This essay is a try to present the Trikāya doctrine in Māhāyāna Buddhism as a model for a transcending theology that can help those who are living with a “dual Buddhist-Christian religious identity” to overcome conflicts between Buddhism and Christianity. By the Trikāya doctrine we can reach a deeper understanding of the mystical awakening to “Buddha beyond Buddha” (or “God beyond God” as some of the mystics tried to explain); i.e. the transpersonal Dharma and the transpersonal Logos beyond the limited individuals of Gautama and Jesus who both fully realized God as spiritual qualities in body, speech, actions and mind. The point is that we do not need to choose between the Buddha or Christ; instead we can look at them both as living examples of the realization of what Paul Tillich called the “Ultimate Concern” and “Being”.  And probably we can use this model for most religions. 

What are borders? Walls, fences, barbed wires, sovereignty markers, nationalities, symbols, cultures, religions, skin colours, prejudices… Where are borders? In reality, in jurisdiction, in our minds, on maps, in citizenship, inside our bodies, in our gaze… What do borders do? Define, separate, exclude, include, discriminate, hurt, rape, reduce…

The concept of borders is complex and it represents paradoxes such as visible - invisible, reinforcing - weakening, inclusion - exclusion and legal - illegal. In this essay borders are treated from a political philosophical perspective with arguments drawn mainly from the theorists Étienne Balibar, Wendy Brown and Shahram Khosravi. The case is analysed and illustrated by empirical data from mass media reporting. Borders, both visible and invisible, contain a powerful symbolism and affect us as individuals, groups and society. Discussing borders makes weaknesses of the human rights system visible. Borders might affect people's ability to gain access to universal human rights. Where and why do we mark borders and who gets be in or out?

There are five detention centers in Sweden (in swedish ”förvaret”), were asylum seekers and migrants are held in custody until the Migration Agency has completed their investigation and concluded who are allowed to remain in Sweden and who should return/sent back to their home countries. The detainees are taken into detention centers because the state and authorities are afraid that they will ”go under ground”. This study has been based on the primary empirical data provided by semi-structured interviews. These have then been analysed with a narrative methodology, and in interaction with relevant literature as secondary data. Seven staff members at the detention center in Flen have been interviewed. Erving Goffman´s theory about ”total institutions” and Michael Foucault´s theory about power and its exercise have been used as theoretical basis for the analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the staff members in the detention center in Flen works, how the staff experience their duties and what opportunities there are available for the detainees. The following questions should be answered: (1) How does the staff work in the detention center and how does the interaction between the detainees and the staff look like? (2) How the detention center affects detainees health and what kind of care is available for detainees? (3) What do the staff consider of the criticisms against the detention centers? In summary, the empirical base shows that (1) the staff at the detention center (in Flen) have two different roles, first to help detainees who feel bad or are sick and also to persuade the detainees to cooperate and leave the country voluntarily. The interviewers stated that some of the detainees do not want any contact with the staff, while others are more open to it. (2) The main aim of the staff is to treat the detainees within the walls of the detention center, however, when the resources are insufficient. When more serious problems arise the detainees are offered care outside the detention center. (3) The interviewed staff members held the opinion that the criticism of the detention centers is wrong and unfair. Their conviction was that the lawmakers have decided that these detention centeras are needed and that they trust their decisions, detention centers are part of the asylum process, that the staff only trying fulfill their duties, detention centers are the result of the policy that people voted for in general elections.

The study aims to analyze claimants encounter with Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) drawing on theories of power. It investigates how this contact has affected the claimants’ view of themselves as contributing citizens. The study has mainly focused on the experiences of assessments for sickness benefit claims as well as the interaction with case officers during the proceedings. The study found that the institutionalized power relations between the citizen and the agency were internalized by the informants. Specifically, it resulted in an altered sense of human worth and societal contribution. Informants described being distanced with regards to agency and society, and internalizing the perception of being a second class citizen. The study showed that the claimants’ experiences of the assessment proceedings led to feeling systematically marginalized by the state. The power influence the informants were subjected to by the agency, resulted in introverted as well as extroverted resistance and ultimately power reclaim. It is in part demonstrated through their participation in the study and their wish to bring the question to light.

The purpose of this thesis is to do a qualitative content analysis, with queer theory as a starting point, of the Swedish Migration Agency’s judicial stance regarding the procedure of assessing reliability and credibility as well as judicial stance regarding the investigation and examination of the forthcoming risk of persons claiming protection due to sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expressions. To conduct this analysis one research question were formulated: How can one from a theoretical perspective analyze the Swedish Migration Agency's method of assessing whether a person is likely to belong to the LGBTQI group? The study’s theoretical theorems are cumulated from Fanny Ambjörnsson’s book ”What is queer?” and six categories and themes were chosen to use as tools during the content analysis of the selected judicial stances. These six categories and themes are; the value of the language, the desire or the habit of classifying people, normalization, heteronormativity, silence and visibility as well as stereotyping. The study showed that comprise criticism can be directed towards the Swedish Migration Agency's method of assessing whether a person is likely to belong to the LGBTQI group and towards the procedure of assessing a asylum seekers reliability and credibility.

This study examines how the new temporary law (SFS 2016:752) guarantees the child’s right to mental health; focusing on the asylum-seeking unaccompanied minor. This subject is examined since the Swedish law that regulates migration got reduced to the minimum standards that can be found in the EU and in international conventions when Sweden received 163 000 asylum seekers during 2015. 35 400 of them were unaccompanied minors. This leads to the question if the new regulations jeopardize the child’s right to mental health. To answer that, this study’s theoretical ground that will be used is legal positivism. By practicing a legal-judicial method and law-based sociological method the study follows three questions; 1. What is Sweden bound to guarantee according to the Convention on the Right’s of the child, associated with the mental health of children and the provisions of the temporary law? 2. Does the temporary law constitute grounds for existential uncertainty, and is it thereby violating the child’s right to mental health? 3. What does the situation look like, related to the mental health of asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors? In relation to the Convention on the Right’s of the Child this temporary law, and the impact of it, is examined. In the discussion it is clear that not only article 24 (the child’s right to health) is fundamental to the question of mental health, but several other articles. The result of this study has shown that the temporary law clearly violates the asylum-seeking unaccompanied child’s right to mental health.

Begging has engaged many people in Sweden in recent years and the debate has been intense, not least in media. When relatively wealthy people in the welfare state Sweden meet beggars, ethical issues arise. Poverty comes close and becomes more apparent. This paper tries to provide guidance on how each person as an individual could approach various ethical issues that begging gives rise to. The starting point is the potential donor's and not the ethical issues that the beggar wrestles with. The essence of the essay is whether to give money to beggars or not and whether the begging should be banned or not. To highlight the issues, a number of articles have been analyzed that can be considered representative of the debate in Sweden. There are opinion makers in Sweden who argue for a begging bid and who consider that they should not give money to beggars and there are those who believe that a ban is unreasonable and emphasizes the begging as a symptom of a poverty problem that is not solved by prohibition legislation. The different arguments of these opinion makers are compared and analyzed based on a theological perspective where texts from two theologians, one philosopher and a narrative text from the gospels form the starting point. The theologians / philosophers whose ethical approach the essay presents are chosen based on the fact that their thinking is close and has a strong bearing on the essay's question. In his research, Peter Singer has raised poverty alleviation as his main theme, which concerns the issue about begging whose reason is just poverty. He is not a theologian but, in my opinion, enriches the theological perspective. K E Lögstrup is a theologian and, through his ethical theory of the absolute requirement, he can provide an interesting theological perspective on the issue of begging. I will also use narrative text from the Gospel of Luke to highlight the begging issue. Luke's gospel is the book of the New Testament, which most frequently addresses the issue of poverty and the obligations of the rich. Finally, Gustavo Gutiérrez will be treated as representative of liberation theology. The begging issue is much about the power perspective and there the liberation theology has been central in showing that the way we describe reality always assumes a specific context that contains a variety of values that are often assumed to be universal. Simply an analysis of the power perspective needs to be done to make an essay about begging relevant and Gutierrez has a lot to contribute. In this essay I have argued that you do not have a duty to give to all beggars. It is reasonable to make an assessment where the gift is most useful. There may be other purposes where poverty is more acute or apparent and that better needs my gift. It is also reasonable to make an assessment if the beggar is used for criminal activities such as trafficking or prostitution. There are no simple rules for how this should be done, but I mean that it is unethical to give to beggars completely arbitrarily before creating a relationship in order to make a assessment of the individual beggar's situation. That relationship can be created with a few who may be begging in one's neighborhood. At the same time, there is the absolute requirement to take care of our fellow man, who Lögstrup has developed. Over our principles rests an untold, silent requirement that we can not bargain with. The requirement is radical but can not be converted into a universal rule. It might be about giving or not giving money or doing something radically different or not doing anything at all. Every meeting with a beggar is a unique situation that must be judged by the individual at the moment. The requirement calls for listening to God's voice aimed at love and care about the person I meet.