Lately information- and communication technology (ICT) has been seen as an important tool to vitalize democracy. What kind of democracy it generates is however debateable. The objective with this thesis is therefore to examine what democratic ideal that dominates the use of ICT in Region Skåne and Västra Götalandsregionen and what kind of citizenship it brings. The two case studies were chosen because the Swedish regional level is facing a reorganization with democratic ambitions which in relation to ICT is fairly unexplored. To fulfil the objective there are two perspectives; e-democracy and e-administration, which are defined and integrated with democratic theory including Premfors´ "Fast, Strong and Thin" democratic ideals and Marshall´s three citizenship rights.

Taiwan has over the past thirty years experienced a substantial political transformation. Being ruled by Chinese nationalists since World War II, Taiwan started its democratic transition in the late eighties. The new democratic system did not only provide people with freedom to vote, it also marked the beginning of a search for a new national identity. Based on the international theory of constructivism, this paper defines and studies the Taiwanese people?s progression away from a dominant Chinese national identity towards a uniquely defined Taiwanese identity.

This essay has the ambition to examine and compare Croatia?s and Bosnia and Herzegovina?s development towards a consolidated democracy. By applying Linz & Stepen?s theory on how to consolidate a democracy and put focus on political society, behavioral patterns, attitude and constitutional structure the purpose is to find similarities and differences between Bosnia and Croatia within this field.The focus of this study is to compare two similar countries that have developed in very different ways. By applying the theory and a comparative method the purpose is to examine why two so similar countries with so much in common have developed in so different ways?In order to better answer the question there are two part questions and these are:What difficulties, concerning consolidation of democracy, have Croatia and Bosnia faced since the democratic transition in the beginning of the 1990s?What similarities and differences in the area of democratic consolidation (with focus on political society, behavioral patterns, attitude and constitutional structure) are there between the two countries?As the analysis shows, the main reason why these two countries differ so much is that Bosnia is a divided country with different nationalities and each nationality only wants to realize its own interest and does not care about what is best for the country as an entity.

Denna uppsats behandlar den orangea revolutionen ur ett transitionsperspektiv och försöker teoriprövande utröna om denna revolution kan anses som en demokratisk transition i enlighet med transitionsterin.Uppsatsen är teoriprövande till sin karaktär och kontrasterar den politiska processen i Ukraina mellan den första omgången i presidentvalet den 31 oktober 2004 och den tredje omgången den 26 december 2004 med transitionsteorin.Uppsatsen baseras på en fältstudie genomförd under december 2005 i Kiev, Ukraina. Fältstudien består dels av en intervjuserie genomförd med ukrainska politiker, akademiker, tidningsmän, nationella organisationer samt internationella organisationer men också av primärkällor i form av tidningsartiklar från i Ukraina.Denna studie når i sin analys fram till att den orangea revolutionen kan förklaras enligt transitionsteorin men framlägger också de avvikelser som denna uppvisar i förhållande till transitionsteorin.Nyckelord: Ukraina. Den orangea revolutionen. Transition. Förhandlingar.

This study aims to unravel if it should be accepted to use natural resources in the Sami reindeer grazing area for the green transition. Mines, wind parks, and other infrastructure in the reindeer grazing area create problems for the reindeers which makes it difficult for the Sami to proceed with this traditional practice. While the Sami people have right to practice these customs the minerals and land which in it lies could be crucial to successfully go through the green transition in Sweden and the European Union as well. To answer the question: Should it be acceptable to use natural resources in the Sami reindeer grazing area to accomplish the green transition? a reflective equilibrium will be applied to the principles of egalitarianism and collective rights.

The purpose of this essay is to examine Egyptian university students´attitudes about the Egyptian education system´s ability to support a democratic process in Egypt. In order to carry out my study, scientific books and articles have been read and interviews have been made among Egyptian university students. The interviews contained questions about the Egyptian education system´s impact on the democratic process in Egypt and which impact the Egyptian education system has had on the Egyptian revolution.The conclusion drawn from my study is that Egyptian university students find the contemporary Egyptian education system based on authoritarian rules and with a lack of democratic values. The Egyptian university students believe that to establish democratic institutions in Egypt, the Egyptian citizens need a better understanding about democratic values. However, some of the students believe that the democracy that should be established in Egypt, must be based on Islamic values and to succeed with that, Islamic studies must play a greater part in the Egyptian education.When it comes to the Egyptian education system´s impact on the Egyptian revolution the Egyptian university students´opinions were somehow divided. .

The aim of this thesis is to examine the politics and activities of the Social Democratic students´ association Spartakus. Their relationships and political and ideological differences towards the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) and the remaining parts of the Social Democratic youth organisation (SSU) in Linköping during 1969-1971 are examined. To fulfil this aim I have studied relevant literature and interviewed people who were active in Spartakus, as well as people from SSU and SAP in the municipal during the period. I have also studied written material produced by the students´ association itself during the period. The theoretical frame of reference consists of Dahl´s theory on a democratic political order, and party theories like the mass party theory of Duverger, theories from Sjöblom, Panebianco, Lipset and Tingsten and also Gidlund&Möller´s theory about different kinds of party members.

AbstractParticiapation from the citizens in a democratic society is one of the ground pilars for the function of the democratic society. The goal for the Swedish contemporary democracy is to complement the representative democracy with different kinds of participatory activities for the citizens. But is it working? The purpose of this essay is to exame the problems that might occur when the citizens participate in a wider extent than just voting. The focus is problems connected to the democratic value political equality.

Each municipality in Sweden have to offer all children a place in a pre-school class starting the autumn term of the year the child turns six until it starts compulsory school. Despite the fact that it is a non-compulsory education, 95 % of all six-year-olds attend pre-school class.The purpose of this study has been to explore how pre-school and compulsory schools organize the pre-school children?s transition to pre-school. It also aims at examining how teachers? co-operate in order to fulfill the commission of the national curriculum and how they make a smooth transition to the new school for the children.Research questions: In what way do teachers in pre-school and compulsory school co-operate in in order to make the children?s transition easy? What part of the process and which operators are most important for the children in the transition? To what extent does the school organization fulfill the commission of the national curriculum regarding co-operation between pre-school and compulsory school?To answer these questions I have used a qualitative method where I have made seven interviews as well as a text analysis of annual reports from the studied schools.

This thesis analyzes and discusses the role of institutions concerning countries' abilities to create economic wealth. The countries that we are analyzing are the former members of the Warsaw pact and former Yugoslavia. These countries are referred to as transition countries. In order to analyze the transition countries institutional structure we are using Douglass C. North's theory regarding institutions and institutional building.

The main objective of the essay is to define the meaning of the termgovernance network on the basis of democratic values ? both normative andimperial - with the aim to analyse the prospects to develop an effective anddemocratic governance. Democratic values as well as civil participation,enlightenment, responsibility and approachability are discussed, but also moreeffectivness orientated values.It is clear from the presentation how normative and democracy models putdifferent values in focus, with the consequence that other values are played downor pushed aside. Compared to imperial research in partnership ? by definition atype of network arrangement - and with a starting point in democracy andefficiency, the networks are discussed as political formation.In what sense can the actual existing network arrangements meet and fulfil thedefined political values? As no straight forward answer exists, there is an ongoingconflict between the political demand for slowness and the effectiveness demandfor flexibility and mobility..

I uppsatsen prövas om medborgerlig gemenskap och socioekonomisk utveckling kan förklara institutionell effektivitet även i icke-demokratiska länder. Med teoretiska utgångspunkter i Putnams numera klassiska teori från Den fungerande demokratin (1996), som efter modifikationer och med inslag från Linz och Stepans ?fem arenor? från Problems of democratic transition and consolidation (1996), testas teorin genom regressionsanalyser och med ett dataset från The Quality of Government Institute. Uppsatsen kommer fram till att det går att förklara den institutionella effektiviteten genom medborgerlig gemenskap och socioekonomisk utveckling oberoende av om landet är demokratiskt eller ej..

The main purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the democratic situation and developement in Malung and Nyköping, through a perspective of participatory and deliberative democratic theories. The questions I?ve examined are On what priorities the actions of developing democracy are built? Which positive effects have been reached and what problems have arisen? What are the solutions they have found to the problems? How does one experience the results of the experiments and actions taken? What are the similarities and differences between the two cases? and What is their relationship to the theories mentioned above?The questions are answered through interviews with four central actors in each case and examined in relation to participatory and deliberative democratic theories and in comparison of the two cases.The results have been that even if none of the cases respond to one theoretical ideal, they have touches of both theories as well as representative theory. It shows, however, that in Malung the representative democracy theory is the strongest represented in actions and politics, while in Nyköping the participatory democratic theory is stronger. In short, the most positive and negative effects respond well to the theories..

This thesis examines and evaluates user boards in Swedish public schools from a democratic perspective. In order to evaluate whether the democratic values are fulfilled five different democratic ideals are selected to serve as a theoretical fundament. These ideals derive from the Swedish Government Official Reports that preceded the reform of user boards in schools, and are identified as the following: participation, dialogue, trust, democratic schooling and influence. The study is based on cases and involves two schools with user boards and two comparative schools with informal parental influence, so called school advisory boards. The study concludes that the main difference between the two types of parental influence is the level of formality.

The purpose of this paper is to study the subject Islam and Democracy and see whatcommonalities exist between the two ideas and traditions of thoughts. The subject is topicaland often highlighted by the media in the West. The Islamic voices that we hear today iscertainly not democratic, given the violence and hatred carried out by Islamic extremistsagainst the West. The investigation of this paper have shown a different direction when thereare other voices such as those investigated reformist thinkers who argue that Islam has manydemocratic elements, and even that Islam is more suitable than democracy. According to thereformists ismodel of an Islamic state is democratic and legitimate.