There is widespread agreement that populism is on the rise around the globe. A concept that has been largely associated with Latin America has increasingly become related to the Global North where populists have gained power in several countries in the past decade. Previously, scholars argued that although populism has the ability to rapidly attract popular support it rarely persists in the long term. Yet there are both historical and contempary examples to contradict that notion. Which leads to the question; how do populists sustain power in a competitive democracy? This paper takes a closer look at how populists in power use media strategies to solidify their position. Existing scholarly literature on the use of media by populists is scarce and has mainly been focused on Latin America. For the research purpose, a detailed narrative spanning an eight year period was conducted to account for the media strategies used by populists in the Hungarian government. The results dinstinguish several strategies used by populists in Hungary which can be linked to their success in preserving power. The thesis contributes to the knowledge on populist media strategies and the wide literature on populism.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether income inequality is a determinant of national growth and whether this influence is different when income inequality in the upper and the lower decile of income distribution are separately examined. According to the statistical analysis that was held, income inequality was found to have some statistically significant connection with the national economic growth of selected OECD countries, but only in the long run. Moreover, the research findings indicate that when a distinction is made between top-end and bottom-end income inequality, top-end inequality has a positive effect on growth, while bottom-end inequality has a negative effect. Investment and fertility rate were not found to have a statistically significant effect on growth. The above findings were evident in all four periods that were studied. The results imply that states in OECD countries, as well as countries not belonging to this group, need to pay heavy attention to bottom-end income inequality, as a means of controlling and fostering their growth potential, while at the same time leaving top-end inequalities, which not only do not undermine growth, but also drive it. Future researchers are encouraged to conduct the same research with other countries as well, especially developing ones, while also including in the research other factors moderating the effects of income inequality in growth.

No description available.

This thesis aims to study how Hezbollah acted just or unjustly in the 2006 Lebanon War to conclude if their warfare was just or unjust. That leads to a better understanding of Hezbollah's warfare in the 2006 Lebanon War and if they thereby have culpability in the war. If Hezbollah want to be taken as a serious and legitimate force in war, they should be held accountable to the same standards of warfare as states and be shown that there are consequences for their actions. The theory that will be used in order to do so, is the Just War theory. It is divided into two categories: Jus ad Bellum, the right to go to war, and Jus in Bello, the right conduct in war. Hezbollah seemed to have failed to meet the criteria of Jus ad Bellum, by failing to fulfill the criteria just cause, right intention, the proportionality of ends, and a reasonable prospect of success. They only managed to fulfill the criterion of right authority and mostly the last resort criterion, due to their constitutional right to wage war and their prior intents of a prisoner exchange. The organization also failed to meet the criteria of Jus in Bello: proportionality of means and discrimination. They had no proportionality regarding the goal, nor did they differentiate between military goals and civilians. It was therefore concluded that Hezbollah acted unjustly in the 2006 Lebanon War, by not having the right to go to war, but also because the conduct in the war was unjust as well. That contributed to the more significant understanding of Hezbollah's warfare in the 2006 Lebanon War including its culpability, and the importance of holding them accountable for their actions in war. / Krishantering och säkerhet

The Donbas war in Ukraine has resulted in over 380,000 veterans who now have to reintegrate into civilian life again. What to do with former combatants has been on the agenda for many years since their reintegration plays a critical role in the transition from war to peace. Researchers have emphasized the relevancy of conducting more studies about how the veterans themselves experience the transition to civilian life. Therefore, this study which is based on ten qualitative in-depth interviews explores how Ukrainian war veterans experienced the reintegration process following the war in Donbas and how they adjusted their identities in the transition from military to civilian life.Through a thematic analytical approach and by using a theoretical framework related to identity adjustment processes their experiences were analysed. The results of this study show that although the extent to which the veterans are in need of assistance after deployment varies, all veterans did experience difficulties when returning to a civilian setting. The bureaucratic processes and media coverage of veterans were expressed to have the biggest negative impact. Female veterans had experiences that differed from their male counterparts both before deployment and during the transition phase. Moreover, all veterans to some extent experienced identity disruptions during the reintegration process. Ultimately, the ongoing war in Donbas is impacting the possibility for these veterans to fully move on and take on their civilian responsibilities. They continue to wait for the prospects of peace, both for their country and for themselves.

This study questions the way sex trafficking is constructed by the EU in their public policy exploring what potential implications exist by the way sex trafficking is problematised. Hence, the objective of this study is to understand how the EU constructs the problem of sex trafficking in their policies, and how this can lead to further policy implications for eradicating sex trafficking. This research analyses the three main policy documents by the EU; Directive 2001/36/EU, its strategy document The EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012–2016 and Council Directive 2004/81/EC. The discourse analysis called What’s the problem represented to be? will be used as method. It also analyses through the theories of Intersectionality and Governmentality. The results reveal that sex trafficking is a problem of law enforcement, welfare, and illegal immigration. Sex trafficking is constructed as a crime that violates fundamental rights, encourages gender inequality, and threatens the security in the EU. The way the EU constructs victims endorses gender and racial stereotypes. Furthermore, not much efforts are on reducing root causes for trafficking, as main the focus is on the transportation rather than on the exploitation of the victim.

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols aim to protect those people who are not “participating in the hostilities” of war, such as “civilians, health workers and aid workers” and are the pillar of humanitarian law (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2010). The humanitarian principles including humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality, are based on the international humanitarian law and committed to by all member states of the European Union (European Commission, 2019). Although these principles exist to guide the humanitarian organizations in their assistance and allocation of humanitarian aid, they are sometimes overlooked in terms of, for instance, self-interest, strategic motives and media attention. This results in ethical dilemmas for humanitarian organizations. The aim of this thesis is to examine how Swedish aid donors, both a governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), reason ethically in relation to the allocation of humanitarian aid towards conflict-affected areas. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with four Non-Governmental Organizations and one governmental organization in order to examine and compare their ethical reasoning. The theories of consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontological ethics, socialization and rational choice have been applied to investigate the research questions further. The results broadly indicate that all participating organizations reason similar in terms of ethics in contrast to the findings in the previous research. For instance, they all follow the humanitarian principles and use additional ethical frameworks in the allocation of humanitarian aid. Many similarities were found among the NGOs and the governmental organization as well as a few differences.

Recent history on global north and south relations demonstrate years of inequality in the practice of development cooperation – a field often criticized for its Eurocentric ‘donor-receiver’ approach. In 2021, the African Union and European Union set out to renew their 20 yearlong partnership, and a new discourse of “partnership of equals” has been strongly promoted by the EU, suggesting a change of approach. This study analyses the EU’s Strategy for Africa through a critical discourse analysis (CDA). Deriving from development theory the study applies Fairclough’s three-dimensional model to better understand the concept of partnership and the relations of power. In addition to CDA, semi-structured interviews are carried out with young experts and coordinators who currently implement projects of the partnership and who contributes to this research by sharing their experiences and expectations. The findings suggest a problematic mismatch between the discourse used in the text and implementation of the partnership in relation to the promise of equality and partnership. The EU and Europe is positioned in a place of superiority in the discourse promoted and they fail to reflect on structural dimensions that might contribute to a significant change in how the two institutions partner.

This paper aims at analyzing and understanding the political conflict between the EU and member states Hungary and Poland that has increased in recent years. Though this paper's focus will be on the different understanding and application of democracy, its meaning and values. By understanding the different approach to democracy, through liberal democracy and illiberal democracy, one may understand the conflict better and its implication for European integration. This paper analyses the democratic development in Hungary and Poland, the theories behind their development and its response from the EU. The importance of understanding the core values of democracy and understanding of it, be it liberal democracy or illiberal democracy, is not to be underestimated. Only by understanding these differences in core values can we understand the conflict of Rule of Law between the EU and its illiberal member states. This paper concludes that the negative democratic development in these states and their governments' public philosophical and political narratives for their reforms are not in coordination with neither reality nor public opinion. It also finds that the development of illiberal democracies within the EU is a threat to future European integration and the normative legitimacy of the EU in internal and foreign matters.

The motivation for this thesis has been based on the desire to conduct a contemporary study of securitization in the European Union's migration discourse. This takes into account the extraordinary circumstance of a war in the EU's close proximity and the unique approach the EU has shown towards the people fleeing the war, which seems to differ from the approach observed in research so far. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the EU presents a securitized migration discourse by examining its discursive presentation of migration and how this presentation relates to securitization. The study is based on the migration discourse presented by the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission on the institutions' official websites. The study has been conducted as a qualitative discourse analysis using Carol Bacchi's WPR approach, with the Copenhagen School's securitization theory as the study's theoretical framework. By critically examining the problem definitions, premises and silences in the discourse, the result has shown that the EU mainly presents a securitized migration discourse, which, however, shifts in relation to the referent object of the discourse, i.e. whose security is in question.