This thesis is a quest to identify the factors that influence social capital in one spatially isolated, multi-ethnic neighborhood, Kungsmarken. The commonly held view that many Modernist-style housing estates have evolved into dead-end areas that breed social ills and require endless outside assistance (Jane Jacobs), does not contain the whole truth. A fraction of this complex problem will be tackled in this thesis. The study case of Kungsmarken in Karlskrona, Sweden, is studied to better understand the links between an area’s physical structure, demographics, socio-cultural trends, economy, and social capital. By analyzing these various potential factors, interviewing the residents and other key persons, and examining public statistics, the author draws several conclusions. One main conclusion is that the social capital developments in Kungsmarken can be directly linked to the broad economic trends in the municipality. Other conclusions include that while the physical structure is a hindrance, trust and close relationships still exist between the residents, which indicates that social capital exists there. The ultimate objective of this study is to identify and explain the factors that either help or hinder the development of social in Kungsmarken.

Cette thèse porte sur l'engagement de la société civile dans les relations franco-allemandes entre 1989 et 2013, avec une ouverture portant jusqu'à l'année 2017. Son objectif est d'étudier le rôle, l'organisation et le caractère transnational de six initiatives franco-allemandes face à l'intégration européenne et à la mondialisation. Tout en démontrant l'importance de l'engagement citoyen, cette thèse s'interroge sur la place de la relation franco-allemande dans nos sociétés actuelles. L'interdisciplinarité du travail nécessite la mobilisation de plusieurs méthodes de recherche. L'exploitation des archives propres à chaque association se révèle particulièrement importante, pour pouvoir illustrer l'évolution des initiatives citoyennes sur la base de données empiriques. Dans un premier temps, l'analyse procède par catégories : (1) communication, (2) conception des programmes/orientation thématique, (3) réseautage et (4) professionnalisation/potentiel d'innovation. Ensuite, la thèse explore l'importance du capital social individuel (Bourdieu) des personnalités clés au sein d'une association ainsi que le capital social collectif (Putnam) généré par ces associations. Les relations que les associations entretiennent au sein du réseau franco-allemand et les liens qu'entretiennent les personnages clés avec d'autres acteurs situés en dehors de cet espace binational sont deux éléments importants pour la visibilité, le poids et l'utilité sociale des initiatives (Gadrey). Enfin, le travail pose la question de savoir si ces associations constituent des hétérotopies (Foucault) qui suscitent un habitus particulier tout en créant une conscience franco-allemande. Ainsi, cette thèse s'emploie à démontrer l'importance d'un réseau associatif transnational. / This thesis discusses the civil society engagement in the relationship between France and Germany between 1989 and 2013, with an outlook until 2017. Its objective is to study the role, the organisation and the transnational character of six Franco-German associations in the face of European integration and globalisation. By showing the importance of civil society engagement, this thesis questions the place of the Franco-German relationship in our contemporary society. The multidisciplinarity of this thesis demands the application of different methodological approaches. The analysis of empirical data through the examination of the associations' archives is particularly important in order to show the development of the initiatives. First, the material is analysed by the categories (1) communication, (2) program conception/main topics, (3) networking and (4) professionalization/innovation potential, which reveal different challenges such as the ageing of the members. Then, the thesis explores the importance of individual social capital (Bourdieu) for an association disposed by key personalities as well as the collective social capital (Putnam) generated by these associations. Not only the relations the associations are maintaining within the Franco-German network but also the connections key personalities have outside of the binational space are important for the visibility, wages and social utility of the initiatives (Gadrey). Finally, the thesis asks if these associations could be characterized as heterotopy (Foucault), which evokes a particular habitus by creating a Franco-German self-conception. The analysis therefore attempts to show the importance of a transnational association network.

This study addresses the question of what is affecting political trust in Europe. Political trust is vital for creating system legitimacy, which is needed for a democracy to be stable and effective. Over the years many theories about what is determining political trust have been developed, though no consensus of which theory that has the most effect has been reached. This paper will examine the effect that social capital and economic fairness evaluations have on political trust in Europe and if these effects can be seen to change depending on how long the countries has had democratic institutions. 27 countries were included in the study; these were divided into four regions depending on their time with democratic institutions. The theories used when looking at what could be effecting political trust are the social capital theory, defined by Robert Putnam in his studies of the system changes in Italy and the United States, and the economic fairness theory, used by Kluegel & Manson in their research on the post-communist states in Eastern Europe. The division of countries based on time with democratic institutions was done based on the two forms of political support defined by David Easton. The survey material used in the study is taken from the 2012 European Social Survey (ESS). The study concludes that both social capital as well as economic fairness evaluations have an effect on political trust, though how strong the effects are varies depending on the region of research and on which parts of the two theories that is tested. Though by far the strongest impact is in all four European regions seen when looking at how the citizens evaluate the economic system. The time since a country formed democratic institutions could not be found to have an effect on political trust.

The purpose of this inquiry is to examine weather Robert Putnam’s two-level game theory could be expanded to a third level. Furthermore, the study seeks to answer the question weather international negotiations can be played on three levels. For the purpose of the study, the two-level game theory will be applied to the ongoing negotiations between Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) and the European Union. The third level will be investigated by considering United States’ role and its frequent involvement in negotiations. The General Framework Dayton Peace Agreement (1995) that ended the four-year war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with additional political and economic involvement of the USA in BiH will be utilized to signify the existence of the third level. The argument of this paper has been developed using qualitative research methods, where interviews have been combined with an analysis of contents. The study’s findings have several implications for the existence of the third-level. First, results demonstrate that Bosnian political figures fail to recognize USA’s involvement in the negotiation process. Second, study indicates an indirect, but intense influence of the United States due to its strategic interests. Third, the study significantly contributes to the international negotiations by incorporating the events on all three levels that influence all negotiation outcomes. The use of qualitative methods in this study deepened theoretical understanding of the three-level game, provided useful application for practitioners and opened up an opportunity to provide even greater understanding of international negotiations as a whole.

This thesis presents a field study examining the effect of the Active, Beautiful and Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme in Singapore on social capital. Based on a multi-disciplinary approach and following the theoretical framework of bonding and bridging social capital developed by Robert Putnam and others, three different cases of the ABC Programme were compared, looking particularly at the level of blue-green landscape integration. The three cases comprised the ABC flagship project ‘Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park’ with high level of blue-green integration as well as the green and the grey section of the Ulu Pandan Park Connector with medium and low level of blue-green integration, respectively. Quantitative data was obtained by counting the share of park users engaged in social interaction and by surveying 330 park users on the perceptions of social interaction and integration. In addition to the quantitative data, a total of 60 face-to-face interviews were carried out in the three park areas, providing an in-depth understanding of the perceptions of the surrounding areas. The study concludes that the ABC Waters Programme is a strong generator of social capital, offering an attractive place for social bonding and to some extent also for social bridging.

The civil society is considered an important component of a democratic system and is supported by political advocates. During the 2015 migrant crisis the voluntary sector, as part of the civil society, played an important role shouldering a lot of responsibility for the arrival of refugees. This led to criticisms aimed towards the public sector and it’s absence in regard to the same situation. The purpose of this essay is to investigate and explain the political paradox created in connection with the migrant crisis of 2015. Using the ”perspective of responsibility” as a starting-point this essay will look at the public sector’s- and respectively the civil society’s actions during the crisis as a benchmark. This essay will use the method known as case study, through a qualitative text analysis as a base. The different sectors and their respective relationships to the perspective of responsibility will be discussed through three separate ways in which Robert Putnams theory on social capital & citizenship, and Henrik Berggren & Lars Trägårdhs theory on the Swedish state individualism will be discussed. Using these two separate theories together with the perspective of responsibility as a foundation, the study will illustrate the problematic aspects of civil society partly bearing the responsibilities of the public sector’s areas of responsibility during the fall of 2015. This essay found that some of the negative criticism pointed at the public sector was misguided during the fall 2015.

Miljonprogrammet tillkom genom en storslagen politisk satsning under det expansiva 60-talet. Produktionen lades utanför städerna och vilade på funktionalism och stordriftsfördelar. Trots minutiös social ingenjörskonst hade ingen kunnat förutse att många av de hyresgäster, som befolkade miljonprogrammet till en början, inom några år skulle flytta till egna småhus. Kvar blev de socioekonomiskt svagare hyresgästerna. Dessa områden präglas idag överlag av många in och utflyttningar. I Sverige finns ett miljonprogramsområde i varje medelstor stad. Dessa områden kännetecknas av samma typ av problematik; hög arbetslöshet, höga ohälsotal och lågt valdeltagande. I den politiska debatten väcks ofta förslag om att man ska bygga om eller riva delar av miljonprogrammen. Andra menar att problemen bekämpas genom att åtgärda makroekonomiska problem i samhället i stort. Få av dessa förslag kretsar kring teorier om socialt kapital och vad det sociala kapitalet enligt vissa välkända statsvetare kan åstadkomma i samhällen. Syftet med denna uppsats är således att kvalitativt beskriva det sociala kapitalet i ett miljonprogramsområde i Linköping. Vi vill även studera huruvida det sociala kapitalet kan bidra till en demokratisk utveckling i stadsdelen. Det är vår förhoppning att våra slutsatser kan generaliseras till andra miljonprogramsområden i Sverige. Det sociala kapitalet beskrivs och analyseras utifrån tretton genomförda intervjuer med tjänstemän och föreningsrepresentanter i stadsdelen. Det görs med teoretisk hjälp av statsvetarna Robert D. Putnam och Bo Rothstein samt sociologen James S. Coleman. Vi kommer fram till att det förekommer stora variationer av socialt kapital i stadsdelen. Det finns en stor mängd av det Putnam kallar för sammanbindande socialt kapital. Samtidigt uppvisar stadsdelen en brist på det överbyggande sociala kapitalet, som på allvar skulle kunna bidra till ett demokratiskt lyft i stadsdelen. Det menar vi beror på etniska grupperingar och stora omflyttningar, som gör det irrationellt att investera i socialt kapital för den enskilde. Särskilda politiska insatser kan av de skälen motiveras i stadsdelen. / “The million programme”, an ambitious housing programme, took place in Sweden between the years 1965-1974. During this period 1006000 dwellings were built, which represents about a quarter of the contemporary housing stock in Sweden. The programme was due to a strong political will from the Social democratic party to erase the demand surplus on housing that had existed in Sweden until then. The production of the housing took place in the outskirts of the cities and was based on ideas of functionalism and scale economy. Despite extensive social engineering no one had been able to foresee that after a couple of years many of the tenants moved away from the new residential areas, choosing instead to live in single-family, detached houses. Those who were left behind were mostly families of low socioeconomic status. Most Swedish medium sized cities still have a residential area from this period. These areas are nowadays often characterized by a lot of passing tenants, high unemployment and unhealthy rate. Few of the residents visit the polls on election day. Many politicians argue that the socioeconomic problems in these areas can be improved by restorement or deconstruction of housing. Others mean that in order to solve the socioeconomic problems in these areas you have to tackle the macroeconomic problems in modern society. Few of the proposals revolve around social capital and the ideas that well-known political scientists have about the importance for wellbeing in societies. The aim of this essay is therefore to qualitatively describe the social capital in a residential area built as a part of the million programme in the town Linköping and see how it can contribute to the democratic process. Hopefully our conclusions can be generalized to other similar residential areas in Sweden. The description of the social capital consists of the tellings of county officials and representatives of local associations. The information they have provided was analyzed with the help of theorists Robert D. Putnam, Bo Rothstein and James S. Coleman. We conclude that there exist substantial variations in the social capital in the residential area that we have studied. There exists an extensive amount of what Putnam calls bonding social capital in the neighbourhood, but there is also a lack of bridging social capital that could significantly improve the democratic process in the area. This is due to ethnic groupings and great numbers of passing residents which makes investments in social capital irrational for the individual. Specific political support for these residential areas can therefore be motivated.