This thesis concerns the development of Swedish ice hockey as a national phenomenon during the period 1920–1972. The dissertation explores how the sport of ice hockey in just over half a century was transformed from a rather insignificant North American cultural import to one of Sweden’s most treasured pursuits by and large, and harbouring a national team (known as “Tre Kronor”) that at the height of its popularity in 1970 gathered almost the whole nation (82 percent of the adult population) in front of TV-sets during national game broadcasts. The analytical approach of the study is grounded in the theoretical assumption that “to be Swedish” is something you “learn” on a daily basis, and that an investigation of how “the nation” is constructed as an imagined community must see to the interplay between national rhetoric on the one hand and national practice on the other. This means that the analysis moves on two different levels, where the first is comprised of the sporting practice in itself (teams, games, players etc.), while the other deals with the conception of ice hockey in relation to national identity. The empirical investigation shows that the introduction of ice hockey in Sweden was “launched from above” under the influence of unbridled nationalistic sentiment in Sweden at large at the turn of the 20th century. The study also shows that during the inter-war era the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation promoted the spread of ice hockey in Sweden by stressing the game’s benefits as a more practical sport than the similar and already established winter sport, bandy. It is also argued that in most cases it was not so much a genuine passion for the game itself, but instead prosaic factors (economical considerations, sporting success and maintenance of ice surface etc.) that made sporting clubs take up ice hockey. After World War II the public interest in ice hockey exploded in Sweden. In the cold war era, Tre Kronor came to function as a thermometer of how the so called Swedish model stood up in comparison to the superpowers of the world. The analysis also underlines the importance of the comprehensive organizational and moral rearmament of Swedish ice hockey at large conducted by the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation in the post-war era, since it helped its cultural incorporation in the Swedish welfare state and its connection to Swedish national identity

This thesis analyzes representations of female resistors of the Mojahedin-e Khalq or People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran within contemporary schools of academia and western/Iranian medias. Theoretically informed by critical discourse analysis and feminist thought this project identifies common stereotypes attributed to women involved in proscribed violence. Furthermore, this dissertation tests for the presence of normative and ‘gendered’ portrayals of female resistors in popular discourse, evaluates their sufficiency, and presents a more accurate portrait based on interviews and a close analysis of the organization’s history and policies. In other words, it critically examines how female resistors of the MEK/PMOI are captured by the common portrait and through the study of experiential authorship and interviews demonstrates the need to re-evaluate the narratives used to misrepresent an organization and its members who have radicalized notions of gender equality and its relationship to revolution and democratization. Cette thèse analyse les représentations des femmes dans la résistance des Moudjahiddines-e khalq ou l’Organisation des moudjahiddines du peuple iranien dans les écoles contemporaines du monde universitaire et des médias occidentaux / iranienne. Théoriquement informé par l'analyse critique du discours et par la pensée féministe, ce projet identifie les stéréotypes courants attribués aux femmes impliqués dans la violence proscrite. En outre, cette thèse cherche la présence de représentations normatives et «genrées» des femmes dans la résistance de la MEK/ OMPI dans le discours populaire, évalue leur suffisance, et présente un portrait plus précis basé sur des entrevues et une analyse approfondie de l'histoire et des politiques de l'organisation. En d'autres termes, il examine de manière critique comment les femmes dans la résistance de la MEK / OMPI sont capturés par le portrait commun et à travers l'étude des textes rédigés à la première personne par ceux qui ont vécu les expériences et des entrevues démontre la nécessité de réévaluer les récits utilisés pour représenter faussement une organisation et ses membres qui ont radicalisés les notions de l'égalité des sexes et sa relation à la révolution et à la démocratisation.

The Swedish People’s Party have for over one hundred years functioned as a political tool for the liberals and center-right of the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland. As a party the SPP stands out in comparison to most other European minority parties as not working for regional self-governance or independence, but instead wanting to uphold constitutional language and service rights. The SPP was a part of every coalition government in Finland from 1979 to 2015 and has held multiple ministerial posts despite only having approximately 5% of the votes. The aim of this essay has been to examine the variance in the value based political issues in the SPP to see if there is a divergence on a liberal/conservative divide within the party. With a theoretical framework based on the GAL-TAN political scale, a socially based dimension of measuring party positions, I have operationalized a liberal and conservative stance to Weberian ideal types, and by first e-mail interviewing party representatives to build a frame of issues to investigate, I have then performed an idea based content analysis by examining motions from 2009 to 2017. The results show that, even though there are a divergence between some of the proposals themselves, and in some cases, between the official party line as described in the party program, the differences are too insignificant to draw conclusions from. The conflict between the motions speaking for and against nuclear power stands out as being very even, while the motions concerning Finland joining NATO stands out as being fully for.

La politique étrangère de la République populaire de Chine est l’objet d’explications doxiques qui, en vertu d’un raisonnement rationaliste positiviste, lui attribuent des visées secrètes, déterminées par des « intérêts » de « sécurité ». L’accession en 2003 de la Chine au rang symbolique de troisième puissance spatiale, après les États-Unis et la Russie, a été présentée par les experts réalistes des Relations internationales comme un témoignage supplémentaire de l’ambiguïté du pouvoir politique chinois quant à son utilisation des technologies militaires dans l’espace extra-atmosphérique. L’objectif de la thèse est de proposer une approche constructiviste de la politique étrangère chinoise en matière de Prévention d’une course aux armements dans l’espace. Il s’agit de reconnaître les sources premières par lesquelles le pouvoir politique chinois fait connaître et évoluer sa position en la matière. Le discours diplomatique produit à Genève par la délégation chinoise auprès de la Conférence du désarmement (CD) entre 1998 et 2009 est le matériau analysé par l’étude. Sa matérialité discursive est instituée dans des documents multiples au travers desquels sont produits des récits en légitimation des normes prescrites par la délégation chinoise ainsi que des représentations problématisées du réel social. La production discursive de normes façonne un ethos idéalisé du pouvoir politique en RPC. Elle est aussi constitutive de stratégies rhétoriques de coercition et de contestation destinées à contraindre la production discursive des délégations des autres États à propos de négociations connexes. Ces stratégies sont à l’origine du « blocage » de la CD depuis 1998. / The People’s Republic of China foreign policy is subject to doxic explanations which, in accordance with a rationalist positivist problem-solving theory, see it as secretly determined by “security interests”. The symbolic world space power rank that China has gained until 2003, behind the United States and Russia, was set out by realist International relations experts as further evidence of Chinese political power ambiguity towards its possible application of military technologies in outer space. The purpose of this research is to put forward a constructivist approach of the Chinese foreign policy related to the Prevention of an arms race in outer space. Primary sources of its position must be identified in order to understand the way the Chinese political power develop it. The Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD) diplomatic discourse produced by Chinese diplomacy between 1998 and 2009 is the material of the study. The discourse materiality is constituted by working papers and statements through which numerous narratives are produced in order to legitimate norms and to problematize the representations of social reality. Discursive production of international norms shapes an idealized ethos of the political power in People’s Republic of China. Discursive production is also constitutive of coercion and contestation strategies, designed to force the discursive production of the other State members representatives about related negociated issues. Since 1998, these strategies have resulted in the CD deadlock.

The objective of this thesis is to analyse whether Sri Lanka could have avoided the civil war, if changes in the constitution, from 1948 to 1978, offered a political structure guaranteeing the minority rights. Furthermore, the thesis intends to study if the Swiss and Lebanese political models could offer any guidelines for the Sri Lankan conflict. The stated purpose of the thesis is studied by analysing official documents, literatures and articles. The finding of the study is that Sri Lanka might have prevented the civil war if the constitutional arrangements had guaranteed the minority rights. The Sri Lankan conflict is a unique case, which probably requires its own resolution model. The Swiss and Lebanese models may be applicable in the Sri Lankan case to some extent. However, a possible solution that could prevent the current political and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, by avoiding another fatal civil war, is to establish power-sharing political arrangements, under a federal state. Whether or not Sri Lanka can achieve a sustainable peace is a question of political willingness.

This thesis studies two different models; the Swedish model and the Rehn-Meidner model. It shows their similarities and differences, and explains why it is inaccurate to put an equal mark between the two of them. An extensive discussion on the models is presented in order to give them each a fair assessment. It is shown how and why the Swedish model has failed, as well as how Sweden has failed to apply the Rehn-Meidner model in a consistent manner.   The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the models’ possible application today and in the future. Also, some requirements for the models’ validity will be recognized. Some important questions concerning the models’ relevance, the influence of multitude on the models, and the issue of globalization and the EU are in this concluding chapter briefly discussed. It is argued that multitude has decreased the relevance of the models significantly, and that the Swedish welfare state which was created based on the ideas of the Swedish model, needs to be reassessed. Welfare municipalities are suggested rather than a welfare state. / Den här studien behandlar de två olika modellerna, den svenska modellen och Rehn-Meidner-modellen. Deras likheter och skillnader visas, och det förklaras varför det är inkorrekt att sätta ett likhetstecken mellan dem. En noggrann diskussion om modellerna genomförs för att kunna ge dem båda en rättvis bedömning. Det visas även hur och varför den svenska modellen misslyckats, samt hur Sverige har misslyckats att tillämpa Rehn-Meidner-modellen.   Uppsatsen avslutas med en kort diskussion om modellernas eventuella tillämpning idag och i framtiden. Några krav för modellernas giltighet är också uppmärksammade. Ett antal viktiga frågor rörande modellernas relevans, mångfaldens inflytande på modellerna, samt globaliseringen och EU:s inverkan är i detta kapitel diskuterat. Det påstås att mångfalden har minskat modellernas relevans, och att den svenska välfärdsstaten, vilken är baserad på den svenska modellen, måste omvärderas. Välfärdskommuner föreslås snarare än en välfärdsstat.

Title: Similarities or differences within the centre-right? A study of the potential for party fusions within in the Swedish centre-right Author: Charlie Weimers Aim: The thesis seeks to find the potential for party fusions within the Swedish centre-right by analyzing the ideological similarities and differences between the parties. Method/Material: In the thesis, four dimensions of the parties’ ideologies are analyzed: view of man, theory for societal structures, fiscal theory and moral values. The results of the study of the ideologies are then compared. The investigation is done with the party manifestos as starting point and with the analysis of ideas as theoretical tool. Main Results: The comparative analysis, based on the parties’ ideological views, shows specific party constellations are more probable than others. The biggest ideological similarities are to be found between the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, out of which I conclude that these two parties have the best potential for a fusion. The Moderate Party and the Christian Democratic Party also have clear similarities, thus there is a potential for fusion to a certain degree. The Moderate Party also shows some similarities with the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, hence the possibility for a merger can not be excluded. My conclusion is based upon social liberalism and neo-conservatism as ideal types, which gives the Christian Democratic Party a position to the right. Thus, it would possible to claim that this party has the least options regarding fusion partners. The Moderate Party has the most alternatives, since the party is in a kind of “middle ground” between social liberalism and neo-conservatism. Number of pages: 49 Course: Political Science C University: Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, Karlstad University Period: Fall, 2006 Tutor: Anders Broman Keywords: centre-right, Sweden, party fusion, ideology, Moderate Party, Liberal People’s Party, Christian Democratic Party, Centre Party

The purpose of this BA-study is to analyse articles about blood selling and blood donations in the Chinese daily newspaper People’s Daily between 1985 and 1998. With publications of popular scientific material, reports from rallies and portraits of blood donating “heroes” etc., the People’s Daily, i.e. the Chinese Com­mu­nist Party, actively addresses the underlying cultural reluctance to give blood by different means. People’s Daily and the CCP resolutely aims to transform negative Confucian and other traditional notions of losing blood into represen­tations of courage, honour, duty, etc. In a broader sense, the citizen’s donations become acts correlated to the social body and the nation’s future.

This thesis analyzes representations of female resistors of the Mojahedin-e Khalq or People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran within contemporary schools of academia and western/Iranian medias. Theoretically informed by critical discourse analysis and feminist thought this project identifies common stereotypes attributed to women involved in proscribed violence. Furthermore, this dissertation tests for the presence of normative and ‘gendered’ portrayals of female resistors in popular discourse, evaluates their sufficiency, and presents a more accurate portrait based on interviews and a close analysis of the organization’s history and policies. In other words, it critically examines how female resistors of the MEK/PMOI are captured by the common portrait and through the study of experiential authorship and interviews demonstrates the need to re-evaluate the narratives used to misrepresent an organization and its members who have radicalized notions of gender equality and its relationship to revolution and democratization. Cette thèse analyse les représentations des femmes dans la résistance des Moudjahiddines-e khalq ou l’Organisation des moudjahiddines du peuple iranien dans les écoles contemporaines du monde universitaire et des médias occidentaux / iranienne. Théoriquement informé par l'analyse critique du discours et par la pensée féministe, ce projet identifie les stéréotypes courants attribués aux femmes impliqués dans la violence proscrite. En outre, cette thèse cherche la présence de représentations normatives et «genrées» des femmes dans la résistance de la MEK/ OMPI dans le discours populaire, évalue leur suffisance, et présente un portrait plus précis basé sur des entrevues et une analyse approfondie de l'histoire et des politiques de l'organisation. En d'autres termes, il examine de manière critique comment les femmes dans la résistance de la MEK / OMPI sont capturés par le portrait commun et à travers l'étude des textes rédigés à la première personne par ceux qui ont vécu les expériences et des entrevues démontre la nécessité de réévaluer les récits utilisés pour représenter faussement une organisation et ses membres qui ont radicalisés les notions de l'égalité des sexes et sa relation à la révolution et à la démocratisation.

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