Martina Haag?s method of self-mockery used in her chronicles is characterized by her wish to live up to various ideals. This essay brings out the subversive power of self-deprecatory hu-mor expressed in her book Hemma hos Martina. The author?s strategies and kinds of humor are being studied, leading up to what this humor accomplishes.

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

The main purpose of the essay was to evaluate whether investments in index-linked bonds were suitable investments for smaller investors on the international finance market. To determine whether the index-linked bonds are good investments, the variables yield, cost and risk were used to measure the index-linked bonds against investments in stocks and funds. The reason for the interest in this subject is that investments in index-linked bonds have grown furiously the last few years. With the growth of the investments the criticism of index-linked bonds has also grown stronger. The critics? main point is the cost of the product, and they imply that investors can create their own index-linked bond and thereby avoid the bank fees.This study used a quantitative approach, because all the data of yield, cost and risk consist of numbers.

This essay is about the female characters in the books of Hemingway. Are they as simple as some critics say, or are they more complex beings, and which ones of the women in the life of Hemingway, can be noticed in his female characters? In the work with this essay, biographies of Hemingway as well as a few of his novels have been studied. The selected novels are Farewell to Arms, Across the River and into the Trees, The Sun also rises and the short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The selection was based on the fact that these stories contain good female characters.

Shareholder value has its origin in the American corporate governance system and has been the subject of great debate over the last few decades. The proponents claim that it creates economic efficiency while the critics argue that maximization of shareholder value jeopardizes the long term survival of companies. However, the debate in Sweden already seems to have forgotten the question of how embedded the ideology really is and what´s leading its way. This study show that shareholder value has developed and been established in Swedish companies between 1995 and 2005. The study has found evidence that suggests that the development can primarily be linked to board networks and international exposure.

PURPOSE: To analyze how companies in the Swedish beer industry strategically workingwith CSR externally in order to increase their legitimacy.METHOD: Qualitative interviews and text analysis to enable data to stakeholder analysis.MATERIAL: Respondent interviews with key individuals, textual analysis of CSR-relateddocuments of the largest beer producers in Sweden.MAIN RESULTS: The study shows that it is possible to distinguish three main categories ofstakeholders to the beer producers. These have various high stakeholder values, wherecustomers are those with the highest value, then consumers and third critics. That these havevarious high values allows different strategic approach to the key issue of how preventivemeasures, that can be said to work against their own products, affects the beer producerslegitimacy among stakeholders..

PURPOSE: To analyze how companies in the Swedish beer industry strategically workingwith CSR externally in order to increase their legitimacy.METHOD: Qualitative interviews and text analysis to enable data to stakeholder analysis.MATERIAL: Respondent interviews with key individuals, textual analysis of CSR-relateddocuments of the largest beer producers in Sweden.MAIN RESULTS: The study shows that it is possible to distinguish three main categories ofstakeholders to the beer producers. These have various high stakeholder values, wherecustomers are those with the highest value, then consumers and third critics. That these havevarious high values allows different strategic approach to the key issue of how preventivemeasures, that can be said to work against their own products, affects the beer producerslegitimacy among stakeholders..

The aim with this paper is to study Karl Popper?s view on realism and relativism. Further aim is to see whether those ideas have been consistent over the years. The paper argues that Popper since his first interest in philosophy has taken a realistic and antirelativistic attitude. Only his arguments for this position have been developed to meet his critics.Common sense speaks for realism but can neither be proven nor refuted.

The focus of this master thesis is the library politics of the French Right wing party the National Front and the debate that followed the application of this politics. This qualitative study is divided into two parts where the critics to this politics represents one side and the adherents the other. The critics are composed by representatives from the French, Swedish and ? to some extent ? international library sector, while the adherent side is made up of politicians from the National Front and their adherents. The empiric material mostly consists of articles published in library, Right wing and daily press.

Making the work in the public sector more efficient is something that has been seen as necessary during the later years. One way to do this on municipal level has been to apply solutions former used mostly by private companies. The organisational parts have also been adjusted to existing conditions in this work of change. For example more and more municipalities have come to use the purchaser-supplier model since the beginning of the 1990's. Norrköping, Linköping and Motala have been chosen in this essay for a closer study of the effects of the changes of the 90's, from an efficiency point of view.

The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how, and in what ways Martina Bigert?s and Maria Thulin?s picture Allt om min buske (literally, All about my bush) is queer. Inspired by Judith Butler?s idea of the heterosexual matrix, and Michel Foucault?s discourse I attempt to investigate how sex and sexuality are described in relation to heteronormativity, and if Allt om min buske is either norm-breaking or norm-creating in a wider perspective. This study concludes that antinormativity and queerness are evident within the framework of the picture.

At Kungliga Biblioteket in Stockholm you can find over 40 000 letters sent to Selma Lagerlöf. Many of her readers wrote and asked for her help, and the letters show that she helped a lot of people with money as well as with writing advice. People from all over the world asked her for money to be able to study, to finish their written works, or just to get through the day. Others want her to read their texts and poems, because they wish to hear her opinion or wonder if she can put in a good word for them at some publisher. This essay illuminates the question why so many people had this confidence in Selma Lagerlöf.

Adam Smith?s economic theory is often subject to criticism, in which it is claimed to be inherently inconsistent. Recently, criticism from well-known scholars has arisen claiming Smith should be characterized a labor value theorist anticipating Karl Marx. This study seeks to analyze whether such criticism is legitimate. Firstly, the economic theory of Smith is discussed in terms of consistency, and secondly, a number of typical and main points of the critique, from the most influential of his contemporary critics, are lifted up and analyzed.

What kind of international actor is the European Union and how shall we define it? These are questions that many have tried to answer often by addressing the apparent uniqueness of the EU itself. One of these theories is Normative power Europe. A theory whose main argument is that the EU is best perceived as a changer of norms. My aim with this thesis is to test this claim and to see if the Union should be regarded as a normative power.

Purpose/Aim: The aim is to study the critics own views upon their profession and upon the development of criticism, and to thereafter set this in relation to contemporary theory and debates.Material/Method: A qualitative study pursued through personal interviews. The results are categorized and split into different themes.Main Results: Through media convergence and a changed media culture the conditions for criticism have also been altered. But in spite of various negative prophecies, these changes cause no serious threat to criticism. New forums and new forms of criticism actually increase the importance of the traditional ditto as the authoritative voice that holds the field together. Still, there are questions and fears about a future seemingly less and less predictable.