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.

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.

This study aims to deepen the understanding of how safety and crime prevention issues are framed in municipal policy documents. By focusing on Västerås and Örebro, two Swedish municipalities relatively impacted by crime, the study analyzes the portrayal of the problem and the underlying ideas and strategies shaping the decision-making proces. Utilizing interviews and WPR-approach, the research contributes to the comprehension of crime development and safety by examining the approaches of local policies. Applying a comparative design to identify similarities and differences between Västerås and Örebro, a critical discourse analysis using the WPR-approach reveals central ideas and perspectives in the municipalities' policy documents. Despite fundamental similarities in intentions, the conclusions identify differences between the two municipalities in terms of approaches and understanding of crime issues. The study highlights ideas centered around children and youth, long-term preventive measures, and collaboration among stakeholders as defining features of the municipalities' strategies, further enriching the understanding of crime development and safety through the examination of local policy approaches.

In recent years EU-citizens living in poverty exercising their right to free movement within EU have gained increased political interest. Some vulnerable EU citizens travel to Sweden in order seek livelihood, some of them engage in begging. The presence of vulnerable EU citizens engaged in begging has generated the emergence of a new policy area with increased political activity at both national and municipal level. Here, a state public report, policy proposals and problematization of the issue at municipal level are analysed. The analysis reveal how begging is constructed as a social problem and how the vulnerable EU citizen is positioned. The political discourse in this policy area is characterized by securitization and individualisation of responsibility, begging is problematized based on notions of welfare nationalism. People who beg are positioned as undeserving and associated with criminality, with few exceptions, the social rights approach is silenced. Begging is mainly constructed as an individual problem and linked to personal deficiencies. Thus, the structural issues such as inequality, discrimination and poverty are also subordinated in the political discourse. Further, the analysis exposes that human rights issues are not taken into account when policies targeting begging are formulated.

Lesson observation is an established part of teachers' professional lives within a rational policy discourse which problematises teaching. The problematisation of teaching in official documentation and pronouncements has shaped understanding and experience of teachers' professional work. By approaching this study from a constructionist perspective, and employing the What's the Problem Represented to be? (WPR) approach developed by Bacchi (2009) to examine policy-as-discourse, it is possible interrogate the role of policy in making problems, and their solutions, in very specific ways. The innovative combining of the work of Bacchi with Bourdieu's sociological lens, in particular his concept of illusio, has enabled this research to examine the investment teachers make in the practice of lesson observation and to offer an interpretative rendering of 'how it is possible for "what is said" to be "sayable"' (Foucault 1991:59, cited in Bacchi and Goodwin, 2016:36 original emphasis). The contribution to knowledge within this empirical study is in the articulation of a vocabulary of motives used by participants to make meaning of why they play the game of lesson observation and, through this, an analysis of how policy work is done in a further education (FE) context. This research finds that by playing the game, teachers and observers are, in effect, making the policy work, which in turn produces the forms of objects which have been constructed through the representation of teaching as a 'problem' in official policy; 'outstanding teacher'; 'best practice'; 'effective teaching'; 'learning outcomes'. The reification of these objects within teachers' professional lives has created taken-for- granted realities which enable the binary of professional development and performance management to make sense. Furthermore, the research reveals how, in making the policy work, teachers are in fact doing the work of policy by enacting the objective entities constituted by evidence-based 'best practice' in their teaching. Interpretation of the empirical data contributes new knowledge by proposing that teaching has become represented as a 'problem' of learning within official policy discourse and that this has created a world where learning is a duty for both teachers and learners. The thesis concludes with the recommendation put forward by participants for a democratic and collaborative system of peer review to replace the current system of lesson observation. However, this recommendation is still within the parameters of rational policy narrative in its presupposition that teachers need to improve. The thesis, therefore, recommends debate about what 'development' might mean in the context of FE.

Presently the Arctic is characterized by climate change. The melting ice masses have also led to changed geopolitical conditions that act and drive the region towards an unpredictable outcome. This change sheds light on the actors in the Arctic Council (AC) and their ability to cooperate. This bachelor thesis uses content analysis to analyse Arctic strategy documents from Russia, China and the EU on how they see the problems arising in the Arctic and how they plan to combat these, in a comparison with strategy documents from the AC. With Carol Lee Bacchis post-structuralist approach and her framework What is the problem represented to be? (WPR) the thesis examines problem representations in the strategy documents. By doing so, this study is filling a research gap of policies in the AC as well as the basis for cooperation in the AC. The comparison between the actors and the AC’s problem representations shows that the three actors both have similarities and differences compared to the AC, and they all have uniting and divisive content. The thesis determines AC as an important forum for maintaining diplomatic problem solving, protection for the environment, sustainable societies and stability in the area. The analysis has also identified certain themes where the basis for cooperation exists: the environment as a whole, economic growth in terms of transport and fisheries. The study also shows challenges in terms of AR's relevance. Russia's national focus and China as an important and increasingly important player. These actors can be both environmental culprits or powerful co-players. The thesis also shows that the EU can act as a potential regulatory power.

The purpose of the thesis is to study how Umeå municipality explicitly approaches what constitutes quality and problems in school activities and how it can be understood in relation to segregation andequality. Using Bacchis ``What's the problem represented to be´´-approach we seek to analyse what problems are presented, how the municipality aims to handle the problem and what the discursive effects of these representations are. The analysis is based on the Municipality's quality report 2019/20.The main problem discussed lies with school staff who partly do not understand their assignment and partly prioritize certain parts of the curriculum over others. Non-ethnic Swedish students (“recently arrived”, “multi lingual students” and “students born abroad”) are described as a monolithic and especially problematic category due to parents’ cultural views and lacking language skills. In both these representations the wider social context of e g segregation, is disregarded, and power of the municipality to deal with the described problems are minimized.

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The aim of this study is twofold; To analyse and understand how well small-scale farmers seed production system from i.e Ladakh, India have been recognised in the 1966 seed policy bill and compare it with the newly released 2019 seed policy draft as well as examining potential effects if the draft is enacted. This has been done by using a post-structural policy analysis developed by Carol Bacchi and Susan Goodwin called “What is the problem represented to be”. The method has enabled for an in-depth and critical examination of the two policies in relation to the posed research questions. To be able to put the result into context and answer the questions, an analytical framework made frompost-structuralism, power relations and literature review is explained. This study concludes the problem representation to be the same for both policies, being disbelief in farmers seed production system, and that it is of disadvantage for the small-scale farmers in relation to seeds in Ladakh. This, due to its definitions and expressions of farmers and the liberal/neoliberal reasoning. Instead, the reasoning gives advantage to seed dealers and companies by favouriting Intellectual Property Rightsand a free market over farmers seed production systems and knowledges. Furthermore, this revelation resulted in a low representation for the small-scale farmers in Ladakh as they are viewed as inept of providing seeds of good quality to the market. It has also been noted that Ladakh as a remote area does not receive any special attention regarding their unique high-mountainous climate. Conclusively, the policies tend to subject all areas and farmers in India in a homogenous manner which is problematic in terms of rationality and perspectives in the policies. The lack of recognition for smallscale farmers in Ladakh and their seed production system increases the risk of further environmentaldegradation, loss heirloom seeds connected to culture and traditions and an increase of dependency onlow-land India. The author concludes that it is of relevant that small-scale farmers knowledges, not only from Ladakh, regarding seed production are incorporated in the policies. This, to eradicate on its homogeneous and inequality traits as well to minimize threatening scenarios that might result from a liberal agenda.

I och med den rådande coronapandemin kännetecknas dagens svenska arbetsliv till stor del av hemarbete och digital kommunikation. Att synliggöra diskursen om digital kommunikation ur ett arbetsgivarperspektiv blir relevant då dagens händelser kan tänkas påverka diskursen om hur arbete ska utföras. Genom en kvalitativ diskursanalys med Foucault som utgångspunkt ämnar denna studie att belysa de föreställningar som konstrueras och reproduceras om digital kommunikation utifrån arbetsgivares perspektiv samt hur dessa kan tänkas styra utformningen av det digitala kommunikations- och arbetssättet i det svenska arbetslivet. 15 artiklar ur VD-tidningen valdes ut, vilka analyserades med hjälp av Bacchis What’s the problem represented to be?-ansats. Resultatet visar att digital kommunikation ses som otillräckligt och svårhanterligt. Antaganden om att människan är en social varelse som ogillar förändringar samt att kompetens är nyckeln till effektivitet reproducerar de negativa föreställningarna om digital kommunikation. Därmed är ”vanans makt” central, varför arbetsgivare bör reflektera kring användandet av digital kommunikation.