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The following document is a meta-commentary on the article "Decanting the Rabelaisian Casks: Democratizing Neoplatonic Poetic Fury in Baudelaire's 'L’âme du vin'," co-authored by Dr. Robert J. Hudson and myself, which will soon be submitted for publication. It contains an annotated bibliography of all our primary and secondary sources and an account of the genesis of the argument and the writing of the article. Our article is based upon an analysis of "‘L’âme du vin," the threshold poem of "Le Vin," the central section of Charles Baudelaire's celebrated volume Les Fleurs du Mal. As we demonstrate, previous scholarship on this section is sparse and while certain poems within in have received attention from distinguished scholars, the integral part that it plays in the larger work has been downplayed, if not entirely neglected. Our reading of the poem allows for an explanation of the structure of the entire collection, illuminates Baudelaire's intended internal architecture, and elucidates his theory of poetic creation and aesthetic ideals more generally. As we demonstrate, the transition from the Parisian commoner in "Tableaux parisiens" to the transcendent poet in "Fleurs du mal" requires the transformation provided by the intoxication in "Le Vin" which lends itself to divine fury and attainment of transcendence in and ascension to the sonnets of the "Fleurs du mal." Our development of this conclusion comes through a study of Baudelaire's employment of Neoplatonic theories and images and adoption of Rabelais' Gallic codification of these Neoplatonic tropes. "‘L’âme du vin" illustrates the essence of Baudelaire's progressive populist thought previous to the Revolution of 1848, by rendering permanent the inversion of social order found in the Rabelaisian/Bakhtinian carnavalesque. The Neoplatonic ladder to transcendence, based on Plato's four stages of divine fury, and systemized by Renaissance thinkers Marsilio Ficino and Pontus de Tyard, is tipped, or thrown, on its side in Baudelaire's work, demonstrating not only the overthrow of the hierarchy of the Old Regime, but the solidification of the humanization of the common, working man, the premier venu or homme de la rue, and the ability of the least of society, rather than the members of the nobility or leisured class of centuries past, to access divine fury and poetic transcendence by imbibing, integrating, and appreciating the soul of wine.

Given the tendency of Populist Radical Right (PRR) parties to form anti-LGBTQ+ claims, this thesis aims to understand how a PRR party operating in a context characterized by progressive values relates to LGBTQ+ topics in their political messages on social media. A single case study of the Sweden Democrats (SD) – an example of a PRR party operating in such a context – was conducted. Idea analysis, which included the concepts of homonationalism and heteroactivism, was performed on 44 posts published during the year following the 2022 election on the social media platform X by politicians representing the SD in the national parliament. The results show that the SD pursued a homonationalist discourse in that they advocated LGBTQ+ rights to oppose Islam in general and Muslim integration in Sweden in particular. However, when the SD solely focused on the Swedish domestic context, LGBTQ+ rights were not promoted, but rather heteronormativity was favored above non-normative relationships, gender identities, and gender expressions. Thus, the results suggest that the SD took part in heteroactivism. Moreover, while the SD avoided outspoken homophobic statements, transphobic ideas were evident. Hence, the SD adapted to the Swedish context by performing a balancing act where they weighed the expression of heteronormative ideals against the potential loss of acceptance from a public supporting LGBTQ+ rights. Altogether, these results contribute to research on PRR parties operating in contexts characterized by progressive values as well as research on the SD concerning LGBTQ+ topics.

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In 2010, the populist radical right party the Sweden Democrats were voted into the Swedish parliament, which rattled the mainstream parties. The Sweden Democrats’ stance on migration policy was clear from the start, with their MPs promoting a radical decrease, if not a complete stop, to all immigration. This thesis aims to expand the existing research about populism in Sweden and contribute to the field of political science by analysing the general policy debates on migration policy held after the entry of the Sweden Democrats into parliament. The study examines the debates to get answers to several questions: What do politicians think is the main problem with migration policy over the years and how are the problems represented? Is it possible to find indications of populism during the debates and are there signs of the Sweden Democrats' discourse being normalized? Are there any discursive shifts made by the mainstream parties and is there a hegemonic discourse visible throughout the debates? The results show four dominating problem representations on the topic of migration over the years, with the problem representation of the Sweden Democrats gaining support from the Liberals and the Christian Democrats in the debate of 2018. Tendencies of normalization of the Sweden Democrats’ discourse are also detectable in the 2018 debate, as well as some discursive shifts by mainstream parties. A hegemonic discourse is visible during the 2010 and 2014 debates, but it has lost its hegemonic position during the 2018 debate.

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The rise of the populist parties in last decades throughout the Europe provide the ground for researches and studies. The recent success of Sweden Democrats (SD) in Swedish 2014 elections, and getting third major party position has been subjected to several studies. The present study for the dramatic rise of Sweden Democrats (SD), is based on the analysis of economical and cultural factors to find out this success, provides an analytical basis for understanding the reasons behind this phenomenon. This study tests two hypotheses by statistical data analysis, and analyses the economic and cultural perspectives by scholarly literature and provide new findings by testing these hypotheses. The study provides outcomes that reasons for the rise of Sweden Democrats (SD) in Swedish society lies somewhere in economic conditions and cultural diversity intolerance.

Poland has long been a country of net emigration, though the country has received backlash in recent years for its xenophobic treatment towards asylum seekers from non-European countries, versus its treatment of Ukrainian asylum seekers. To explore this phenomenon, this research first asks, does Poland have a preferential migration policy? I first look at the restrictiveness and evolution of Poland's migration policy from 2003-2019. I find that the state's migration policies which specifically target EU member and Eastern European states are on average slightly less restrictive than the restrictiveness of the entire population of policies. In the following chapter I ask, how is this policy implemented, and how is it reflected in Poland's migrant workforce? To explore how these policies are implemented, I look at work permit data from 2010-2020, analyzing the differences in the number of work permits granted to each country of origin over time. I find that migrants from Eastern European and Central Asian states receive a disproportionately high number of work permits compared to other regions, and that within the region, Ukrainians receive the highest number of permits each year. Finally, to better understand this inequality, my fourth chapter asks, why Ukraine specifically? In this analysis, I hypothesize that proximity and cultural similarities, Poland's security interests, and both states' economic interests drive this special migration relationship. I find mixed support for this hypothesis, but ultimately find that these factors do play important roles in maintaining the relationship between Poland and Ukraine. / Master of Arts / Poland has traditionally been a country where more migrants leave than arrive, but in the past few years, it has faced criticism for its differing attitudes toward asylum seekers based on their country of origin, particularly in its welcoming stance toward Ukrainians as opposed to migrants from non-European countries. In exploring this phenomenon, my research examines whether Poland has a preferential migration policy. I analyze policy to understand this phenomenon of accused hypocrisy in order to understand if these inequalities are built into Poland's legislation, or if there are other factors at play. I first look at the evolution of Polish migration policies from 2003 to 2019 and find that the policies targeting EU and Eastern European countries are generally less strict than those aimed at other regions. However, the differences that I find in strictness are not drastic enough for me to argue that Poland has a discriminatory migration policy. To see how these policies are put into practice, especially in the workforce, I then analyze work permit data from 2010 to 2020. This data shows that Eastern European and Central Asian migrants, particularly Ukrainians, receive significantly more work permits than those from other regions. This trend raises the question: Why is Ukraine a special case? I hypothesize that geographical closeness, cultural similarities, Poland's security concerns, and mutual economic benefits are key factors that influence this unique migration relationship. Although the support I find for this hypothesis varies, I find that ultimately these factors highlight how important aspects of the states' relationship, like geography, culture, security, and economic interests, shape the unique bond between Poland and Ukraine. This study sheds light on the complexities and nuances of national migration policies and their real-world implications, especially in Central European EU member states.

The purpose of this study is to present populism as a political phenomenon and to impose focus on the rightwing populist parties that are active in Scandinavia. This essay begins with a presentation of the three rightwing political parties in Scandinavia. The rightwing populist parties have successfully developed their rhetoric and effectively influenced the political establishment in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The parties that the essay focuses on are the Swedish democrats (SD), the Norwegian Progress party (FRP) and the Danish People`s party (DF). These parties are interesting in the sense that they share many opinions and are active in comparable political atmospheres, but also that they use approximately the same rightwing populist rhetoric as a way of exerting leverage on political policy. The theoretical segment is constructed on a descriptive historical background of populisms three different phases. It begins with the classic populism then the “dissatisfaction party” and in conclusion, today's rightwing populism. The theoretical segment also addresses populisms ideological foundations and its contents. This includes the country of birth, the people, welfare “chauvinism” on ethnic national grounds, targeted dissatisfaction, criticism against representative democracy, populisms dynamic structure, hostility to foreigners and stranger distrust. The empirical analysis of the political parties is based on seven starting points: basic values, views on peoples worth, most important unit in society, method for social change, political forms of managing, economic organization and utopia. To illustrate these points a comparison between the average parties is done, by examining their respective party agendas. The conclusion is drawn that there are few resemblances between the political parties examined; the differences considered are clearly stronger than the resemblances. The differences lie mostly in basis values, most important unit in society and political forms of managing. Furthermore are the resemblances only partial. The parties were most similar in relation to the family’s position in the society. SD and DF can be said to have similar ideologies while FRP’s ideology differs somewhat. SD and DF can be described as conservative nationalist parties, while FRP is a mixture of neoliberalism and conservatism. After studying each party’s principle agendas it can be established that all three parties utilize rightwing rhetoric. Keywords: rightwing populist parties, Swedish democrats, Norwegian Progress party and Danish People`s party, theoretical and analytical structure, empirical analysis.