In this thesis, the“NewModerates” communications strategy used by The Moderate Party and the representation of social practices and social conditions by Alliance for Sweden-coalition in the 2006 and 2010 Swedish election campaigns are analyzed.The campaigns are placed in the context of current research on modern political communication and analyzed through Fairclough´s Critical Discourse Analysis framework.The results indicate that The Moderate Party wanted to encourage voters to reassess their opinion of the party through the “NewModerates”-strategy, by indicating considerable changes in their policies.Official guidelines for which discursive and social practices should be utilized in party communication to achieve these goals were issued.The Moderate Party positioned themselves against The Social Democratic Party, partially by referring to themselves as the “new worker’s party” of Sweden.

The Social Democrats’ have had an incomparable influence over Swedish politics during the 20th century. This study looks at how this working-class party descriptively represents the working-class on its ballot lists for the Swedish parliament, Riksdagen. Using a mixed methods approach this study builds on an original data set including all of the Social Democratic ballot lists for Riksdagen from 1970 to 2014. The data is combined with qualitative interviews with party representatives in two constituencies. The combined results of the studies show that the Social Democrats are not descriptively representing the Swedish working-class. The party representatives seem to want to represent the working-class and they think that they are descriptively representing this social class. The results indicate that it might be more important for the party to find candidates that are loyal, than candidates who want to represent working-class interests. Furthermore, there are indications that the party might define the working-class in outdated terms; rather than focusing on the level of education, the party defines the working-class largely in terms of those employed in manual labor and heavy industry.

The objective of this research was to contribute to the discussion about LGBT-rights in Swedish politics. Some previous findings suggested that one political party in particular, the Swedish Democrats, had an opposing stance towards LGBT-persons. To investigate this, the first research question aimed to find out if there are in fact any notable differences between the different parties in the Swedish parliament in this regard. The second research question was designed in order to examine all related opinions of the parties in the light of positive and negative freedom. The third research question aimed to find out how the attitudes from the political parties could be understood within a perspective of tolerance. The analytical framework is based on the concept of tolerance, and the concepts of positive and negative freedom which were originally developed by Isiah Berlin. The study is a qualitative text-analysis with an abductive approach. Argumentation analysis has been applied when suitable. The study found that the Swedish Democrats was the most restrictive party in this context. Moreover, the studied policies were found to have characteristics of both negative and positive freedom, and they were generally approved upon by the political parties. Lastly, the Swedish Democrats and the Christian Democrats were argued to be tolerant towards these LGBT-policies, even though the policies were mostly disliked due to moral clashes against their core family values.

The understanding of Swedish lobbyism is so far insufficient and misguided. In order to understand Swedish lobbyism better this thesis calls for a shift to theory testing case studies of actors that are capable to lobby in an organized and recurring way. To do this it offers a theoretical framework developed from three established theories of lobbying strategy adjusted for a Swedish context. The purpose of this framework is to chart strategies for how Swedish lobbyists lobby against Members of Parliament (MPs) and if and how these strategies influence MPs’ attitudes towards a policy. The case is the lobbying campaign for a reduced restaurant sales tax from 2000 to 2014 ending with a reduction from 25% to 12%. The study concludes that Swedish lobbyism is built from alliances, trust, perceived seriousity, and public interest, more than actual expertize of a specific topic.

The Swedish motor-vehicle inspection has worked very well and was monopolized in 1965. After the monopolization, the company AB Svensk Bilprovning was formed and had a monopoly until 2010 when the bourgeois government deregulated the monopoly for the motor-vehicle inspection services. It had been discussed earlier around the 1990s but the planned deregulation of the service did not occur. The main reason for the deregulation was for the service to act on a competitive market which would improve it in several aspects. One of the main aspects were the availability. The deregulation in 2010 had positive effects and mainly the availability increased throughout Sweden. In year 2014 the social-democratic party were not satisfied before or after deregulation even though it improved the service. The bourgeois on the other hand were very satisfied of the results.

This is a qualitative study with an argumentation and discourse approach with the purpose to compile what the Swedish democrats (SD) and the Nordic resistance movement (NMR) writes about religion in their current party program. The two main questions in this study were as follows: Are there any signs of islamophobia, antisemitism or cultural racism in the party programs of Swedish democrats and the Nordic resistance movement and how is this expressed? also Is it religion that is more represented as threat in each party program? The main theories that are discussed in this study are islamophobia, antisemitism and cultural racism. The result of the study shows that the Nordic resistance movement have many arguments that are antiemetic, and this organization especially believes that we live in a world where majority of medias and politicians are controlled by a Zionist elite group. The study of The Swedish democrat’s party program shows that many arguments have cultural racism intendencies and that the party favorites Christianity in their party program.

Denna masteruppsats är en sociologisk diskursanalytiskt inspirerad undersökning av Feministiskt Initiativs partiprogram. Undersökningen syftar till att se på den världsbild som målas upp i partiprogrammet utifrån termer om invävning och omvälvning. Både gällande politiska diskurser och avseende människan som varelse. Undersökningens frågeställningar är: 1) Vilken verklighet konstrueras i Feministiskt Initiativs partiprogram avseende, a) politik, b) världen, c) människans jämställdhet? 2) Hur kan de konstruktionerna förstås utifrån ett perspektiv av omvälvning eller invävning? Utöver det spåras också konturerna av en normgestalt som utgör modellen för hur den jämställda personen bör vara, eller vem man bör sträva efter att vara för att kunna få uttala sig som en sådan. Uppsatsen tar sin utgångspunkt i partirogrammets inledningstext som getts en särskild vikt, och har utgjort stommen för undersökningen. Resten av programmet, såväl till sin utforming, omfattning och direkta formuleringar, har fungerat som stödjande och fördjupande av de tolkningar som görs utifrån inledningstexten. De världsbilder som framträder har analyserats utifrån sociologiska teorier kring identitet, kön, makt, och politik. Utifrån det görs analyser kring huruvida programmets världsbild kan ses som försöka inväva perspektiv i den etablerade ordningen, eller försöka omvälva den. Resultatet visar på att det inte finns en direkt enhetlig världsbild i partiprogrammet, utan snarare liknande slitningar som återfinns i den feministiska teoridebatten. Dock finns det ett stark fokus på kön som en överordnad politisk utgångspunkt, och kopplingar till en etablerad upplysnings- och frigörelsetradition. Partiprogrammet går också att tolka som sprunget ur modernitetens identitetsprojekt. Det finns också en relativt stark tendens som betonar vikten av formell kunskap och utbildning för att frigöra människans potential. Min analys av den jämställda personen pekar på att det är en bildad och kulturell person som på ett distanserat vis kan se och avslöja diskriminerande strukturer. Det är de perspektiven som bör vävas in i den etablerade politiska diskursen och de personerna som ska placeras in på den etablerade politiska arenan. Avslutningsvis pekar uppsatsen ut fler olika riktningar som kan undersökas vidare, framförallt kring hur förhandlingar kring världsbilder och utsagopositioner kan föras inom inom en politisk rörelse, i bredare bemärkelse. / This master degree paper is a sociological investigation of the political platform from the Swedish party Feministiskt Initiativ (feminist initiative). The paper is made with an discourse theoretical influence, aiming to explore the views of the world that are constructed in the platform, in terms of overturning and integrating, in regards of political discourses and the human as a being. The papers handle the research questions 1) What pictures of reality is constructed in the political platform regarding a) politics, b) the world, c) human equality? 2) How could those constructions be understood in terms of overturning or integration? Besides that does the paper aim to trace the outline of a role model for the equal person in the platform: how should one be, and who should one strive to be, in order to get the authority to speak on equality issues? The main focus for this paper is the opening text in the platform, which serves as the foundation of this investigation. The rest of the program, form as well as content, serves as supporting and a way to deepen the analysis made from the introductory text. The view of the world as it appears in the platform has been analysed with mainly sociological theories regarding identity, gender, power and politics. According to those views is the question raised whether the view of the world in the platform can be seen as a way to integrate new perspective in the current order of things, or rather to overturn the same. The findings indicate that there is not one uniform view of the world in the platform, but several, which also can be found in the feministic academic debate. There are however a main focus on gender as political subject, and a strong connection to an emancipatory and liberating tradition. There is also a tendency in the platform to stress the importance of formal knowledge and education as tools to see trough discriminating structures, to set the human potential free. My analysis point to an outline of the equal person as a literate and cultivated person, and that it is that kind of person that the platform recommends us to integrate in the established political arenas. Lastly, the paper points towards several directions for further investigation, mainly about how negotiations regarding views of the world and spokes position are made in a political movement, in its wider sense.

Abstract Is there a special discourse surrounding female politicians in Sweden? And if so, what is the current climate for female political leaders? The purpose of this article is to examine the portrayal in the public media of Anna Kinberg Batra, Ebba Busch Thor and Annie Lööf. The common denominator is that they are all heads of a political party, Anna Kinberg Batra being the chairwoman of the Moderate Party, Ebba Busch Thor being the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Party and Annie Lööf chairwoman of the Central Liberal Party. The article includes mainly printed news from the midst of 2014 to may 2015. The chosen and applied method for this article is a discourse analysis. The article portrays the fact that female political party leaders in Sweden face a different situation than their male counterparts. Media knowingly or unknowingly chooses to focus on many attributes regarding the female politicians that are not in any way relevant for their profession such as outfits, nails and daycare, to name a few. This article has resulted in the conclusion that inequalities regarding a fair portrayal in media between the two sexes, still persist and that women active in political societies still have different expectations to live up to than their male counterparts.

In this study, I have examined the previous Social Democratic government’s communication with the voters, focusing on its promises during election campaigns, and the presentation of achieved results. The theories used are the mandate- and sanction theory; the first focuses on voters comparing manifestos to find the most agreeable, whilst the latter concentrates on voters evaluation the work of the previous government, to either discharge or support it. For the sanction theory to work, voters must have the necessary information to evaluate the government in progress. The question is; did the previous government provide the voters with such information? This has been done through scrutinizing the Social Democrats’ election manifestos that was used between 1994 and 2006, to examine what the party promised to achieve in economics and the labor market. Furthermore, I have studied the official statistics, provided by Statistiska Centralbyrån, to see whether the government fulfilled these promises, and if they provide the voters with the results of these promises. The study shows that the Social Democrats display a lack of result presentation to the voters; neither the promise that was fulfilled, nor the ones the party failed to achieve were properly accounted for. This makes it more difficult for voters to evaluate the government’s performance, which poses a threat to the representative democracy; voters must be able to assess the governments, so that they may execute sanctions and remove the government from office when unsatisfied.

<p>In this study, I have examined the previous Social Democratic government’s communication with the voters, focusing on its promises during election campaigns, and the presentation of achieved results. The theories used are the mandate- and sanction theory; the first focuses on voters comparing manifestos to find the most agreeable, whilst the latter concentrates on voters evaluation the work of the previous government, to either discharge or support it. For the sanction theory to work, voters must have the necessary information to evaluate the government in progress. The question is; did the previous government provide the voters with such information?</p><p>This has been done through scrutinizing the Social Democrats’ election manifestos that was used between 1994 and 2006, to examine what the party promised to achieve in economics and the labor market. Furthermore, I have studied the official statistics, provided by Statistiska Centralbyrån, to see whether the government fulfilled these promises, and if they provide the voters with the results of these promises.</p><p>The study shows that the Social Democrats display a lack of result presentation to the voters; neither the promise that was fulfilled, nor the ones the party failed to achieve were properly accounted for. This makes it more difficult for voters to evaluate the government’s performance, which poses a threat to the representative democracy; voters must be able to assess the governments, so that they may execute sanctions and remove the government from office when unsatisfied.</p>