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.

The globalization and the realization of a European common insurance market have increased the importance of cross border insurance contracts. Despite that, a gathered set of rules regulating cross border insurance contracts does not exist. The sets of rules within Private International Law which arises today when determining the applicable law regarding cross border insurance contracts are the law of 1993 on applicable law to certain insurance contracts (the law of 1993) and the law of 1998 on applicable law to contractual obligations (Rome Convention). Since the Rome Convention is the only Community instrument which still is in the form of a treaty, work has been done in order to convert it into a regulation, called the Rome-I-regulation. Therefore, the future Rome I-regulation is of importance for the thesis as well since it most likely will replace the Rome Convention.Swedish law is based on the principle of party autonomy, which means that the contracting parties have the right to freely agree on the content of the contract, including the choice of law.

In the early morning of February 24th, 2022, Russian troops crossed the border to Ukraine which started the full-scale war between Ukraine and Russia. Even though the war does not directly involve the EU or member states of the union, it affects the lives of the European people. While previous research has established that general attitudes towards the European Union and European integration has changed in some countries within the Union since the start of the war, the question remains how attitudes towards EU and European integration has changed across EU. A second unanswered question is whether populations in Western and Eastern Europe have responded differently, leading to a potential divergence or convergence in attitudes. The theory ?Rally around the flag? suggests that an outright war that border to EU will increase support for the political leadership in EU.

Ett projekt som visar hur Mälardalen kan utvecklas till flerkärnig stadsregion. En hållbar stadsutveckling, med ökad närhet till naturen, ett lugnare tempo och högre livskvalitet. Bakgrunden är att befolkningen förväntas öka med 600 000 - 800 000 invånare i Stockholm-Mälarregionen till 2030. I projektet föreslår jag omfattande investeringar i infrastruktur, bland annat en Maglevbana för att knyta samman städerna kring Mälaren. Att korta restiderna mellan dessa städer är centralt för att skapa en mer integrerad arbets- och bostadsmarknad i regionen.

This thesis examines the democracy theories that can be found in the internet websites of Region Skåne and Stockholm county council. Within the framework of deliberative democracy, participatory democracy and electoral democracy, the author tries to distinguish democratic aspects by empirically studying these websites and their communicative effect on the internet users.This research shows that Region Skåne is slightly better in implementing democratic aspects at their home page, which is probably due to an active work with these issues carried out by the politicians and the report on the democratic development from 2004. However, a great deal of work regarding democracy and the possibility of civic participation in the decision- making process is still to be done.The problems and challenges in using internet as a democratic tool shows that citizens run a risk of being neglected, due to their uneven participation in using internet in daily life. The conclusion of this thesis is that the politicians have to make an active choice in deciding to what extent the internet is allowed to be used when it comes to developing democracy. This work has to be done in cooperation with political scientists and IT experts, in order to assure a correct democratic model..

As the contemporary discourse surrounding urbanism is almost exclusively focusing on aspects of density and traditional urban qualities, it entrenches notions of what constitutes a proper city and countryside. But beyond this urban-rural dichotomy is another highly contemporary landscape. A territory usually mentioned as sprawl, peri-urban, wasteland, edge city, etc. Although its existence is due to mobilization, telecommunications, globalization and other phenomena of modern life, it is a landscape without an own name or place in public awareness.This thesis provides a case study of how to map and intervene in such a landscape, specifically along the border between Malmö and Burlöv municipalities in southern Sweden. Its structure is composed of a sequence of three parts:1 Spatial Conditions:Divided up in the sections Network, Fringe and Void.

This essay is about the planning of Stockholm's Border regions (areas on the outskirts of the city) during the first seven years of the 21st century. It describes how planning decisions are made in reality, in respect to a 'green' perspective. By describing what a "markanvisning" is (the right to negotiate with the city about a certain piece of land) and by discussing examples of what has happened with a hundred applications for markanvisning, this essay shows how Stockholm's Border regions are planned. In the majority of cases it is the initiative of the future developers that begin the planning and construction processes. Research shows that the application to get a markanvisning in Stockholm does not follow a clear, structured system. However, the existing system in Stockholm does work and it seems like almost all the employees within the municipality, the politicians, and the future proprietors are happy with the current situation. Interviews have been held with key individuals involved in the planning process.

This study focuses on nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Anchored in theories that this region historically has been characterized by a nationalism that is based on the ethnic group rather than on liberal or civic concepts, it is the purpose of this study to explore whether these theories still apply in recent times when the region has been liberalized, for example manifested in the entry to the European Union. The research question has been tested through analysis of the constitutions of a number of Central and Eastern European countries in order to investigate what type of nationalism that the states have codified in their basic political documents. The results show that some of the states give expression to the historical ethnic nationalism in their constitutions, which indicates that the theories still are relevant..

The theory of ?security communities? is generally understood as ?dependable expectations of peaceful change? between groups and whether or not the African Union can be said to meet that criteria has been contested in the research community. One of the central disagreements lie in the nature of the region?s conflicts, of which a majority are intrastate but with tendencies of transnational involvement. This paper seeks to understand how extensive this involvement is and how it affects the possibility of classifying the African Union as a security community.

The purpose of this study has been to make an inventory of combustible waste in the region around Norrköping and to investigate the composition of domestic waste, industrial waste and two different types of sludge. The work was performed at the request of Norrköping Miljö & Energi, due to the planning of an incineration plant. The inventory of the waste was performed through inspection of environmental impact reports, from waste disposal plants in a number of local government areas in the region. The quantities were also compared to another inventory, carried out in a different way. The characterisation of the wastes was compared to the fuel specification determined by Norrköping Miljö & Energi.

Under 2011 implementerade den svenska regeringen en lag om fysisk planering och hur den ska ta hänsyn till det regionala perspektivet. Den regionala nivån har traditionellt sett varit svag i Sverige i jämförelse med den lokala och nationella nivån och den fysiska planeringen ligger på kommunernas ansvar. Den regionala nivån har också anklagats, från vetenskapen och forskare, att vara avpolitiserande och fokusera på förhandling och samförstånd. Den fy-siska planeringen är organiserad och drivs genom demokratiska processer på kommunal nivå och det är politikerna som fattar de beslut som den fysiska planeringen jobbar efter.När fysisk planering ska ta hänsyn till det regionala perspektivet förändras villkoren för poli-tiken och det blir en förändrad politisk arena. Syftet med denna studie är att analysera aktörer i Värmland och deras syn på denna förändrade arena och de nya villkoren för politik den för med sig.

The relationship between landscape - public - art and whatoccurs and happens in between is what this paper casts light on. The essay intends to investigate whether there is any boundary between landscape architecture and art. How does this border looks like? Can art in the context of landscape architechture lead to a closer cross-border collaboration between landscapearchitects,artists and the public, to create attractive and/or functional outdoor environments. The place where the meeting can take place is outdoors where the landscape architect works, in the public environment and around the public art.

The role of cultural policy within the general political planning of a community can vary both historically and regionally. The aim of this study has been to explore the cultural policy plans, during the 1990's, in the recently formed geographical region of "Västra Götaland". This is a qualitative study, carried out during 1999, and based upon structured interviews with five representatives of the cultural-policy sector in the "Västra Götaland" region. In order to identify connections and tendencies in a more general social context the aims of the five representatives regarding cultural policy have been explored from the perspective of three cultural policy paradigms, namely Dorte Skot-Hansen, Olav R. Spilling and Göran Nylöf.

This master?s thesis investigates the technology and security awareness associated with wireless networks (WLAN). It has been stated by the media and theories that many wireless networks are unprotected. This has sparked an interest to investigate the phenomenon in the Jonkoping region. The study is based on the following research questions:- What security weaknesses are present with the WLAN-technology and how can these be avoided?- How does the wireless infrastructure in the Jonkoping region look like?- Why do companies implement the WLAN-technology?- Are the companies aware of the risks involved with WLAN?We conducted this study in three steps; the first step was to hack a wireless network in a controlled environment in order to investigate the weaknesses of the commonly used security measures.

I denna beskrivande studie undersöks vilka möjligheter de politiska sekreterarna i Region Skåne har att utöva politiskt inflytande. För att undersöka detta har vi utgått från tre maktforum. Information och bakgrundsmaterial har främst inhämtas genom samtalsintervjuer och en enkätundersökning. De politiska sekreterarna som intervjuats kommer från Folkpartiet, Miljöpartiet, Socialdemokraterna ochVänsterpartiet. Detta för att visa hur det politiska inflytande skiljer sig mellan oppositions- och majoritetspartier.