This thesis examines Swedish politicians' use of Instagram and how they choose to represent themselves. In recent years, there has been a discussion about politicians' use of social media and whether their behavior can be compared to celebrities or even influencers. Today we get access to more of their personal thoughts and private life from their social media where many politicians portray themselves as celebrities or influencers. Individual politicians attract more attention than their respective parties, have the opportunity to circumvent traditional media, and partially control how they are presented to the public through their own social media accounts. They can also interact directly with their followers and build strong connections with potential voters.   The purpose of the thesis is to identify how this phenomenon manifests itself in Swedish party leaders' use of Instagram. Through a qualitative textual and visual analysis of the party leaders' respective Instagram posts the study aims to answer how they choose to portray themselves and if they use any communicative strategies to create interaction with their followers. Through a quantitative approach the study aims to answer which type of posts create the most engagement and to what extent they portray themselves as private or professional.  Among other things, this study shows that both Annie Lööf and Ebba Busch portray themselves on different levels, both private, professionally and combining them both for political gain. Posts that are characterized by being personal have a higher engagement rate than professional and political posts. This study contributes to the political- and communication field and looks at different aspects of how Swedish party leaders portray themselves on Instagram.

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This thesis addresses the regional perspective in the second largest city of Ukraine, Kharkiv, and investigates various self-identification strategies with a particular emphasis on the local and regional element. A specific time period was chosen, starting with the Orange Revolution in 2004 and ending with the month before the Russian invasion in 2022, with a target group consisting of Kharkiv politicians at both the state and local levels. The study was conducted by thematic analysis of interviews, speeches and other statements mainly from Ukrainian media sources in Russian during this period. As the result revealed, identification with the region was noticeable and often manifested under certain political circumstances. There was also a noticeable national-civic consciousness, especially among young politicians in the analyzed cohort. But the themes identified in this study strongly indicate attachment to both the region and the state community as the most prominent self-identification strategy. The results lead to the conclusion that it is necessary to conduct further research not only on the regional units of Ukraine, but also their content, which will contribute to a better understanding of the region within the framework of the nation-building process throughout Ukraine.

Abstract:This thesis deals with Swedish politicians and their knowledge concerning migration policy. It investigates what knowledge the politicians have and from where they collect their knowledge on the mentioned topic. The study also investigates the politicians’ role as mediators of knowledge and the possible responsibilities connected to such a role.The main source for data has been interviews with six Swedish politicians, all members of parties, represented in the Swedish Parliament. To understand and be able to explain the results found, Sociology of Knowledge has been used as theoretical framework.The result of the thesis is that politicians in general, possess very little knowledge concerning migration policy. But, the current presence of the Swedish right wing party, Sverigedemokraterna, has changed the social code of the institutions that the politicians are members of and therefore many politicians have realized that they are in need of more knowledge, on the discussed topic. It was also found that the politicians have an important role as mediators of knowledge to the members of society. This role is connected to a responsibility of being correct and truthful in the statements made.

M.A.

Thomas Swann (1805-1883), son of a prominent lawyer in the District of Columbia and educated at the University of Virginia, began his career in 1833 as the Secretary to the Neapolitan Claims Commission in Washington. His marriage to Elizabeth Gilmor Sherlock a year later marked his entrance into Baltimore society and into the affairs of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. After participating in the B & O's struggles with the Virginia legislature in the late 1840's, Swann became president of the railroad and supervised its extension from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia, on the Ohio River. Three years after leaving the B & O, Swann entered politics in 1856 as the Know-Nothing Mayor of Baltimore. From 1856 to 1860 he made numerous improvements, establishing the city's first public police department, fire department, streetcar system, and larger park. With the corning of the Civil War, Swann left the Know-Nothing Party and began a decade of numerous shifting political alliances, in which he was a bellweather in anticipating the wave of the future. In 1864 Swann won election as Governor of Maryland on the Unionist ticket. In 1867 the Maryland legislature elected him to the United States Senate, but he declined the honor knowing the Republican majority in that body would refuse to seat him because of his shift to the Conservative Alliance formed by non-Radical Unionists and Democrats. After a second unsuccessful attempt for the Senate, Swann was elected in 1868 to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in which body he served for ten years. He retired from politics in 1879 to his country estate, Morven Park, in Loudoun County, Virginia, where he died on July 24, 1883. / M.A.

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Arts