This master thesis investigates how the county administrative boards communicate the regional risk and vulnerability analyses to municipalities in Sweden. Information has been gathered through a survey and through a case study involving three county administrative boards. The results revealed that there are possibilities to improve or develop the communication in all the county administrative boards. The information channels are often written or web based, these channels promote one way communication rather than a dialog. The thesis gives suggestion on how to work out a strategy for a more effective communication, the case study also gives ideas on how a county administrative board can work with communication..

The high debt levels experienced in European Countries have lead to academic interest in the deficit bias -the tendency for governments to run budget deficits and accumulate debt. In part one of this thesis a surveyof the economic literature on the origins and solutions to the deficit bias are conducted. The proposedinstitutional solution to the deficit bias in the form of Fiscal Policy Councils (FPC) are outlined and existingEuropean FPCs presented. Based on the works of Calmfors and Wren-Lewis (2011) the EuropeanCommission (EC) is defined as an FPC. Based on this survey, two hypothesis are formulated: (1) theforecasts of future macro-economic events and fiscal performance will differ between the national FPCs andthe national government.

The concept of quality is difficult to identify clearly. Many attempts to define quality havebeen made, but the resulting definition remains vague.The quality concept (in the artistic sense) has since 1974 played a leading role in Swedishcultural policy. In the spring of 2009, a publication, named ?Kulturutredningen? waspublished. This report suggested a number of changes for the Swedish cultural policy.

The study has been done on behalf of and in cooperation with LRF Konsult. The purpose of the study was to try to find out how forest estate buyers valuated different parts of the estate at the time of the purchase and to see if it was possible to identify different trends between different kinds of purchasers. The study is delimited to Västerbotten County and all the purchases were made thru LRF Konsult. The background of the study is that the forest estate purchasers are paying more and more for the forest estates. The prices are often much higher than the net present value which means that they are paying for something more than just the timber value. The study is made with a questionnaire mailed to one hundred forest estate purchasers. Answers got returned from 48 of them.

AbstractThis study aims to describe and analyze how the 15 municipalities of Västerbotten County consider regional targets of development in their comprehensive plans. The study also investigate if there´s any need of improvements for the consideration of regional targets in comprehensive planning.This paper is based on studies of comprehensive plans in Västerbotten County and on three interviews with employers of different municipalities in the county. An thematic analysis were used to analyze documents and interviews.The result shows that a new comprehensive plan generally takes more consideration to regional targets of development than older plans. The consideration varies a lot between the municipalities of Västerbotten County and it can be explained by many reasons. The informant?s points out that lack of resources- and competence plus a deficient dialog between municipalities and regional organizations are the mainly causes.Keywords; regional development, comprehensive planning, strategy for regional development, regional development program, land-use planning.

This masters thesis investigates how the Swedish county libraries relate to equality between men and women. The thesis treats the county library both as a place of work and as a part of the national library network. One of the reasons why this study focuses on county libraries is because of their special position in the Swedish library organisation as a link between the national policy and the public libraries. The analysis in the study is based on theories that argue masculinity and femininity as social constructions, and therefore can be affected by a different type of conduct. Data was gathered using qualitative questionnaires combined with some quantitative elements that were used to gain fundamental facts regarding the distribution of employees between the sexes and the existence of equality policies.

At the moment, democracy enhancing projects can be seen everywhere on the municipal level. The purpose of this thesis is to explain how the city of Lund takes on this challenge, why they have chosen to carry out citizen councils and if these are a good way to intensify democracy and open communication channels between citizens, the administration and the elected officials.The theoretical framework consists of seven arguments for gaining citizen influence on policy, and as a counterweight three critical arguments that opponents of participatory democracy often use are added.After a survey over both the Swedish national trends in municipal renewal and the last years work in Lund, the analysis goes on showing that most of the arguments point to the disadvantage of the citizen councils. Even though legitimacy possibly is enhanced by the project, there are probably better ways to open up for more communication and intensify democracy in the local community..

Title: Notification of animal welfareAuthor: Helen ÖhlundThe purpose of this study was to examine the routines of the county administrations in Sweden when it comes to receiving notification from the public about the welfare of animals. According to Jordbruksverket at least 50 % of the screening of animal welfare should be based on routine controls on existing farmers. Today the routine controls only reach a 43 % average for the whole country. A big part of today?s result depends on the amount of time it takes the administrators of animal welfare to process the notifications from the public.

The purpose with this master thesis is to analyze how the Swedish County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) acts in an environment that changes fast with more regional actors than ever before. There are also proposals regarding new public authorities and eventually a reduction of the Swedish County Administrative Board.By studying a report issued by the Board in December 2005 the aim is to find their intentions and actions for the future. By using three diverse theoretical concepts - the public organisation, the instrumental perspective and two separate perspectives from new institutionalism - the expectation is that I will have the possibility to analyze the intentions of the organisation in many different ways.In this case study I also want to take into consideration the central discourses in the regional debate, shall we decentralize or shall we keep on having a strong state even in the future? What kind of regional policy does the Swedish County Administrative Board prefer?The result shows that the Swedish County Administrative Board struggles for a strong state even in the future, but it does not propose any huge changes. In many ways it seems like they act as they are supposed to - as an instrument for the government - but despite that it is obvious that the Swedish County Administrative Board tries to show that it has the traditions and knowledge.

Social capital is a relatively new concept that has received considerable attention in various community branches. The concept relates to people?s contact and relationship with each other, where their social network is seen as a resource. An extensive network of contacts and trust between people often go hand in hand. People with high social capital have high trust in their fellow human beings and vice versa.

To ensure that animals are treated well and kept in environments fitted for them, Sweden has animal welfare legislation. One of the requirements in the legislation is that horses are kept in spaces that has a ceiling height that measures at least 1,5 * the height at the withers of the horse, but always a minimum of 2,2 m. But a minor derivation can be accepted from these measurements if certain criteria are fulfilled. If the ceiling height is to low the ventilation in the stable can be negatively affected. It can also affect the posture of the horse and may increase the risk of the horse being injured.

The purpose of this study was to look into how evidence evaluation in verdicts considering 2 § LVU (Care of Young Persons Act) linked to honor related problems are handled by the County Administrative Court of Stockholm. The questions at issue were how the County Administrative Court handles the prerequisites regarding 2 § LVU verdicts, how the County Administrative Court proceeds when evaluating evidence in 2 § LVU verdicts, and how the County Administrative Court handles indications of that a child is living in an honor-related context. To answer this, five verdicts have been analyzed. In addition to this, two interviews were made as a complement. In the analysis of the collected material, the authors proceeded from a theory of evidence and used a hermeneutic method for the analysis.

The purpose of this study is to perform an in-depth analysis of what effects a privatization of a service organization has on the management control system within the organization. The paper studies a service organization which provides service for the county council in Östergötland, Sweden. The result is based on interviews with several people, both within the acquiring private company and also within the county council in Östergötland, and analyzed using Samuelson?s (2005) framework from his study ?Organizational, Governance and Control ?. The major finding in the thesis is that the factors that have had the largest impact on the changes in management control are the new owner demands and the degree of operationalization of the overall goal..

It is a human right to be treated equally and fairly no matter whom you are, what you like or where you are from. The United Nations addressed the important aspects of equally treatment in their declaration of the human rights. It is each conventions state?s responsibility to fulfil all the rights in the declaration. This study focuses on three Swedish county administrative organizational works with the human rights from their annual reports from 2014.

The aim of this study about wind power planning in forest was to examine the factors and restrictions, which represent technical limitations, biodiversity, tourism and amount of energy for wind farms in Kronoberg County. Suitable areas for wind power were identified from the collected information about planning principles and potential conflicts. From the suitable areas the potential energy gain is calculated. Methods used were mainly a literature review, interviews with experts and practitioners, GIS analysis and a rough calculation of the energy gain. The section of information and facts describes in general wind power planning and possible conflicts.