Girls’ education is one of the main attributes that contribute to the development of a nation and society. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the girls’ education is discursively constructed by the development agencies promoting girls’ education. Furthermore, the thesis also aims to explore how these discourses reflect the concepts of gender equality, equity, and empowerment in the policy texts in relation to girls’ education and what similarities and/ or differences are found by the produced knowledge in relation to girls’ education by the development agencies in correspondence to the three theories: Human Capital Approach (HCA), Human Rights Approach (HRA), and Capability Approach (CA). The study’s theoretical perspectives include the three theories of education: the human capital approach, the human rights approach, and the capabilities approach. To examine how development agencies policy texts discursively construct girls’ education, an analysis informed by interpretive and qualitative approaches to critical discourse analysis is conducted. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the research method contributes to analyze how discursive practices or texts are produced, described, and interpreted particularly in the policy documents. The analytical framework of Carol Bacchi (2009) ‘what’s the problem represented to be’ (WPR) as an analytical framework contribute to understand; 1.how something is presented as a problem and phrased in a specific policy text; 2. provides a systematic way to critically investigate problem representations in the policy texts to see what they include, what is not included; and 3. to retain the validity of the study quite high. The questions addressed in this study are: 1. what is the problem represented; 2. what solutions are provided to this problem; 3. what effects are produced by the representation of the problem; 4. what is unaddressed/silenced in the problem representation of girls’ education? The study compares policy texts published between 2010 to 2020 sampled from some the biggest foreign aid donors such as Japan, United Nations of America, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Italy, Finland, and France working in areas of development assistance and support specially focused on gender and education of developing countries. The analysis suggests that the development agencies primarily views the importance of girls’ education in instrumental terms even though discourses harmonizes with the human rights and capabilities approach discourses. The discourses of the three theories are compatible with each other and the underlying message remains quite the same in all the development agencies. The human capital discourses to a large extent followed discourses on women and gender equality. The discursive constructions of girls’ and women structured around economic development and efficiency thus sustain hegemonic gender power structures and gender inequalities rather than challenging them. The current discourses of the development agencies of dominantly constructing the importance of girls’ education as economic actors should address the root causes that hinders the girls’ education and agency which otherwise the consequences of only constructing women only as economic agents and as passive subordinates will be most likely to increase gender inequalities and poverty continue to exist further rather than ending it.

This thesis examines the politicization of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice in Sweden since 1989, and explores problem representations of prevalence within the recently proposed penal reforms to reduce the minimum age of criminal responsibility, implement stricter regulations for young offenders, and establish youth prisons. Specifically, this thesis aimed to investigate whether efforts to address the issue of juvenile delinquency are an effect of crisis-based politicization, and if the recently proposed penal reforms reflect the identified global trend of defending old and retaliatory principles of juvenile justice.  The research was conducted by applying a comprehensive theoretical framework, including politicization theory and the perspectives of humane neoclassicism, hegemonic neoliberalism and cultures of control, combined with a single case study design, including process tracing and the WPR approach to policy analysis.  The research reveals that juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice is currently being politicized in terms of crisis and that such politicization has been historically present, although it did not lead to drastic changes of the penal system. Additionally, it reveals that the problem representations are heavily influenced by the ideology of hegemonic neoliberalism and cultures of control. Altogether, the findings attest to a departure from previous traditions and a shift towards a culture of control.

The planet’s biodiversity is in a worrying state. Palm oil production significantly contributes to biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the different forms of public and private regulation in place have had limited success in regulating the sector and protecting the environment. Three of the biggest palm oil traders – Cargill, Musim Mas, and Wilmar International – were chosen as subjects of an embedded case study to answer whether their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts have the potential to drive transformation in the palm oil sector towards more environmental sustainability.  This thesis contributes to the debate around the role of business actors in Global Governance and their ability to tackle social and environmental problems caused by their business models with CSR. The thesis engages deductively with capitalism-critical theories on CSR. Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) approach will guide a discourse analysis of the 2019 sustainability reports of the three companies regarding their efforts to improve sustainability in the palm oil sector. A comparison with research articles and NGO reports reaches the conclusion that the measures taken by Cargill, Musim Mas, and Wilmar are not enough to improve sustainability sufficiently.

Barnperspektivet har inte alltid prioriterats i Sveriges lagstiftning och barn har heller inte alltid fått vara delaktiga i beslut gällande sig själva. Regeringen skrev en proposition med argument för att inkorporera barnkonventionen till svensk lag och den 1 januari år 2020 genomfördes detta. Denna studies syfte har varit att se hur barnperspektivet, samt barns rättigheter kommer till uttryck i propositionen till barnkonventionen, vilka argument som har använts för att motivera inkorporeringen samt hur detta kan avse påverka det sociala arbetet. Studien har tre frågeställningar formulerade utifrån syftet som har besvarats genom metoden What’s the problem represented do be (WPR), som är en analysmetod inom policyanalys, samt med ett barndomssociologiskt perspektiv. Resultatet har visat att barnperspektivet samt barns rättigheter är centrala begrepp i propositionen samt att ett stärkande av dessa i praktiken är ett av argumenten som används för att inkorporera barnkonventionen. Deras starkaste och återkommande argument grundas i att stärka barnets rättigheter och delaktighet i beslut samt att öka barnperspektivet i myndighetsutövning. I samband med beslutet att inkorporera barnkonvention i svensk lag tillkom det nya transformeringar av befintliga lagar, vilket i sin tur påverkar det sociala arbetet, både i arbetssätt och metoder, samt i förhållningssättet gentemot barn. Ett sätt som lagstiftaren kunnat avse att påverka det sociala arbetet är genom att implementera ett ökat barnrättsbaserat synsätt, vilket ska genomsyra alla verksamheter som arbetar med och för barn.

In 2015 every member of the United Nations accepted Agenda 2030, a guideline for sustainable development with the aim of keeping the temperature from rising above two degrees Celsius. However, it’s still not clear what it seeks to sustain, and the logic behind the concept remains elusive. This thesis aims to examine the meaning behind environmental sustainability by investigating how Agenda 2030 is interpreted by urban planners in Malmö, through analysing the problematisations made in the environmental programme for environmental sustainability in Malmö. The analysis relies on the idea that a policy is created in order to solve a problem. By examining what is seen as a problem the underlying logic of the policies will be discerned. By examining the problematisations of the environmental programme of the municipality of Malmö between 2019-2020 the research will elucidate what environmental sustainability means in the context of Malmö, Sweden. The research showed that the municipality wishes to make optimal use of environmental sustainability as a tool for social, economic and environmental development through changed behaviour of businesses, staff at Malmö Stad, and its citizens. The municipality’s environmental programme implies that unsustainability stems from lack of knowledge, which causes people to make unsustainable choices. Environmental sustainability, as presented, by the municipality of Malmö’s policy document to be about optimising and increasing the environment’s beneficial effects for humans.

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The aim of this study is to examine how the problem of ‘men's violence against women’ is represented and defined within the framework of parliamentary work in Sweden. With a poststructural approach the method of choice is a discourse analysis, in particular Carol Bacchi´s approach ’What´s the problem represented to be?’. The fundamental idea of this method is that the suggested solution to a problem indicates what one thinks needs to change, and thereby what the ‘problem’ is. In accordance with this method, we have analyzed eleven political documents (motions) which underlie further legalization and decision making, authoredbetween 2017-2022. All the selected political documents include solutions to the problem of men’s violence against women, domestic violence and/or honor related violence. Previous research has shown that the political debate has a significant impact on how a phenomenon is understood. Therefore, each epoch has a certain way of representing and defining a problem. In this study, four problem representations were identified: ‘lack of support’, ‘the legal system’,‘lack of knowledge’ and ‘social norms’. Together these themes represent how contemporary society comprehends the problem of men's violence against women. Acknowledging this is ofimportance because the problem representation provides a framework of action – for society, as well as the individual.

Работа посвящена проблеме репрезентации в изобразительном искусстве. Феномен репрезентации, традиционно связанный с классической парадигмой, рассматривается в качестве более широкой категории, применимой к изобразительному искусству также на протяжении неклассического этапа его развития. Предметом исследования выступают способы функционирования механизма репрезентации в изобразительном искусстве классической, модернистской и постмодернистской парадигм. Работа построена на анализе философско-эстетических представлений, касающихся сферы изобразительного искусства, а также эстетических и историко-культурных исследований, которые касаются вопросов, раскрывающих проблему репрезентации в изобразительном искусстве различных эпох. / The master's thesis is devoted to the problem of representation in fine art. The phenomenon of representation is traditionally connected with classical paradigm but in this research it is considered as superior category applicable to non-classical period of fine art’s development. The object of research is concerned with ways of functioning of the representation mechanism in fine art of classical, modernist and post-modernist paradigms. The research work is constructed on the analysis of the philosophical and esthetic ideas concerning the sphere of fine art, and also historical and cultural researches concerning the problem of representation in fine art of various cultural periods.

Scarce community mental health resources have led to people in crisis (PIC) overusing the emergency department (ED) and encountering police more frequently. To divert PIC from the ED and criminal justice system, and support them in their community, police services have implemented crisis response teams (CRTs). CRTs refer to police, health and mental health crisis response. Evidence of CRTs’ effectiveness in achieving their desired outcomes is limited, mixed, and/or anecdotal. I completed three studies using various theoretical and methodological approaches, which included: (a) a critical interpretative synthesis (CIS) of the conditions under which CRTs are formed, their features, and their outcomes; (b) a policy analysis using a case study design to examine how and why a CRT model was adopted in Hamilton, Canada; and (c) a what’s the problem represented to be (WPR) critical policy analysis of why police are implicated in crisis response. The CIS presents a conceptual framework depicting how unresolved structural conditions produce system- and individual-level challenges. Second, the case study examines the mobile crisis rapid response team (MCRRT) development in Hamilton. The analysis shows that initiatives that incrementally expand on the boundaries of existing programs are likely to be adopted. Third, drawing on WPR, we excavate problem representations within policy and policy-related texts to understand why police-based CRTs are expanded in Ontario. When mental health is framed in terms of safety and implicated within discourses about risk and danger police intervention is legitimized. Collectively, these studies provide a theoretical framework connecting structural, system, and individual factors most relevant to CRTs; demonstrate that an incremental approach to CRT adoption did not disrupt existing system arrangements; and problematizations within government policies that legitimize police in mental health crisis response. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Since deinstitutionalization, during which mental health patients were discharged into the community, this population has had more frequent encounters with police, contributing to criminalization and tragedies. They have also increasingly sought mental health crisis support in emergency departments. Police, health, and mental health crisis response teams (CRTs) have been implemented as an alternative response to people with mental health issues who are in crisis. To date, CRTs have been widely implemented but with little, mixed, and/or anecdotal evidence demonstrating their effectiveness. This dissertation contextualizes information about CRTs by presenting (a) a conceptual framework on CRTs, outlining the structural, system, and individual conditions under which CRTs are formed, their features, and outcomes; (b) a case study that examined under what conditions a CRT was developed and implemented in Hamilton, Canada; and (c) a critical discourse analysis of CRTs.

This thesis analyses the making of gender mainstreaming in regional development politics. Because of that gender mainstreaming can be filled with any meaning it has been of interest to study how gender mainstreaming in regional development policy is made. This is also especially interesting since gender mainstreaming is criticized in previous research of the tool. With Carol Bacchis methodological framework, “what’s the problem represented to be?” governing through problematization is analyzed. Specifically, the regional development politics problem representation of gender equality and gender mainstreaming and it effects are analyzed. The result of this analysis shows that gender equality and gender mainstreaming is made to be something that the regions simply can download to its own organization. The thing that stands between the region and a successful download is simply knowledge. What I find is that this discourse is limiting to gender mainstreaming as a tool and for the regions that utilizes it. The discursive and subjectifing effects of the found problem representation leads according to me to depoliticization of the policy area in the material. This in turn has its own issues and limits. In summary gender mainstreaming is not made to make structural change in regional development politics.