The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the democratization process in Kurdistan on the basis of consolidation democracy with focus on arenas defined by Linz and Stepan (1997), namely economic, political, legal, civil society and arenas of state bureaucracy. Furthermore, I intend to explain Kurdistan?s road toward democratization in Kurdistan from 1991 until today, with a focus on the years 2003-2012. The main results are that Kurdistan has developed conditions that support a future consolidation of democracy. However, there are weaknesses in the economic situation, rule of law and the arena of bureaucracy.

In this thesis I examine the development and expansion of judicial power in Sweden. The concept of judicial review is defined and related to democratic theory, and the various forms of judicial review in use in Sweden are explained. The main focus is on the political and scientific discussion concerning judicial review since the mid 1970s. It is shown that judicial review so far has been used only to a limited extent and that the number of court cases has remained quite stable over time. The main cause of judicialization seems to be the supremacy of EU law following the Swedish EU membership in 1995 and the inclusion of the European Convention on Human Rights into Swedish law.

The members of the OECD have agreed on giving aid assistance to developingcountries in a way of promoting their own capacity of handling the challengeof poverty and development. The members also cooperate and coordinate theiraid to recipient countries in the purpose of giving as effective assistance aspossible. The aid from these countries is often intended to human rights,democracy and has a humanitarian idea. This is the way from the OECDcountries. The Chinese way of giving aid mostly aimed at the industry of therecipient to promote the economic growth to lift the country out of poverty.The Chinese way do not aim or intend their aid at promoting human rights ordemocracy, often just industry and infrastructure.

Title: What is important knowledge in social studies- An analyse of opinions among teachers in social studiesThe aim of this paper is to increase the awareness about how teachers in Social studies think about goals and substance in the subject. I also want to get a picture about what kinds of problems teacher?s experiences when teaching Social studies. My expectations told me that Social studies are complex to teach, because it derives from several university disciplines such as Political science, Economics, Sociology, Law and Geography, which I believe makes the subject harder to define and what to give priority to. Finally, I want to increase the awareness, if it seems to be any fundamental essence in Social studies as a subject.To achieve my goals with this paper I have studied relevant literature about Social studies.

                                                  AbstractThe development of our society has in many ways changed the relationships between the political parties and the citizens. Fewer citizens are active in political parties, which has contributed to the fact that we see a form of catch-all effect and a development of parties that organizes more in forms of professional organisations. This paper has made a research of modells of democratic ideals and values between leaders and party-members in political parties in the local area. The purpose has been to show how these ideals and values can reflect back on the political development. The result shows that the development has created a form of catch-all effect and a professionalism in the parties.

For the last decades, Sweden has transformed from a state with strong elements of corporatism, to a governance of pluralistic character. This development has opened up to a new form of participation ? lobbyism ? which since has spread and commercialized. Because of this, a report on the state of Swedish democracy ? Demokratiutredningen ? was issued to examine the phenomenon of lobbyism as it was feared to challenge the functioning of a representative democracy.

Abstract: The purpose with this study is to analyse the political debate about freedom of speech in Sweden and Denmark, after the caricatures of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed that the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten published in September 2005. For this debate four political parties have been chosen. These are: Socialdemokratiska Partiet and Moderata Samlingspartiet in Sweden and Socialdemokraterne and Venstre in Denmark.An idea analysis has been chosen as method, and dimensions as an analysing tool. The overall result of the analysis is that right- and left political parties in Sweden and Denmark are more alike, than different in their political debate about free speech. They all wish for total freedom of speech, and see that as the foundation of the democratic society.

The purpose of this thesis has been to; based on interviews with four teachers in Stockholm city, get at picture of preschool teacher?s viewpoint on children?s influence in preschool.Research questions: How is the children`s influence looked upon by the teachers in preschool?, In what ways do children?s influence affect their learning, In what ways are the interviewed preschool teachers working with democracy in preschool?To carry out this thesis, I used the qualitative method. In the qualitative method, use is made of the interview method to collect empirical data with interviews. I interviewed four preschool teachers from three different preschools. This thesis is built upon John Dewey?s philosophical thinking as a theoretical base.The result of this thesis shows that all preschool teachers felt that the application of children?s influence in the daily activities, although complicated, is essential in their work.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether the student councils at two schools really have the power to influence, or if it is a matter of mock democracy. I wanted to determine how the student councils work in reality. I conducted my investigation through personal and qualitative interviews with the board of the student council, a social studies teacher and the principle/school management at both schools. After the interviews I compared an analysed my findings. The results show that the two schools work very differently when it comes to studentdemocracy, and even have very different levels of ambition when it comes to the degree of influence that the student council should have at their respective schools.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka lärares syn på skoldemokrati och dess integrering i undervisningen. Vi har även gjort en egen definition av begreppet skoldemokrati för att kunna ställa det mot våra respondenters syn. Arbetet bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare för de senare åren och gymnasiet. Vi utgick från en intervjuguide för att kunna hålla oss inom ramarna för vårt syfte. Av vårt resultat framkom att de lärare vi intervjuade har en liknande syn kring skoldemokrati, de flesta talar också om hur viktigt det är att hålla begreppet levande i verksamheten.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the democratization process in Kurdistan on the basis of consolidation democracy with focus on arenas defined by Linz and Stepan (1997), namely economic, political, legal, civil society and arenas of state bureaucracy. Furthermore, I intend to explain Kurdistan?s road toward democratization in Kurdistan from 1991 until today, with a focus on the years 2003-2012. The main results are that Kurdistan has developed conditions that support a future consolidation of democracy. However, there are weaknesses in the economic situation, rule of law and the arena of bureaucracy.

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.

The aim of this thesis is to study the cause of Egypt´s failed development of the transition to democracy and vice versa, the reason why Turkey succeeded in democratic transition. Thesis methodology is a comparative analysis between design units Egypt and Turkey. Thus, the most similar design used in the investigation.European Commission began in 1998 to review Turkey´s political and economic reforms to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria. 2005 began negotiations on a Turkish- EU membership. U.S and Egypt have enjoyed close economic, security and democratic cooperation since 1975.

The thesis of this essay is that the concept of governance is a product of the neo-liberal dominant ideology and that the implementation of governance ideas will lead to a weaker nation-state. Using critical theory the essay constructs an ideal type of neo-liberalism and compares its core values with these of the governance concept as treated by the main literature in the area. The essay then focuses on the issue of the state, and discusses whether the changes leading to a demand for governance have actually weakened the state. Furthermore, the essay presents the practical use of the term governance in the EU and Sweden and problemizes the changes that the neo-liberal domination has led to in terms of power and democracy. Finally the essay discusses alternative views on the changing role of the state.

This essay is a comparative research between pupils' experience of how the headmaster, teachers and other school staff interpret and apply the democratic education. The results are based on a survey carried out in senior high school, as well as interviews with the school staff. The democratic education charge has a long history of Swedish school system and is the basis for the maintenance of a democratic society. Both policy paper of state investigations and researchers in the field, regard to school as the primary and unique instance in order to promote and develop democratic skills in children and young people. However, it is shown that those who come out from school lack of knowledge and awareness of democracy and the will to speak their mind.