Vilken roll spelar pengar för människors möjligheter att få sina politiska preferenser speglade i det politiska utfallet? Flera internationella studier har funnit att det politiska beslutsfattandet är tydligt vinklat till fördel för höginkomsttagares åsikter. Den här uppsatsen undersöker om samma tendenser gäller även för Sverige. Utifrån teorier om majoritetsstyre respektive elitdrivet beslutsfattande studeras sambandet mellan inkomstgruppers preferenser i politiska sakfrågor och politiskt utfall mellan åren 2002-2021. Detta görs genom regressionsanalyser med uppgifter från de nationella SOM-undersökningarna samt ett egenkodat dataset av 428 politiska utfall under den aktuella tidsperioden. Resultaten visar att endast höginkomsttagargruppens politiska preferenser uppvisar ett signifikant positivt samband med utfallet. Detta gäller för olika politiska områden och oberoende av konjunkturläge och regeringsfärg. Tänkbara förklaringar till resultaten, såsom olika nivåer av politiskt deltagande, lagstiftarnas bakgrund och intressegruppers påverkan diskuteras, liksom fyndens potentiella konsekvenser för det demokratiska systemet.

This study has used the method of conversational interviews and content analysis to examine how the government and the Swedish parliamentary parties view the state of democracy and to what extent democracy should be defended when under attack. The paper has analysed the government's statement of foreign policies from 2012 to 2023 and interviewed at least one member of the Parliament from each parliamentary party to understand where the party stands on the issue of defending democracy. The study has addressed the following research question: “How do the Swedish parliament parties view the state of democracy around the world and what is the parliamentary parties' opinion on the case of Taiwanese democracy, should it be defended?” The results of the analysis show that the parliamentary parties support democracies around the world and contribute to defending democracies that are attacked, like in the case of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In the case of defending Taiwan, three parties stood out and are prepared to go the furthest to defend Taiwan in case of an invasion from China. The Liberal Party was prepared to go the furthest and suggested selling weapons to Taiwan and other democracies as well as deepening the bilateral cooperation with Taiwan. The Sweden Democrats, Center Party, Left Party, and Moderate Party want to deepen the relations with Taiwan and open a ’House of Sweden’ in Taipei. Still, all the parties and the statements of foreign policies express support to continue the ‘one-China’ policy whatsoever. The fact that all the parties answered that democracy is worth defending at any cost and we should help democracies that are under attack from non-democratic states showed that all parties agree to support and promote democracy is of the highest importance. However, there were ambiguous or unclear answers from most of the parties on the issue of supporting Taiwan, which is one of the most democratic countries in the world. Leaving me to the conclusion that democratic backsliding occurs when democracies do not support or recognize other democracies – allowing authoritarian states like China to influence Sweden's foreign policy.

In May 2022 the Swedish government took the momentous decision to apply for membership in NATO, putting an end to what had constituted Sweden’s foreign and security policy identity for over half a century. In order to make sense of this historical shift and its entailing implications for Sweden’s identity in the international sphere, I turned to the literature on ontological security and autobiographical narratives. This literature indicated that states need to maintain a stable and continuous identity in order to remain ontologically secure. However, this kind of security can be maintained despite alterations that destabilize the state’s identity through modifications of the state’s autobiographical narrative. According to some scholarly work, policymakers activate parts of the narrative and deactivate others, in order to maintain continuity to the state’s autobiography and in continuation its identity. Thus, through a qualitative analysis of Sweden’s autobiographical narrative, this thesis makes use of and tests this underpinning logic. In line with previous research, the generated insights from the study suggest that Sweden’s autobiographical narrative manifests some continuity despite membership in NATO standing in stark contrast with the state’s identity.

What affects the sustainability provisions of EU Free Trade Agreements? I have sought the answer to this through studying the FTAs in place with Central America and the Southern African Development Community. The sustainability provisions in these two agreements show a variation in the level of strength. Based on previous research I present four hypotheses on the matter; integration into GVCs, the activity of environmental movement organisations, political representation of green parties and economic power. In total I use 11 different measurements to test the hypotheses. Through a comparative study of the two agreements I find that GVC integration and green party prevalence does not explain the variation found, but there are possibly explanations to be found in the other two variables studied. The aspiration of this paper is to contribute with insight on the decision making process of the ever expanding EU FTAs, especially with developing regions.

No description available.

With Voting Advice Applications changing how people engage in democracy it has become more important to understand the work behind them. Much research has been given to the algorithm and methodology, but less has focused on the ideas that presupposes the development process. The aim of this thesis is to examine and further our understanding of how VAA’s as part of the media repertoire affects contemporary democracy. Scholars have denoted that VAA’s neutrally transmitting information may not be as neutral as one might think. Indeed, democratic presuppositions of the developers may play a role in shaping the intent of what VAA’s intends to do. In order to explore those presuppositions this thesis has interviewed developers of Swedish ‘Valkompassen’ and their answers have been examined by employing an ideal type analysis of democratic ideals. The results indicate that the democratic presuppositions of the developers seem to be more akin to an electoral democratic ideal.

This thesis investigates the economic integration of female immigrant entrepreneurs on a micro-level. This is done by employing the model of ‘mixed embeddedness’, created by Kloosterman et al. (1999), which states that immigrant entrepreneurs are embedded in an institutional, social and financial context. The thesis develops further on the model by studying the different contexts compared to each other and seeing what makes a difference for female immigrant entrepreneurs. Thirteen female immigrant entrepreneurs were interviewed about their experiences with economic integration through entrepreneurship in relation to the developed model of ‘mixed embeddedness’. Through the interviews, it was possible to learn about the Swedish institutional, social, and financial contexts, as well as the role they play in the integration of female immigrant entrepreneurs. The results show that all three contexts had an impact on the entrepreneurs' experiences starting their businesses, and they each had varying strengths in doing so. Also, it showed that the developed model of ‘mixed embeddedness’ is a useful analytical tool when studying economic integration through entrepreneurship. Additional studies are suggested to compare different national contexts to each other to further investigate what actually matters in the economic integration of foreign-born women.

Does being more knowledgeable about the EU increase support for the free movement of people and, secondly, do more knowledgeable people show less ambivalence in their attitudes towards free movement? These are the questions I want to answer in this thesis. Based on the literature on attitude formation both towards immigration and European integration I conduct a regression analysis using Eurobarometer data from every EU country. Of particular importance is the concept of ‘attitudinal ambivalence’, where respondents hold conflicting opinions towards a subject when different aspects of that subject are primed. This is also the case for the free movement of people: less people support it when the inward mobility of other EU citizens is primed in the survey question. In this thesis I theorise that people who have more knowledge of the EU are more supportive of the freedom of movement and hold less ambivalent attitudes because they realise the inconsistency of their opinions. These predictions are supported by the results of the regression analysis, providing evidence that knowledge is an interesting variable in attitudinal research. Furthermore, this thesis contributes to the rather new field of attitudinal research into the free movement of people.

Drug trafficking is a rapidly growing phenomenon that has a significant impact on communities. How the Swedish authorities work together to combat that problem is regulated according to Swedish law, as professionals who have the closest contact with the public are the ones who have the greatest responsibility to act and decide in suspicious cases. Despite the hard work of crime fighting, society experiences the availability of a functioning drug market. High seizure statistics are presented by the Swedish Customs in recent years. Therefore, there has been an interest in investigating the phenomenon, taking into account that the seizure statistics are high and drug sales are still taking place. Institutions that work against crime fighting such as authorities are a starting point for understanding what is actually happening in Swedish society according to policy makers and decision makers. The purpose of the study is to investigate both how the Swedish Customs Authority's powers currently look and to compare the views between the Swedish Customs Service, the Police Authority and the Coast Guard regarding these powers and the legislative proposals that the Swedish Customs Service has put forward to increase crime fighting. The results show that expanded powers for customs officers are needed as well as "a clear, expedient and uniform regulation" for the fragmented powers in various laws and regulations. Finally, the theories that this research applies are linked to gain more understanding as to why the results look like this. According to the aforementioned authorities, drug smuggling can be limited in a more efficient way if the requirements of the Swedish Customs Administration are met.

The aim of this study is to examine the democratization process in Bosnia & Herzegovina since the Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995. By applying Linz & Stepans five arenas for a consolidated democracy on this case: Civil Society; Political Society; Rule of Law; State Apparatus and Economic Society, this paper wishes to provide the reader with a better understanding of the issues Bosnia & Herzegovina has had in its democratization development. The results of this study shows that Bosnia & Herzegovina lacks sufficiently in all arenas, and the greatest issues the country has includes nationalism, political clientelism and corruption.