Power as a concept has a long history of being debated in regards to foreign policy, whereforeign aid as a tool can create asymmetrical power dynamics between donor and recipient.Traditional donors' own national interests have frequently been reduced to security oreconomic motives. China, an independent and emerging donor, is thought to be among themajor donors of foreign aid today. With the growing Belt and Road Initiative, China's globaleconomic ambition is increasing. The general theme of this study is power in relation toforeign aid. The aim is to examine donor motives and how foreign aid can transitioneconomic power to political influence in accordance with Joseph Nye’s theory of power. Inaddition, could China's aid-project be regarded as a “smart power”-strategy? This was doneby examining China’s whitebook on development cooperation through a motive analysis. Inaddition, a method of process-tracing on the case of Chinese aid to Cambodia wasimplemented to examine how China’s foreign aid can manifest as a means of power.Cambodia is a top receiver of Chinese aid, and therefore interesting to explore. The resultsshowed that China’s donor motives can be summarised as security, global development andambition, cooperation, commercial and diplomatic interests. Furthermore, evidence was foundthat Chinese foreign aid can be considered a means of power in Cambodia. Largely becauseof an asymmetrical bilateral relationship as well as Cambodia’s weak state capacity.

Les terres agricoles ont été durablement contaminées à la fois par les pesticides mis à la disposition des agriculteurs pour lutter contre les charançons et autres insectes nuisibles, et par les engrais azotées pour augmenter la productivité chez les plantes.Des recherches récentes concernent des cultures alternatives écologiques utilisant les plantes de service qui fournissent les nutriments aux plantes principales. Ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans cette perspective, d'un point de vue modélisation.L'accent est mis sur la résolution de problèmes de contrôle du phénomène d'absorption de nutriments, par les racines dans la rhizosphère (partie proche des racines), en considérant les deux cas de sols : sol sain et sol pollué.Ces phénomènes d'absorption sont modélisés par des systèmes d'advection-diffusion de type Nye-Tinker-Barber (NTB). La concentration de nutriments absorbée, solution du problème, est une fonction du temps et de l'espace.On étudie l'existence de solution du système NTB dans les deux cas où la fonction d'absorption de nutriments à la frontière (surface de la racine) appelée fonction de Michealis-Menten, est linéaire et/ou non linéaire, à l’aide des outils d’analyse fonctionnelle. On étudie ensuite les problèmes de contrôle optimal associés au système NTB, en considérant les deux cas linéaire et non linéaire, en application pour les deux cas d’absorption de nutriments en sol non pollué puis en sol pollué. Pour le premier cas, on utilise les techniques classiques de recherche d'un contrôle pour les systèmes distribués, tandis que, pour le second cas, on fait appel aux notions de contrôle sans regret et contrôle à moindres regrets de J.-L. Lions. Les contrôles obtenus pour les différents problèmes sont caractérisés chacun par un système d'optimalité (SO) cas sans pollution, et système d’optimalité singulier (SOS) dans le cas avec pollution.= / Agriculture soils were highly contaminated for a long time by pesticides which were widely used by producers to fight against weevils. Soils where also contaminated by the use of fertilizers to increase the plant development. An ecological alternative using service plants is encouraged following recent research. The aim of this work is to give a mathematical and a modelling point of view as we study the mecha- nisms of nutrient transfer to plants using the mathematical analysis and optimal control theories. The two cases of polluted and non-polluted soils are considered. The nutrient transfer and uptake processes are modeled by an advection-diffusion system derived from the Nye-Tinker-Barber (NTB) model. The absorbed nutrient concentration represented by the Michaelis-Mention function at the root surface of the principal plant, depends on time and space. We study the existence of a solution for the linear and nonlinear NTB systems, then we characterize the opti- mal control which corresponds to the added nutrients from the service plant. For the pollution case, we use the concept of low-regret and no-regret control of J.-L. Lions.

The European security order has for an extended period of time time rested on the assumption that interstate trade, and other economic ties, will lower the incentives for conflict initiation and thereby result in peace. This assumption was called into question on February 24, 2022, by the Russian re-invasion of Ukraine. Germany, as one of Europe’s primary proponents of interdependence, especially in its trade relationship to Russia defined by the pipeline natural gas, spirals into an energy crisis. How did it come to this? This thesis is an exploration of the concept of interdependence and its theoretical framework. Using congruence method, this thesis maps the internal processes of the concept, through two pieces of seminal research on interdependence theory – Robert O. Keohane & Joseph S. Nye’s Power and Interdependence and Dale C. Copeland’s Economic Interdependence and War – and their respective ability to comprehend the case of Russo-German gas relations. The results show that the two theoretical interpretations can, although not with equal strength, to a certain degree predict the outcome of the Russo-German case. In spite of this, the theories struggle to capture the existence of regional conflict, and the slight contradiction that the Russo-German relationship continued to deepen after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The Senate Munitions Committee of 1934-1936, chaired by Gerald Nye of North Dakota, provided the first critical examination of America's modern military establishment. The committee approached its task guided by the optimism of the progressive Social Gospel and the idealism of earlier times, but in the middle of the munitions inquiry the nation turned to new values represented in Reinhold Niebuhr's realism and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Second New Deal. By 1936, the committee found its views out of place in a nation pursuing a new course and in a world threatening to break out in war. Realist historians writing in the cold war period (1945-1990) closely linked the munitions inquiry to isolationism and created a one-dimensional history in which the committee chased evil "merchants of death." The only book-length study of the munitions investigation, John Wiltz's In Search of Peace, published in 1963, provided a realist interpretation. The munitions inquiry went beyond the merchants of death in its analysis of the post-World War I American military establishment. A better understanding emerges when the investigation is considered not only within an isolationist framework, but also as part of the intellectual, cultural, and political history of the interwar years. In particular, Franklin Roosevelt's political use of the investigation becomes apparent. Sources used include the committee's hearings, exhibits, and reports, the Gerald Nye Papers, the Franklin Roosevelt Papers, the Cordell Hull Papers, the R. Walton Moore Papers, the Henry Stimson Papers, the Homer Cummings Diaries, and the State Department's decimal files.

Föreliggande uppsats utgår från tidigare forskning som hävdar att jämställdhetsdiskursen i Sverige bygger på ett vitt, heterosexuellt, medelklassideal som underordnar andra maskuliniteter. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka huruvida jämställdhetsdiskursens ovan nämnda exkluderingar samt maskulinitetsdiskurser som till exempel ”den nye mannen” kan spåras i mäns artikuleringar av diskurser kring maskulinitet och jämställdhet och hur olika subjektspositioner samt hierarkier begripliggörs och (re)produceras i denna process. Det teoretiska ramverket utgörs av poststrukturalistisk teori kring diskurser, subjektspositioner och ”görandet” av genus och andra sociala kategorier. Dessa kategorier ses ur ett intersektionellt perspektiv som sammanvävda. Uppsatsen försöker vidare förena denna poststrukturalistiska ansats med Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet. Det empiriska materialet består av enskilda intervjuer samt fokusgruppintervjuer utförda i tre olika empiriska kontexter där individer i olika sexuella, etniska och klassmässiga subjektspositioner med olika grader av privilegiering i relation till jämställdhetsdiskursen befinner sig. Resultatet visar att den maskulinitetsdiskurs som artikulerades i samtliga kontexter låg nära diskursen kring ”den nye mannen”; ett mer jämställt, eller i alla fall barnorienterat, maskulinitetsideal. Jämställdhet artikulerades även någorlunda lika över kontexterna som en konsensusbaserad särartsdiskurs.  Det som däremot skilde kontexterna och intervjupersonerna åt var deras etniska, klassmässiga och sexuella subjektspositioner som relaterade till de hegemoniska diskurserna kring jämställdhet och maskulinitet på o(jäm)lika sätt. Personerna i de muslimska och homosexuella subjektspositionerna gjorde på olika sätt motstånd mot den underordning som de placerades i genom dessa subjektspositioners underordade relation till ”den nye mannen”. De förhöll sig därmed något mer distanserat till denna diskurs samt jämställdhetsdiskursen. I kontexten där intervjupersonernas subjektspositioner i större utsträckning sammanföll med ”den nye mannen” artikulerades denna diskurs tydligare. Exempelvis artikulerade man barnorientering, snarare än ett intresse för jämställdhet i sig. I samtliga kontexter uppmärksammade eller problematiserade man sällan sina egna privilegier, men det skedde på olika sätt ett skillnadsskapande gentemot ”andra män” och kvinnor. / This master thesis takes its departure in previous research which argues that the Swedish discourse of gender equality and its gender equal masculine subject “the new man” is built upon a white, heterosexual, middle class norm that excludes and subordinates other masculinities. The thesis aims at investigating whether the above mentioned exclusions in the Swedish discourse of gender equality and masculinity discourses such as “the new man” are traceable in men´s articulations of discourses regarding gender equality and masculinity, and how different subject positions and hierarchies are negotiated and reproduced in this process. The theoretical framework is a post-structural theory inspired by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffes theory of discourses, subject positions and the “doing” of gender and other social categories such as class and ethnicity, categories that from an intersectional perspective are viewed as analytically inseparable. The thesis also seeks to combine the post-structural perspective with R.W. Connells theory of hegemonic masculinity. The empirical material consists of single and focus groups interviews generated in three different contexts in which individuals located in different sexual and ethnic subject positions with different degrees of privilege in relation to the discourse of gender equality. The results show that the masculinity discourse that was articulated in all three contexts was the discourse of “the new man”; a more gender equal, or at least children-oriented, masculine ideal. The articulations of gender equality were also similar in the different contexts; a consensus based discourse of gender equality in which men and women were viewed as different but complementary. What distinguished the contexts was the interview person’s sexual and ethnic subject positions which related to the hegemonic discourses of gender equality and masculinity in different, unequal ways. The interview person´s in the Muslim and homosexual subject positions resisted the subordination these positions meant in relation to the discourse of “the new (gender equal) man”. This also meant that these persons had a more distanced relationship to this discourse and the discourse of gender equality. In the context where the interview person’s subject positions to a greater extent coincided with “the new man”, this discourse was also articulated in a less problematic way. An orientation towards taking care of children was for example more common than an interest in gender equality for its own sake. In all three context one´s own privileges were seldom acknowledged, and there were different processes of creating difference and hierarchies towards both women and “other men”.

This thesis examines how Shinzo Abe’s historical perspectives on “comfort women” and the Nanjing Massacre are influenced by global demands. Abe’s official account on these issues have been affected by pressures to reconcile with South Korea and to face China’s rise for strategic reasons. This originates from sources including think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies and media. Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power will provide the theoretical background to analyze Abe’s views on both issues. The existence and method through which these pressures are applied will be detailed and explored. This research will hope to contribute to the understanding of historical memory in the Asia-Pacific and how it remains an issue that undergoes changes in the current political climate. / Graduate

The polar ice in the Arctic is melting resulting in new opportunities for the Arctic states to extracting vital resources and to find new shorter transport routes. Two of the largest actors who both presently have published polices towards the Arctic region is the EU and the US. This work firstly aims to offer a descriptive view of the EU and the US’ polices towards the Arctic region. Secondly, investigate the documents quantitatively and qualitatively to show weather the EU and US policies are featured by ‘hard power’ or ‘soft power’ by the research of Joseph S. Nye Jr. to find out if Robert Kagan’s hypotheses that the EU mainly use ‘soft power’ and that the US mainly use ‘hard power’. The findings showed that Kagan in this case was right about the EU and the use of ‘soft power’ but that the US mainly uses ‘soft power’ politics in their Arctic policy.

The thesis shows soft power as one of the most effective strategies of global leadership. Through different methodological concepts author tries to classify instruments of soft power and surmount conceptual contradictions. The research of soft power’s political, cultural and economic instruments is based on the integrate analysis of South Korean foreign policy. Author tries to find the way to increase Republic of Korea geopolitical influence through the most powerful “soft” instruments. / В работе рассматривается комплекс методологических подходов к анализу концепта «мягкой силы» как одного из наиболее эффективных инструментов глобального влияния современных государств. Автор предлагает оригинальную классификацию ресурсов «мягкой силы» и новые пути преодоления концептуальных противоречий. На основе анализа внешней политики Республики Корея автор раскрывает специфику политических, экономических и культурных стратегий «мягкого» влияния указанной страны. Автор выявляет сильные и слабые стороны внешней политики Республики Корея, предлагает методы увеличения влияния южнокорейской «мягкой силы» на мировой арене.