This thesis examines the subject of change in public administration from an instrumental and an institutional structure perspective. The purpose of the thesis is to examine whether institutional structures affect the development of instrumental structures and if it in turn is possible to affect institutional structures by changing the instrumental structures. This case study is primarily based on a series of deep interviews with senior administrators and politicians within two new administrations in the municipality Karlstad, both which have been created by merging several smaller administrations, but also thorough analysis of several official document such as protocols from the municipal council meetings, Tjänsterskrivelser and internal PMs.   The result of the analysis indicates that both institutional structures and the forming instrumental structures affect each other and  that their ability to affect each other depends on the dominance over the organization each structure has.  In my specific research case we can see that the institutional structure of the city-technical and housing administration has affected the outcome but the institutional structure of the cultural and tourism administration hasn’t.  While the structural change of the city-technical and housing administration hasn’t effected the institutional structure but the structural change of the cultural and tourism administration has affected the institutional structure of this specific administration.

This study examines the framing of Syria fighters in Swedish newspapers during selected time periods of 2016 and 2017. Syria Fighters refer to individuals who travel to Syria to join the ongoing conflict, an occurrence commonly known as Foreign Fighters. Using framing analysis and framing theory the study finds that Syria fighters and their actions are framed mainly as problematic and as a negative social phenomenon. The study also makes a comparison to similar, previous research of Dutch and Flemish newspapers and finds clear similarities as well as differences.

The study is based on a qualitative case study and is based on a social science perspective. The method of study is a comparative study; content analysis focused on document analysis. Interest is based on examining local basic policy programs for integration, as integration has become more noticeable in recent years, and has become increasingly important for science. The survey will be based on Ager and Strang's framework "good integration". Under the analysis section, various regulations, local action programs and tasks will be understood and explained from different criteria, based on the perspective of integration. The theoretical framework for "good integration" as proven to be very useful, and a high explanation factor. In summary, the analysis shows that the action programs for Malmö and Umeå, differ between each other, in relation to the framework for "good integration". The action Programs in the municipality of Malmö, complies with 3 of 4 categories in the theoretical framework. The categories fulfilled are Employment, Education and Housing. The action programs within the municipality of Umeå however, fulfill only one category; Employment. Both Malmö and Umeå’s action programs demonstrate differences and similarities against "good integration". Accordingly, Umeå's action program has more deficiencies in relation to the criteria for "good integration", in comparison with Malmö's action program. The conclusion is that Malmö's basic policy documents, at a local level; for integration, can be explained to more conditions for a successful integration, in comparison with Umeå's policy documents. However, something that both Malmö and Umeå should focus on is what the analysis showed for the category Health; develop policy documents for dissemination of information, which should include, inter alia and languages other than Swedish, to create conditions that achieve successful integration, according to the framework of "good integration".

The number of people around the world who are affected by humanitarian crises has almost doubled in the past decade. For instance, in 2016, Southern Africa experienced the worst drought in 35 years, due to the weather phenomenon El Niño, and all aspects of society were affected. The aim of this thesis is to identify and analyse different types of challenges humanitarian relief programmes face in their disaster management in two different contexts: a conflict and a non-conflict context. The thesis combines both disaster management and peace and conflict studies. Interviews have been conducted in Zimbabwe (non-conflict) and Mozambique (conflict) with INGOs, UN organisations and donors that were involved in the humanitarian relief programmes in the countries during the El Niño induced drought in 2016. The programmes experienced various challenges, and additional challenges have been found in the humanitarian relief programmes in Mozambique due to the conflict. This thesis contributes to the existing theory with one piece of the puzzle: combining the theories on disaster management and peace and conflict studies and showing that neighbouring countries to those in conflict are likely to get spillover challenges from the country in conflict, primarily due to issues with refugees.

Today, Ghana is one of Africa’s most stable democracies. According to Larry Diamond an emerging democracy can be broken down to seven factors, each of which crucial in whether a legitimate democracy will be successful. By applying Diamonds theory on empirical information treating Ghana’s history and its inhabitant’s attitudes towards democracy (measured by surveys), this thesis aim was to examine two separate eras in Ghana’s democratic development to: 1. Understand the factors that completed Ghana’s transition into a democracy, 2. Distinguish a difference in attitude and/or in freedom of press when comparing the two periods and 3. Consider if there is a recent negative trend concerning the freedom of press and public attitudes that might affect Ghana’s democratic future. The two periods assessed were 2000-2005 and 2006-to date. Results found that factors important for a healthy democratic development all in all have been positive in Ghana during these periods with, at times, some reservation for a tendency towards corruption and censor. Some variation in terms of attitudes and/or freedom of press was found when comparing the periods, most significantly towards the end of the second period where a slight decline was noted. Conclusively no major threat to Ghana’s democratic future was predicted.

Often when we think about democracy our thoughts are drawn to the thought of a political election. The US has for a very long time had low election turnout regarding to the presidential elections. In this qualitative case study the author analyzed two possible factors to study if they could explain the turnout rates in West Virginia and in Minnesota. The two possible explanation factors that were analyzed in this report was legal factors and socioeconomic factors. The theories that were used in this report was; rational choice theory, the standard socioeconomic status model and Jan Teorells explanation theory for voter turnout. The author concluded in the end of the study that both factors could explain the differences in the voter turnout between the two states.

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This thesis will use the final Marriage Equality Referendum debate which took place on the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ in May 2015 and analyse the No campaign’s willingness to be associated with the Catholic Church through discourse and framing analysis. This qualitative study aspires to ascertain the salience of the Catholic Church to the Irish electorate in areas of moral-social policy in Ireland. It will be found that substantial Catholic identification and high levels of religiosity does not necessitate influence of the Church over the electorate.

The main purpose of this study was to develop an analytical framework for the study of terrorism, and secondly to apply it on the Israel/Palestine conflict. To achieve the first purpose, I examined the history and background of the conflict. The purpose of the study has been achieved by using a qualitative text analysis. The questions that were requested answers in this study are: - What are the main reasons that might trigger terrorism?- What are the main reasons that might triggered the terrorism in this case? The outcome of this study is that the cause-factors to the terrorism appearance is modernisation and urbanisation, social tolerance of political violence, revolutionary ideologies and beliefs, powerless states and state response, the lack of political participation and minorities and terror-leader dissatisfaction. I developed the theory that I used and added other factors like occupation, strive for independence and self-sufficiency, and other like the diplomatic impasse, provocative event and religion that have characterised the conflict from the beginning.