This master's thesis analyses the different narratives constructed by three actors, towards the war in Yemen. The thesis will draw on the constructivist theory to answer the question: how do different actors construct the war in Yemen and the humanitarian crisis in their discourses and narratives? To answer this question, the theoretical part defines different concepts, such as identity, norms, national interest, strategic narrative and discourse. It presents the constructivist understanding of identity as a social construction, shaped by collective components of knowledge, symbols, language and norms. The empirical part attempts to identify the narratives constructed by the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and the EU towards the war in Yemen, which provoked a Saudi-led military intervention when the Houthis seized the capital and declared the establishment of a new government in March 2015. The Houthis consider the intervention as an aggression to Yemen and as the main cause of suffering of the Yemeni people. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia presents the crisis as Iran's attempt to control the country and spread its influence throughout the region. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia argues that it intervened only as a response to the demands of the internationally recognized government under president Hadi. Finally, the EU...

How states narrate the world, their own policies and convey their story of events to a growing extent conditions the responses of others and the trajectory of political discussions. While storytelling is increasingly prevalent as a way of exerting influence in the political spheres of today, wider understanding of its practical manifestations is limited to a handful of actors. By applying the theory of strategic narratives to an actor such as Türkiye, this study aims at expanding this knowledge. Examining communication from senior Turkish politicians, a narrative analysis is conducted to closely examine the case of the Turkish narrative portrayal of Sweden within the context of its NATO accession process. This study seeks to explore the strategic and intentional nature of these narrative constructions. Based on the analysis, the conclusion is drawn that Türkiye continuously and persistently utilizes various aspects and elements that are to be understood as of a strategic nature when narrating Sweden in relation to the political affair. In essence, these findings deepen our understanding of strategic communication and storytelling by broadening the spectrum of actors behind them.

Is the credibility of today's Swedish security policy under question? Through two world wars and the years that followed Sweden has invoked a policy of neutrality and military nonalignment. This policy has come to be perceived as an integral part of the Swedish national identity. Is it possible then that Sweden’s past and present strategic narratives could be contested? This thesis investigates whether or not there is consistency in the narratives expressed by both right wing Swedish governments and socialist Swedish governments. The narratives of both parties are examined during two separate eras of history; the Cold War era of the 1980s is compared with the current more globalized era of the 2010s. A constructivist perspective is utilized in the analysis and a narrative analysis is applied. The results show that there has been significant consistency in the narratives of Swedish security policy from both right wing and socialist governments. There is much greater variation shown between the two eras than there is between the two parties themselves. / Är dagens svenska säkerhetspolitik trovärdig eller omstridd? Allt sedan världskrigen har svenska regeringar förhållit sig till en grundläggande idé om svensk neutralitet och alliansfrihet. Denna politik har kommit att betraktas som en väsentlig del av svensk nationell identitet. Samtidigt har inriktningen för den svenska säkerhetspolitiken förändrats vid ett antal tillfällen under de senaste decennierna och gått från neutralitet till solidaritet. Är det då möjligt att gångna som nutida svenska strategiska narrativ är omstridda? Denna uppsats undersöker hur konsekventa svenska säkerhetspolitiska narrativ har varit. Detta genom att granska de narrativ som konstruerats av respektive socialdemokratiska och borgerliga regeringskoalitioner. Dessa narrativ jämförs både inom och mellan två historiska epoker; det kalla krigets 1980-tal och det nutida globaliserade 2010-talet, med specifika nedslag för åren 1982, 1987, 2009 och 2015. Uppsatsen tar utgångspunkt i ett konstruktivistiskt perspektiv och en narrativanalys tillämpas i analysen. Resultatet indikerar en betydande samstämmighet inom svensk säkerhetspolitik mellan borgerliga och socialdemokratiska regeringar. En betydligt större variation framträder i en jämförelse emellan de olika tidsepokerna än emellan samtida regeringar av olika politiska färger.

The thesis aims to give readers a more precise knowledge of how narratives in the information environment, mainly social media platforms, can be created and structured by agents of influence operations to subvert and influence a target audience. As a case study, the thesis focuses on the influence agent “Shuoun Islamiya”, as the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency pointed out, to be the initiator of the influence operation targeting Swedish Social Services and the LVU-act. The research in this paper explores the narratives used by the agentto reveal three central narratives propagated by Shuoun Islamiya: Sweden as a fascist state, Swedish authorities as abusive towards children, and depicting Swedish authorities as targeting Muslim families in particular. The findings suggest that these narratives are strategically designed to weaken the existing narrative of Sweden as a democratic state and evoke strong emotions in the targeted audience to align with the influence agent's objectives. Construction of these narratives involves setting up antagonistic actors, portraying the Swedish state and the social services as villains who unfairly and systematically target families of immigrant and Muslim backgrounds. The families are, on the other hand, depicted as helpless victims,emphasising a conflict between the state and the families by using provocative and inflammatory language related to allegations of child kidnapping and abuse carried out by Swedish authorities. These narratives are conveyed mainly through social media platforms, showing a strong visual component in which non-related visually evocative images are oftenused to elicit emotional responses from the target audience. Further, results show how non-state actors can influence a sizable audience and take advantage of the digital information environment, combining false and misleading content taken out of context. Moreover, the analysis highlights potential security implications, including the risk of undermining social trust and cohesion. The study emphasises the need for a critical mindset among information consumers. It suggests avenues for future research, including examining other actors and assessing a potentially more profound impact of the influence operation.