The aim of this paper is to explore how the Rwandan state has motivated its increased prioritization of family planning (FP). The paper seeks to understand whether the state’s increased promotion of FP is a result of Rwanda’s strong commitment to gender equality or part of a broader development agenda. By applying theories of substantive representation of women and smart economics, the paper investigates if the state considers enhancing women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as a goal in itself or as a means to reach their broader development goals. The method which has been selected is text analysis. The texts which are analyzed are government documents from the time of the emergence of the FP programme. The main findings of this paper suggest that the state’s main motive for the increased prioritization of FP is driven by the development agenda rather than a gender-sensitive approach. Nevertheless, there are statements in the texts which the paper connects to theories of substantive representation of women, however, the development rational corresponding with the idea of smart economics is more recurrent. The paper finds that the hypothesis building on the theory of smart economics finds the strongest support and therefore suggests that the Rwandan states consider FP to be a means to achieve broader development goals.

In a world where insecurities, violence and disasters seem to be increasing on a daily basis, compassion, a moral sentiment of co-suffering and motivation to alleviate it, plays an important role, especially in humanitarian action. However, compassion is not a constant feeling, and our emotions and compassion towards tragedies do not always resonate with egalitarian principles. This thesis seeks to explore the potential relationship between field experience, in humanitarian action, and compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Departing from two contrasting hypotheses, grounded in theories of compassion, it investigates the factors, relating to field experience, that affect this moral sentiment, in a single case study of the Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA). Through a quantitative survey design, combined with semi-structured interviews, the study finds that there exists no isolated correlation between field experience and compassion fatigue or satisfaction. However, the study concludes that compassion is affected by several intervening variables, relating to field experience, which can result in either compassion fatigue or satisfaction, resonating with both hypotheses.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experience that secondary school teachers in Swedenhave of the charter school reform (friskolereformen). The reform meant that charter schools couldcompete on equal terms with municipal schools, the idea being that competition would cut costs andimprove the overall quality of all schools. The main objective of the study is to investigate how thishas affected teachers working for municipal schools, who's main objective remains to cater to thepublic good. Through interviews with several teachers from municipals schools in Uppsala, it'sclear that the reform has had a clear impact on their profession. The municipality's will to reducecosts seem to have increased the workload for the teachers. A lot of new administrative tasks, notregarded as essential educational tasks, have been added. Meanwhile the reputation and salary ofteachers have dropped along with a decreasing collegiality, attributed to lack of time. It appears thatthe teachers are overall dissatisfied with the implementation of the reform but agree thatcompetition can have positive and diversifying effects on the education system. The teachers areabove all sceptical to private companies making profit of students, claiming that it promotes a faultycompetition that tries to attract student not by promising a lot of lessons but rather few lessons andeasy grades. The conclusion is that even teachers in municipal schools have felt the effect of NPMreforms.The teachers feel that their autonomy has decreased and that their profession has sufferedas a consequence of the charter school reform. The bureaucratic and professional logic that hasguided teachers has had to make way for a new market logic.

No description available.

This thesis is a postcolonial feminist discourse analysis of Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy. Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy is unique to the world, but it is not the only case of incorporating a gender perspective as a central part of national or international politics. Feminism and gender perspectives are increasingly receiving attention and space in global politics. The Swedish case could therefore inform us about where politics are heading. Previous research on the Feminist Foreign Policy has aimed mainly at examining what it means and what challenges it likely will face. The aim of the analysis is to examine whether and to what extent the discourse of the Feminist Foreign Policy interrelates with gendered postcolonial narratives. Feminist scholars have for decades argued for the need to recognize the ways in which gendered and postcolonial structures are interrelated. Excluding either a gender or postcolonial analysis will convey only part of the problem. The method used is discourse analysis, or more specifically, critical discourse analysis. Discourse is an essential part of our social world. It is both constituted by and constitutive of how we understand our surroundings. Critical discourse analysis in particular is a useful method to illuminate power relations in society and how they are reproduced or countered through discourse. Two opposing ideal types are developed based on ideas from postcolonial theory and postcolonial feminist theory: gendered postcolonial discourse and fully feminist discourse. The ideal types are used in order to measure whether, how and to what extent the Feminist Foreign Policy interacts with gendered postcolonial discourse. The analysis looks at official documents, statements and speeches of different forms issued or produced by the foreign office. Using several texts, with varied aims and settings, the material will arguably be representative of the Feminist Foreign Policy. The results show that the Feminist Foreign Policy cannot be placed exclusively in either ideal type. The texts interrelate with gendered postcolonial discourse, reproducing unequal relations of power. Conversely, other parts of the texts are fully feminist, both transforming discourse and contributing to knowledge about what it can look like when discourse manages to avoid gendered postcolonial narratives.

This paper aims to measure the relationship between systemic vulnerability and government development investments. Systemic vulnerability is a concept introduced by Doner et al. (2005), which suggests that broad coalitions, severe external threats and scarce resources will lead to developmental states. Developmental states have several definitions that can generally be divided into structural and ideological features. Structural features include aspects related to state capacity and bureaucratic robustness, while ideological features refer to a stated goal of development. However, the term “developmental state” is also used as a political buzzword, which has diluted the academic concept. Education investments are used as a proxy for development investments because of the long-term societal and economic benefits that education has in a society. The study combines theories of political behavior, state-building and rentier states for the argument that systemic vulnerability should be positively correlated with education investments. Analysis is based on data from 73 countries and it shows that only some components of systemic vulnerability are correlated with education investments. The weak relationship between scarce resources and education investment follows the expected trend, while the relationship between external threat and education investment is unexpectedly negative. The broad coalitions show no statistically significant correlation between coalition size and education investment. These findings make a contribution to the field of development studies by expanding the understanding of the impact that systemic vulnerability has on development, since there has not been a large-n test of the concept on development investments before.

This thesis has strived to analyze how institutionalized frames may affect how another topic is discussed in a political context. This presented framing strategy is referred to as frame bridging. The aim was to analyze whether the framing of homosexuality in Uganda has affected its HIV policy. It is based on the constructivist understanding of policy as something created in dynamic social processes, which can be strategically framed intentionally or have unintentional consequences. Uganda is a compelling case since its homophobia is institutionalized to a degree that makes it difficult for people in to express gay-positive sentiment. Dynamic frame analysis was chosen as method. The material analyzed consisted primarily of statements from key politicians and official policy documents from the Ugandan government between 2009 and 2017. Firstly, the frames that exist upon homosexuality and HIV in Uganda were distinguished. These frames, illustrated tensions between the West and Africa, conflicting roles on masculinity, HIV as consequence of immoral behavior. Secondly, the frames within HIV policy were scrutinized. These frames outlined HIV as a consequence of promiscuity, as a problem especially to those with ‘risky sexual behavior’ or it failed to at all acknowledge e.g. men having sex with men. This thesis demonstrates that a frame bridging is present although it is not overt but rather implicit. The HIV policy is heteronormative and renders sexual minorities invisible. A possible explanation is that the exclusion of men having sex with men in HIV policy is strategic and due to aid dependency from Western donors. Since actors are confined in their social realities, Ugandan politicians may not be explicitly homophobic in HIV policy since they must acknowledge the Western donors’ influence. This thesis has illustrated that the relationship between homophobia and HIV ultimately turns in to a discussion about tensions between an ‘open’ West and a ‘deprived’ Africa.

No description available.

Jämställdhetsintegrering är i Sverige den huvudsakliga strategin för att nå de jämställdhetspolitiska målen. Strategin går ut på att ett jämställdhetsperspektiv ska finnas inom alla områden, nivåer och processer i beslutsfattande och utförande av politik. Strategin har används sedan 90-talet men några tydliga effekter har inte kunnat påvisas och samhället är fortfarande inte jämställt. Inom forskningen har jämställdhetsintegreringens transformativa potential ifrågasatts. Man menar att strategin när den sätts i praktiken anpassas till etablerad politik och processer snarare än att förändra dem. Det är jämställdhetsintegreringens transformativa potential som undersöks i denna uppsats genom en fallstudie av för teorin kritiska fall. Strategier, styrdokument och utvärderingar studeras i tre svenska kommuner. Slutsatsen är att jämställdhetsintegreringen i dessa gynnsamma fall inte är genomgående transformativ utan att det sker en viss teknokratisering och avpolitisering av jämställdhetsarbetet. Därmed ger den stöd till forskningen som menar att jämställdhetsintegrering inte uppfyller sin transformativa potential när den sätts i praktiken.

The Egyptian civil society operates under a number of formal restrictions and the government’s repressive policy has held back the emergence of autonomous organisations and made them lose their power and impact. Nevertheless, civil society organisations in Egypt have grown in number, scope of activities and impact. In addition, the press has got relatively greater freedom of expression. Taking this evolution in account, this essay examines the contemporary Egyptian civil society in practice through two Egyptian newspapers; Al-Ahram and Al-Wafd. / Det Egyptiska civil samhället verkar under en mängd formella restriktioner och regeringens hämmande politik har förhindrat utvecklingen av autonoma organisationer, vilket har bidragit till att de har förlorat makt och påverkan. Trots detta har de civila samhälls organisationerna i Egypten ökat i antal, omfattning och påverkan och pressen har fått relativt ökad yttrandefrihet. Med hänsyn till detta undersöker föreliggande uppsats det samtida Egyptiska civil samhället i praktiken genom två Egyptiska tidningar; Al-Ahram och Al-Wafd