The aim of this thesis was to study Sweden’s relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from the Korean War to this day. To do so, the focus was put on Sweden’s different motives during that time resulting in the identification of two phases. The first, characterized by an economical interest and the second, by a diplomatic and humanitarian one. Moreover, a non-governmental perspective was presented with the Swedish NGO Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP) in focus. This perspective showed the importance of non-governmental actors’ engagement with the DPRK. Finally, the international relations’ theory of neoliberalism was used as a theoretical framework for the thesis. The conclusion is that neoliberalism is correct at explaining the engagement of Sweden towards the DPRK. As one of the western countries with the best relations with the DPRK, we conclude that Sweden has an important role to play in facilitating the dialogue between the international community and the DPRK.

The submarine has historically proven itself to be able to greatly contribute to the achievement of national strategic goals and ambitions. Multiple nations are therefore developing and procuring submarines to increase their own strategic effect on the global arena. What is absent in discussions regarding submarines are possible contributions as a diplomatic tool. This study aims to analyze the possibility of understanding the submarine as a diplomatic tool in a context of development. Thus the study is based on theories of naval diplomacy which through the use of four strategic values, formulated and defined by the theories, explains national use of naval forces for diplomatic purposes. By analysis of documents explaining the development of submarines in two nations, Sweden and the USA, with differing global and strategic ambitions a width regarding empirical data is ensured which in turn contributes to a wider understanding of the submarine. The outcome of the analysis shows that the submarine indeed can be understood and seen as a tool of diplomatic value. However the result is ambiguous since the strategic value of symbolism does not present itself as a factor in the depiction of the submarine in Swedish documents and thus prevents the total understanding of the submarine as a diplomatic tool.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has, at the time of writing, been going on for over 14 months. Despite diplomatic efforts and international cooperation, no attempts have so far succeeded in reaching a peaceful end to the conflict. This study has aimed to investigate and analyze the factors that limited the diplomatic success of the international institutions in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The study has used neoliberal institutionalism as a theoretical framework to analyze and answer the question. This theory has been very helpful in identifying what flaws there may be in international systems that can affect conflict solutions. The study has analyzed a selection of factors which, according to a balance based on political relevance and theoretical starting points, are considered to be significant factors. The factors that have been analyzed are territorial, military, security policy and institutional as well as factors around international collaborations. The study's discussion shows how these factors played a role and in what way the limitations they led to may have affected the success of conflict resolution and may affect future conflicts and outcomes. The discussion also highlights the relevance and importance of a functioning and actionable international system based on the theoretical perspective. The study has contributed to highlighting important factors surrounding the Russia-Ukraine conflict that are relevant both to the case itself and to future conflicts.

Public diplomacy is a form of diplomatic activity aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics. In light of the technological developments of recent decades, digital tools and platforms have transformed the field of public diplomacy and became a significant force in shaping the diplomatic field. Sweden is a country with a strong international presence, where public diplomacy is a prioritized field for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This study contributes to the limited research on Swedish public diplomacy strategy by analyzing the way in which Sweden’s four core values are communicated in the digital sphere. The analysis is conducted in two segments. First, the Swedish public diplomacy strategy is examined. Secondly, using Critical Discourse Analysis, twelve articles published on the website for Swedish Foreign Policy Stories were analyzed. The analysis shows that the core values are incorporated in the texts. The values are not stated overtly, but strong indications in the discourse can be found suggesting their relevance. The size of the sample is not large enough to allow for generalizations of the findings. The study concludes that except for discourse, other elements, such as the visual semiotic choices also contribute to the communication of Sweden’s four core values.

In late 2014, Sweden became the first country in the world to adopt what it described as ”feminist foreign policy”. This was immediately met by both praise and criticism. While those who praised pointed to its relevance given the current state of global affairs; those who criticized it, did so because of its near utopian fantasies of global politics. While it has, since then, received mixed reviews in both media reporting and in academic reviews, it has never been investigated and compared to what should be perceived as the control — the feminist theory in international relations. This study aims to do so. It will, therefore, investigate the Swedish foreign policy and compare it to the feminist theory in international relations. In order to keep the study manageable, four separate branches of the Swedish foreign policy will be investigated. These are; migration, arms export, aid and diplomacy. While migration and aid are more generalized, arms exports and diplomacy are specifically investigating the United arab emirates, and Palestine, respectively. The outcome of the study was that all areas, except arms exports and aid, are both in keeping with, and against, the feminist theory in international relations. Arms exports, on the other hand, is not in keeping with the feminist theory at all. Aid is, in contrast to this, fully in keeping with the feminist theory. This creates a difficult situation when deciding wether or not the feminist foreign policy really is feminist. Sweden’s position as a weapons exporter causes severe friction with the feminist theory because of its recognition of female suffering during war. The way in which Sweden’s foreign policy aim to help women while also, in some way, perpetrating the suffering of women, creates a double standard. This double standard is what finally decides that the Swedish feminist foreign policy, even though it has many feminist leanings, is not feminist according to the feminist theory of international relations.

Present naval disputes indicates that naval compellence has endured since imperial expansionism and is still an active part of nation’s maritime diplomacy and strategy. In this study, I argue that sea power is more than a symbol of the aggressor’s national power and have a substantial impact on the outcome of naval compellence. Due to the exclusiveness of specific types of warships, the strategic prioritisation creates strategic cost that can signal resolve and credibility as sunk cost. Submarines also creates the opportunity for private signalling, without public transparency. Combining data from multiple datasets that compares the outcome of naval compellence between 1918-2011 with the naval power of the aggressor, this study presents systematic evidence that battleships increase the probability of successful naval compellence while carriers, conventional and nuclear submarines can’t be proven to have a significant impact on the outcome.

When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, it was the beginning of a two month long war. The aim of this essay is to find alternative explanations to the Falklands war with the main question being whether there were hidden motives for Thatcher and her reactions in 1982.   The essay will focus on the period 1965-1982 in which different texts will be analyzed by applying theories. The diversionary war theory describes how state leaders can improve their political popularity by intentionally escalating a conflict. The geopolitical theory explains how a state, by investments, constructions and military, can create demographic and international perceptions regarding a territory while foreign political theory describes how decision making is affected by the bureaucracy, psychology and the international system.   The ministry of defense and the navy was heavily affected by the financial cuts during the conflict and may also have affected the manner in which they advised Thatcher in 1982. Because of the British unwillingness to invest geopolitically in the Falklands and their aggravation of the diplomatically efforts to find a peaceful solution, the conflict got worse. In addition, Thatchers intentions to implement economic reforms and her record low political popularity make it plausible to suspect her for having, intentionally, escalated the conflict to gain political popularity and to enable the economic reforms.

The aim of this study is an attempt to investigate the relations of power between Sweden and the North African state of Algiers during the 18th century with small and intermediary agents as merchants and their role in the political and tradeoriented diplomacy practised in the Mediterranean Sea as point of departure. It is also an attempt to try and develop the understanding of this lesser investigated subject. Furthermore, it is an attempt to survey what historical documents are available on the subject of my study and the perspective adherent to it. The problem in this study are the relations of power between Sweden and the North African state of Algiers during the 18th century with small and intermediary agents as merchants and their role in the political and tradeoriented diplomacy practised in the Mediterranean as point of departure.The method used is a manuscriptanalysis with a historical character, a method with which historical documents, litterature and previous research are analyzed and interpreted. The source material used are the written documents of consul Georg Logie to the Board of Trade (Kommerskollegium).1 In the first chapter of the study it is stated that there is little evidence in the material, literature and previous research for small agents such as merchantmen and their role in the diplomacy and relations between states as well as in the international context created by states, but also the possibility that the merchants had a potential role in the diplomacy and relations between states as well as in the international context created and constituted by states. In the second chapter of the study it is stated that based upon relevant information obtained in a pilot study there is little evidence in the material with regards to an essay and the time limit it has in relation to an archive and the amount of material it possesses.The possibility that small agents as the merchants potentially had room to act in the international context created and constituted by states is also put forward here. The possibility that it became beneficial for agents as merchantmen to act is put forward in the third chapter. The problem of studying relations between states setting from small and intermediary agents is probably due to a perspective in which trade is defined and seen as a collective phenomenon and merchants is defined as a collective. 1 The equivalent in today's society would be along the lines of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs., my note.

The aim of this essay is to examine which of the two approaches within the field of conflicts that best explains the conflict between Georgia and Russia using negotiations, dialogue and conciliation. According to the first approach negotiations are used to handle a conflict, according to the second approach negotiations are used to solve a problem.  The focus will be on how the two states acted and how the dialogue from the European Union as a conciliator was brought before the war escalated in 2008. The EU is today an important actor within the international politics and has established close relations to the two states. The conflict goes back in history and is still not solved.   In the fields of international studies, there is a realistic view that claims the international politics to be shaped by suspicions between states as main actors. War is never far away, what is claimed to be solved through diplomacy. Within this field there are two approaches that explain conflicts. In order to conduct the survey I have chosen to use the qualitative analytic method and apply it on statements and reports from the three actors. The result is that neither of the both approaches gives a good explanation of the conflict, while they both have gaps and the actors did not always act as they were supposed to.

The following Bachelor’s thesis is analyzing contemporary advocacy for more women in diplomacy by the United Nations (UN), with the help of framing theory. More specifically, it examines, (1) how is the absence of female diplomats represented as a problem? (2) What is represented as the causes of that problem? And finally, (3) what is represented as the solutions to that problem? The thesis examines one UN body: UNITAR, which is the only body that focus on the promotion of women explicitly in diplomacy. This is a single case study with a qualitative approach, and makes use of framing theory, based on social constructivism. Through gathering of outward-focused documents from UNITARs webpage, it has been observed that UNITAR frames the absence of women in diplomacy as an inefficiency problem. The argument is that by promoting more women in foreign policy, there will be greater productivity, enhanced economical growth and less poverty. The main causes of the problem are represented as a mix of societal, individual and organizational barriers. The solution to the problem is represented to be mainly training of individual women to improve skills needed to successfully carry out diplomacy, but also, to a lesser extent, training of organizations to inforce a gender mainstreaming approach. Key Words:  Women in diplomacy, framing, United Nations, women in foreign policy, international campaigns.