In an effort to strengthen democracy in the union, the EU in 2005 took a new approach to communications policy to reach out to the Citizens. The strategic document "Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate" was accompanied by two other documents, and the three of them were the core of this policy. Both democracy and communications work means at EU level a higher complexity than in the nation-state arena. Objective of this study is to examine how the implementation of Plan D has turned out in a democracy renewal perspective. To achieve that answers are sought to questions concerning the goals of Plan D, how they are still present today, what happened in practice regarding the efforts that are highlighted, and how the substance of the activities can be judged from a democratic theory perspective.

Democracy has been a part of the Swedish society for a long period of time and it is also a part of the Swedish elementary school curriculum, in which you can find a number of statements that expresses that the Swedish elementary school should socialize the children into becoming role model Citizens. This also conjures with the available research that describes schools in general as socializing. This led me to a question that hasn?t been answered: How much of the curriculums reasons for socialization the pupils are based on democratic values and how much of it can be dated back to events prior to the curriculum?The methodological approach is an analysis of ideologies as described by Sven-Eric Liedman and Ingemar Nilsson in Ideologi och ideologianalys. The text is focusing on the fact that a text has two layers; one is the manifest which is roughly the same as explicit or present in the text.

This paper analyzes governance of cultural and ethnic integration. The study has a comparative perspective between five municipalities in Skåne. One aim in this thesis is to clearify the ratio between the state and municipal authority and how municipalities exercise their autonomy. I analyze the advantages and disadvantages in different governance methods linked to how the municipalities are working in practice and what problem the integration policy is intended to eliminate. I also resolve the influence of officials and Citizens in the policy process.My conclusion is that direct ruling to a large extent is limited by indirect control.

By studying a place or a phenomena research contributes to the creation of the image of the thing that he or she studies. Also, planning is seen as a democratic tool, a way to ?make? democracy. In order to see what democratic ideals that is being express it becomes important to study the research about democracy in Botkyrka. It is from this thinking this study about democracy and research has been formed.

The purpose of this master thesis is to show how a chosen actor in form of the Swedish union organization IF Metall (the Swedish union for metal- and industrial workers) works with pro-reading activities. The project being scrutinized is the Read to me dad-project which aims at fathers who are not used to reading activities within the LO-group (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation). The methods used are interviews and literary studies. The theoretical background of my discussion is based on three education ideals. The neo-humanist ideal emphasizes the personal improvement through literature.

This master thesis? purpose is to examine the role of Swedish universities in the prevention of extremism and terrorism. Depending on how the universities look upon their role in preventing extremism and promoting democracy among their students, extremism can either flourish or be restrained in the higher learning environment. An unclear standpoint against extremism from the universities side could make it possible for extremism to prosper at the universities, and students with extremist opinions may be radicalized and recruited to extremist organizations and terrorism. What are the universities standpoints in the matter whether universities should promote democracy and prevent and restrain extremism and the recruitment of students to extremist organizations? During the study I have mainly been using primary material in the shape of semi structured interviews with predecessors of four Swedish universities.

This master thesis deals with the differences in the design of the environmental scanning between different kinds of organisations, as well as the demands and regulations etc. in the respective environments that influence the environmental scanning. The content of the environmental scanning and the organisation of the function are outside the scope of this study. Two organisations that do not have an organised function but are scanning their environment were chosen for the investigation. A model for conducting the environmental scanning developed by Frankelius is used to analyse the practice of environmental scanning.

Denna uppsats belyser problemet med användandet av begreppen EU-medborgare och EU-migrant, samt vad det är som avgör huruvida man skall bli betraktad som antingen det ena eller andra. Det råder fri rörlighet för alla EU-medborgare mellan medlemsstaterna, det skapar problem när grupper som rent juridiskt inte klassificeras som medborgare, och i stället klassificeras som migrant. Skillnaden mellan att vara EU-medborgare och EU-migrant är bland annat att det skiljer sig i åtnjutandet av det sociala skyddsnätet. Romer används som ett exempel genom hela uppsatsen då de har en historia som inte påminner om någon annan, samt för att det är ett aktuellt ämne i dagens EU. Genom en komparativ studie mellan två välfärdsstater, samt en diskursanalys där Benhabibs teori ?the rights of others? appliceras diskuteras huruvida alla inom EU kan åtnjuta de mänskliga rättigheterna.

Many people choose to live in urban environments. Since everyday life in many cities is characterized by a high pace it is important that good recreational areas, with the possibility of recovery, are available to the population.This paper is based on a case study of Växjö city park, which is the area surrounding the lake Växjösjön. The park and the lake are of great importance to the Citizens. The lake Växjösjön has for a long time been affected by eutrophication, which has caused major problems as algal blooms and fish mortality. An extensive lake restoration was carried out in the 1990s in order to save the lake.

This essay concerns the notion of how immigration politics, defined as a political discursive structure that explains and justifies how and why the movement of people into a state's territory is restricted and controlled, has come to present its purpose not as solidarity with the 'immigrants' wanting to enter the state but as a protective measure for the state's Citizens. By using discourse theory combined with theories from the International Relations field I attempt to explain why and how such a discourse positions 'immigrants' as a threat to the state.First, I concentrate on why an immigration politics discourse would position 'immigrants' as a threat. I argue that in order for people to construct their identity, the 'outside' what they "are not" has to be repressed. In the same way, the state has to dislocate the "outside" and create threats to uphold its supremacy. These boundaries are set to create a feeling of predictability and security, and ultimately they are a way of making peoples' "world" coherent.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the Swedish model with attention to core values over time, as well as, explain recent changes. It examines changes of the social insurance system, with focus on political reforms in the unemployment insurance, health insurance and family policy, during the last two decades. The thesis is empirical but although a discourse amount political theories and normative conceptions.Conclusions are that the normative basis in the Swedish model contains general equally and uni-versally designed rights and consensus on growth and development as well as a strict focus on an employment oriented society. Important values have also been dialogue between actors as well as accountability, even if these facts appear to have declined in recent years.Relating to three leading theories in political philosophy - utilitarianism, Rawlsian communitarian-ism - explores the directions in later year political reforms. The results show that later years changes seem to go in relative strongly utilitarian direction.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a number of strategically selected employees at the Swedish Institute, with the purpose to promote Sweden in the world, look at the challenges facing Sweden concerning nation branding in the new era of cooperation within the European Union. I examine how these people look upon the work of public diplomacy and nation branding in order to actively participate and influence the EU's common communications platform.Material/Method: The method used in this thesis is qualitative interviews. The reason why I chose this method is because I consider it to be the most appropriate in order to collect information about how these selected employees at the Swedish institute regard the challenges that lay ahead in terms of nation branding within the European Union.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained by dint of the analysis, it can be concluded that it is of utmost importance to take the societal changes, which are a result both of the worldwide globalization and the EU cooperation, into consideration when designing a future communication strategy for the Swedish Institute. The nation-state continues to play an important role in Sweden, but its importance is declining as the EU cooperation is progressing. The Citizens? identity plays a crucial role in designing a nation?s communications strategy, and from the analysis I conclude that we move not from a Swedish to a European identity, but towards a pluralistic union where multiple identities meet under one umbrella; the EU..

Integration is a concept that is very topical in today's multicultural-cultural society. Integration means that everyone should have the same rights, opportunities and obligations to society, regardless of extraction. What counteract integration is segregation, which implies a distinction between different groups and where there exist an inequality between them. Segregation is widespread in Sweden today and the exclusion that it creates needs to be broken. The aim of this paper is to examine if it is possible to promote integra-tion through physical planning.

Title: Images of Sweden in ItalyNumber of pages: 5252 (589 including enclosures)Author: Oskar GustafssonTutor: Martin NilssonCourse: Political Science C level ? Bachelor?s ThesisPeriod: Spring term 2010University: School of Social SciencesLinnaeus UniversityPurpose/Aim: The purpose of my research study is to, through the use of political science theories on soft power and marketing theories about nation branding and in comparison to previous studies on the image of Sweden in Italy, gains a better understanding of the image of Sweden in Italy, with special focus on national political institutions and young Italians.Method: The method of analysis is a combination of qualitative methods: interviews where information about the image of Sweden amongst national political institutions were gathered and a survey where information was gathered about the image of Sweden amongst young Italians.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained it can be concluded that a positive and well informed image of Sweden emerges when it comes to cultural and social factors but a more restricted and somewhat negative image come to light when asking national political institutions and young Citizens in Italy about their views and knowledge on Swedish domestic and international politics and economics.Keywords: Soft power, Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding, Images of Sweden, Italy..

Nearly 50 years after the building of the first million programme neighbourhoods many Swedish municipalities faces an extensive restoration work in these neighbourhoods which during their relatively short lifetime have acted as a target for a large amount of criticism. Öster in Gävle is a million programme neighbourhood that has gone through an extensive restoration between 2001-2009 with the aim of improving the living environment. Improvements have been made in the outdoor environment, to the facades of the houses and the entrances? of each building. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the effects of the renewal in the physical outdoor environment for those who live in the neighbourhood.