This thesis investigates the 200 year old phenomena of savings banks and if they increase the economic growth (GDP) in the local region they act in. That is being done by testing three hypotheses; the savings banks increase the attractiveness of the region they act in; the savings banks increase the entrepreneurship in the region they act in; and the savings banks increase the economic growth in region they act in. This quantitative cross-sectional study with data from the year 2010, finds that the savings banks increase the attractiveness of the local region, most likely through the efforts and financials they put into different local projects. A positive result is also found for increased entrepreneurship in the regions that have a local savings bank. The result is explained by the savings banks relationship lending, which increase the likeliness for a company to get the credit they need to start and develop.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to identify and describe thedifferent roles that are expressed in a public library by researchingthem in the four policy documents concerning Västerås public libraryin 2010 and by interviews with three specially chosen key persons.Further studied are the discourses that can be perceived in thematerial and whether or not the roles could come in conflict witheach other. Laclau and Mouffes discursive theory constitutes themethodical frame for this thesis and by using terms from discursivetheory the analysis was made in four steps.Seven roles were identified from the policy documents concerningVästerås public library and the interviews with the key persons. Thefirst role of the public library was the intermediary of knowledge andinformation, the second was viewed as a democratic role, the third asa marketing role, the fourth as a role that handled the collaboration,the fifth role was to improve literacy, and the sixth and seventh roleswere as a culture centre and a meeting place. With the help fromkeywords five major discourses were found within the material.

Hur policyförändringar, som fler nationella prov och tidigare betyg, kan komma till uttryck i verksamheten utforskas i denna studie. Syftet är att undersöka hur några elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter/dyslexi beskriver sina erfarenheter av att göra nationella läsprov i svenska i årskurs 6.Det empiriska materialet har inhämtats genom halvstrukturerade intervjuer med fyra elever i årskurs 6, som nyligen har genomfört proven.Resultatet, som har analyserats ur ett policy enactment perspektiv, visar att eleverna beskriver proven som mycket viktiga, då de tror att proven har en stor betydelse för deras betyg i svenska. Eleverna har förberetts inför proven i skolan genom undervisning i läsförståelsestrategier, genom att öva på gamla prov och genom att titta på bedömningsexempel. De har också förberett sig själva inför provsituationen på olika sätt. Eleverna har olika erfarenheter av anpassningar vid proven och de som har haft anpassningar ställer sig positiva till det.

My master?s thesis is a study of acquisition of photographies during 1958-2008. The questions I proceed from is what patterns lies behind the Royal library's acquisition of photography and how the process of acquisition looks like. The theoretical base which I lean on consists partly of a problematization of the process of cultural heritage and partly of organizational theory. The problematization of the process of cultural heritage is my foundation of this essay.

This report describes an interview study of Swedish elementary school teacher?s view on stu-dent influence. The objective is to find out about teachers' approach to student influence, what do they think happens with students that are allowed to influence and what are the negotiables and non-negotiables when it comes to student influence in elementary education? And do the teachers really want their students to have influence?According to the official policy documents for the Swedish school system the Swedish school shall work towards a democratic school. Not only should the students be educated about de-mocracy but they should also learn to use democratic values and processes.

In this essay, we examine the new form of loan which is called ?SMS-loans? which is in understanding terms ? ?text message loans?. This was established in Sweden in 2006. Income-loans are fast loans taken during a short period, usually up to 30 days. Costs which are additional to the loan are interest and fees.

This study was made in collaboration between Umeå University and Västerbotten sportsfederation. The study was aimed to find out how the municipalities are working with variousissues in the sports field. A subject of interest for this study was to see if the municipalitieswere implementing strategies in the sports field on determined goals by using policydocuments. Our study focused mostly on kids and youth that participate in organized sports inVästerbotten. Other aspects of interest in the study were economics in sports, how youthsports should be organized, and segregation in sports due to financial factors.

The concept of the work-first principle (arbetslinjen) might be considered old, but still serves as the main principle as well as an instrument in the Swedish labour market and social policy today. The original idea was that work and willingness to work was to be rewarded, especially due to a common opposition against the passive receipt of grants. The general definition of work, today, is that it is something desirable that should be achieved and that unemployed primarily will be offered training or work rather than grants and subsidies. When the Moderate party re-launched themselves as Sweden's "workers' party of today", in the beginning of the 2000's, the concept was brought back into the spotlight. In the elections of 2006 and 2010, the labour market was widely debated and become a controversial issue, with the concept of the work-first principle playing a major role.The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and problematize how the concept was presented and explained in the nationwide newspapers Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet during the 2010 elections, this in order to increase the understanding of the concept?s contemporary definition and policy implications.

Neighbourhood offices were established in the municipal of Lund by a decision in the municipal council 1999. During following years four offices opened in the surrounding villages; Veberöd, Genarp, Södra Sandby and Dalby. By using a goal oriented model and making interviews I study whether the offices reaches the goals of more effective service, developed IT-support, a stronger local democracy and a better feeling for service. The offices has improved the information to the citizens and efforts have been made to strengthen the local democracy but more complex matters can not be handled at the offices today, which is a disappointment for many involved.To explain the result of the evaluation I use Vedungs ?A general theory of public efforts result?.

There are many different forms of financing for small businesses and two common financing options mentioned in the study, bank loans and Venture Capital.Venture Capital is a form of risk capital financing, investing in unlisted stock market. The feature of the arrangement is that those people are trying to find companies that can offer unique, attractive and in demand products on a strong growing market. Since VC-firms are taking a big risk in cooperation with the investment, the VC-company strong demands while assessments are made on the company will generate a return in the future.Bank loans are the most common form of financing for companies in the market. Requirements and assessment under the law is hard especially for small businesses because financing entails high risks. Banks require that the liquidity management in the enterprise should be stable because the bank's main objective is to repayment of debt and the interest payable on the capital.The purpose of this study is to examine the requirements and assessments VC-firms and banks make use of the financing of small businesses. .

Motives and reasons behind a decision to change the asylum process in Sweden are the central concern for this thesis. A symbolic political perspective will be applied in order to elucidate the symbolic factors that have influenced the decision process.The Aliens Appeal Board in Sweden will close down at the end of March 2006 and all pending and future cases will henceforth be decided by three administrative courts. This will be done in order to enhance the principles of legal certainty by making the process more transparent and oral. It is an extensive reform, but since very few amendments are made to the applicable substantive law it raises questions about the actual motives behind the change.One reason that seems to have had a major impact on the decision to close down the Aliens Appeal Board is the fact that the board is perceived as a symbol for an inhuman asylum policy. Transferring the process to the courts might ease the attempt to increase the legitimacy of the asylum process.

Det övergripande syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar utformningen av Frälsningsarméns tidning Stridsropet över viss tid, samt hur tidningens policy styrt det redaktionella arbetet Dessutom har jag försökt visa vilket utrymme chefredaktören har att påverka innehållet och vilken ledarskapsstil denne tillämpat. Med hjälp av både kvantitativ innehållsanalys och kvalitativa intervjuer undersöks Stridsropet under fyra olika chefredaktörer, vilken typ av artiklar som publiceras samt hur de fyra chefredaktörerna förhåller sig till den av ägaren fastställda policyn. Resultatet analyseras sedan främst med hjälp av Andersson Odéns (2001) teorier om redaktionell policy. Resultatet från intervjuerna visar att chefredaktörerna följer den övergripande redaktionella policyn som är norm för alla Frälsningsarméns tidningar med namnet Stridsropet (engelska War Cry) över hela världen. I intervjuerna framkommer även att varje chefredaktör har relativt stor frihet att utforma innehållet i tidningen efter egna intentioner och intressen.

The perspective on health among school pupils needs to be extended. School is animportant arena for the promoting of health among youth, primarily from a healthpromoting perspective and a proactive perspective. A holistic approach has gatheredsome ground in the policy documents for the nine year compulsory school in Sweden, butin what way, and what effect does it have on the governing authorities and on schoollevel?The aim of the study is to investigate the coherence between national, municipal andlocal levels regarding the view on health among pupils. In order to do this, the guidelinesfor pupil health in the municipality of Örebro and operational plans for seven F9 schoolsin the municipality of Örebro will be studied and compared to the government bill?Health, learning and sense of security?.

The aim of this study is to explain the paradox of the memberstates willingness to surrender power of important issues such as asylum and refugee policy and therefore partly abandon its sovereignty. We also discuss the relation between internationalization, regionalization and globalization since these processes form the context in which our research problem is found. A case study is used as a method in this paper.In our quest for answers we use a theory of internationalization that we place in its context by primarily discussing the relation between globalization and regionalization. The theory is used as an explanatory force and to give it a concrete form we operationalised its three processes; internationalization of problems, internationalization of the societies and internationalization of the descisionmaking.The result of the case study shows that the increase in asylumseekers leads to a higher risk of negative competition wich give rise to the memberstates need to coordinate their politics.We found that when societies and problems are being internationalized, the state finds it difficult to resolve problems on their own and this leads to the internationalization of the dedescisionmaking. The internationalization of the decision-making process is therefore natural, which in this case means the decisions are taken by the EU rather than by the member states..

This thesis is a qualitative study of a new law that was applied in December 2010. The law is called Lagen om etableringsinsatser fo?r vissa nyanla?nda invandrare, and is meant to help newly arrived immigrants that come to Sweden to establish themselves in the Swedish society. The aim of the study is to see what discourses the Swedish government produces as a result of this new law. Interesting for the study is to see what happens in the implementation stage at a local level, in this case in the municipality of O?rnsko?ldsvik.Theoretically and methodologically I emanate from critical discourse theory and institutional theory.