The parrot is a common symbol, or even cliché, in Western literature, going all the way back fromancient Greece to the present date, and in many a genre. This study reads the oeuvre of the NobelPrize winner Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) as being closely related to these certain traditions andconnotations of for example religion, satire, and speaking nonsense, in his frequent use of parrotsand their symbolic potentials, in his writing. Furthermore, it is possible to distinguish a movementin Beckett?s use of parrots, from a more or less traditionally use, to one more philosophicallyprofound.Although the parrot graces us with its presence (or at least may be traced) in almost everywork written by Beckett, from the poem ?Whoroscope? (1930) to How It Is (1961), they are onlymentioned sparsely by his interpreters. Therefore, a brief history of the literary tradition of theparrot will be expounded.

In this essay I have examined how teenager and leaders handle conflicts on a recreation centre in Nacka, outside of Stockholm in Sweden.I have made qualitative interviews with two leaders and ten teeangers. Also I have read researchlitterature about conflicts and how to handle them. Then I have made observations watching how leaders and teeangers communicate and behave.The purpose of the examination is to describe differences with constructive and destructive handle with conflicts. I have also shown how conflicts can give possibilites for the involved people to get to understand themselves, the other parts and the whole complex social behavior better.But that demands that the involved people choose a constructive solution where both parts cooperate, understand eachother and can see how themselves have contributed in developing the conflict.I have worked as an employee at the recreation centre two evenings a week in sex months. During that time I have observed conflicts and different strategies among teeangers and leaders.My conclusions are that conflicts give opportunities for people to grow as human-beeings and get a mentally richer life.

The aim of the following thesis is to examine if the ideology behind the copyright laws of today poses a threat to creativity and the cultural heritage. The organizations Association of American Publishers and Authors Guild are subject to an ideology- analysis which seeks to examine their ideological views on copyright and the possible threat to creativity such a view brings. The conflict between the two organizations and Google Book Search is used as a context where the ideology is being brought to light. Stanford Law School professor, Lawrence Lessigs work is used as theory and an alternative to the examined view on copyright. The result suggests that the organizations see copyright as the only effective incentive to creation and therefore they think stronger intellectual property laws are needed.

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

This essay discusses the use of history, and primarily how the current Swedish society perceives and uses the Viking age. The analysis is based on a literature study as well as a case study of the planned theme park in Fullerö north of Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of the essay is to understand the regional debate which arose in media regarding the planning of Fullerö Park and how it reflects the contemporary use of history. Research about the use of history has become increasingly common in recent years and deals with how history is actively being used in society in order to meet its existing needs. These needs varies among different groups and individuals and results in a multitude of usages, where the interests of the different actors may be contradictory.

The study is quantitative and the purpose was to examine the effects of ethnicity and education on three working-related identities and striving among 80 participants. The participants consisted of foreign-born people living in Sweden and people who were born in Sweden, with different educational background. Each groups consisted of 20 participants. The result showed that the highly educated participants had higher professional identity. The participants with lower education level had a stronger colleague identity than the higher educated participants and the Swedish-born participants had a lower identity.

The teaching of modern foreign languages within Swedish educational system has been a subject of a number of alarming reports in recent years. Several studies have shown that students lack motivation to learn any language but English. Of particular concern is the young males? underachieving and disinterest in foreign languages. In the meantime, a number of international studies and the statistical data from Swedish national agencies of secondary and higher education (Skolverket and Högskoleverket) have indicated that Russian is one of the languages that are favoured by males. The primary goal of my case study was, therefore, to examine students? motivation to learn Russian and their attitudes towards language, community and Russian-speaking people.

Med Köpenhamnsskolans säkerhetiseringprocess som analysverktyg kan man tolka institutionaliserandet av apartheidpolicyn som en följd av att rasfrågan i Sydafrika under tiden efter andra världskriget säkerhetiserades. Den vita identiteten formades, med ett postmodernistiskt perspektiv, i och med denna process. Den samtida politiska diskursens konstruerade föreställningar om ?vi? och ?dem? blev en förutsättning för samhällets uppfattning om apartheidsystemets legitimitet. I och med apartheidregimens fall reverserades emellertid rasfrågan i säkerhetiseringsprocessen och introduceras åter som politisk fråga.

The present essay concerns Walter Benjamin´s engagement with the concept of critique in four of his early writings from 1916-1928. It revolves around three main themes, or objects of interest: the critique of language [Sprache], the critique of the work [das Werk] and the critique of history [Geschichte]. The main objective of this study is to show how we can understand Benjamin?s conception of critique and how he develops it in regard to language, the work and history. The essay argues that this is a vital part to understand his philosophy in general as well as his later philosophy of history in particular.

When discussing local development attention is often given to the problems involved. Factors like decreasing population and inadequate infrastructure are two examples. Local politics has, however, lately been argued to have possibilities to affect its own development and its chances to achieve growth. Some of the most important factors from this debate are to make a community attractive for people and companies, committed leadership, the local business world with entrepreneurialism and a good business climate. These factors serve as a starting point for this discussion where focus is on the possibilities to achieve growth on the local level and the politics that is used for this purpose.To illustrate the chances to affect local growth I apply the theoretical perspective of regime theory and thereby examine the governing coalitions "power to" govern and not "power over" as the earlier theoretical perspectives in the area.

The present thesis closer examines what has come to be known as al-Qaida, partly from what al-Qaida is considered to be, partly from the consequences a certain picture of al-Qaida might give rise to. Between 1988-2001 most of this thesis sources refers to al-Qaida as a small, organized core group with some degree of cell structure. From 1991 to present days, many of the sources enlarge the picture of al-Qaida. From now on they start to view al-Qaida as either a network in itself or al-Qaida as a part of a larger islamistic network, not only as an organized core group with presumptive bases in Afghanistan. The most recent of theories regarding al-Qaida looks at al-Qaida as an ideology in itself (al-Qaedaism) or al-Qaida as a part of previously existing ideologies (Islamism, Neofundamentalism and Jihadism-Salafism).Al-Qaida is being seen - by scholars, journalists and terrorism experts - as an organization with a core group, a network in itself, part of a larger islamistic network and an ideology of its own or as a part of already existing ideologies.

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediatization of Swedish politics on a municipal level. We live in a world were media affects many aspects of life. One of those aspects is the communication between the citizens and the politicians.Our main research questions are:To what extent do politicians communicate with journalists and who initiates these contacts?Do politicians talk to some types of media rather than others?What factors make a politician choose to speak to media?To what extent do leading Swedish municipal politicians use media strategies?To answer these questions we have used various theories to help us understand media?s role oftoday. First we explain the transformation that has taken part in Swedish media over the last century, from political party press to independent media companies.

Dreampark AB är ett IT-företag som bland annat håller på att utveckla ett Internet Protocoll TeleVission (IPTV) -system. IPTV innebär att TV-signalerna som mottas av TV-apparaten sänds över Internet. Det kan jämföras med kabel-TV där signalerna sänds via en kabel som är nergrävd i marken. I IPTV-systemet, som Dreampark byggt, har det byggts en interaktiv meny med många olika tjänster. Det går t.ex.

The aim of this thesis is to study the views of public librarians on the subject of controversial video games and how they work with them at the library. The purpose of the study is to answer these questions: What content is controversial in video games according to the librarians? How do the librarians handle the controversial games at the library? Does it exist a conflict between the users and the librarians about the controversial video games? Is it possible to see any underlying reasons or tendencies in the librarians answers? Five qualitative interviews were performed to answer these questions and the collected data was analyzed using the terms, value rationality and instrumental rationality which were collected from a theory by Geir Vestheim. The results showed that the librarians see violence, sexism and racism as controversial content in video games. They handle the games at the library by limiting the access for children with age limits and by not buying the most controversial games in some cases.

Denna uppsats är en kritisk granskning av Samuel P. Huntingtons modell att förstå världspolitiken utifrån, som han presenterar i boken The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Granskningen utgår från en analys av hans grundläggande begrepp, ?civilization? och ?clash?, och från ytterligare en analys av hur hans modell skiljer sig från andra modeller om världen. Med hjälp av dessa analyser diskuterar jag rimligheten i den tes som han ställer upp och konsekvenserna som hans förutsägelser och policyrekommendationer får, för att sedan kunna bedöma om hans modell är användbar eller inte.