This paper aims to investigate a medial construction of securitization. It aims to comprehend the way a discourse of securitization is constructed and in what sense a certain group of immigrants are constructed as an existential threat within it. With postcolonialism, discourse theory and securitization theory providing the theoretical framework the discourse of a far-right internet newspaper is analysed. It is argued that the discourse indeed ought to be considered a discourse of securitization while also maintaining that the relevant group of immigrants are constructed as an existential threat. What this paper thus argues, is that, at least to a limited extent, a securitization of migration is occuring in Swedish far-right media.

Research has shown that people who participate in regular physical activity (PA) can experience improved wellbeing and quality of life, including better physical health, cognitive function, positive affect, and self-esteem (Fox, 1999). Such benefits support the application of PA as a strategy to improve the general population's mental health and those recovering from mental illness. However, the contemporary understanding of PA and the recovery from mental illness is almost exclusively underpinned by the principles of clinical recovery (e.g. symptom remission), which can overlook the patient's values. Conversely, personal recovery may reconnect people with their inner resources, personal strengths, and offer opportunities for people to reconstruct hope, meaning, responsibility and a positive identity as part of recovery (Slade, 2009). These values also mark a shift in the UK Government's (2011a) mental health strategy, toward integrating personal recovery as part of people's mental health care. Yet, few studies have examined the role of PA within the context of personal recovery, including the impact of PA on the wider elements of personal recovery. Accordingly, this thesis sets out to examine the role of PA during the personal recovery from mental illness, as a case study at a voluntary sector mental health organisation. The research methodology was guided by social constructivism, and data was collected between October 2010 and June 2014 using participant-observations, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and photo elicitation methods. Seven members of staff and twenty-two attendee's volunteered to participate in the research study, and their accounts were analysed thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006) using NVivo to manage and aid the data analysis. Additionally, effort was made to satisfy the authenticity criteria throughout the research to maintain constructivist rigour (Lincoln & Guba, 2013). The research findings identified six high-ordered themes that indicate a process of personal recovery through PA. These were (a) 'Battles against the mind', (b) 'the centre as a place of refuge and support', (c) 'exercise is one part of the whole package', (d) 'the connection between body and mind', (e) 'my gateway onto other things', and (f) 'from small acorns to big oak trees'. These findings were congruent with the existing literature, and added that PA participation can support people's meaningful engagement in their personal medicines and other life events (e.g. employment, being with family, and relationship with pets). The findings are discussed in relation to the delivery of PA in mental health services, the relationship of PA with meaningful activities during recovery, and the impact of PA on elements of hope, meaning, positive identity, and personal responsibility. The thesis concludes with a guiding standpoint on the application of PA for personal recovery as a personal medicine or as an adjunct activity. This standpoint can be used to inform the general population, mental health and exercise professionals, multiagency mental health service staff and attendees, commissioning bodies and policymakers.

Finnish-Russian relations after the end of Cold war are considered to be a unique form of cooperation between countries of different ideological backgrounds. This thesis focuses on the analysis of mutual historical relations of Finland and Russia, which overlap to the time after the end of the Cold war; these are deep rooted in Finland's primary endeavor to keep its status of neutrality. The main aim of this thesis is the evaluation of Finnish postneutrality as an effective tool of foreign policy against Russia with respect to the historical reflection of both countries with most regard to the social and cultural differences in the society. The base theory for determinating mutual sociocultural distinction is social constructivism from which the national identities are defined. These are essential for the enemy image provision and above all for the evaluation of the Finnish foreign policy and Finnish political behavior towards Russia. The changes and transformation of the concept of postneutrality follows in regard to the integration process in Europe with the emphasis on the security keeping possibilities related to the potential accession to NATO.

The thesis aspires to convey a comprehensive and methodologically well-grounded image of the ideological dimension of political interaction between the EU and Russia. The research is based on the linguistic analysis of four key foreign policy documents, conceived as a continuous dialogue between the EU and Russia, and covering the period between 1994 and 2007. A model comprising several methods used in the study of international relations is applied to the aforementioned documents. The methods in question focus on discourse analysis. The methodological basis of the thesis incorporates the theoretical concepts of social constructivism, speech acts theory and dialogic analysis. Emphasis is placed on understanding the expectations and objectives of actors, the analysis of explicit and implicit messages in the dialogue, the definition of the actors' understanding of self, other and the third party. The thesis also tries to describe and explain the actors' changes in behavior towards each other.

Denna studies syfte är att beskriva socialsekreterares upplevelse av utredningsarbetet när en eller båda föräldrarna har en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. För att svara på studiens syfte har vi intervjuat sex socialsekreterare som arbetar med och har erfarenhet av föräldrar med en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Studiens empiriska material bygger på en kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervjuform. Studiens insamlade datamaterial har analyserats med hjälp av tidigare forskning samt socialkonstruktionism och stigma som är studiens två teoretiska perspektiv. Resultatet är uppdelat i två huvudtema, vilka är Föräldraförmåga och Utredningsarbete. Huvudtema A har två underteman och huvudtema B har tre underteman. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga av de intervjuade socialsekreterarna upplever att barnets bästa är ett komplext begrepp, då varje barn är unikt med unika behov. Resultatet visar även att det kan finnas svårigheter för en förälder med en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning att tillgodose sitt barns behov, men att det inte är knutet till den intellektuella funktionsnedsättningen utan alla bedömningar måste göras individuellt. / The purpose of this study is to describe the social secretary's experience of investigation work when one or both parents have an intellectual disability. To answer the study's purpose, we interviewed six social secretaries who work with and have experience with parents with an intellectual disability. The empirical material of the study is based on a qualitative semi-structured interview form. The study's collected data has been analyzed using previous research on social constructionism and stigma, which provide the study's two theoretical perspectives. Result are divided into two main themes: parental ability and investigation work. Main theme A has two sub-themes and main theme B has three sub-themes. The study shows that all of the interviewed social secretaries feel that the child's best interests are a complex concept, since each child is unique with unique needs. It may be difficult for a parent with an intellectual disability to meet their child's needs, but that this is not directly linked to the intellectual disability, therefor all assessments must be made individually.

The National Board of Health and Welfare has been assigned by the Swedish government to map the Social services work with social assistance from a gender perspective. The assignment is based on the fact that in many municipalities the economic support is paid only to one in the household, which can be a contributing factor in strengthening economic violence in a relationship. The ambition with this study has been to examine how social workers that works with social assistance talk about economic violence. The result of this study is based upon qualitative interviews with six social workers that works with social assistance in Malmö. The result has been analyzed based on discourse analysis and social constructivism as theoretical approaches. Based on our discourse theory, four discursive themes have emerged; the discourse of ignorance, the discourse about a conservative approach, the discourse of the lack of time, and the discourse of silence. Based on the four discursive themes that have been featured in this study, it has been found that they constitute difficulties for the social workers to their approach to economic violence in their work. These difficulties restrict the social workers to take on economic violence as a concept in their daily work.

In the 1990s when enlargement of Euro-Atlantic organizations was slowly becoming reality, a theory exploring interaction between an organization and its member states gradually resigned from primary perception of the state as a socialized actor (socializee) and this concept was substituted by the notion of political actors. It was the theory of socialization that became more and more important in terms of examining impact of political organizations on political representatives of Member States, their behaviour and possible interaction between them. This recent and dynamic theory was often confronted with obstacles, especially in terms of its theoretical anchoring. Even within the framework of ongoing academic debate, this theory did not obtain clear recognition. Researches examining causal relationship between socialization and subsequent behaviour of politicians come up with various results. The aim of this thesis is to enter into this debate and verify the hypothesis assuming that the decisions of foreign policy actors are influenced by socialization of respective political actor. Verification of the hypothesis was carried out on example of Iraq in 2003 by the means of media coverage and official documents content analysis. Possible socialization of six foreign policy makers was examined on the...

German-Russian relations have remained strong since the Cold War, despite continuing in traditions of multilateralism and integrated into the Western order. Despite recent tensions and deterioration since the Ukraine Crisis, German-Russian relations are a subject of intense debate between the political parties CDU/CSU and SPD that governed Germany in a coalition from 2014-2017. This thesis utilises a social constructivist method to focus on social factors and party-political legacies relevant in the evolving relationship. It then analyses the evolving discourse of the parties about Russia in the years 2014-2017, focusing on the different ways the discourse uses and connects with the factors and legacies. Although a parallel movement is discerned between the foreign policy positions of the CDU/CSU and SPD, the parties' positions do not converge but remain in conflict about the future of European security, cooperation with Russia and the desired foreign policy role of Germany. Throughout, the analysis suggests that contemporary theories about German-Russian relations and about Germany's foreign policy role should look at the internal debates and factors to get a more complete picture of German foreign policy. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This thesis focuses on the way in which the media presented the Czech biathlon team over the period of its greatest success, between 2012 and 2018. In this context, it deals with how often the media presented relationships, mood and cooperation in the team as perfect, helping to create the myth of an ideal team. The aim of the thesis is to answer the research question: How was the myth of an ideal biathlon team constructed by the media, biathlonists and the support team? This question is answered through an analysis of biathlon articles published in the years 2012 - 2018 across four Czech sports diaries, namely iSport.cz, sport.cz, sport.aktualne.cz and sport.iDNES.cz. The analysis uses qualitative content analysis extended by linguistic analysis of discourse. The analysis of the individual articles is based on theoretical background, devoted to the media's representation of reality, media logic, myth, heroism, myth in sport and discourse. The results of the analysis describe the way and means by which the actors helped construct the myth of a perfectly functioning biathlon team. The methods used with examples are given at the end of the thesis.

This study highlights the social secretary's experiences and experiences regarding working in a female-dominated profession. The main purpose of this study is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of the profession of social secretaries from a social constructivist perspective and a gender perspective. In the study, we also chose to use a quantitative approach where we created questionnaires and sent them out to social workers to answer, the questions consisted of both open and closed questions. The results show both negative and positive results of being and working in a female-dominated profession. The positive aspects are, among other things, that women have found a profession where they can take a place and work their way up, but the negative aspects are that this profession has become less attractive for men to apply for as the profession is considered female. In the profession of social secretary, women can “take up more space” than they usually can in other male-dominated professions, which shows that social constructivism and gender theory exist in the business. The discussion also draws attention to the fact that women can not take as much space as men when the majority of their colleagues are men, as men are considered to be the superior sex, even though they should be able to do so regardless of which gender dominates or whether it is equal.