This thesis examines Canada’s imposition of a visa requirement on visitors from the Czech Republic. By analyzing articles in three major Canadian newspapers, I conduct an Althusserian (theory that “culture ventures” are part of the Ideological State Apparatus), analysis. The thesis demonstrates that a dominant ideological viewpoint – a pro-capitalist ideology supported by a racist ideology – was evident in the coverage in all three newspapers. Additionally, this thesis addresses the presence of more ‘even-handed’ discussions of the conditions of the Roma, including experiences of racism and discrimination in the Czech Republic. I conclude that the newspapers present ideological views, with occasional exceptions.

Anthropogenically forced climate change has emerged as one of the most important, and polarizing, issues of our time. Afforestation generated carbon offset projects hold a position in Canada as potentially influential, yet frustratingly under-utilized, options to mitigate climate change. This dissertation responds to the question, “what are the economic implications of afforestation generated carbon offset institutions in Canada – and how appropriate are the tools of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) in their identification?” I establish the context for discussion by arguing that the NIE, as practiced, seems incapable of providing rigorous analysis while simultaneously responding to questions of power and distribution. The case of afforestation generated carbon offset marketing is presented as an appropriate context for exploring this point. A literature review is then used to establish general patterns regarding aggregating institutions for offset production and marketing, and aggregating institutions are presented as a response to the effects of transaction costs on the Canadian offset market. I then develop supply and demand curves to describe the equilibrium state of the Canadian offset market, into which the transaction costs borne by three aggregators are integrated. Their performance in fulfilling various policy objectives is evaluated. The results indicate that the primary variation between scenarios is the distribution of benefits. This focus on the distribution of benefits continues through demonstrating how subtle variations in modeling coefficients affect the regional distribution of afforestation projects within Canada, identifying the power associated with policy maker ideology. The role of policy maker ideology is then explicitly examined through a survey of government analysts and technicians and the application of discriminant analysis. The primary axes of afforestation ideology are identified, and demonstrated to be independent of concerns of transaction costs and aggregation. These results are integrated to argue that distributional concerns, particularly when ideologies are active in informing policy maker preferences, are critical to achieving sustainable policy outcomes, and that the NIE can respond to such concerns, but only if reform takes place to legitimate these techniques as part of the standard economic discourse.

With Asia’s (inclusive of Southeast Asia) re-emergence on the world stage, its civilization origins have become a subject of intense study. Three main value systems define Asian civilization—Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Asians will derive inspiration from the past for the future, a similar phase the West underwent as it emerged from the medieval ages; hence the word 'renaissance' has been applied to Asia's re-emergence. Rediscovery of these heritages is a crucial part of the Asian renaissance. My thesis will expound the economic resurgence of the Asian nations, the emergence of Asian regional institutions and the emergence of an Asian ideology—Samagri.

With Asia’s (inclusive of Southeast Asia) re-emergence on the world stage, its civilization origins have become a subject of intense study. Three main value systems define Asian civilization—Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Asians will derive inspiration from the past for the future, a similar phase the West underwent as it emerged from the medieval ages; hence the word 'renaissance' has been applied to Asia's re-emergence. Rediscovery of these heritages is a crucial part of the Asian renaissance. My thesis will expound the economic resurgence of the Asian nations, the emergence of Asian regional institutions and the emergence of an Asian ideology—Samagri.

Although research has previously connected comic books and national ideology, there has yet to be a study examining the role of villains in this relationship. By analyzing representations of evil and villainy in the long-running series Captain America and understanding them in light of the model of the circuit of culture, the transforming imaginary space of the American nation can be traced.

This analysis of children’s literature attempts to understand the relationship between social reproduction and ideology. This thesis argues that children’s literature written by Lynne Cheney is a cultural artifact that constitutes an ideological history. In addition, it argues that her books can be used by ideological institutions to strengthen socially accepted practices through the theory of social reproduction. Since there is a lack of theory regarding cultural artifacts in literary studies, an adoption from the field of pedagogy called the theory of hidden curriculum is used to explain social reproduction. The process of social reproduction reinforces socioeconomic structures put in place in order to reinforce social norms.

This study of the contribution of working-class fiction to the debate on class conflict in Britain is based on four novels written by two ex-miners between 1929 and 1939: The Gate of a Strange Field (1929) and Last Cage Down (1935), by Harold Heslop, and Cwmardy (1937) and We Live (1939), by Lewis Jones. These novels represent, in work­ing-class fiction, a unique combination of an archetypal working-class occupation, min­ing, with central features of the 1930s cultural discourse, the role of political ideology in literature. This study takes as its starting point the perception of these novels as having a spe­cifically communicative function in the social and cultural context of the 1930s. It recognises their role in articulating the radical voice of the miner in the conflict of inter­ests between capital and labour as exemplified by the coal industry. I also argue that the novels are influenced by the polarised discourse of British social and cultural life in this period. Cultural context is not seen simply as a reflection of 1930s attitudes and ideas, but also in relation to a tradition of working-class and miners' fiction that appropriates accepted literary forms for specific needs, in this case, the articulation of miners' griev­ances in the 1930s, seen in terms of class conflict. This conjuncture of historical and contemporary cultural discourses acts as the organising principle of the first part of this study. The four novels are analysed in terms of a sub-genre classification of the realist novel: the roman à thèse. This approach facilitates an analysis focusing on the deter­mining influence of ideology as a totalising concept affecting the structure, content and message of these novels. I argue that the prime purpose of these novels is to constrain interpretation to a desired outcome, as represented by the doctrine inherent in the text. Two types of roman à thèse are distinguished: the apprenticeship, which builds on the precepts of the Bildungsroman, and the confrontational, which is non-transformational, depicting scenes of class conflict. The apprenticeship model consists of two types of exemplary narrative: positive and negative. This study demonstrates that, by applying the analytical model of a positive apprenticeship to Cwmardy, the narrative structures of the novel limit the potential for interpretation to the doctrinal assumptions underlying the text. The reader is expected to identify with the class-conscious insights gained by the hero. The Gate of a Strange Field, in contrast, acts as a cautionary tale, illustrating the consequences of embracing a false doctrine. Both We Live and Last Cage Down are considered as novels of confrontation in which the primary conflict between capital and labour is modified by a secondary conflict within labour on the question of ways and means of achieving a socialist society. The conclusion reached is that these novels can only be understood in relation to the polarised social and cultural attitudes of the 1930s, and in relation to their place in a history of miners' literature that appropriates literary forms to engage in a debate on the class nature of British society. / digitalisering@umu

Anthropogenically forced climate change has emerged as one of the most important, and polarizing, issues of our time. Afforestation generated carbon offset projects hold a position in Canada as potentially influential, yet frustratingly under-utilized, options to mitigate climate change. This dissertation responds to the question, “what are the economic implications of afforestation generated carbon offset institutions in Canada – and how appropriate are the tools of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) in their identification?” I establish the context for discussion by arguing that the NIE, as practiced, seems incapable of providing rigorous analysis while simultaneously responding to questions of power and distribution. The case of afforestation generated carbon offset marketing is presented as an appropriate context for exploring this point. A literature review is then used to establish general patterns regarding aggregating institutions for offset production and marketing, and aggregating institutions are presented as a response to the effects of transaction costs on the Canadian offset market. I then develop supply and demand curves to describe the equilibrium state of the Canadian offset market, into which the transaction costs borne by three aggregators are integrated. Their performance in fulfilling various policy objectives is evaluated. The results indicate that the primary variation between scenarios is the distribution of benefits. This focus on the distribution of benefits continues through demonstrating how subtle variations in modeling coefficients affect the regional distribution of afforestation projects within Canada, identifying the power associated with policy maker ideology. The role of policy maker ideology is then explicitly examined through a survey of government analysts and technicians and the application of discriminant analysis. The primary axes of afforestation ideology are identified, and demonstrated to be independent of concerns of transaction costs and aggregation. These results are integrated to argue that distributional concerns, particularly when ideologies are active in informing policy maker preferences, are critical to achieving sustainable policy outcomes, and that the NIE can respond to such concerns, but only if reform takes place to legitimate these techniques as part of the standard economic discourse.

This study looks at how professional male athletes—particularly undersized athletes—are represented throughout televised sport. Based on the assumption that televised sport is a gendered and predominantly masculine genre, the focus of this analysis is to demonstrate whether or not professional male athletes are evaluated differently based on physical stature, and whether or not such representations reinforce a dominant—mythic—male ideology. Grounded mainly in Gramscian hegemony and Peircean semiotics, the subsequent analysis compares broadcast commentary and visuals taken from the 2010 men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament and the 2010 men’s FIFA World Cup. In both events, it was generally found that taller athletes were praised more positively than smaller athletes. These findings appear to support common sports-related stereotypes, such as, the apparent media-reinforced expectation that professional male athletes be almost inhuman, mythical representations of ordinary men, i.e., the best athletes should be large, intimidating, aggressive, and hyper-masculine symbols.

The purpose of the study is to expose how the US newspaper New York Times and the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter mediate the war in Afghanistan. Furthermore a comparison is done to map out possible differences and similarities. To fulfill the purpose of the study a critical discourse analysis has been used. The results have shown both differences and similarities between the newspapers. The main conclusions are tendencies of correspondence with previous research and theoretical base, such as the furtherance of elite sources, the promotion of the national political agenda and the national identity and an obvious construction of us and them.