The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction reports that drug-related deaths have almost tripled in Sweden between year 2006 and 2015. The aim of this study is to elucidate in which ways drug-related mortality is produced and conceptualized as a problem within policy discourse by critically analyzing The National Board of Health and Welfare’s policy proposal “Nationellt utvecklingsarbete för att motverka narkotikarelaterad dödlighet” (2017). Using Bacchi’s poststructural approach to policy analysis “What’s the problem represented to be?”, two problem representations are identified, namely that drug-related mortality is conceptualized as a problem with drugs and drug use in general as well as a problem due to lack of knowledge and information. This is based on underlying assumptions that all illegal drug use is hazardous and that the solution to the drug problem can be obtained by objective knowledge production thus leaving both the practice of gaining knowledge as well as current Swedish drug laws unproblematized. The effects are, to name a few, that proposed policies mainly targets “all people who use drugs” with a focus on providing “more of the same” which in extension overrides the group of high-risk drug users along with a structural understanding of drug-related mortality.

Despite the fact that the introduction of reserved parental leave has resulted in a success for gender equality in general, there are parties in the Swedish Parliament that oppose this reform, the Christian Democrats being one of them. The purpose of the study was therefore to study the effects of the Christian Democrats' problem presentation regarding reserved parental leave. The essay's three research questions came from Carol Bacchi's WPR-approach, which aimed to find the party's problem presentation regarding reserved parental leave, what presuppositions these where based on, and what discursive and subjectification effects this gives. The study shows that the problem where parents' freedom of choice and high sickness rates. Based on feminist poststructuralism, we could see that the presuppositions turned out to be about a constructed categorization where sexual characteristics are set against each other. Finally, the study shows that this had several discursive- and subjectification effects where alternative problem presentations were excluded, and that individuals are limited based on the framework that the discourse sets up, which subjectifies people based on gender.

Denna studies syfte är att undersöka hur demonstrationerna som genomfördes av rörelsen Black Lives Matter i Sverige framställs i svensk media och vad denna framställning leder till för effekter. Denna studie antar en kvalitativ ansats där det analytiska tillvägagångsättet utgår från Carol Bacchis diskursanalys ”What’s the problem represented to be?”. Studien belyser hur språket i tidningar skapar olika opinionsbildningar i samhället beroende på tidningens ställningstagande i det politiska spektrumet. Det följs upp av vad tidigare forskning har beskrivit som protestparadigmet, där medier följer specifika ramverk när de rapporterar om demonstrationer. I analysen ingår 27 nyhetsartiklar från tidningar som representerar den mediala vänstern, mediala högern samt den traditionella median. Det finns en forskningslucka angående hur svenska medier har rapporterat om Black Lives Matter demonstrationerna som denna studie har försökt minska. De slutsatser som kan dras av denna studie är att det finns en stor skillnad i hur man framställer demonstrationerna beroende på vart i det politiska spektrumet tidningen anser sig vara och att dessa problemframställningar kan leda till effekter som minskat förtroende för myndigheter och ett mer proletariserat samhälle. Studiens slutsatser kan bidra till hur media påverkar individens uppfattning i viktiga frågor.

By using a poststructural discourse analysis, this study aims to investigate how the Swedish Armed Forces formulates the preventive work against discrimination due to sexual orientation and transgender identity or expression. The aim is to also bring knowledge of how the preventive work affect the work environment and the possible consequences for LGBTQ-people within the organisation.  The method “What’s the problem represented to be” by Carol Bacchi is used to analyse the chosen material of policies and qualitative interviews to find out what shapes the preventive work, how it has come about and the effects on different groups in the organisation. Theoretical concepts as hegemonic masculinity, queer, heteronormativity, peripheral inclusion and homonationalism is used as theoretical frame and applied throughout the method. This study shows preventive work tend to focus on Pride and attitudes, rather than questioning structures within the organisation. As result, the heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity within the organisation is not disrupted and LGB-people in the organisation still perceive homophobic tendencies as part of the work environment.

This study investigates the discursive construction of masculinities of the Swedish Equality Agency. By using the WPR analysis strategy to examine underlying problematizations in the agency’s perspective on masculinity, the study seeks to generate an understanding of the direction in which the agency wishes masculinity to develop as a cultural phenomenon. The paper critiques that the new masculinity is primarily implicit and aims to make the new masculinity more explicit to enable proactivity. The study highlights the transition from an explicit masculinity to an implicit one and the effects of this ”implicitness”. The new masculinity is more implicit in terms of life advice, normativity, and ideals, making it more concealed and harder to follow, compared to a traditional masculinity and its values. The paper also explores the cultural ideal established by policy. The objectives primarily result in the ideals of everyone’s equal opportunities and rewards for studies and work, the sharing of household chores equally, and obtaining consent before engaging in anything that has to do with others bodily integrity. The reconstruction of masculinity can be seen as an attempt to insert cultural ideals into multiple masculinities or establish an upper masculinity, thus achieving a less polarized society. The study further explores the idea of that the current approach may be perceived to place more value on criticizing than implementing, making masculinity, like the problem of violence, reactive rather than a proactive factor. The concluding discussion suggests that masculinity is a tool, a frame of reference to relate to, and perhaps there is a need for guiding principles, commandments, and ideals to live up to. In the discussion I also suggest the implementation of the term ”submasculinity” to prevent holistic establishing and assemblage of negative aspects. The paper suggests in the concluding discussion that society can shape a new, explicit, and more identifiable masculinity and thus a meaningful, more explicit path to follow.

The disproportionate burden of covid-19 pandemic on racialized groups in developed countries has made socio-political and socio-economic inequalities even more apparent. This thesis utilizes critical race thoery (CRT), framing theory and the ”What’s the ’problem’ represented to be?”-approach to conduct a critical analysis of how the representation of the underlying causes of racial disparities in covid-19 mortality framed by the Swedish Public Health Agency. The published report on migrants and covid-19 ”Migrants and COVID-19 – Confirmed cases, ICU-cases and mortality from 13 March 2020 to 15 February 2021 among foreign-born in Sweden” is analyzed through qualitative content analysis. In the report, the Swedish Public Health Agency analyzes underlying causes to differences of covid-19 outcome based on country of birth, which suggests that the population born in other countries is affected by the covid-19 more than the population born in Sweden. The content analysis of the official document on foreign-borns and covid-19 mortality, released by the Swedish Public Health agency, suggests that the agency has represented the underlying causes of racial disparities in covid-19 mortality in Sweden with a socio-economic inequality frame, and from a CRT perspective, the representation is guided by colorblind ideology that does not problematize the role of racism in the society. The knowledge produced in this thesis aims to contribute to the field of CRT studies in Sweden with empirical knowledge about problematization of the covid-19 pandemic outcomes in Sweden

Forestry stands for 12% of the global greenhouse emissions which makes forestry an important policy area for sustainable development. On the 16th of July 2021, the EU’s new forest strategy was released. Since 2018 Sweden has its own forest program. Due to the new EU forest strategy receiving a lot of criticism, it is clear that the forest policy in EU and Sweden have different understandings on the forests' role for sustainable development. This thesis aims to explore how different understandings of a policy problem are expressed in a case of multi-level governance, which in this case is forest policy. To investigate this, we use the method of discourse analysis where the analytical tool applied is Carol Bacchi's “What’s the problem represented to be?”- framework. Our approach consists of four interrelated questions that are asked to the policy documents, which lead to an understanding of how problems are represented as well as which discursive effects these problematizations create. The study shows that the EU and Sweden's forest policies have different understandings on how the forest best should contribute to climate change. These differences create certain discursive effects where the Swedish forest policies to a larger extent benefit the forest industry and the EU forest policy to a larger extent sees the intrinsic value of nature as well as incorporates the indigenous perspective.

The thesis is about Sweden’s approach on social sustainability in public policy. The Swedish New Reform derives from the EU Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, including policies and legislations on social aspects, labor-law, and environmental considerations. The aim is to analyse how social sustainability through contemporary public procurement laws and policies is being formulated and potentially realised in Sweden. The ontological theoretical framework and methodological approach will be derived from post-structuralism. More specifically, the theoretical approach Governmentality developed through the Foucauldian approach and Carol Bacchi’s methodological WPR-approach facilitating a policy analysis. The sources are a combination of qualitative decision-making and non-decision-making material. The decision-making material includes the Swedish National Public Procurement Strategy, The Swedish Public Procurement Act, and the EU Directive. The analysis makes visible how social aspects are represented and subjectivized. The research highlights potentials for increased social sustainability and risks of de-prioritization depending on formulations of mandatory or optional characteristics. Theoretically speaking, interests of neoliberal-, capitalist market- and alternative social democratic rationale contributes to multiple social unsustainabilites. Resulting in plural realities of how to best increase social sustainability. The concluding discussion highlights that rationalities influence realisations of social sustainability antagonistically. Increasing the understanding of these core rationalities is essential to increase social sustainability through public procurement.

Violence against women continues to be an issue that severely impacts women worldwide. Since the global spread of the #MeToo movement in 2017, debates regarding this issue significantly increased. Yet the precise ways in which women are impacted by violence, heavily influenced by their unique and diverse aspects of identity, are often disregarded. By focusing on two of these aspects of identity, namely gender and nationality, and comparing the circumstances of sexual violence against women in Germany, Nigeria, and South Korea, this thesis aims to showcase the diverse experiences of ‘being a woman’ and what this implies regarding the issue of sexual violence against women. With an additional analysis of four important international conventions aimed at ameliorating women’s lives (UDHR, CEDAW, DEVAW, and BPfA) regarding their acknowledgement of this diversity and guided by three theories, namely Multi-Ethnic Feminism, Feminist Postcolonialism, and Intersectionality, this thesis highlights the necessity of including everyone and their unique experiences with all kinds of discrimination to adequately tackle an issue such as sexual violence against women.