realistic approach is the best way to explain what led the US to invade Iraq and through this perspective we can across chosen concepts from Realism, categorize different events that might have had played a vital role in this matter that are relevant with our theoretic perspective.

We examined the role of Tollip in the hypertrophic response of cardiomyocytes. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to transverse aortic constriction (TAC) for 2 weeks and age-matched sham surgical operated mice served as control. TAC significantly reduced the association of Tollip with IRAK-1 by 66.4 percent and increased NF-kappaB binding activity by 86.5 percent and the levels of phosphop38 by 114.6 percent in the myocardium compared with sham control, respectively. In vitro experiments showed that IL-1beta stimulation also significantly reduced the association of Tollip with IRAK-1 and increased NFkappaB binding activity in neonatal cardiomyocytes. Tollip overexpression by transfection of cardiac myocytes significantly attenuated the IL-1beta-induced hypertrophic response of cardiac myocytes as evidenced by reduced cell size (16.4 percent) and decreased ANP expression (33.3 percent). Overexpression of Tollip also reduced NFkappaB binding activity by 30.7 percent and phospho-p38 by 47.1 percent, respectively. The results suggest that Tollip could be a negative regulator during the development of cardiac hypertrophy. The negative regulation of cardiac hypertrophy by Tollip may involve downregulation of the MyD88-dependent NF-kappaB activation pathway.

Das 11. Dresdner Friedenssymposium diskutierte Geopolitik und Irak-Krieg der USA sowie die Demokratisierung des Sicherheitsrats der Vereinten Nationen.:○ Einführung von Steffi Belke. ○ Symposiumsbeitrag von Max Schmidt: Sicherheit durch Sicherheitsrat? Kann der Sicherheitsrat der Vereinten Nationen demokratisiert werden? ○ Aus der Diskussion: •  Peter Strutynski: Die USA sind nicht allmächtig. Kriegsvorbereitungen mit unerwarteten Hindernissen. • Kadhim Habib: Gegen den Krieg und das despotische Regime im Irak. • Horst-Dieter Strüning: Kritische Anmerkungen zum Diskurs US-amerikanischer und deutscher Intellektueller über das Thema gerechter Krieg. • Ernst Woit: Das Gewaltverbot der UNO-Charta und die aktuelle Praxis der UNO. • Horst Großmann: Der Irak und die Geopolitik der USA • Lorenz Knorr: Alternativen zur Neuen Weltkriegsordnung erforderlich. • Horst Schneider: Geschichtsbild und Friedenspflicht. • Dieter W. Scheuch: Not in my name, NO WAR ON IRAQ. • Elke Renner: Gegen einen Irak-Krieg. Ein Diskussionsbeitrag aus Österreich.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 has caused an explosion in, crime and corruption.The vacuum of an Iraqi authority was visible and prominent after the invasion because of thisa wave of looting and robbery spread throughout the country. Iraq is the country with theenormous oil wealth, but despite its significant oil value, there is not enough supply foryounger generations stuck in the conflict in Iraq. Several years after the US-led invasion,violence has increased, life expectancy has dropped, and children are living in total collapse.Iraq has become one of the worst countries for children in the Middle East. Several publicbuildings, hospitals and schools were left unprotected, which stimulated theft and burglary.The collapse of Iraq's health infrastructure has had detrimental effects on children's physicalhealth, domestic violence, and malnutrition of children in desperate poverty forcing manychildren to drop out of primary school. The number of children dying has increased terriblydue to the war and its aftermath. One in 25 children in Iraq dies before reaching their fifthbirthday. Based on qualitative discourse analysis, I came to the conclusion that it is clear thatseveral thousand children if not millions of children in Iraq are suffering because of Iraq's warhistory. 2003 occupation made it worse for the children such as being tortured, killed, raped,lost part of their bodies and forced to flee their homes and for their lives. Some children haveseen their relatives die in front of them, or at least have seen a dead person, it is also obviousthat these children will have psychological trauma for life.