Previous research on social movements shows that as a consequence of social stratification, structurally privileged groups in society are more prone to engage in and take on leading positions in collective action than those who are structurally marginalised. This essay takes off in the puzzle of deficient inclusion in social movements that identify as inclusive, and looks at how that problem also appear empirically in the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion (XR). As attention to environmental issues and climate activism has increased significantly over the last years, many activists and scholars have pointed out the importance of tackling the problem with an intersectional feminist approach. Therefore, an interpretive discourse analysis with a “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) approach is applied to the strategically chosen case of XR, and the results are interpreted through an intersectional feminist lens as conceptualised by Angela Davis (1981, 2016). The analysis contributes to the research problem through identifying two parallel problem representations, one representing the problem as proximate, local and technical-environmental and one representing it as current, global and societal-environmental. It is concluded that part of XR’s discourse rests on a problem representation that risks reproducing structural power relations. According to Davis’s conceptualisation of intersectional feminism this could have dire consequences for a movement which has shown to have potential to influence politics.

Teknik har varit ett obligatoriskt ämne i drygt 40 år och i nästan 30 år har teknikämnet haft en egen kursplan. Ändå beskrivs teknik i skolan som ett otydligt ämne som har svårt att särskilja sig från naturvetenskaperna och vars syfte är oklart för eleverna (SOU, 2010:28; Skolinspektionen, 2014). Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka policytexter om teknikämnet och vilka problem i samhället som teknikämnet representerats vara en lösning på. Syftet är också att undersöka hur problemrepresentationerna förändrats över tid från 1978 till 2010. Uppsatsen utgår från läroplansteori (Englund, 1986; 2005) och Bacchis (2009) teori och metod om policy, WPR (What’s the problem represented to be?). Båda perspektiven har en kritiskt tolkande ansats där kunskap inte är neutral utan värdeladdad och ideologisk. Bacchi (2009) utgår från att en policy skrivs fram av regeringar för att lösa särskilda problem i samhället. Med analysverktyget WPR undersöks policytexter inför Lgr 80, Lpo 94 och Lgr 11 och vilka ”problem” teknikämnet representerar. Resultatet visar att de problem som teknikämnet förväntats lösa har förändrats över tid. Slutsatserna är 1) att teknikämnet gått från att representera problemen att skolan är för teoretisk för elever i svårigheter och att för få tjejer väljer teknik till problemet att samhället saknar entreprenörer, 2) att teknikämnet fortfarande är könskodat, 3) att de elevgrupper som man riktade in sig på när teknikämnet blev obligatoriskt blir alltmer osynliga i argumentationen.

For decades, boys have underperformed in the Swedish school when compared to girls. During the past 10 years, different problem representations regarding the issue have been articulated within the Swedish Government Official Report series. This paper examines the two most dominant problem representations, through a critical scrutiny of underlying assumptions, aswell as potential political effects on gender equality policy. Both problem representations share the assumption that education is a success game, won by girls and lost by boys. Further, boys’ failures in school are represented as a threat, both towards individuals as towards society at large. However, key differences can be found when looking at the ways sex, gender and power are constructed. When the gender gap is represented to be caused by determined sex differences, the school system is seen as unfair, benefitting girls at the expense of boys. When the gender gap is instead represented as caused by socially constructed gender projects, “anti-study culture” is seen as a result of boys' collective upholding of hegemonic masculinity. Dependingon the conceptualization of the issue, the political effects could either entail a stabilization of a patriarchal gender system through a delegitimization of girls' successes, or a destabilization of a patriarchal gender system through perceiving both girls and boys as potential victims of patriarchy, enabling alliance-building gender equality policy. Yet, lack of intersectional perspective makes it difficult to counteract social inequality at large, as the gender system affects boys and girls in different ways depending on other intersecting axes of social division.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the discourse of the Swedish state´s view of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The analyse is made through the Poststructural WPR-approach described in Carol Lee Bacchi and Susan Goodwin´s book Poststructural policy analysis: a guide to practice.[1] Biodiversity is, as the famous 2nd article of the Convention of describes it: “A collective term for all variations that exist within, as well as between, species and ecological systems. Biodiversity focuses on the genetic variation that occurs naturally in the world”.   The problem of this thesis is to examine the discourse of biodiversity and how the representation of the problem looks like. It examines how the policy worker within the Swedish state expresses problem representations in a specific law proposition (Prop. 2013/14:141) which is about A Swedish strategy for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The study object was chosen through a search for suitable policy documents.   This thesis uses Carol Lee Bacchi’s WPR-approach as a methodological and theoretical framework. The research questions for this thesis are therefore inspired by Carol Bacchi´s research questions. Although I use a modified version in Swedish adapted to this study´s purpose.    The thesis shows that the policy-document gives higher emphasis to anthropocentrism than biocentrism. Conclusions are also drawn that the values of nature are given lower priority than values related to humans.  [1] Bacchi, C.L. & Goodwin, S. (2016). Poststructural policy analysis: a guide to practice. New York, NY: Palgrave Pivot. och Bacchi, C.L.

This research uses a modified version of Carol Bacchi’s (2016) “What’s theProblem Represented to Be?” approach to conduct a critical discourse analysison the 2016-2020 National Plan for Gender Equality for Greece published bythe Greek General Secretariat for Gender Equality under the auspices of theGreek Ministry of the Interior (MoI, 2018). The aim of this research study is toshow how gender equality is represented by the Greek General Secretariat forGender Equality and which are the implications and allegations throughdifferent problem representations.

With a starting point in the Together: Building a Shared Community strategy (T:BUC) published in 2013 by the Government of Northern Ireland’s Executive Office, this study examines two of the strategy’s Key Priorities: Our Shared Community and Our Safe Community, in order to analyze contemporary peacebuilding efforts carried out by the Northern Irish government. The study is guided by the research question: Why might the strategic aims such as removing all interface barriers by 2023 in the T:BUC fail in their attempts to build peace? To answer this question, the thesis takes a qualitative methodological approach relying on both primary and secondary data and Carol Bacchi’s method of ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be’ approach to poststructural policy analysis. This methodological approach is accompanied by Audra Mitchell’s theoretical framework of plural world-building. The study finds that the T:BUC strategy problematizes the interface barriers in Belfast, the usage of symbols such as flags, as well as the division of communities within Northern Ireland - all concepts that in this thesis are argued as important ‘threatworks’ and ‘world-building’ means of the conflicting communities in order to avoid violence. The thesis concludes that by interfering with these types of world-building means, the Northern Irish government risks inducing ‘radical violence’ to these ethno-national groups and perhaps provoking escalating violence amongst them.

This study aims to examine how the city of Stockholm represents the problem with housing shortages for young adults in their policies for housing supply. How the problem is represented has an impact on which measures are implemented to combat the housing shortage in the municipality. Drawing on Carol Bacchi’s “what’s the problem represented to be” framework the analysis in the study seeks to enlighten the implicit assumptions and underlying reasons for the housing supply strategy. The result of the study showed that two main representations of the problem can be detected. The first one is related to the municipalities’ limited conditions for building houses that match the needs of young adults. The other representation of the problem is related to the young adults as an economically weak group who have difficulties buying a home that matches their needs.

One consequence of climate change more frequently discussed is its’ impact on climate-induced migration. This is especially relevant for low-lying atoll islands in the Pacific, where the impacts on migration are anticipated to be of great extent. As Kiribati is a country which is highly affected by climate change and a place where climate-induced migration is expected,Kiribatiand a possible recipient countryof its migrants, New Zealand, havebeen chosenfor analysis.Grounded in poststructural thoughtit is argued that the way we represent “problems”in policy hasramifications for which policy proposalsare considered and how the migrant is constructed as a subject. This study thusconducts a comparative analysis of problem representations of climate-induced migration in Kiribati’s and New Zealand’s national policies. The policies of these countries are analyzed using thediscourse analytical framework“What’s the problem represented to be?”(WPR)whereasthe theoretical underpinningof this study is grounded inpoststructuralism and postcolonialism, specifically the creation of the “other”. Furthermore, earlier writings about representations of climate-induced migration are used as a basisfor analysis. The findings of the study suggest that climate-induced migration is representedboth as a challenge and as an adaption strategy, where transnational climate-induced migration mainly is depicted as a strategy for increased resiliencewhereas internal migration is portrayed as challenging.I argue that the way climate-induced migration is represented both replicates colonial tendencies and the creation of the “other”, while also reflecting a dominant neoliberal agenda.

I dagens samhälle är miljöproblem ett faktum som blivit svårt för mänskligheten att förneka. Dagens miljöpolitiska diskurser handlar främst om vilka miljöproblem som är de verkliga problemen och vad som anses vara lösningen på dessa. Tidigare forskning har studerat diskurser inom miljöpolitiken och hur dessa har förändrats över tid. Denna uppsats studerar hur idéerna om relationen mellan människa och miljö har förändrats över tid i FN:s beslut om miljöstrategier och kommer begränsa sig till tidsperioden mellan åren 1972 till 2015. Uppsatsen använder Carol Bacchis ”What’s the problem represented to be-ansats” för att analysera problem, normer och orsaker som sedan används för att besvara uppsatsens forskningsfrågor om eventuella förändringar i idéerna om relationen mellan människa och miljö. Resultaten visar en förändring i idéerna om relationen mellan människa och miljö i FN:s dokument rörande tre områden, miljö som problem i relation till människan, normativa uppfattningar om miljöns värde samt staters rättigheter till sin miljö. I diskussionsdelen kommer det även fram andra intressanta observationer som att globala samarbeten problematiseras som ett miljöproblem och att globaliseringen har utvecklats tillsammans med diskursen om miljöproblemen. Denna uppsats bidrar till ett nytt teoretiskt ramverk för att undersöka diskurser om miljöproblem genom sin kombination av statsvetenskaplig teori och miljöetiska perspektiv.

Climate change, as well as posited solutions, is arguably an increasing political problem and therefore relevant to study for the political scientist. Solutions may entail problems in themselves.Finnish ecologist Pentti Linkola has argued that humankinds’ only hope of survival is reducing the population greatly by large-scale, state-organized killings, and further dismantling of what has grown fundamental to many modern societies, such as democracy or private economic freedom.What happens to human rights if such a proposal is realized? In this thesis, Linkolas’ arguments are put against scholars believing that human rights are fundamental and inviolable parts of being human. The aim is to unveil the underlying ideas of Linkola, and analyze how his argumentation dismisses human rights. A broader aim is to see if these ideas can be connected to the ideology of ecofacism as it manifests today.This thesis answers two research questions:- In what way does Pentti Linkolas’ argumentation in Can life prevail? (2009) contradict an idea of human rights as given?- What may the underlying ideas behind this contradiction be?Results show that arguments of Linkola not only dismisses, but deem ideas of human rights dangerous for human survival.