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Are the populist right-wing parties in the European Parliament coherent enough to form a supergroup? This study aims to fill this research gap by investigating what kind of policies two of these parties, Sverigedemokraterna and Vox, advocate in the policy area of international trade. Further, this study aims to compare the similarities and differences between the parties’ policies in international trade to provide a deeper understanding of how coherent they are with the purpose to increase knowledge about their likelihood to cooperate. To examine this, this study uses a comparative text analysis to investigate the parties’ elections manifestos for the election to the European Parliament of 2019. With a theoretical starting point in the concept of populism, the study formulates three hypotheses to test the parties’ opinions on international trade. The study finds that the parties have similarities in a general aspect concerning protectionism and nationalism. However, the parties differ when it comes to the use of trade restrictions and whether international trade should remain an exclusive EU competence. In light of these findings, it can be expected that the two parties find it difficult to cooperate in this policy field. The findings contribute to the understanding of populist right-wing parties’ ability to unite with each other and their expected populist thoughts on international trade.

What significance does the public discourse have for today’s democracies? And how are arguments for different policy proposals presented and included in this public discourse? In this study I investigate the effects of the Swedish commissions of inquiry on the public deliberative discourse by analysing the contents of journals and newspaper articles. The lack of previous research on this topic meant that I had to create a new theoretical framework of what a commission of inquiry must achieve to contribute to the deliberative public discourse. This is done by combining deliberative democratic ideals with ideals of the Swedish policy process. I use a mixedmethod content analysis where the contents of articles that mentioned inquiries under the ministry of labour and ministry of culture are analysed using ten variables. I find that while the results were varied, the inquires does to a certain extent seem to contribute some deliberative value to the public discourse. I conclude the study byencouraging further and more extensive research so that a better understanding may be achieved of how the commissions of inquiry and the Swedish policy process affect the public deliberative discourse and the democratic society.

In Sweden, the government is mainly responsible for shaping the integration policy while the municipalities are responsible for implementing the policy in practice. The 2015 migration crisis has put a lot of stress on the municipalities. This has resulted in different possibilities for newly arrived citizens to become integrated in the Swedish society depending on the municipality they are placed in. Drawing upon Zapata-Barreo et al’s theory of “the local turn” this essay investigates the difference in economic integration in two Swedish municipalities. It does so by comparing the way they are governed and how much the people in charge of the integration process are affecting the outcome. Semi-structured interviews with municipal officials, together with official documents from both municipalities have been analyzed. The essay concludes that although both municipalities want all their citizens to have the same opportunities, the results differ depending on the way the municipalities are governed. The use of a horizontal dimension when governing seems to lead to a better integration than the use of a vertical dimension. The results also show that actors at the local level matter and seems to have contributed to the variation of the integration policy.

Democracy aid is increasing rapidly as it has become one of the main tools for supporting democratization abroad. Yet, global democracy is decreasing drastically. This has left policymakers and researchers to question the effects of democracy aid and whether it is desirable. This raises the question of how donor countries motivate giving democracy aid. Sweden is the world’s largest donor per capita with extensive democracy aid and is thereby an important case to study. Hence, this thesis aims to map Swedish motives for giving democracy aid by answering the question: How is Swedish democracy aid motivated? By using a motive analysis, the study investigates public documents for the time period 2009-2021. The findings imply that Swedish democracy aid is motivated by reducing people’s suffering, increasing the access to human rights, preventing armed conflicts and creating peace. Further, the aid should promote Swedish interests and values abroad. The study shows that the humanitarian motive is the primary motive for democracy aid. By reaching this conclusion, the study questions the dependency between democracy aid and democracy, suggesting that the democracy aid instead could be investigated in relation to humanitarian effects. The study contributes with a deeper understanding of how Swedish democracy aid is motivated and what influences the allocation of it. These findings can possibly indicate what expectations we can have on donors providing democracy aid.

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Denna uppsats undersöker huruvida den liberala demokratin i Sverige är hotad av populism. Detta sker genom att analysera tre partiers inställning till akademins och massmediernaspolitiska oberoende, vilket är en fundamental del av den liberala demokratin. Tidigareforskning påstår att populismen alltid har en negativ effekt på den liberala demokratin, så fokus ligger på Sverigedemokraterna och dess två ideologiskt närmaste liggande partier, Moderaterna och Kristdemokraterna. Två tidsperioder sattes upp, en före Sverigedemokraternas inträde i riksdagen och en efter. Om teorierna som baserar på tidigare forskning stämmer bör det ha skett en negativ förändring i inställningen till akademins och massmediernas oberoende. Material som relaterar till akademin och massmediernas oberoende har samlats in och bearbetats via textanalys. Resultatet visar att det har skett en förändring, då akademin och massmediernas politiska oberoende har fått utstå betydligt fler och grövre attacker sedan Sverigedemokraterna kom in i riksdagen. Moderaternas beteende har förändrats avsevärt, och partiet har gjort ett flertal försök att politisera akademin och massmedierna. Kristdemokraterna tycks inte ha påverkats i samma grad. Flera faktorer antyder starkt att det finns en kausalitet mellan populism och eroderingen av den liberalademokratin.

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