Social movements have long been valuable components of the struggle for a world with true justice. Along with the changing and modernization of society these movements also change, both in their actions as well as in the goals they want to accomplish. Technology is taking a greater part in many aspects of social life, creating new dimensions but also new social divides. This thesis examines how new social movements make themselves visible and affect the world around them through different kinds of networks. For the purpose of this study, we have chosen to study two social movements; the Zapatistas in Mexico, who have become known worldwide for carrying out the first informational revolution, and MoveOn.org, an American grassroots organization that struggles for increased democracy in the US.

Bortom historien slut ? Beyond the end of historyAccording to Robert Dahl there are seven criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for a state to be democratic. Dahl also states that there are several factors that effect the development of democracy. In today?s world it is mostly developing countries that have failed to bring about democratic changes.

The study aims to investigate student participation as a tool for democratic development in secondary school from a student perspective. Furthermore, students' perceptions of the school's work with student participation in formal and informal contexts are also investigated, with basis in the teaching structure. The results are based on interviews conducted with students who all attend the same class in their last year of high school. Subsequently, an analysis is made based mainly on three different theories: democracy, curricula and sociocultural theory. The result shows that students feel that they are able to practice student participation but the amount of influence they get differs between individuals depending on devotion and commitment.

Studies have shown that politicians are significantly more likely to become victims of violent crime than other citizens in Sweden. In fact increasing political rank and engagement are directly proportionate to increased risk for violence. Threat towards politicians is not only dangerous to the individuals involved but also to the democratic system as a whole.Political scientists the world over have done a lot of research on democracy, but I have been unable to find a single method or theory that examines how violence, threat and harassment affect political leaders and democratic systems.The aim of this study is to expand the existing model made by Tommy Möller, professor in political science. In his model he presents 11 factors that affect political leaders ability to act. My aim is to develop his model by adding a 12 th factor ?violence, threat and harassment?.

Följande studie undersöker i vilken utsträckning parterna i trepartsförhållandet Upsala Nya Tidning, annonsör och läsare har överensstämmande åsikter om vad som är viktigt i relationen, samt hur väl de känner till varandras uppfattningar. Vi väljer att studera förhållandet ur ett trepartsperspektiv då de mer traditionella tvåpartsförhållandena inte är tillräckliga för att beskriva den komplexa verkligheten. Studien utgår från UNT:s printupplaga, men skildrar även skillnader mellan den och webbupplagan. Ett representativt urval av varje part tillfrågades via en enkätundersökning vad de själva tycker är viktigt och vad de uppfattar är viktigt för övriga parter. Resultatet visar på att parterna inte har överensstämmande åsikter om vad som är betydelsefullt i relationen.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyze why, in the case of Afghanistan, the government chose to establish a highly centralized political system, when from a democratic standpoint a less centralized system would be preferable.The time period that is examined span from 2001 when the so-called Bonn-Accord was signed, to the parliamentary elections held in 2005, a period often referred to as the Bonn-process.The theoretical framework examines both the complex relations between federalism and democracy, as well as the relation between federalism and the role of existent ethnic minorities. The theoretical framework is then used in order to explain why it would be problematic to create a federal system in Afghanistan under the present circumstances.The conclusions that can be drawn are the following: In case of the republic Afghanistan the creation and implementation of a highly centralized political system was the only possible way for the government to be able to cope and practically deal with the problems of existent ethnic antagonism and regional warlords in order to create a stable political situation in the country..

Bakgrund:I den svenska skolan har det under en längre tid funnits olika pedagogiska, beslutsbaserade rollspel i undervisningen. Nu har skolan digitaliserats, vilket har öppnat upp för datorspel i undervisningen, främst inom matematik och språkliga ämnen. Samhällskunskapen är ett mer komplext ämne att reproducera och därför har inte dataspel i undervisningen använts i lika stor utsträckning. I och med den tekniska utvecklingen, kan spel återskapa mer komplexa företeelser och har därför möjligheten att inkluderas i fler skolämnen än tidigare. Spelindustrin är idag i en position, grafiskt och tekniskt, där det går att simulera hela länder, historiska händelser och hela ekonomier med varierande komplexitet.

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to examine how the population living in Christiania considers their residential area in relation to the surrounding society, and why you as an individual choose to live there. We have used the qualitative method and we have performed interviews with a total of six persons. We have used Tönnies two notions regarding gemeinschaft and gesellschaft, and Goffmans theory about stigma. We choose these theories because we thought that they were most relevant for our study. Our question at issue is: Why does a person seek to live in an alternative society, with different norms in comparison to the majority society? Through our interview persons we learned their stories and their opinions considering their residential area and we concluded that Christiania differs from the remaining society in several ways.

This essay constitutes a qualitative case study about democratization theory and the middle class in Russia. This is a very important case to study, especially because of the geographic position of the country as well as the economic importance Russia has as a part of the G8. In the essay the author seeks to answer the question whether the lack of a significant middle class in Russia can be a part of the explanation to the absence of a well functioning democracy in the country. Several democratization theories are presented. The most important being Ruth Berins Collier's theories about ins and outs plus the elite- or working class as the initiator of democratization processes.

This study focuses on trying to understand the attitudes of people born in the 1940?s concerning their view on social media. This 1940?s group has been growing on the social networks such as Facebook, but their usage is not active. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to understand in what way they are affected by the using of these platforms.

The main objective in this study is to examine the pupil?s possibility to affect the upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. I was once active in the pupil?s council and experienced some hardships, feeling a great dissatisfaction among teachers and principals against pupil?s suggestions and chances to affect their school environment. Thus I wanted to do a contemporary study of where schools in Stockholm stand today within this issue.

Since Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) several constitutional reforms has been taking place. During this time, Sweden has also changed its view on democracy,from a collective to an individual perspective of democracy in the politics. A reasonable hypothesis and the purpose of this essay is to investigate if the Swedish government has beendeveloped towards an Europeanization.The Swedish state audit changed in a pioneering way after the EU- entry, with the formation of Riksrevisionen. Another constitutional change is that the Swedish EU- membership is being instituted in the Swedish constitution. The role of Swedish courts has also changed since the EU- entry.

Here is presented the result and discussion of a survey concerning the psychosocial environment in a school in the vicinity of Stockholm. The theoretical background of this study was the model of demand-control by Theorell, and various aspects of stress by Frankenhauser and Ödman. The survey was constituted of an inquiry form which was handed out to six different classes at the school. A total of 86 students filled in the form, and their answers were treated with standard statistical procedures to reveal the results. The inquiry form was made up by five parts; one that concerned the background of the respondent, one that reflected the psychosocial health and stress level and three parts that concerned discrimination, victimization and school democracy.

In this paper I propose a definition on what right-wing populism is, by comparing three right-wing populist parties; the Swedish Democrats in Sweden, the Danish Folks Party in Denmark and the Progress Party in Norway. This is also my question formulation. I have used the idea analysis to straighten out the concept of right-wing populism. The purpose of this paper is to make a definition of the concept of right-wing populism, since one seldom speaks of what right-wing populism is but rather only uses it with parties who want to decrease immigration. However is it much more to a right-wing populist party than just the immigration question.      I begin by discussing the previous research about populism and right-wing populism to see what conclusions previous researchers have made.

The possibility and the right to be able to communicate with municipalities or other state companies and politicians are natural for the Swedish citizens. However, they may be unaware that this communication process is called citizen dialogue.Today there are so many ways to communicate; one-way communication is not possible in the same way as before. It is above all social media such as Facebook, which has opened the gates one could only dream of.  Via a medium such as Facebook creates a strong citizen dialogue in which the municipality and citizens communicate openly and ask questions and give response.The purpose of this study is to find out how Karlstad?s municipality uses, and maintains, citizen dialogue on Facebook. What are the guidelines and how do the municipality use these? In this paper a qualitative expert interview and a qualitative content analysis has been used to answer the purpose of the essay.