Often when we think about democracy our thoughts are drawn to the thought of a political election. The US has for a very long time had low election turnout regarding to the presidential elections. In this qualitative case study the author analyzed two possible factors to study if they could explain the turnout rates in West Virginia and in Minnesota. The two possible explanation factors that were analyzed in this report was legal factors and socioeconomic factors. The theories that were used in this report was; rational choice theory, the standard socioeconomic status model and Jan Teorells explanation theory for voter turnout. The author concluded in the end of the study that both factors could explain the differences in the voter turnout between the two states.

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This thesis will use the final Marriage Equality Referendum debate which took place on the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ in May 2015 and analyse the No campaign’s willingness to be associated with the Catholic Church through discourse and framing analysis. This qualitative study aspires to ascertain the salience of the Catholic Church to the Irish electorate in areas of moral-social policy in Ireland. It will be found that substantial Catholic identification and high levels of religiosity does not necessitate influence of the Church over the electorate.

Does participation in microcredit programs lead to the empowerment of women? The answer is not clear-cut, and earlier studies report ambivalent results. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals number 5 argues for the importance of finding paths to empowerment. In order to facilitate women’s empowerment in microcredit scholars suggest the use of a credit-plus approach. The purpose of this paper is to reassess the impact of microcredit by making use of the credit-plus approach of Fundación WWB. The study is based on new primary data collected in a Minor Field Study conducted in Colombia. Through developing and testing three hypotheses I assess the impact on three dimensions of women’s empowerment: economic, social and cultural, and psychological. A mixed method approach of both OLS regressions and semi-structured interviews are applied. The results indicate that a credit-plus approach does increase the positive impact of credit on women’s financial control within the household. Yet, no significant result could be found in the case of decision-making power or self-efficiency. The paper also concludes that non-financial services per se may constitute a way to increase women empowerment.

Under lång tid har det funnits ett förhärskande sätt att förstå rasismen i Sverige som orsakad avvissa avvikande individer och grupper i en annars ”postrasistisk” nation. Tidigare forskningframhåller att denna uppfattning är starkt kopplad till den rådande nationella självbilden avSverige som en särskilt progressiv och modern nation. På senare år har det vuxit fram enkonkurrerande uppfattning om rasismen som en strukturell maktordning som genomsyrar detsvenska samhället. I syfte att bidra till en fördjupad förståelse för vilka faktorer som gör att deallmänna uppfattningarna om rasismen i Sverige består eller skiftar över tid undersöker dennauppsats det konkurrerande, strukturella synsättet. En diskursteoretisk ansats tillämpas för attklarlägga dess centrala idéer och översiktligt spåra dem över tid i den offentliga debatten medfokus på idéernas ursprung, utveckling samt inflytande på debattagendan. Resultaten indikeraratt den konkurrerande uppfattningen började manifesteras i den svenska samhällsdebattenomkring år 1990 men förblev marginell fram till cirka år 2010–2012 och framåt då dessförekomst i debatten tycks ha ökat explosionsartat. Flera indikationer tyder också på att denkonkurrerande uppfattningens inflytande på debatten har ökat, trots att den har mötts av starktmotstånd. Därtill påbörjas en kort analys av hur människors identiteter, känslor och fantasierkan bidra till förändringar av rådande uppfattningar om rasismen i Sverige.

A close study of neorealist theory, indicates that revolutionary movements can produce some effects, that can have severe power political repercussions. Yet there is very little written in the neorealist corpus, about revolutions and revolutionary movements. The aim of this research was to investigate if these effects could contribute to our explanation, of the power political strategies employed by revolutionary movements. In order to fulfill the aim, a theory consuming case study was conducted. The method employed was a qualitative textual analysis, of a strategic text from Al-Qaeda. The result of the study showed that anticipated power political effects of a social revolution, were discounted for in the strategy. And the expected effects of a conflict between a revolutionary movement and a stable State, did appear in strategy. However the strategists calculations about revolutionary contagnation and the vulnerabilities of fragile States, did not match the theoretical expectations. Perceived foreign domination and perceived fragile State structures, effected the calculations in an unexpected way. Thus the results indicate that the employed analytic framework need further refinement.

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The purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the non-binding political instrument, the so-called “tillkännagivandeinstitutet”, within the framework of opposition in the Swedish Parliamentary system. The study springs from the following research questions: what characterises a “tillkännagivande”, how has the use of this instrument changed during the past five electoral periods and to what extent could this instrument be seen as an expression for opposition? A number of 150 units of analysis, from five electoral periods, have been examined. I have systematically examined the political instrument by developing an instrument for analysis where the presence of criticism, the precision of the request, the strength of the request and the relation to the government proposal have been measured. The results show that the instrument has become more precise, stronger and direct over time. Apart from that, the instrument has been used in a more dynamic way then before and as a more proactive approach. The instrument can be used to scrutinize the government or to provide political alternatives, which suggest that it can be seen as an expression for opposition. The results show a pattern that indicates a strengthening in partisan conflict between the parties in the Swedish Parliament. I therefore conclude that the instrument has become a more popular instrument of the opposition than before. To be able to draw any conclusions on why this change has occurred, more research in the area is needed. However, this study point in a direction where the instrument has become a popular instrument to, in different ways, put pressure on the government.

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