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The proliferation of small arms has been a major concern over the years in areas of both conflictand peace alike. Around the world, availability and access to small arms instigates violentconflicts while extending existing ones. It is also the leading cause of violent deaths in zones ofrelative peace. The Horn of Africa, which is one of the most conflict ridden areas of the world isflooded with small arms. Ethiopia, being the largest and the most populated country in the regionis at the core of proceedings and also suffers from massive proliferation of small arms. Many ofthe weapons in the country are a product of massive influx of military equipment that took placeduring the cold war and beyond - much of the trade of weapons has been driven by global powerrivalry. These arms come into play when socio-political tensions boil over between states andnon-state actors leading to loss of many lives in and around the country.This thesis attempts to answer the burgeoning question of why is there such a proliferation ofsmall arms in Ethiopia. It looks at the issue of proliferation of small arms in the country as asmall part of global arms trade driven by great power rivalry. In particular, it uses Alex DeWaal’s conceptual framework of the political marketplace to analyze both the supply and demandfor small arms in the country. The paper applies the four socio-economic-political conditions fora functional political marketplace as outlined by De Waal for two distinct periods in recentEthiopian history - the Derg Regime (1974-1991) and the subsequent EPRDF regime (1991onwards) - to see how these conditions manifest themselves during the two regions andcontribute to the proliferation of small arms in the country.

By applying the comparative case of two Danish media institutions, namely Berlingske Tidende and Jyllands Posten, this study investigates the choice- and utilisation of so-called expert sources among journalists reporting on matters of finance and economics. The case study holds a specific view to the media coverage of the topic ‘inflation’ during November 2022. Building on a quantitative analysis of articles as well as a qualitative study of interviews with two journalists from each media, respectively, the study exemplifies how structural conditions, that are characteristic of the segmentation of the Danish press system, carries an influence on the current work conditions of Danish journalists. It also serves to demonstrate how ideals versus practices of journalists often conflict on the basis of such structural conditions. The study finds that audience segmentation, as well as increasingly tight deadlines, impacts the journalists’ utilisation of sources. The result of the study supports the extant literature’s claim, that privately-hired financialists are increasingly used as expert sources, and while journalists continuously aim to utilise more independent sources, relations between journalists and university scholars are strained by their contrasting aims and professional identities. Conclusively, the study argues that a mutually dependent relation exists between journalists and privately hired financialists, where journalists depend on the availability and statements of financialists, while the financialists seek to be quoted as often as possible, and often have their own agendas when providing statements. While the interviewed journalists experience having a high degree of autonomy as related to their work practice, we conclude that their practices, and not least their choice and utilisation of expert sources, ultimately depend on the structural conditions of the journalistic field. Finally, and by drawing on Bourdieu's Field Theory, we seek to illustrate how the journalists’ experienced autonomy relies on the journalistic doxa and habitus that fundamentally structures the field, which they inhabit.

This thesis examines how the Lolita trope and nymphet characters are constructed in a variety of American movies from 1962 to 2018. Introductorily I will delve into the cultural understandings surrounding Lolita as a figure within popular culture and the Lolita-complex to clarify my usage of the terms Lolita trope and nymphet characters. The concept of Lolita-trope is used to label the general recurring theme and motif of the nymphet, while the concept of nymphet is used to describe the characters that embody the young female part of May-December romances. Using feminist film theory as the theoretic framework, the purpose of the thesis is to illustrate how the nymphet-construction is created, and how it has changed over time. By proposing different categorizations of nymphet characters: the classic nymphet, the cunning nymphet, among this the monstrous nymphet and finally the subverted nymphet I aim to make clear how the nymphet-construction can be contextualized in cinema history.

Across the world rights-based climate change litigation have been hailed as the new instrument in which societal groups through law may bring about climate action from powerful actors, cure damages of climate change and provide justice against human rights violations. Despite the normative success of rights-based climate litigation, the space for legal mobilisation is not only confronted by political ideologies and bureaucratic barriers, but an inherent tension of structural oppression that affects the space for litigation in the Global South. This project seeks to explore the implications of climate justice litigation in the Global South and what dynamic interactions are involved in legal mobilisation. Through a two-level research design of international organisations and policies, as well as a comparative study of organisations, litigation cases and national law from Colombia, Kenya, and South Africa, this project finds that the space for litigation is conducive yet up against a neo-colonial extractive- development model that favours powerful actors over the livelihoods of communities although protected by law. This study draws on the theories of Third World Approaches to International Law and Socio-legal theory to move beyond a rights-based approach in seeking to deconstruct the type of justice which may be achieved, and what that means for the communities impacted.

This master thesis examines how the breaking of the podcast series ‘Spiralkampagnen’ about the Greenlandic I.U.D-case produced by the Danish public service media DR kickstarted a new wave of attention. After breaking in May 2022 the thesis argues that there was an increase in the number of articles regarding the IUD-case in Greenlandic media Sermitsiaq.AG. but also, in Danish and international media. One of the key journalistic sources from the DR coverage, a Greenlandic woman who suffered from the I.U.D for many years afterwards, turned out to also be a part of BBC and Le Monde’s coverage of the case. Through poststructuralist discourse analysis on the theoretical framework of Laclau & Mouffe and Benedict Anderson the thesis analyses 15 articles from the Greenlandic media Sermitsiaq.AG in the first month after DR published their podcast. The analysis identifies three smaller discourses, which are all under the main independence-discourse, which has a hegemonic status in the Greenlandic society. Among the three discourses one is about defining the past, one is about the relationship to Denmark in present time and the last one is a discourse about Greenlandic identity. These are all identified in the period right after the ‘breaking point’ of the podcast and comes mainly from Greenlandic politicians. This indicates that it takes a Danish media to make an investigative journalistic product about important scandals from the colonial years to fixate current Greenlandic discourses in Greenlandic media. Considering the importance of the press in younger nations construction of imagined communities as outlined by Benedict Anderson, the thesis problematizes the fact that Greenlandic media does not seem capable of producing major investigated journalistic products such as ‘Spiralkampagnen’. If the Greenlandic media themselves cannot play the role of constructing the Greenlandic national identity it will most likely make the process of nationbuilding slower and more vulnerable.

This study investigates how customers at the airline Danish Air Transport (DAT) experience the way the company communicates about sustainability in their campaigns with a focus on legitimacy and how it affects the company’s brand. Furthermore this study examines the understanding about sustainability as a concept in three interviews with informants very familiar, a little familiar and not familiar with the company Danish Air Transport (DAT). As a theoretical frame this study applies Corporate Branding, Corporate Social Responsibility and legitimacy as an element within Corporate Social Responsibility. This study also contains a reception analysis based on the answers from the informant interviews about the campaigns from Danish Air Transport (DAT) on sustainability. Hereafter this study discusses transparency and legitimacy in the communication from Danish Air Transport (DAT), how greenwashing affects the legitimacy of Danish Air Transport (DAT) and why Danish Air Transports (DAT’s) campaigns are not effective. This study concludes that the customers of the airline Danish Air Transport (DAT) are critical about the way the company communicates about sustainability in their campaigns. Also this study concludes that the customers of Danish Air Transport experience the way the company is communicating lacks transparency and facts. However this study suggests that in the end, when it comes to traveling, other factors like exposure, needs and prices are more important to customers.

This study investigates the role of data sharing and digitalization in enabling the transition towards the circular economy. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, pollution and environmental degradation threaten the well-being of people and the planet. Unsustainable consumption and production based on linear “take-make-waste” economic models are critical drivers of these crises. The European Union (EU) is at the forefront of efforts to improve the resource efficiency of the European economy and enable the transition towards the circular economy (CE). It has recently developed a new policy framework to regulate the production and consumption of goods placed on the EU market. A vital component of this framework is developing and implementing a Digital Product Passport (DPP). This regulatory tool aims to provide standardized information about a product throughout its lifecycle.We use a multilevel governance (MLG) approach to analyze how different levels of EU governance have been involved in developing the DPP to provide insights into factors that have shaped the policy output. We find that while the DPP has the potential to improve the transparency, traceability and circularity of the EU’s supply chain, there are definitional challenges, risks of regulatory capture, and uncertainty on how data is shared and governed which may impact its acceptance and adoption, and ultimately the EU’s accountability and democratic legitimacy.We conclude that while DPP offers significant opportunities to drive forward the EU’s CE ambitions, it can only be considered one tool in the pursuit of a more sustainable future. By addressing the challenges outlined above, and accelerating global in addition to regional efforts, can the EU facilitate the transformation required for transitioning to a more sustainable and circular economy.

The Netherlands has long struggled to come to terms with its colonial past. This thesis examines how Dutchhistory textbooks used in secondary education discuss Dutch colonial history and racism and what aspectsof this history are silenced. A narrative analysis was conducted to explore what narratives are used, whetherthe textbooks attribute agency, and whether connections are made between colonialism and present-dayphenomena, such as racism and xenophobia. The textbooks were interpreted through a theoreticalframework based on collective memory, the cultural archive, cultural hegemony, and Stuart Hall’s approachto national identity and race. The analysis found that the textbooks include representations of Dutch colonialviolence but that two of three textbooks separate colonial history from Dutch national history. Moreover,the research identified that Indonesia was given considerably more attention in the textbooks’ narrativesthan Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. While the analysis showed some efforts to include indigenousperspectives and highlight the agency of colonial subjects, a Eurocentric narrative that presents Europe asthe architect of knowledge and change in the world persists. The history textbooks framed criticalengagement with contemporary colonial legacy through a multi-perspective debate. Additionally, theanalysis concluded that the existence of racism in contemporary Dutch society and its historical roots incolonialism was omitted from all three textbooks. Thus, this research finds that silences in the historytextbooks about race echo the misunderstandings among the Dutch population regarding the denial ofracism in Dutch society.

SeaVis is a company that uses underwater drones to photograph the seafloor, collecting valuabledata on the location and density of mussels. Unfortunately, they lack an effective way of visualisingand communicating this data to their users, limiting the ability of mussel gatherers to optimise theirharvest. This project aims to provide SeaVis with a user-friendly mapping client that displays theirdata on the location and density of mussels on the seafloor, as well as a means to convert their rawdata into a form which can be readily displayed in the TimeZero software package. The mappingclient includes features such as data security and better data management and representation, helpingusers optimise their harvest and reduce the time and energy required to gather mussels.

Plastic contaminants and their presence in the environment is a growing concern in recent years, primarily attributed to their ubiquity and vast cumulative amounts. Approximately, 80-90% of land-based plastic pollutants are distributed through freshwater systems until they reach their final destination, the ocean. Once in the freshwater environment, the larger plastic particles, macroplastics, break down into smaller particles ending up into fragments less than 1 μm in size, referred to as nanoplastics (NPs). These NPs start accumulating in the freshwater ecosystems, posing a potential danger to the environment. This is due to its almost impossible gathering and disposal as well as the lack of understanding of its hazardous potential. This Master’s Thesis focus on Polystyrene NPs effects and accumulation by conducting two studies: (1) in vivo zebrafish (Danio rerio), focusing on embryo viability and larvae regeneration, and (2) in vitro embryonic fibroblast-like cell line, ZF4 (ATCC), focusing on cell viability. Both studies included experiments of short-term exposure (96 hours) to environmentally relevant NPs concentrations. The obtained results suggest that NPs acute exposure does not have a lethal effect on embryos nor affect the natural regeneration process of the larvae. However, NPs exposure affects the larvae inflammatory process due to NPs triggering neutrophil mobilization after complete regeneration of the amputated tissue. As for ZF4 cells, NPs have been observed to be internalized into the cytoplasm, as well as a leading to a decrease in cell viability after 96 hours of exposure.