This thesis examines the place of information communications technology (ICT) as a form of power in International Relations (IR) theory. Through an examination of the dominant approaches to ICTs in IR I outline the need to introduce a concept of technological power which can account for agency and culture in the process of technological design and development. Turning towards the critical theory of technology of Andrew Feenberg, the thesis argues that conceptualizing technology as biased but ambivalent provides the space within which agency may be considered alongside the structuring characteristics of technology to provide a more theoretically balanced and analytically productive account of the politics of technology. Building upon this foundation, the thesis outlines ICTs as a form of institutional power in international politics, acting upon agents at a distance in both space and time. This form of power is enmeshed in, and supported by, structural power relations and the interrelated discursive and ideological forms of power which maintain these structures. I examine the utility of these concepts through an extending empirical illustration of the role of the Internet in American Foreign Policy. This analysis argues that the Internet, as a product of American technological development, expresses a bias towards liberal capitalist values which forces other states to either alter their social practices or enact costly filtering regimes. The open networks of the Internet thereby facilitate the pursuit of an Open Door foreign policy by the United States government. Accounting for the technologically embedded cultural norms of the Internet casts a different light upon the nature of power in international relations, and requires that we take the constitution of an global material culture into account in our theories of international relations.

The Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, is the most important festival in China. On every Lunar New Year's Eve since 1983, the state-run China Central TV (CCTV), the only national TV station in China, has held a celebrating gala. This thesis attempts to examine the CCTV Spring Festival Galas as a case study of China's statist nationalism. The research questions of this thesis are: what techniques and technologies have the CCTV Spring Festival Galas used to construct a Chinese national space? How have the CCTV Spring Festival Galas describe the Chinese national space? And what changes have taken place in these techniques and technologies as well as in the descriptions? To answer these questions, this thesis conducts a comparative research, comparing both the commonalities and differences between the galas of 1984-86 and those of 2004-06. Employing an interpretative textual analysis approach, it analyzes the videos of these six years' galas and explores the political meanings of words and programs in the galas. This thesis finds that in order to imagine a united Chinese national space, the galas mainly represent China in terms of classes, ethnic groups and places. With the presence of minorities and people from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, the galas focus on the boundary of the Chinese nation to construct the unity of China. Furthermore, in order to construct the greatness of this united Chinese national space, the galas use heroes and sites to symbolize China. The presence of traditional elements helps create a temporal dimension of the Chinese national space. As a result of, and in response to, the socio-economic changes in the last two decades, the techniques and technologies used by the galas have changed. Besides the great changes in stage settings and technologies, the major changes in the techniques include: in the 2004-06 galas, hosts play a much more important role in interpreting the political meanings of the programs and presenting the state's nationalist narrative to the audience, the Chinese Communist Party occupies a more central place in the galas, and home increasingly means individual family instead of the country of China. Correspondingly, the way the galas treat singers, actors, and hosts from Hong Kong and Taiwan has also changed. / Master of Arts

Enacted as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform bill, the faith-based initiative was intended to ensure that small religious groups were not discriminated against in the awarding of government funding. While there has been a great deal of attention paid to changes at the federal level, little attention has been paid to how and why states are implementing the faith-based initiative. Currently, states are not required to implement any part of the initiative, other than guaranteeing that faith-based organizations (FBOs) will not be discriminated against in funding decisions. Nevertheless, states have been acting on the initiative in a variety of ways in the hope of increasing the number of faith-based organizations performing social services.Although religious groups have been receiving government funds to provide social services for much of American history, the faith-based initiative represents a new effort from both state and federal governments to encourage even greater participation. To understand the state-level faith-based implementation I focus on two research questions: Why are states creating faith-based policies and practices? What are these new policies and practices? Data collected from multiple sources reveal three key aspects of faith-based policy implementation: appointment of state actors known as Faith-Based Liaisons (FBLs), legislation, and presentation of state Faith-Based Policy conferences.While supporters argue that the faith-based initiative is about solving problems of poverty and an over-burdened welfare system, I find that these policies and practices do not respond to problems of poverty or welfare, and do not offer the substantial new help to the poor and needy that was promised by supporters. Instead, I find that state faith-based practices are more likely to be implemented in states with a strong evangelical movement presence. My data also shows that these practices are actually a series of symbolic policies that further the goals of the evangelical movement in two ways. First, state faith-based policies and practices enable the evangelical movement's greater goal of chipping away at church/state separation. Second, because these policies and practices reframe and reshape the church/state relationship in ways that appeal to deeply held ideological views by many in the United States, they have the potential to create new political allies for the evangelical movement.

In the afterglow of Japan’s dramatic economic growth during the post-war period, the growth mentality is still apparent in contemporary Japan. The powerful business communities that helped the industrialization of the country are still structurally interconnected with the political elites. As a result, the growth interests of the corporations are reflected in industrial and environmental policies. Public opinion is deliberately shaped to allow the growth ideology while the environment is used as a symbol to be protected. This thesis will analyse how public opinion and responses are manipulated so that the growth goals are achieved under the guise of national benefit. This thesis will examine two cases of growth politics: nuclear policy and the Eco Town project in Japan to analyse the influence of the growth mentality and the linkages. The conclusion is that if Japan continues to overreach for economic growth at the cost of the environment and if public scrutiny is kept to a minimum, Japan will fail to secure either economic or environmental sustainability. / Graduate / 0615 / nao57526@hotmail.com

Intresset för brottsofferfrågor har vuxit sig allt starkare i Sverige under de senaste årtiondena. Socialtjänsten är den instans som har det lagstadgade ansvaret att erbjuda brottsoffer den hjälp och det stöd de behöver. Idag tyder dock mycket på att det föreligger stora brister i socialtjänstens brottsofferstöd. Det är i dessa brister som denna studie har tagit sin utgångpunkt med två primära frågeställningar: (1) varför har det varit så svårt för socialtjänsten att fullfölja sitt lagstadgade ansvar gentemot brottsoffer och (2) vad skulle behöva göras för att få socialtjänstens brottsofferarbete att fungera på ett bättre sätt än vad det gör idag? Ingen liknande kartläggning har tidigare gjorts på området.Genom åtta stycken nyckelpersonsintervjuer undersöktes dessa frågeställningar. Vid intervjuerna användes en utformad modell bestående av faktorer som inbegriper begreppet förmåga, denna har utgjort en central utgångspunkt för kartläggningen av socialtjänstens förmåga att stödja brottsoffer. Nyckelpersonerna bestod av företrädare i nyckelpositioner inom verksamheter som på olika sätt arbetar med brottsofferfrågor.Resultatet visade på att det föreligger en stor ovisshet kring dessa frågor. Det visade sig även att en majoritet av de intervjuade anser att den största problematiken beror på att det inte riktigt finns den vilja som behövs för att prioritera och förbättra brottsoffersituationen i Sverige. Därmed kvarstår också den viktiga frågan; varför är det så svårt för socialtjänsten att fullfölja sitt lagstadgade ansvar gentemot brottsoffer? Med dessa oroväckande upptäckter är det än viktigare att fler studier utförs på området. Vidare forskning bör riktas mot att ta reda på var den faktiska problematiken ligger. Därefter kan det vara lämpligt att utreda eventuella åtgärder. / Interest in crime victim issues has grown stronger in Sweden in recent decades. The social services have the statutory responsibility to offer victims of crime the help and support they need. Recent indications suggest that there are major shortcomings in the social services for crime victim support. Based on these shortcomings this study investigates two primary issues: (1) why has it been so difficult for the social services to fulfill their statutory responsibilities towards victims of crime and (2) what would be needed for the social services for crime victim support to work better than it does today? No similar study has been conducted in this area before.Through the execution of eight key informant interviews these issues were investigated by the use of a designed model constituted of various factors including the concept of ability. This concept has been a central point for the mapping of the social services’ ability to support victims of crime. The key informants consisted of representatives in key positions in operations that work with different crime victim issues.The results show that there is a great uncertainty around these issues. It was also found that a majority of those interviewed believe that the biggest problem regarding these issues is that the will and the necessary prioritization of crime victim matters are relatively low. These alarming findings show an even greater need of more studies performed in this field. Thus remains the important question; why is it so difficult for the social services to fulfill its statutory responsibility towards victims of crime? Further research should be directed at finding out where the real problem lies. Further on, suggestions for improvement should be investigated.

This study focuses on public opinion of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The act is a federal reform act, therefore politicians will pay attention to voters’ opinions of the law when considering if they should pass future legislation like it. Data were collected from a sample population of United States citizens by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International. People’s educational views, political views, group interests, and authoritarian views were all used to measure which groups have a positive attitude toward NCLB. Logistic regression was used to test several models to predict which groups have the strongest opinion of the law. The results indicate people’s views toward standardized testing, Republicans, and parents are the groups most likely to have a positive view of the law, followed closely by people with authoritarian attitudes.

Symbolic politics theory created by Stuart J. Kaufman attempts to give an explanation on what makes people engage in ethnic wars and genocide by combining some rationalist thoughts with social-psychological ideas. This study analyzes the symbolic politics theory by qualitive methods using the war in Kosovo and the peaceful declaration of independence in North Macedonia as cases selected thru strategic selection.  The result of this study shows that symbolic politics theory can help to understand what causes people to follow their chauvinist leaders into ethnic violence by referring to historical nationalistic myths with the use of symbols to create fear and hostility. The theory therefore helps to understand the sequence of events that eventually resulted in the war over Kosovo 1998-1999 thru this study. The result of this study also shows that symbolic politics theory can help to understand why the declaration of independence in North Macedonia did not result in violence or war, even though the premisses in the country where much the same to other war tourn countries in the Balkans at the time. Results show that elites in North Macedonia chose a different path to achieve independence unlike their neighbouring countries in the Balkans. By identifying the destructive ways of using symbols referring to historical myths to create fear and hostility towards another ethnic group, North Macedonia instead displayed an including path and an effort to meet the different needs of different ethnic groups within their own borders.

The Swedish death rate related to narcotics is amongst the highest within the EU. The purpose of this study is to use process tracing while investigating and understanding the high death rate among people who use narcotics in Sweden. The focus is on whether the Swedish drug policy is driven by morals instead of scientific proof and asks whether morals are the main cause of the high death rate in Sweden. The study utilizes the “threshold theory” and the theory of “symbolic politics.” To do this the following questions are being answered: “How has the Swedish zero tolerance towards narcotics looked like since the 1970s until present day?” and “are there any signs to proof that the Swedish drug policy is driven more by morals than by scientific evidence, and if so, what are they?” The study also tests the hypothesis that the high death rate is related to the restrictive drug policy in Sweden. In order to answer this the study collects data and regulations from different time periods in Sweden thru a qualitative method. The study confirms that the Swedish drug policy is driven by moral while overlooking scientific proof and it is also likely that the hypothesis of the study is true.

Le violoniste et compositeur mexicain Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) est un des principaux acteurs du développement musical du Mexique postrévolutionnaire durant les années 1930. Proche des avant-gardes artistiques mexicaines, la réception de sa musique est marquée par une double appartenance moderniste et nationaliste, au point que certaines de ses œuvres incarnent le modèle de la musique nationale et se trouvent au cœur de la politique symbolique du régime autoritaire postrévolutionnaire. Revueltas s’engage fin 1935 dans l’antifascisme communiste au sein de la Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR), luttant contre l’avancée du fascisme dans le monde – notamment après le début de la Guerre civile espagnole – et soutenant les avancées sociales obtenues par le Front Populaire Mexicain (FPM). Les conséquences de l’engagement antifasciste de Revueltas sont considérables, particulièrement dans la thématique de ses œuvres, dans sa vie professionnelle et dans l’utilisation symbolique de sa musique à des fins de légitimation par le régime postrévolutionnaire mexicain. Cette recherche analyse, d’une part, l’impact du militantisme antifasciste de Revueltas dans son œuvre et, d’autre part, la fonction de celle-ci dans la politique symbolique du régime autoritaire mexicain autour de la Guerre civile espagnole. Les résultats montrent que l’engagement antifasciste de Revueltas modifie la thématique de la plupart de ses œuvres après 1936 ainsi que sa conception du rôle du compositeur dans les luttes sociales. De ce fait, il devient indispensable de relativiser la réception exclusivement nationaliste de sa musique en la reconsidérant d’un point de vue politique et militant. / Violinist and composer Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) was one of the major players in post revolutionary Mexico musical development during the thirties. Close to avant-gardes Mexican artists, the reception of his music is defined by, both modernist and nationalist. Some of his works embody the national music model, and are at the heart of the symbolic politics of the post revolutionary authoritarian regime. Towards the end of 1935 Revueltas engaged himself in communist antifascism by being a member of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR), fighting against the rise of fascism in the world – especially during the Spanish Civil War – and supporting social progress championed by the Mexican Popular Front (FPM). The consequences of Revueltas’ antifascist engagement are considerable especially on the themes explored in his works, on his professional life and on the symbolic use of his music to legitimize the Mexican post revolutionary system. This research analyses, on the one hand, the impact of Revueltas’ antifascist militancy on his work, and on the other, the role of his work on the symbolic politics of the Mexican authoritarian regime during the Spanish Civil War. Results show that Revueltas’ political engagement alters the theme of most of his works after 1936, as well as the composer’s role in a social contest. It therefore appears to be essential to put into perspective the exclusively nationalist reception of his music reconsidering it from a political and militant point of view.

Cette thèse montre que la musique participe activement à la production des identités et des valeurs dans la communication politique pour la conquête et la conservation du pouvoir. La musique, de par sa capacité à fédérer des émotions par des rituels, fait partie des outils symboliques privilégiés dans les stratégies de production et de légitimation de l’imaginaire, afin de produire et structurer les émotions (comme le sentiment d’appartenance, la sensation de « bien-être », l’identité sociale et politique, etc.). Or, aucune théorie en science politique n’a, à ce jour, vraiment expliqué en quoi la musique est constitutive d’idées et de valeurs politiques.Riche d’un corpus empirique original pour la science politique, composé de partitions musicales et d’une centaine d’archives audiovisuelles (clips et hymnes de campagne), cette thèse propose de faire une histoire des esthétiques musicales du pouvoir et de comprendre l’articulation entre les caractéristiques musicales intrinsèques (tonalité, rythme, timbre, hauteur, volume, etc.) et les finalités politiques du pouvoir. L’étude des invariants de la musique du pouvoir amène à questionner d’une part, l’héritage historique et les fondamentaux de la musique du pouvoir et, d’autre part, les stratégiesmusicales prises dans la communication politique contemporaines en régime pluraliste. / This thesis shows that music actively contributes to the production of identities and values in political communication for the conquest and preservation of power. Music, through its ability to federate emotions using rituals, is an important symbolic tool in strategies of production and legitimization of an imaginary, to produce and structure emotions (such as the feeling of belonging, the feeling of « wellbeing », social and political identity, etc.). Yet, to this day, no theory in political science has really explained how music is constituent of ideas and political values.Filled with an empirical corpus that is original for political science, which consists of musical scores and hundreds of audio-visual archives (videoclips and campaign songs), this thesis offers to tell a story of power’s musical aesthetics, and to understand the link between intrinsic musical characteristics (tonality, rhythm, timbre, pitch, volume, etc) and the political goals of power. The study of the constants in music for/from power leads us to question firstly its foundations and historical legacy, and secondly the musical strategies used in political communication of the contemporary pluralist system.