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  • NEW DIMENSIONS OF ANTISEMITISM A Discourse Analysis of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Use of the Term Antisemitism Before and After October 7th
    (2026-10-07) Holm, Christian; Göteborgs universitet/Statsvetenskapliga institutionen; University of Gothenburg/Department of Political Science
    The October 7th attacks were a disruptive event for the state of Israel and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By researching the effect a disrupture has on semantics from a top-down perspective I answer the questions: Has Benjamin Netanyahu changed the way he uses the term antisemitism after October 7th? And: Has Benjamin Netanyahu changed his meaning of the term antisemitism after October 7th? The purpose is to find out if the term antisemitism has changed meaning after the October 7th attacks. By asking systematic questions at Netanyahu’s speeches held in the UN General Assembly and connecting it to the IHRA, JDA and Nexus document, a speech analysis was conducted on Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches in the UN general assembly between the years 2009-2025. The results showed a change in the context and tone, with it being more aggressive after as compared to before the October 7th attacks. The findings also show that he has used the term antisemitism in a more political definition rather than an existential after the October 7th attacks, relating the term antisemitism closer with the state of Israel.
  • NÄR SPELAR SOCIAL TILLIT ROLL? En kvantitativ studie av institutionellt förtroende för socialtjänsten i Sverige från åren 2019 och 2023.
    (2026-10-07) Pettersson, Ida; Göteborgs universitet/Statsvetenskapliga institutionen; University of Gothenburg/Department of Political Science
    This study examines the relationship between social trust and institutional trust in the Swedish social services and investigates whether experience of contact with the agency moderates this relationship. The study is situated within the literature on social trust and welfare state legitimacy. While previous research has established a positive association between social trust and institutional trust, less attention has been paid to how this relationship operates within specific welfare institutions characterized by direct citizen interaction and administrative discretion. The analysis is based on quantitative survey data from the 2023 Swedish SOM Survey, complemented by data from the 2019 SOM Survey. A cross-sectional research design is employed, and the hypotheses are tested using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) for regression analysis. Social trust constitutes the main independent variable, while trust in the social services serves as the primary dependent variable. As a benchmark, an index measuring trust in other public authorities is also included. Furthermore, experiences of contact with social services and negative experiences are examined as potential moderating factors. The findings reveal a positive and statistically significant relationship between social and institutional trust. Moreover, the association is stronger for trust in the social services than for the broader institutional trust index, suggesting that institutional context plays an important role in shaping how social trust translates into evaluations of public institutions. The analysis indicates that contact with social services influences trust but shows no clear evidence that negative experiences systematically moderate this relationship, although limited variation in the data restricts the ability to detect such effects. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that institutional trust should not be treated as a uniform phenomenon. Instead, the findings highlight the importance of examining specific welfare institutions and the role of institutional context in shaping the relationship between social trust and institutional trust.
  • SKAPAR KONFLIKT ENGAGEMANG? En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av affektiv polarisering och användarinteraktioner i Donald Trumps och Kamala Harris inlägg på X
    (2026-10-07) Borgvall, Gabriel; Göteborgs universitet/Statsvetenskapliga institutionen; University of Gothenburg/Department of Political Science
    The purpose of this study is to examine how affective polarization is expressed in Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’s posts on X, and whether the degree of affective polarization may be associated with user interactions. The study employs a qualitative content analysis with quantitative elements. A total of 80 posts published during the final stages of the 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign were analyzed. For each candidate, the 20 posts with the highest number of interactions were compared with 20 randomly selected posts. The posts were coded into four analytical categories, ranging from policy-oriented communication to high levels of affective polarization. User interactions were operationalized as the combined number of likes, comments, and reposts. The findings show that affective polarization was present in both candidates' communication, although to different extents. Trump’s posts more frequently contained personal attacks, ridicule, threat narratives, and delegitimizing rhetoric, whereas Harris’s communication was primarily characterized by policy-focused messages, inclusive campaign communication, and neutral content. The analysis indicates a possible association between affective polarization and user interactions in Trump’s material, while no corresponding pattern was identified in Harris’s posts. The study concludes that affective polarization does not appear to be universally associated with higher user engagement on X. Instead, the findings suggest that the relationship between affective polarization and user interactions may vary depending on the political actor. Due to the study’s exploratory design, the results should be interpreted as indications of possible patterns rather than evidence of causal relationships or statistically generalizable findings.
  • I LOVE EURO-PE? En motivanalys av Moderaternas och Liberalernas agerande i eurofrågan efter folkomröstningen 2003
    (2026-10-07) Solvin, Victoria; Göteborgs universitet/Statsvetenskapliga institutionen; University of Gothenburg/Department of Political Science
    This study examines how the Moderate party and the Liberals have acted towards a potential Swedish membership of the eurozone between 2003 and 2026. Drawing on Gunnar Sjöblom’s theory of party behaviour, the study analyses how the parties’ actions can be understood in relation to the party-internal, voter, and parliamentary arenas. The thesis addresses how the parties’ strategies can be explained through these arenas and how they may have changed over time. Using qualitative analysis of party goals and methods, the study examines three periods: 2003–2010, 2010–2020, and 2020–2026. The findings show that both parties have maintained a fundamentally pro-euro position but have pursued different strategies. The Moderate Party has generally been more cautious, allowing voter opinion and parliamentary conditions to constrain its actions, while the Liberals have used the euro issue more actively for political profiling and, by 2026, advocated for a new referendum. The study concludes that party action cannot be explained by policy position alone, as the same principled position may produce different strategies depending on the opportunities and constraints across political arenas.