How does the level of clientelistic distribution effect the risk of violent challenges towards the state in democracies? The relationship between democracy and violent conflict has been extensively tested, with diverging results. Utilizing time-series data from 162 independent democratic states ranging from 1946 to 2018, the relationship is here tested by separating the informal institutions of democracy from the formal. And running the level of clientelistic distribution, a conflicting informal institution, as the independent variable in a linear probability model. Which shows that an increase in the level of clientelism significantly increases the risk of violent challenges.

A case study of the conservative and allegedly climate denying think tank American Enterprise Institute and its usage of climate policy delaying discourse. By applying William Lamb et al.'s model of the discourse climate delay, this essay seeks to describe and analyse if and how American Enterpise Institute uses climate delaying discourse. The study is based on published texts from the American Enterprise Institute and the analysis is performed in two steps. Firstly, by conducting an argumentation analysis using the Toulmin model on the material to discern the main arguments of the texts. Secondly, by applying Lamb et al.'s model on the arguments to discern if any of the climate policy delaying discourses are used. This study finds that almost all of Lamb et al.'s described discourses are used by the think tank and that they are used in several different ways and with different implications. This study can expand the understanding of how climate denial focused on climate policy manifests and how climate delaying discourse is used. Moreover, the results of this study further proves what previous research has indicated: That climate denialists are changing tactics and are focusing on how to affect climate policy for their own benefit.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the discursive use of first person plural pronoun we through a discourse analysis of the variety of arguments by leaders of Pacific Island States in political debates, specifically within a climate change context. The research question is “How do political leaders of Pacific Island states make discursive use of the first person plural pronoun we in political debates in a climate change context?” By using a textual discourse analysis to study statements made by Pacific Island leaders at the UN Conference of the Parties, the investigation finds a wide variety of argumentation styles and pronominal choices. The main finding is how the word we is used in several ways, all of which carry political meaning, and the pronominal choice is found to depend on social context as well as the intention of the speaker. Political leaders utilize the pronoun we as a tool for political rhetoric, to argue both that the international community as a whole will face the negative consequences of climate change while also emphasizing the specific victim status of the islands. Several of the arguments found in the statements that were studied are centered on the vulnerable status of the SIDS (Small Island Developing States), emphasizing how they are severely affected by climate change. The essay demonstrates that the pronominal choices also have actual implications on the dynamics of the political arena. Primarily, the exclusive we isused to create a sense of division between groups, which encourages political mobilization. In addition, leaders are shown to make claims of a leadership role by using an exclusive we to create an image of the own nation as responsible, and opt for an inclusive we to create a feeling of shared responsibility globally.

This thesis investigates how women's political representation influences foreign aid utilization. While recent contributions show that the impact of foreign aid is highly dependent on the recipient government, there is still limited research on the relationship between women's political representation and aid utilization. Existing work within the research field of female political representation suggests that women are more likely to prioritize resource allocation towards healthcare and education and less likely to prioritize the military. Thus, women’s political representation is predicted to work as a moderating effect on aid utilization, whereby increases in female representation is associated with more aid resources being allocated towards healthcare and education and less to the military. To test the relationship(s) implied, this thesis employs multiple regression analysis on a time series data set of 102 aid-receiving countries from 2000-2017. The hypothesis that women's political representation has a moderating effect on aid utilization could not be supported by the regression analysis. The results do however indicate that female representation in the recipient countries influences government allocation in general.

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This paper argues for the utilisation of Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse the Australian governments disaster risk frameworks and plans to find if their depiction, or lack thereof, of indigenous knowledge and people can be traced parallel to their historical treatment of indigenous Australians. Focusing on matters of inequality which plague the indigenous people of Australia, I discuss how indigenous people and their knowledge have been disregarded within the drafting of Australia’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management plans and frameworks, resulting in a lack of inclusion and consideration of the benefit of their indigenous communities and their knowledge. The need for this study lies in the fact that the field of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management is focused upon an epistemologically scientific form of study, often subsuming other avenues of knowledge attainment which can prove helpful in reducing and managing disaster risk. To do this, the study considers the historical treatment of indigenous Australians to contextualise the meanings of words, sentences, and statements within the documents, focusing on matters of ethnic inequality, to answer the question: How can the Australian governmental discourse surrounding indigenous people and their knowledge within Australia’s disaster preparation frameworks exemplify the ongoing issue of indigenous inequality globally?

Sweden has for long been seen as corruption-free, with a high ranking in different corruption indexes. Which further sentiments the belief that corruption is a non-issue in Sweden. There have been corruption scandals in Sweden’s municipality, which goes against the belief that Sweden is corruption-free. The municipalities have not been examined in the way that Sweden as a nation has. Therefore the aim of this study is to analyse the reported corruption cases in Sweden’s municipalities. This will be done by a qualitative case study, where the municipalities are in the centre and analysed. This is chosen due to the fact that the individual municipalities have a self-governing right. To depict corruption in Sweden’s municipalities it will be analysed as a whole. This is chosen to be able to give an explanation for why there is corruption in Sweden’s municipalities and where there is a risk and how municipalities can manage the corruption. The municipalities will be examined through theories that have a basis in rational choice theory; the theories are temptation structure and game theory. The theories will help to explain why there is corruption. In conclusion, however, it can be seen that there are areas of concern for the Swedish municipalities. From obscure laws, which are hard for individuals to understand to that there are few that get convicted for acting corrupt within Swedish municipalities. The conclusion also shows that there should be additional research on corruption in Sweden at both a subnational and a national level.

På grund av den nuvarande situationen i miljöpolitiken i östersjön är väldigt negativ så undersöker jag i denna uppsats vilket fokus de olika nationerna har på sin miljöpolicy. Detta utförs igenom att sex olika perspektiv på miljösäkerhet appliceras på policydokument från tre olika organisationer inom två dimensioner, en dimension för säkerhetsobjekt och endimension för riskfaktor. Dessa organisationer är NATO, HELCOM och Sverige. Undersökningen har kommit fram till att NATO och Sverige lägger fokus på att människan är det objektet som ska skyddas från miljöproblem och att HELCOM har fokus på att skydda miljön från människan. Slutsatserna som dras från detta är att från de olika perspektiven av miljösäkerhet så utgår alla de olika organisationerna från att vikten är att skydda sig själva och varandra från att hamna i en situation av resursbrist. Detta användes av de olika militära organisationerna som en ursäkt för att skapa policy som fokuserade på att försöka försvara människorna mot andra människor som kunde ta deras resurser och av HELCOM som ett sätt att skapa policy som skapade en mer hållbar östersjö som kommer ha en god livskraft i framtiden. Detta var också något som Sverige höll fram på civil nivå, men inte lika hårt på den tidigare nämnda militära nivån.

There has been a great deal of interest in the Arctic governance in recent years, but littleof the interest has been in the indigenous peoples that populate it and the political structures theyuse to make themselves heard. In this thesis, these political structures, and the peoples that formthem, are studied in a historical context in order to determine how these structures weredeveloped, how their cultures have been effected by their relationship with non-indigenousgovernments and what affect both people and structure have had in their political environment.This was done through a qualitative comparative case study between the Sami of Scandinaviaand the Inuit of northern Canada and Alaska. From this study, it was determined that the level ofrelationship between indigenous and non-indigenous governments determined the degree towhich political bodies would occur and their ability affect their political environment. Followingthis relationship each case example developed a body for their own advocacy as a result ofsudden political pressure placed upon them. Overall, this thesis determines that the developmentof institutions is not fixed, but rather contingent to past events.

This study investigates resistance against female local government politicians in Sri Lanka during their first year and a half as members of local government councils, as a result of the 25 % gender quota introduced in 2018. Further, the study investigates these newly elected female politicians’ perceived ability to influence local government politics; experienced substantive representation. Through a minor field study, in-depth interviews were conducted to examine forms of resistance and perceived political influence of these newly appointed women. Several types of resistance were found and divided into three categories; Patronizing Behavior from Male Politicians; the Dispute Between Elected and Appointed Women; Public Distrust. Some evidence of the mandate effect and the label effect were detected, further hampering substantive representation. The study concludes that despite a significant increase in descriptive representation, substantive representation was not necessarily experienced by the interview subjects. Further studies are encouraged to deepen the understanding of the resistance towards appointed female politicians in Sri Lanka, and moreover the problematic effects of the implementation of gender quotas in highly unequal states.