This study uses a neoclassical framework aiming to explain why different changes in foreign policy towards Cuba has occurred under the Trump-era. The main research question of the study is therefore: To what extent can neo-classical realism explain US policy changes towards Cuba during Trump's 2017-2021 term? The study identified three major changes that occured during the set time period that has been analysed through a neoclassical realist perspective. The material consists of a wide range from government documentation, reports, remarks, newspaper articles, academic work, tweets and more, to get a complete picture as possible. Three intervening variables grounded in neoclassical theory has been set up to analyse and find the material. The analysis concluded that domestic politics can have broad effect on foreign policy, which the neoclassical realism theory can identify.

Beginning with an analysis of Northrop Frye’s concept of modal progression (i.e., the cycle from myth to irony—and back again) and an application of modal theory to an analysis of postmodern narrative forms, the need to revise Frye’s concept of modal progression becomes apparent. Rather than following the cyclical pattern Frye proposes, the course of modal progression appears to be fixed to an axis of experience: a certain normative threshold which describes the narrator’s and/or the narrative protagonist’s power of action relative to an assumed neutral audience. How the narrative depiction of the narrator and/or the fictional protagonist relates to this threshold determines the characteristics of the literary mode. As argued in this dissertation, the increase in the hero’s power of action (typical of late modern and postmodern literature) does not necessarily indicate an abrupt return to the mythic mode (as predicted by Frye). Instead, what is seen to emerge is a decidedly advanced species of narrative irony, or, “high irony” that, while maintaining its distinctly ironic qualities, displays a remarkable tendency to disassemble/reassemble precedent narrative forms (e.g., myth, nonfiction, realistic fiction) into a self-reflexive, highly metafictional form of parody. As the absurd, parodic chaos of the high ironic mode shares several significant traits with both myth and nonfiction, these overlapping, parodic relationships are of great literary importance and theoretical interest. These modal connections and disconnections are what this dissertation attempts to explore and clarify. To that end, this dissertation charts the various ways that myth and nonfictional forms have been put to parodic use in the high ironic metafictions of Donald Barthelme, Robert Coover and Ishmael Reed, three writers whose seminal mid-20th century works did much to shape and direct the course of contemporary American literature. Of special emphasis in this study is the American postmodern preoccupation with revision and the politics of literary subversion that attends this revisionary impulse. The final hypothesis reached by this dissertation is that the literary repercussions of these mid-20th century excursions into ironic, metafictional abstraction have not led to a return to myth, but rather to a discernable tendency among 21st century American writers to return to previously eschewed forms of nonironic narrative. This trajectory thus marks a movement away from forms of narrative irony (as well as away from the mode of myth) and an emerging tendency towards more referential, less fantastic forms of narrative fiction.

Syftet med denna uppsats är testa Muddes hypotes: När populistiska aktörer når politiska framgångar och hotar etablissemanget, svarar delar av etablissemanget med att inkludera ett populistiskt språkbruk för att mota bort utmanaren. Ovanstående hypotes prövas genom att undersöka om Hillary Clinton och Jeb Bush som tillhör ett politiskt etablissemang utvecklat sitt språk i sina kampanjtal mot att bli mer eller mindre populistiska, i samband med att Donald Trump och Bernie Sanders som av flera medier blivit beskrivna som populister anslutit sig till primärvalet 2016 i USA. Teorin som används i uppsatsen är hämtad från Cas Muddes studie The Populist Zeitgeist samt Kirk A. Hawkins studie ”Is Chávez Populist?”. Metoden i uppsatsen utgörs av en kvalitativ idealtypsanalys. Utifrån uppsatsens resultat kan följande indikationer redovisas. Hillary Clinton har inte inkluderat ett mer populistiskt språk i sina kampanjtal i samband med att Trump och Sanders ställt upp inför primärvalet 2016 i USA. Detta står i motsats till Jeb Bush som inkluderat ett mer populistiskt språk i samband med att Trump och Sanders ställt upp inför primärvalet 2016 i USA, vilket styrker Muddes hypotes.

Problemformulering och syfte Det amerikanska presidentvalet 2016 var unikt – för första gången hade en kvinna chansen att bli president. De båda kandidaterna, Hillary Clinton och Donald Trump, figurerade flitigt i media under respektive valkampanj, inte minst på bild. Och just bilden har fått en allt större betydelse i nyhetsbevakning. I de traditionellt textbaserade medierna blir bilderna fler och större, medan texten krymper. Då mycket av tidigare forskning fokuserat på gestaltning i text, ville vi ta det vidare till bild. Syftet med vår studie var därför att se hur de två kandidaterna i det amerikanska valet gestaltas i bild. Men även hur rubrikerna till bilderna är gestaltade. Metod och material Vi har gjort en kvantitativ innehållsanalys av bilder publicerade på Hillary Clinton och Donald Trump i New York Times och Dagens Nyheter från den 1 november till och med den 8 november 2016. Totalt analyserade vi 67 bilder, 46 där Hillary Clinton förekom och 34 där Donald Trump förekom. Huvudresultat Resultatet av vår studie visar att media gestaltar kandidaterna olika i bild. Skillnaden finns i valet av bildutsnitt, kameravinkel och ansiktsuttryck. Det vanligaste sättet att gestalta Hillary Clinton på är som en lättillgänglig och oproblematisk person, dock med en viss distans. Medan Donald Trump gestaltas som en öppen och tillgänglig person som står nära läsarna, men samtidigt som en makthavare med ett allvarligt uttryck. Gestaltningarna av kandidaterna kan även tolkas som stereotypa för hur kvinnor och män porträtteras i media, där media fortsätter att reproducera könsstereotypa föreställningar om vad som är manligt och kvinnligt. Rubrikerna gestaltades i största utsträckning som spel.

Problemformulering och syfte Medierapporteringen kring det amerikanska valet år 2016 har varit enorm i USA såväl som i Sverige. När media rapporterar och skildrar händelser görs en gestaltning. I och med det faktum att världen är obegränsad och mediernas format är begränsat får således all rapportering en viss gestaltning. Gestaltningar har en stor påverkan på mottagaren och kan exempelvis göra att misstron mot politik och politiker ökar samt att förtroendet för medier minskar. Mycket forskning kring gestaltning i val har gjorts men forskning som avhandlar hur svenska medier gestaltat det senaste amerikanska valet finns det mindre av. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur det amerikanska presidentvalet år 2016 gestaltades i tidningarna Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet och Expressen. Metod och material En kvantitativ innehållsanalys av nyhetstexter i tidningarna Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet och Expressen ligger till grund för den här studien. Innehållsanalysen gjordes på tidningarna som publicerades från den 30 oktober till den 8 november 2016. Totalt analyserades 127 artiklar, 28 i Dagens Nyheter, 22 i Svenska Dagbladet, 25 i Aftonbladet och 52 i Expressen. Huvudresultat Resultatet av studien visar att de olika tidningarna gestaltar valet på varierande sätt men den gemensamma nämnaren är den stora förekomsten av skandalgestaltnng. Sakgestaltning är den dominerande gestaltningen, vilket även är morgontidningarnas vanligaste form av gestaltning. Kvällstidningarna använder sig oftast av spel - och skandalgestaltning. Hillary Clinton beskrivs mer positiv och mindre negativ än Donald Trump trots att hon oftare förekommer som huvudaktör i de skandalgestaltade texter.

For years, Texas has experienced significant growth and demographic change that has slowly altered the balance of Texas’s political power. This thesis argues that due to a series of unlikely developments, the scales are tipping in favor of the Democrats much earlier than projected. As a result of demographic changes, Donald Trump, and the Tea Party faction of the Texas GOP, the Democrats may be able to win Texas’s electoral votes, as well as the 2018 Texas gubernatorial race.

Donald Trump’s candidacy for president has led to a substantial debate not only in the Republican party but also in the media. Using a two-dimensional theoretical model consisting of the left-right scale and the GAL-TAN scale, this study aims to review the conflict that Donald Trump’s campaign has led to in the Republican party. Using content analysis, a range of statements from Republicans have been analyzed, aiming to answer the following questions; How do the republican political actors contend for or against Donald Trump’s candidacy? and: what material or post-material values are linked to these arguments and statements? This study shows that the conflict following Donald Trump’s candidacy can mainly be placed in the post-material conflict dimension, even though some left-right arguments can also be found in the studied material. The political actors supporting Trump’s candidacy are mainly using arguments possible to place in the TAN-part of the post-material conflict dimension, whereas the actors criticizing Trump are mainly using arguments possible to place in the GAL-part.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ran highly controversial campaigns in the 2016 Presidential Election, which then leaves us with the question of what impact is this having on the current economy? Prior analysis of political influence on the stock market tells us that isolating political impact on the stock market is nearly impossible. However, there are clearly defined 4-year cycles in stock prices that seem to correspond with election years. In this paper, I create my own index of stocks in the four major U.S. industries and measure both day-to-day and intraday volatility in stock prices across three comparable time periods: the year leading up to the 2016 election, all election years excluding the 2016, and all non-election years. I found that the 2016 election year was significantly less volatile than both prior election years as well as non-election years, suggesting that the 2015-2016 election year was not a closely contested race.

This thesis is concerned with the question of whether mainstream political media has been captured by misleading, narrative driven content during the post-primary portion of the 2016 United States presidential election cycle. I conducted an analysis of content of political articles and compared the factual information contained within to how the publication framed the story. I surveyed of two types of political news story from the election: conspiracy theory and scandal. When narrative influence was found, I then traced the narrative to its origin to determine which actors had gatekeeping power over mainstream media.

The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of Schön's concept of reflective conversation as a defining component in the applied studio music lesson. The research problems were (1) to determine the presence of complete and incomplete reflective conversations; (2) to determine the verbally exhibited knowledge base within complete conversations in relationship to conversation length; and (3) to establish an instructional profile of stable behaviors based on reflective conversation as a distinguishing characteristic among selected teachers. Videotapes of twenty-six applied studio music lessons of thirteen university teachers were analyzed according to problem solving, on-the-spot experimentation, and evaluation. An observation form was developed and was a reliable tool to collect information concerning number and type of reflective conversations, conversation length, and the teachers' verbally demonstrated knowledge base. Knowledge base was obtained by using the procedural model of Flanagan's critical incident technique. Reflective conversations existed and were a distinguishing characteristic of the teachers. With the exception of two teachers, a stable use of both number and length of reflective conversations, and knowledge base areas, was found. A discernible difference in the teachers' knowledge base within conversation length existed, and thus established instructional profiles for the teachers. Complete reflective conversations ranged from one-sixth to over half of total lesson time. Within instrument categories, teachers generally revealed a dissimilar knowledge usage. Some teachers exhibited fast-paced problem solving, in one minute or less, and named one or two knowledge areas. Others had longer conversations, up to five minutes, with more deliberate problem solving, and as many as twelve knowledge areas named. Results indicated that a practically significant situation can be examined by establishing teacher instructional profiles based upon reflective conversation. Methods employed in this study could be used to document teacher problem-solving and teacher knowledge in a variety of settings.