Internationally recognized for and culturally self-identifying as a gender equality advocate, Sweden has seen a recent uptick in popular support among women voters for its far-right nationalist political party, the Sweden Democrats (SD). While nationalist movements are primarily distinguished by their nativist political rhetoric, academic study has consistently shown that nationalism also consistently promotes a traditional gender duality while denouncing feminism and gender equality practices. Likewise, SD also consistently opposes feminist and gender equality practices in stark contrast with mainstream Swedish political parties. This qualitative discourse analysis collected, categorized, and analyzed recent Facebook posts circulated by the Sweden Democrat Women's Association (Sverigedemokraterna kvinnoförbund) leadership to identify why women (ostensibly) served by Swedish state feminism vote for and even join SD in a leadership capacity. By utilizing constructivist theoretical frameworks of social and cultural identity with a post-structural analytical methodology focusing on problem conception, representation and dissemination, the resulting analysis shows that the dominating discursive theme is practically summarized as: "(in)security." In short, SD women perceive Sweden's (equality) feminism as unrelatable, irrelevant and/or intrusive in an "everyday" existence framed by a rapidly changing Swedish society due to record immigration, increased economic insecurity, and a weakening welfare state. In closing, three prime research areas are identified for future study: image-based content analysis of SD's political messaging, increased incorporation of security frameworks in investigative writing, as well as broadened research into how Swedish equality feminism can best include two consistently detached societal clusters: native-Swedish conservative and non-Western immigrant women.

The European Union and Africa have sought to establish tight economic and political relations after the era of colonialism. However, European colonialism in the African continent has left behind colonial legacies that are still present in the postcolonial world. Contemporary EU- Africa relations have aimed to transcend the conventional donor-recipient relationship shaped by colonial legacies, towards a more equal and mutually beneficial partnership. Such a partnership of equals has been a declared goal of the current European Commission outlined in the EU-Africa Strategy “Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa”. This thesis aims to examine the partnership and power relations between the EU and the AU, seeking to answer the question of how the EU constructs Africa as an equal partner in the EU- Africa Strategy. This thesis entails theoretical and analytical frameworks combining two critical approaches, postcolonial theory and the WPR method. By applying these frameworks to the thesis, the findings reveal that the EU constructs Africa as a dependent partner through pragmatic discourse on partnership, due to the deep-seated remnants of colonial structures within the EU-Africa Strategy. These colonial structures position the EU as a dominant actor providing support for the dependent actor, Africa, implying that the partnership is based on asymmetrical power relations between the two actors. This research attempts to contribute to the somewhat underdeveloped canon of postcolonial approaches to EU-Africa relations and highlight the suitability of a postcolonial approach for this type of research.

The thesis examines the governmental construction of national identity through its citizenship education policy in England, the country with heightened tensions in diversity and identity re-construction aligning with its mandatory citizenship classes since 2002. Theoretically framing the study on the Foucauldian post-structuralism, the thesis utilises Foucauldian-influenced ‘What is the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) method by Bacchi that presents the government as a problem-producer. Conducting qualitative research methods, the study analyses the current National Curriculum in England with the explanatory and foundational state documents of Crick and Ajegbo Reports. The thesis identifies that the government primarily aims to re-construct the inclusive and integrative national identity based on the acknowledgement of multiple identities and a plurality of nations in the citizenship education curriculum in England. The study, however, also reveals that the English citizenship education policy implicitly presents a few assimilationist elements in the national identity discourse through exclusion andunrepresentativeness of the ethnic and racial identities, hierarchical establishment between native English and minorities, and the division of ‘whites’ and ‘non-whites’. Comparatively examining the documents, the thesis, therefore, concludes that the government has a powerful position in socially and politically re- constructing the discourses, concepts, and meanings over time.

Sexual harassment in workplace policies and legal procedures, which are strongly affected by the patriarchy that exists in the legal system, mistreat millions of victims annually. Through the implementation of the WPR Analysis on the Code of Conduct in Public Services on preventing […] sexual harassment in the workplace of the Republic of Cyprus and on C. v. Romania ECtHR case (application no. 47358/20), this thesis aims to present the problems representations, the taken-for-granted knowledge, the stereotypes and the origins of the patriarchal-biased labour policies and legal procedures concerning sexual harassment in the workplace. Along with the use of the legal feminist theory, this thesis presents that in these procedures the problems are represented to be the lack of training among employees and the victims’ behaviors. This results in the marginalization and mistreatment of the victims (women, trans, non-binary, homosexuals, even men) by these patriarchal affected procedures while it is illustrated how gender and sexual orientation are determinative to these male-biased procedures.

Samhällsutmaningar som handlar om segregation, integration och ojämlikhet har aktualiserats och ligger högt upp på den politiska agendan. Det har blivit vanligare med att staten använder idrotten som verktyg för att möta dessa utmaningar. På senare tid har idrotten kommit att genomföra områdesbaserade insatser i utsatta områden. I uppsatsen intresserar jag mig för dessa. Syftet är att synliggöra de ”problem” och institutionella logiker som framträder i organiseringen av de områdesbaserade insatser, Idrottsklivet och Hemmaplan. Inspiration har hämtats från Bacchis metod What’s the “problem” represented to be?” och teoretisk utgångspunkt tas även från institutionell teori. För att nå syftet och besvara frågeställningarna har jag använt mig av intervjuer med tjänstepersoner och representanter för idrottsrörelsen, politiker, tjänsteperson från Regeringskansliet, utredare, utvärderare och andra forskare. Dessutom har en enkät skickats ut till representanter för Hemmaplan. Utöver detta har jag analyserat ansökningshandlingar, pressmeddelande och andra relevanta dokument. Resultaten visar på att de problem de områdesbaserade insatserna Idrottsklivet och Hemmaplan är tänkta att lösa handlar främst om avsaknad av föreningsliv och lägre idrottsdeltagande bland barn och unga i dessa områden. Dessutom är förhoppningen att insatserna ska bidra till samhälleliga värden som handlar om ökad trygghet, mindre kriminalitet och förbättrad folkhälsa, men även att motverka segregation och förbättra integrationen. I analysen av insatserna framträder olika institutionella logiker hos de involverade aktörerna. De centrala logikerna kan hänföras till idrottsrörelsen ”handlingsutrymme” och politikens ”handlingskraft”. Slutsatsen i uppsatsen är att de ”problem” som Idrottsklivet och Hemmaplan är tänkta att lösa, liksom de institutionella logikerna som återfinns hos de involverade aktörerna, har betydelse för organiseringen av de områdesbaserade insatserna. / Societal challenges that deal with segregation, integration and inequality have been brought up to date and are on the political agenda. It has become more common for the state to use sport as a tool to meet these challenges. In recent times, sport has come to implement area-based initiatives in vulnerable areas. In the essay, I am interested in these. The purpose is to make visible the "problems" and institutional logics that appear in the organization of the area-based initiative, Idrottsklivet and Hemmaplan. Inspiration has been taken from Bacchi's method “What's the “problem” represented to be?” and theoretical starting point is taken from institutional theory, as well. In order to reach the purpose and answer my research questions, I have used interviews with officials and representatives of the sports movement, politicians, officials from the Government Office, investigators, evaluators and other researchers. In addition, a survey has been sent out to representatives of Hemmaplan. Furthermore, I have analysed application documents, press releases and other relevant documents. The results show that the “problems” that the area-based initiatives Idrottsklivet and Hemmaplan are supposed to solve mainly concern the lack of sport associations and lower participation in sport among children and young people in these areas. In addition, the hope is that the efforts will contribute to societal values ​​that deal with increased security, less crime and improved public health, but also to counter segregation and improve integration. In the analysis of the interventions, different institutional logics have emerged. The central logics can be attributed to the sports movement's “room for action” and politics “action power of”. The conclusion of the essay is that the "problems" that Idrottsklivet and Hemmaplan are supposed to solve, as well as the institutional logics, are important for the organisation of the area-based initiative.