The following thesis is an analysis of the self-narratives of the parties in the Swedish Riksdag and how these are used to construct the identities of the parties. For this purpose, we studied narrative theory and theories about identity in order to build a framework which would allow us to investigate the narratives of these parties. To identify the core narratives of the parties, we chose to focus on their respective party programs. Based on the results of our quantitative investigation, we chose four parties (Socialdemokraterna, Liberalerna, Miljöpartiet, and Sverigedemokraterna) to study in a more in-depth manner. Having selected these four parties, we utilized theories about narrative and identity in order to identify the constituent parts of the various parties' narratives contained in their party programs. The parties were found to adhere to our theoretical assumptions about how parties ought to construct narratives, albeit in different ways from party to party.

This thesis examines the impact that third-party identity and techniques have on mediation outcome. The roles of the OAS and the Carter Center in the negotiations between the Venezuelan government and the opposition (DC), during the period 2002-2003, and the implementation of the agreement in 2004 are compared as representing track I and track II actors and styles. Using a process-tracing methodology, five conflict mappings and stages of conflict are combined with the results of focused interviews to main participants of the negotiation process. The analysis shows a significant impact of third-party identity and strategies on the outcome of mediation. Moreover, the outcome is more likely to be successful when track II actors, actually track I ½, participate as mediators in the actual negotiations. The most effective strategies used by third parties, dependent on the timing of the intervention and the stage of conflict, are communication and formulation strategies.

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In this thesis I compare two images of political parties, the image that the parties themselves trying to create through the contents of their election programs, with the image of the political parties perceived by the public. This research topic is a reaction to theories questioning the importance of the electoral programs of the political struggle in recent years. I also take into account the electoral preferences of individual respondents during the analysis. I will use data from public opinion polls for my research on secondary data analysis and other research method will be content analysis.

More and more foreign spouses have been immigrating to Taiwan. The ¡§New Taiwan Children¡¨ are consequently expected to become the elites of Taiwan¡¦s next generation. The political education and learning in families, as well as the political attitude of the husband¡¦s family, will all influence the political attitude and national identity of foreign spouses and their children. Most of the dissertations regarding foreign spouses now, however, are focused on the life adaption and Chinese character recognition services for foreign spouses. Little effort has been made to explore their political attitudes. In this research, therefore, we focus our research on the participants of the Chinese-character Recognition Classes in 24 elementary and junior high schools in Kaohsiung City and probe their political attitude after attending the courses. In this paper, we will discuss the factors influencing the political attitudes of foreign spouses, particularly, their personal backgrounds (including nationality, language and education), family backgrounds of their husbands (e.g., the political party supported by their spouse and their perspectives on unification or independence), and social inclusion factors (for example, political-related discussions with neighbors and friends, community activities, participation in Chinese-character recognition classes or life adaptation-courses organized by the government, etc.) The ultimate purpose of the study is to determine whether innate factors (i.e., personal backgrounds) or environmental factors (i.e., the social factors) are more influential on their political attitudes. If environmental factors turn out to be more influential, we may expedite the social inclusion process through collaborative efforts between the government and private agencies. We will also incorporate in the ¡§conclusion¡¨ our recommendations for further facilitating social inclusion. It was found in the research process that, in terms of political inclusion, a significant level (P<.001) has been reached in four aspects including ¡§Evaluation of Government Performance¡¨, ¡§National Identity¡¨, ¡§Political Participation¡¨ and ¡§Political Efficacy¡¨. The correlation coefficients between social inclusion and political inclusion are, respectively, .370, .362, .187 and .270. It is therefore recommended that increasing the political participation of foreign spouses may be achieved by encouraging their social inclusion. The research results also show that, for foreign spouses with different language proficiency, there is a significant variance in the extent of social inclusion. On the average, more foreign spouses communicate with the families of their husbands in English, Mandarin or Fukienese, as compared with those communicating in the language of Thailand, Philippines or Indonesia. We suggest that the authorities should provide more subsidies/incentives to encourage foreign spouses to participate in language-training courses. The survey also shows that foreign spouses rarely attend the community activities or discuss with their friends, mainly because of language barriers. Improvement of language ability will be a motivating factor for their social inclusion. Foreign spouses seldom participate in community activities or in political discussions. The main reasons for this include busy with childcare or household chores, language problems or inadequate Chinese proficiency, which causes insufficient social inclusion. It is recommended that the government should provide subsidies/incentives to encourage their participation in community activities, including attending the life coach classes and Chinese-character Recognition Classes, etc. The research shows that foreign spouses with better Chinese proficiency are better prepared to participate in political activities. For example, they will find it easier to read election-related information. Among the foreign spouses surveyed this time, few have the habit of reading political commentary in newspapers or TV programs; this is due to their incompetency in Chinese language. One of the ways to improve their abilities in political participation, therefore, is to encourage them to participate in the Chinese-character Recognition Classes. In our visit to the Immigrant Center of Learning in the city, we learned from an instructor at the YMCA that free Chinese courses are now offered by the YMCA to the foreign spouses. It is our hope that through close cooperation between the government and the private institutions we can expedite the social and political inclusion of foreign spouses, enabling them to enjoy a happy life in Taiwan with all of us.