This study examines how Qatar and Russia utilize football as an instrument of foreign-policy. While previous reasearch has primarily focused on mega-events, such as the Olympic games and the FIFA World Cup, this thesis expands the scope by analyzing how footbal functions as a strategic tool for nation branding in both countries. The study employs a comparative qualitative case study appraoch, based on Simon Anholt?s nation branding framework, modified to include four dimensions instead of six. The analysis demonstrates that both Qatar and Russia leverage football to advance their foreign policy objectives, but in markedly different ways.

Public opinion can be shaped as well as transformed in a number of ways. Government authorities occasionally make use of public information campaigns to educate and steer the public. In this thesis the balance between public and private, the individual and the society is analysed in terms of dimensions of individualism and communitarianism. These dissimilar theories on how the society ought to be constructed can be used when analysing many different policy areas, however, they also pinpoint the controversies seen in the public debate regarding Swedish information policy. Based on this analysis an empirical study identifies what kind of knowledge the state wants the citizens to possess and public information campaigns can be problematic.

There is a clear difference between types of regions and forms of regionalization. This theoretical division can point out other division lines on different areas and levels, like the one of discourses. In this article is urged that regional political discourses may be divided in West and East European ones. To argue for West and East differences in regional discourse the article shows division lines both in the history of regionalization but also in ideologies. The regional policy of the EU is one example for today's regionalization as a West discourse and the Transylvanian in Rumania as an example for the East discourse.

The aim of this study was to develop knowledge about the social workers' importance for unaccompanied children's integration in the Swedish society. In order to investigate this we also have to distinguish other people who are important for the unaccompanied children. The method used in the study is qualitative interviews and we have interviewed four unaccompanied children and three social workers to reach the results. To analyze the results we have used symbolic interactionism and Antonovsky's theory about sence of coherence. The results showed that it is important for unaccompanied children to have access to significant people to integrate and they also have to learn values and attitudes which exist in the society.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of five students searching for information in the context of writing a bachelor thesis. The main questions regard what strategies they use whilst searching for information, their relevance judgements and their feelings. The method used is the qualitative interview. The students were doing their third term in psychology. All the students were interviewed twice while working on the thesis.

This is a thesis on information design with a focus on text design. The purpose of this study is to gather knowledge about how information on the Easy-to-Read website, of the police, should be composed so that immigrants more easily will be able to read and understand the content. The goal of the study is to present a design proposal based on the knowledge that has been found through principles for readability, theoretical perspectives and literature, together with methods; readability analysis and interviews. The interviews were performed individually with the coordinator at polisen.se as well as four students from SFI (Swedish for immigrants). The study showed that the content on the website of the police is not adequately adapted to the needs of the target group. It also exhibited that the website's disposition is unclear, and that complicated terms are not explained.

The purpose of this thesis is to expose the political myth in the West about the ageing population seen as a threat against the welfare society. To do so I have described what a political myth is, and showed how it is presented in the most influential newspapers and organisations in the West. I have also presented alternative perspectives to the dominating view on the ageing population and it's impacts on welfare. In this way I have tried to point out that the subject has a political dimension. In the thesis last section I compare the message presented in the newspapers and the organisations with the characteristics of a political myth.

The focus on this essay is derived from an international and national dialogue for sustainable development. The recommendation from international level has been to find solutions for governments to implement strategies for sustainable development between local and regional level. This initiative is to improve and stimulate the dialogue between the local inhabitants, officials, entrepreneurs and stakeholders in the communities together with the authorities on the regional level. The purpose is to share knowledge and find ways to learn about the natural systems and how to co-operate in the work of preserving the natural resources and developing different processes for a sustainable development. Many scientists? today stress the importance that ecosystem resilience is promoted by biodiversity conservation and that we need to find solutions for local ecosystem management practices.This essay aims to find theoretical approaches and perspectives that can be used in a wider framework to study co-operative processes between the local (agent) and regional (structure) level.

The problem, which I want to highlight in this essay, is about my fear of losing face in conversationwith the parents of my text. I'm going through different approaches to find out what is happening inmy meetings with parents. I will also see if the knowledge that I get will help me to get deeperunderstanding of my reactions in different situations and if this opens up new possible ways ofhandling them.In my text there will be two stories where the conversation with parents has been difficult. Theyboth illustrate my uncertainty concerning the unpredictability of conversations with distressed orstressed parents. I can prepare the environment, by cleaning and making it look nice before meetingwith the parents.

This essay shows how administrators in two different organizations are experiencing freedom of action in their work situation. The essay is made based on a qualitative method and interviews were used to implement the study. People chosen for this study are four administrators at a governmentagency - the Social Insurance agency, and four municipal officers from different Social service offices in southern Sweden. The theoretical framework consists of Weber's theory of bureaucracy, and his discussion of the legal authority. The analysis is designed as adiscussion of the parts that were especially prominent during the interviews.

During my practical training I have seen what after-school offers children. Large groups of children and little staff, often results in that the children had to play freely until they go home. Few activities are offered to the children and the staff is busy looking after the children and ensures that they are not fighting.The purpose of this study is to find out how children feel about their leisure activities and if they think they are being offered a meaningful leisure. The main research questions were:How do children experience their leisure-time?Do after-school offers children a meaningful leisure and is it the children's interests and needs that govern the activities and the environment?How do the number of children in the leisure group affect the leisure time?The methods to collect data in the study are observations and interviews.

Purpose of this thesis is to study the impact of wind turbines on their surroundings. It also aims to analyze how the communication looks between the authorities, the planner and local residents prior to the establishment of wind turbines in Lännäs/Odensbacken in Örebro, where three wind turbines set up in a group.The results of this survey show that the participants experience themselves not as especially disturbed of the turbines in the form of large noise, shadows, and sleep disturbance indoors and outdoors. Participants felt that no change had taken place on the natural environment (52%) since the turbines became operational. It was 49% of participants had got no information about the establishment of Örebro Municipality, Örebro County Administrative Board or Wind Power Company. Scientists/­experts had the highest confidence of 86%, politicians and the media/journalists had least confidence.

The aim of this study is to try to explain the process using both an actor driven perspective as well as a structural perspective examining the reasons why the County Council of Värmland wants to merge with Region Västra Götaland. The answers to the following research questions are sought to shed light on the problem: What constrained the discretion of  the political actors in the choice of region to merge with? Which role did  different political actors play? Does the study provide Game Theory, from Rational Choice theory,  and Path Dependency, from Historic Institutionalism, a new perspective and strength especially  when bringing them together? The study is limited to two policy areas, health care and regional development policy. The structural background is drawn upon the Annual Report 2008 of the County Council Värmland, the Regional Development Program and Regional Transport Infrastructure Plan 2010-2021 by Region Värmland. The chronological order of decisions and events is drawn upon protocols from various regional political organs all linked to the municipal of Värmland and the correspondence between the officials of Värmland?s municipal and the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency of the State.

When Swedish authorities are to purchase or rent something, public procurement is used as a means to an end. Authorities as well as suppliers are subjects to the fact that Swedish law regarding public procurement regulates the form of procurement in one set of particular regulations (LOU) and the form of contracts in another set of general regulations (AvtL). Suppliers and purchasing authorities close a contract regarding the subject of procurement and the law of public procurement regulates when such a contract can be closed, simultaneously the law of contracts regulates when parties are held to contracts and when contracts are to be rescinded. I investigate in this essay what these two types of regulations can result in for the contracting parties. As it is today agreements that have been entered into wrongfully still are valid, even if a court of law nullifies the procurement and sentences the purchasing authority to make a new public procurement.

The aim of this study was to, with a social constructivistic approach, examine how parents,regarded as neglecting their children, are depicted in 12 LVU-legal cases from the Supreme Administrative Court in Sweden. By using a document analysis influenced by discourse analytical tools, we found that there are repeated descriptions of the parents, which constructs an image of parents as shortcoming in the care of their children. The categories lack of emotions, mental disorder, substance abuse and physical maltreatment were the main reasons for child neglect that the parents were described from. Attitudes towards authority, aggression and immaturity, lack of insight, and deficiencies in the home were repeated in the description of the parent. We further found that mothers were regarded as more responsible of the children compared to fathers.