In the last few years, there has been an explosion of Facebook groups specifically directed at a female audience. One topic that seems to organize and interest Swedish women especially is money. This study explores the biggest Swedish financial group of them all: Economista – women who enjoy stocks and private economy, currently hosting 146 thousand members.  The group is studied through a theoretical lens of fourth wave feminism, characterized by the use of digital tools for feminist action, as well as a revival of the feminist collective action from the second wave feminism, and a continuation of a feminist individual empowerment of third wave feminism. The study aims to investigate how feminism, and the empowerment of women is negotiated within the group. It also investigates what defines and delimits the female discursive object of the Economista. Methods used are a critical feminist discourse analysis and an explorative netnography, combined with focus group discussions with members of the group. The study shows that Economista can be seen as a collective space as members experience the group as a safe space where they educate each other about the stock market – a field historically dominated by men, that many are reluctant to enter. It also functions as a space for consciousness raising about patriarchal structures playing out in their everyday economic lives. However, the group can also be viewed as a limited emancipation, as it only includes a limited scope of individuals. The economically liberated subject that comes forth – The Economista – is a neoliberal, feminine version of a Homo economicus, who is responsible for making deliberate, rational decisions regarding her economy. In this postfeminist discourse, feminist analysis is no longer needed, as women have all the possibilities in the world to live a rich and happy life – if they just put their minds into it. The study shows that it is precisely these instances of “empowerment” that are important to dissect, as these often conceal limiting structures. In this case, the implications that this notion of freedom and “lack of governance” has for feminist struggle is that it masks norms, hierarchies and structural power relations producing economic inequality. Economista thus becomes part of the problem that it sets out to solve, as the group pictures itself as a solution to women’s economic inequality, at the expense of other solutions.

This thesis examines the development of relations between mainland France (center) and its peripheries, French Polynesia and New Caledonia, which are located in the South Pacific. The thesis aims at answering the following questions: which factors have played a role in the mobilization of the peripheral cultures against the dominant center? How has the center reacted to the peripheral mobilization and its demands? Why has the separatism become much stronger in New Caledonia than in French Polynesia? The thesis examines the historical, societal and political developments in French Polynesia and New Caledonia since the dawn of their colonization till the present day in order to respond to the stipulated questions.

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歐洲社會民主主義與共產主義皆源自馬克思的社會主義，俄羅斯無產階級革命成功後使得兩者在實際作為中開始分化。隨後社會民主主義在西歐議會制度中得以持續發展，而第二次世界大戰後東歐則被蘇聯納入共產主義陣營之中。然而，歷經近百年的實踐後兩者終究殊途同歸，其同歸的方式是由社會民主主義更新發展成為更符合現代政治價值的「第三條路」，尤其蘇東劇變後的20年間，東西歐的左派政治皆已趨於穩定，特別是東歐各國的共產黨繼承政黨在社會民主化後，更能相繼以聯合政府的方式取得上臺執政的機會。 其中最受國際關注的，便是摩爾多瓦共產黨於2001年2月2日在國會選舉中獲得眾多選民的支持，在國會101席中取得71席的絕對多數，令其有權單獨組成政府，更尤甚者，推舉出自家的共黨總統沃羅寧；2005年沃羅寧二度蟬連總統職位，並由摩共繼續組成政府。自2001年起至2009年已連續執政八年，從執政前摩爾多瓦的政治背景、摩共得以重新回朝的原因探究，到其執政後國內外政治的重要議題，皆是本文專章著墨的重點。 本文認為：第一，社會民主主義在後蘇20年中，積極從事理論與實踐的改革，在老左派與新右派之間已經走出新的「第三條路」；第二，研究摩共得以重新上臺的因素，除了本身對於政治制度的探索與改革之外，轉型時期的經濟危機與府會之爭，以及共產遺緒效應皆為主因；第三，摩共執政八年在經濟調息與外交政策的表現上成績斐然，但逐年下降的民主化評比卻突顯出共黨一貫僵化的政治思維，外加第二任期的經濟表現停滯，導致摩爾多瓦共產黨最終還是淪為最大在野黨。 / Both Social democracy and communism are derived from Karl Marx’s Socialism. However, they had come to a parting of the ways after the success of the proletarian revolution in Russia. Social democracy continued to develop under the parliamentary system in Western Europe, while communism thrived in Eastern European countries, which were controlled by USSR after WWII. Coming into the 21st century, however, the two reconciled and have once again merged and redefined themselves as “the Third Way”, which adapts itself to certain modern political values, and it had been growing steadily in the first two decades following the dissolution of Soviet Union. In Eastern Europe, successors of communist party have adapted themselves to this “Third Way”, which helped them come into power one after another by forming coalition governments. Among them, it was the Party of Communist of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), which attracted international attention. The PCRM has won an absolute majority, gaining 71 out of a total of 101 seats, in the 2001 Moldovan Parliamentary election, enabled it to form the government, as well as, electing its very own communist President Vladimir Voronin. In 2005, the PCRM has once again won the election, and made President Vladimir Voronin re-elected to a consecutive term. The PCRM was in government between 2001 and 2009 for 8 years, and this research will look into a wide range of issues including the political background of PCRM, accounts of its regaining of political power, and important decisions of domestic and foreign policies made by the PCRM government. The first part of this research argues that social democracy had been actively reforming both in theory and practice in the two decades after the dissolution of USSR and it has successfully created a “Third Way” as opposed to the Old Left and the New Right. The second part argues that PCRM’s return to office can be attributed to its self-reformation, economic crisis, confrontations between the President and the Parliament in the period of transition, as well as, the communist legacy. In conclusion, it is argued that, although, PCRM government has made great achievements in foreign policies and in restructuring economy, Moldova’s score on democracy has worsened during its time in government, reflecting the ossified political ideology of communist party. It is this ossified political ideology alongside with the economic stagnation in its second term that led to the defeat of PCRM in the 2009 election and sent it back to opposition majority in the Parliament ultimately.

對於俄羅斯與烏克蘭而言，由於兩國之間長久以來極為密切的歷史與文化關係，因此始終難以接受蘇聯瓦解之事實。迄今，許多俄羅斯人依然視基輔為羅斯民族之出生地，且不認為烏克蘭是一個主權獨立的國家。更確切的說，俄羅斯人認為基輔羅斯乃是導引東正教與俄語進入俄國之發祥地。儘管俄烏之間具有不可割捨的兄弟之情，但當兩個民族或想像共同體對於其彼此疆界、文化等存有歧見時，則仍無法避免各種紛至沓來的紛爭問題。就克里米亞之黑海艦隊為例，顯示俄烏對於塞瓦斯托波爾城之想像共同體的重疊。同時，亦攸關俄烏兩國對於領土與心理疆界，產生必須且窘困的界定過程。 克里米亞半島素有黑海”鑰匙”之稱，不但是烏克蘭通往世界之大門，亦是各國經黑海進入東歐和亞洲的良港。由於其戰略位置之重要性，致使各種不同的政治勢必，紛紛介入克里米亞半島領土歸屬問題。蘇聯崩解後，克里米亞半島動盪不安的情勢，已造成黑海地區俄羅斯與烏克蘭雙邊關係之威脅，並儼然形成如同納戈爾諾－卡拉巴赫或阿布卡齊亞緊張衝突之溫床。克里米亞在蘇聯繼承國家之中，雖然尚不足以列入族裔衝突之範疇。但隨著反對國家之間領土紛爭的自決主張之聲浪，及自蘇聯時期懸而未決的軍事政治問題遺緒之情況下。致使克里米亞問題，成為俄烏兩國與國際緊張關係之焦點。 簡言之，克里米亞問題之根源在於其地區的人口分佈與地緣政治歷史。一九四四年，史達林以串通納粹敵國之罪名，將所有克里米亞韃靼人（約二十萬人）集體驅逐遷往中亞地區。截至一九八Ｏ年代末期，在近五十年漫長歲月中，克里米亞韃靼人不但其基本文化權及族群認同遭到否決，甚至於在蘇聯的人口統計資料中，未曾出現克里米亞韃靼人。蘇聯瓦解後，克里米亞始終受到兩方面重疊勢力的控制：其一、克里米亞共和國當局，與要求承認其歷史及領土權利的克里米亞韃靼人；其二、尋求獨立並要求回歸俄羅斯的克里米亞共和國親俄領導人士，及反對克里米亞分離主義之烏克蘭當局。這些勢力圍繞著一個相同的基本政治問題：誰擁有克里米亞半島之主權？就目前情勢而論，克里米亞韃靼積極份子要求承認其國家地位；然而，克里米亞境內及外在的敵對勢力，則頗不以為然。無庸置疑，歷史爭論與目前克里米亞的情勢發展，實乃息息相關。 / For Russians and Ukrainians, the disintegration of the Soviet Union has been particularly difficult due to the extremely close historical and cultural ties between the two countries. Many Russians still view Kyiv as the birthplace of their nation（Rus’）and do not conceive of Ukraine as an independent country. Rather, they think of it as Kievan Rus’, the land that brought the Orthodox Christian religion and the Russian language to Russia. As relations between Russia and Ukraine reveal, however, problems can arise when two imagined communities, or nations, disagree over the boundaries（cultural or otherwise） that distinguish them. In the case of the Black Sea Fleet dispute, the imagined communities of Russia and Ukraine overlap at Sevastopol. Throughout Crimea’s complicated history, the peninsula’s strategic location on the Black Sea has made it a desirable military outpost and warm-water port, leading to territorial claims by a great variety of political forces. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the unstable situation in Crimea has threatened to turn the Black Sea region of Russia and Ukraine into a hotbed of tension similar to Nagorno-Karabakh or Abkhazia. While the Crimea still cannot be listed among the numerous areas of violent ethno-political conflict in the Soviet successor states, it has recently become a focus of domestic and international tension, with conflicting self-determination claims voiced against a background of interstate territorial disputes and an unsettled legacy of military-political issues from the Soviet period. Simply put, the conflict over Crimea has its roots in the region’s demographic and geopolitical history. In 1944, accused of collaboration with the Nazi invaders, the entire Crimean Tatar population（by then some 200,000） was deported, mostly to Central Asia. For over forty years, Crimean Tatars were denied basic cultural rights and even an ethic identity; until the 1980s, Crimean Tatars never appeared in Soviet population statistics. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea has been the object of two overlapping rivalries for control: first between the Crimean Republic authorities and the Crimean Tatars, who demand recognition of their historic and territorial rights to the peninsula; and second between pro-Russian leaders of the Crimean Republic, who want either independence or reunification of the peninsula with Russia, and the Ukrainian authorities, who oppose Crimean separatism and insist that Crimea remain an integral part of Ukraine. These movements revolve around the same basic political question: who has sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula? Presently, Crimean Tatar activists regard the Crimean ASSR as a recognition of Crimean Tatar statehood, while their opponents in the Crimea and beyond are convinced that the autonomous formation was purely administrative. The historical controversy is, of course, highly relevant to the present situation in the Crimea.

This thesis examines how the ‘terrorist’ label affects those that are labelled by this designation, particularly with reference on a subsequent choice to use violence in the context of an ethno-nationalist conflict. Drawing on the PKK as a case study, the study asks: what effect did the labelling of the PKK as a ‘terrorist organisation’ by the Turkish government have on the use of violence by Kurds in the Turkish-Kurdish ethno-nationalist conflict? The invocation of the label terrorist in any conflict often means both the labeller and the labelled are predisposed to use violence. This study argues that this process of labelling leads the labeller and the labelled to frame one another as an existential threat. To date, the effects of using the label ‘terrorist’ in an ethno-nationalist conflict context remain relatively understudied in both social and political sciences. The period under analysis extends from 1992 to 2015, corresponding to the period during which the Turkish government continuously designated the PKK as ‘terrorist’. In conflict discourse, belligerents use demeaning labels against each other to gather support, legitimacy or simply to increase combatants’ morale. The study argues that the label terrorist is a constituent element of the conflict. The Turkish government uses the label terrorist as a tool to securitise the Kurdish-Turkish ethno-nationalist conflict. The Turkish government’s labelling of the PKK as ‘terrorist’ places the Kurdish issue in the broader framework of securitisation, a theory in International Relations. While securitising the Kurdish issue has bestowed more powers to the Turkish government to combat violence described as ‘terrorist’, the resolution of the ethno-nationalist conflict became increasingly more complex leading to protracted waves of violence. Analysing data collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews with Kurds from Turkey, the study reveals that the impact of the label terrorist is far more complex than previously assumed in the existing academic literature. The specific effects of the label terrorist on any given conflict, however, are the subject of an empirical question to be settled through rigorous research. Drawing on the Labelling Theory of Deviance fathered by Howard S. Becker and complemented by discourse analysis, this study finds that the application of the label terrorist against the PKK increases the perception of victimization among its wider Kurdish community. Secondly, the research demonstrates that the invocation of the label terrorist against the PKK places the group’s actors and sympathizers in a situation that makes it harder for them to engage in peaceful means of resolving the conflict. The interplay between these two consequential effects of victimisation and political exclusion leads to the conclusion that there is an indirect relationship between designating an ethno-nationalist armed group ‘terrorist’ and the choice to use violence.

This study unites the burgeoning academic field of exhibition histories and the critiques of race-based exhibition practices that crystallised in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s. It concerns recent practices of presenting and contextualising black creativity in British publicly funded art museums and galleries that are part of a broader attempt to increase the diversity of histories and perspectives represented in public art collections and exhibitions. The research focuses on three concurrent 2010 exhibitions that aimed to offer a non-hegemonic reading of black creativity through the use of non-art-historical conceptual and alternative curatorial models: Afro Modern (Tate Liverpool), Action (The Bluecoat), and a retrospective of works by Chris Ofili (Tate Britain). Comparative exhibitions of the past were typically premised on concepts of difference that ultimately resulted in the notional separation of black artists from mainstream discourses on contemporary art and histories of British art. Through a close and critical textual analysis of these three recent exhibitions, which is informed by J.L. Austin’s theory of speech acts (1955), the study considers whether, and to what extent the delimiting curatorial practices of the past have been successfully abandoned by public art museums and galleries, and furthermore, whether it has been possible for British art institutions to reject the entrenched, exclusive conceptions of British culture that negated black contributions to the canon and narratives of British art in the first place. The exhibition case studies are complemented and contextualised by an in-depth history of the Bluecoat’s engagement with black creativity between 1976 and 2012, which provides a particular insight into the ways that debates about representation, difference and separatism have impacted the policies and practices of one culturally significant art gallery that is frequently overlooked in histories of black British art. With reference to the notion of legitimate coercion as defined by Zygmunt Bauman (2000), the study determines that long-standing hegemonic structures continue to inform the modes through which public art museums and galleries in Britain curate and control black creativity.

Abstract The thesis is about the reaction of Czechoslovak political scene to Milan Hodža's Danubian plan. Milan Hodža was Slovak Agrarian and economist who introduced his plan in the second half of 1935 at the time when he was Prime minister of Czechoslovakia. Author emerged from broader considerations of Czech and Czechoslovak ideas about economic and political developments in Central Europe, according to Palacký "space between Germany and Russia." In this context author accepts Palackys beliefs about the indispensability of the Danubian Hapsburg Empire as the counter imperialist expansion's bumper of both the continental powers and efforts of political parties Mladočeši and Staročeši who tried to reform and maintain the country. He also describes the interwar projects of Czechoslovak sovereign foreign policy, where Czechoslovaks tried to take on an inspirational leadership role of Central European economic and political cooperation which was based on Little Entente. Author of this thesis thinks that Hodža's Plan is just one of these projects. And as all the previous projects Hodža's plan had no opportunity to be implemented in the new internationally-political and internationally-economic context. Had Milan Hodža prepared his plan for economic and potentially political cooperation between Danube region countries from the national economy point of view? Did he start the wider discussion about the possibility of Danube region cooperation in Czechoslovakia? These are the basic questions that the author asks and he answers them in the last chapter of his work: Milan Hodža never made any concrete national economic statement for his plan. His attempt for the realization had never gone out of the diplomatic detection. Likewise he did not evoke any specific reaction of Czechoslovak political parties not even in party periodicals.

The master's thesis International impact of Catalonia independence efforts aims to analyze what is the international impact caused by Catalonia's efforts to separate from Spain. It does so by establishing theoretical framework of Conflict theory and internationalized conflicts. Within this framework, the Catalonia's case is examined. The thesis provides wide and extensive background on Catalan independence in order to understand how independence efforts in Catalonia emerged and evolved. The thesis also explains the means which are used by Catalan representatives in order to promote the independence internationally. Brief comparative examples of other regions within Europe are provided (with one notable mention outside of European continent) which seek for independence, as some of the features are common for all of them. Later on, the thesis features analytical part in which international impacts of Catalonia's strive for independence are examined. Those include e.g. effects on the European Union, other separatist regions, and more. Important explanation is offered about possible economic consequences with the usage of quantitative data. The thesis in its final stage applies conflict theory on Catalonia's case. It also uses all the before explained historical background. It concludes with assessment...

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