Federalism is an important and broadly implemented feature in today's international community of polities. Around 70% of the world states are believed to have at least some element of federalism, and around 20 of the world's nations are considered to be federal states, and 40% of the world's population lives in these countries. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to investigate federalism. To see what reasons that is behind federalism and if federalism itself have any effects on issues such as democracy and participation. First of all it is important to understand what federalism is, and as mentioned above countries can have different degrees of federalism; however, two very important aspects are division of power and self rule. Division of power means that the governing power is divided, the federation as a whole has its governing system and the regions or states have their own. Self rule is given in a federation, the goal here is to create a system where regions and states can have their sovereignty and make decisions that they believe are the best for their region, but at the same time they belong to a bigger system and have to obey the rules of the national government as well. This often becomes a source of disagreement, what should be the responsibility of the region and what should the national government control. Political scientists have over time been discussing what the reasons for a country become a federation might be. I will in this thesis discuss five hypothetical reasons: 1) A practical reason- Countries becomes federal because of their areal size and population size 2) historical circumstances- influences from former colonial powers 3) ethical diversity 4) the will to expand territory and 5) the will to give up territory. After looking at different countries evolvement towards federalism it is justified to say that all of the hypotheses, to some degree are correct. All of them do have an effect when it comes to why a country becomes federal. There are reasons to believe that a higher level of democracy, political participation and conservatism are consequences of federalism. After doing some statistical test it can beconcluded that democracy and political participation are somehow correlated to federalism, but it is not justified to say that a country is democratic because of federalism, other factor have to be taken into consideration. Conservatism however can be seen as a result offederalism.

Drawing on a neo-Gramscian conception of global civil society as a sphere where world order is ideologically sustained and contested, this paper examines the extent to which the idea of a human right to food serves to challenge neoliberal globalization or is incorporated into its ideational underpinnings. Through a focus on the negotiations of a set of Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, a discursive struggle over the meaning of the "right to food" is analyzed. On the one hand, the articulation of food as a fundamental right politicizes the "problem" of hunger, casts critical light on the global restructuring of production and subjects the market to the primacy of human rights. On the other hand, the "right to food" as negotiated in the Guidelines process – with its human rights content largely suppressed, recast as a policy goal and molded into a policy approach – is neutralized as a challenge and brought into conformity with the neoliberal project of globalization. Relating these findings back to the force field of contesting globalization from below and co-opting such resistance from above, this study ends with reflections on the limits and possibilities of human rights discourse as part of a counter-hegemonic strategy.

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The purpose of this essay is to examine the Swedish relations to Nato and by doing so see on what terms the cooperation is executed and why. However, Sweden is not a member of Nato and is thereby not seen as an ally of the organization but even so Sweden has a close cooperation with Nato. The theories used in this essay is The Rational Actor Model and The Organizational Behaviour Model by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow. To this a number of additional theorises are used as to complement these two main theories. The aim with these theories is to see which one gives the most satisfying explanation of the Swedish strategy to cooperate with Nato and still not be a member of the alliance or if all theorises are needed. A qualitative approach is used with a case study and qualitative text analysis of the Swedish military defence strategy. To form this essay a number of documents are used from the Swedish government and its defence committee where explanations are given to the cooperation with Nato. The documents that are used in this essay span from 1995 to 2009 and the reason to why this time period is used is because Sweden prior to the end of The Cold War had a strict defence strategy that was very neutral. After the end of The Cold War Sweden has opened up more to international cooperation, among others the membership of the EU and the sister organization Partnership for Peace by Nato. Further on, this essay also gives an explanation of the Swedish analysis of the security aspects in the world since this helps give an understanding to why Sweden form its defence strategy the way it does. The result of this essay is that the actions of Sweden are rational in its cooperation with Nato on the basis of the security conditions Sweden face. The military neutrality is one aspect Sweden chooses to preserve, and to do so and still cooperate with Nato Sweden is a member of the Partnership for Peace by Nato. In this organization Sweden chooses in which operations they participate. The defence strategy of Sweden is to preserve peace in the world around oneself and by doing so make sure peace is secured for oneself. To reach this goal international crisis operations are performed through cooperation with Nato in the Partnership for Peace. One explanation to why Sweden does not apply to be members of Nato is because of its organizational structure concerning defence strategy. Sweden only cooperate with Nato through Partnership for Peace because the goal of the Swedish organization is to keep the country military neutral. The reason for this is its standard operational procedures which the organization has when it comes to defence strategy. A Swedish membership in Nato could however also be seen as a rational choice since Sweden most unlikely would stand by and do nothing if another EU-country would be attacked. Many countries in the EU are members of Nato which means that Sweden would also defend that alliance. Thereby it would be seen as Sweden is prepared to contribute defensively if a member is attacked.

In this thesis we investigate gendered dimensions of the war in the former Yugoslavia. We do this with the help of gender theory, as well as theories about the construction of identities and the role of the identity aspect in contemporary warfare. By combining these theoretical points of departure we hope to shed light on how gender can be used by political and military leaders and by the media in times of war. We explore how underlying gender assumptions in the Yugoslav society affected the course of war as well as how gender relations were altered just before and during the war. We come to the conclusion that gender was central to the construction of collective identity in the Yugoslav wars. Women were pushed in to traditional gender roles and constructed as carriers of culture and mothers of the nation. Further the symbolic values associated with women made them vulnerable to sexual violence, since an attack against enemy women were considered to be an attack on the entire nation. The intersections between gender and identity aspects in the Yugoslav wars made women strategic targets of military violence.

In the Swedish general election of 2006, the citizens were faced with the fact that there were two parties that called themselves a “workers´ party”. It was not just the Social-Democratic Party, which we usually identify as a traditional workers´ party, it was also the Moderate Coalition Party, which we usually identify as a traditional conservative party, which during this suffrage also called them self the “new moderates”. The central and the main election pledge for the new moderates took its standpoint in the idea that everybody should have a job. This was also the main reason why they called them self a workers´ party. But is that enough for illustrating a party as a workers´ party, considering for example, that it should be in every parties obligation and responsibility to contribute to a policy that is shaped in a way, that as far as possible conduce to that every single member of the society has a job. Are there perhaps other values and recommendations to take in consider justifying the use of the epithet “workers´ party”, other than the idea that everybody should have a job? The purpose with this essay is to describe, compare and analyse four newspapers, as they have a key role as spokesmen for political parties’ opinions to the citizens, and how they framed these two parties as workers´ parties. For this purpose I have used and analyzed Aftonbladet, Dala-Demokraten, (social-democratic) and Svenska Dagbladet and Norrköpings Tidningar (conservative) by using a theory called the framing theory. This theory focus on how media select some aspects of a perceived reality, and make them more salient in their published communicating text, with the purpose to promote a particular point of view instead of others.

Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from Europe have been very active in the field of development in third world countries. This thesis therefore is based on the topic ‘The Role of European Non Governmental Organisations in the Development and Democratisation of Cameroon.Challenges and Prospects’. Increasing fundings from the EU and the national governments of these organisations have been made available to these NGOs to carry out development projects in the south but unfortunately as reports say, the level of global poverty has been rising especially in Africa that has 30 nations among the world’s poorest 32 nations (UNHDR 2005). Taking Cameroon as a case since 1990 is because of the researcher’s interest in that country’s poverty reduction programmes as well as decentralisation which are in line with the activities of the European NGOs. In critically looking at their roles, attention is focused on the following NGOs: The Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV Highlands), The Swiss Association for International Cooperation (HELVETAS) and Plan International- Cameroon which is a UK based organisation. The previous two have been working in Cameroon for over twenty five years in the field of development. Some of their projects carried out are looked into also and some of the challenges they face in the field. From this point, we could know if there are prospects for economic development or not. Possible theories like Osvaldo Sunkel’s ‘External Dependence and National Development Policy’ would be reviewed but the main theory however will be Democratisation theory that can suit the role of civil societies and NGOs. Analysis of related literature or document will be the methodology used because of the inability to undertake field research. It is hoped that this work will provide an additional framework on which development organisations can rely in the fight against poverty and underdevelopment in third world countries.

Corruption is defined as the abuse of public office for private gain. Often, corruption has devastating consequences, the two main consequences of which are economic and social. Unfortunately corruption exists most in developing countries, where people already live under hard economical and social conditions. The Pacific Islands are a region where corruption is a problem. Some countries are doing better than others, some have improved and some have got worse. But almost all of the Pacific island countries have faced cups or riots, breakdown of law and order as a consequence of corruption. The region is unique and characterized by ecological and cultural diversity, colonization, tribes, a human history rich in epic ritual, travel, narrative, and innovation. This thesis has examined one small Pacific Island country, Vanuatu which is a typical example of an island country in the region. 76 % of the people lives on 83 different islands and have little contact with the central island and its public and political administration. The purpose was to examine why corruption exists in the region with the help of different corruption theories. The result was that many Islands in the Pacific have been colonised and have had very little time to build up a stable public and political administration. Results also showed that the islands have a strong tribal tradition and people lives isolated on islands far away from the “real political life”, there is also a culture which accepts e.g. bribery and the general attitude is that parliamentarians should look after their original tribe rather than the entire country.

Several previous studies have in different ways tried to explain how new social movements are affected by the different sets of political and social contexts within different states and societies. This essay asks the question how much the institutional aspects within the theory of Political Opportunity Structures (POS) have determined how the rather successful animal rights movements in the Netherlands and Great Britain have mobilized and acted to gain progress. Since the Netherlands and Great Britain contains different kinds of political and institutional contexts, these two states are found to be suitable for a comparative analysis of the theory's durability. A qualitative portrayal of both state's institutional political opportunity structures are presented. Then the mobilization, progress, and actions of the political party “Party for the Animals” in the Netherlands, and a wide group of animal rights organisations in Great Britain are determined. What is found is that the open political system in the Netherlands according to the theory shaped the national animal rights movement to mobilize as a political party and only use conventional means to gain progress. What is also found is that the closed political system of Great Britain according to the theory probably shaped the national animal rights movement into mobilizing itself into a wide range of animal rights organisations that use a lot of confrontational strategies to gain political progress. The conclusion being that institutional political opportunity structures that determine whether a state has an open or closed political system proved its durability in the cases of the animal rights movements in the Netherlands and Great Britain.

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