Introduction: As the media landscape has changed so has fierce competition in the market, giving an effect of stronger commercialization of the media. Societal problems in our society are caused by increased commercialization and market orientation. Media has gone from trusted social institutions to focus on their own economic interests, where owners are expected revenue. The content of the media is characterized more and more by entertainment, because it attracts a larger audience. On one side media is expected to contribute to democracy in society and on the other they are expected to contribute profits to their owners, which creates a conflict in today?s media society.

The public relations business has grown from almost nothing to a large international industry the last decades. Throughout the history the industry has struggled with a lot of critique and public relations has become a negative symbol for manipulation of information. Because of this negative view of the industry and the medial change taking place, the purpose of this study is to investigate how two different generations think about public relations. More accurate, the study will through a qualitative interview study explore how young people from a highschool in Luleå and elder people from Luleå township thinks about pubic relations, and most imortant why they have this particular view. By creating four focus groups, two with men and two with women, this also enables a comparative study between the gender. The focus groups were later analyzed and compared to two selected groups of theories on public relations, the theories were positive and critical theories compound in two categories.

After the appointment of a new European Commission in 2004, ?communication? was made a top priority on the agenda. The Commission presented a new communication policy, which would establish a dialogue with the citizens, thereby bringing more democracy to the union and bridging the gap to the citizens. Three documents containing the policy were published, namely an internal action plan for the Commission, Plan D which establishes the framework for national debates and a whitepaper on EU communication policy. These documents were met by mistrust and criticism from many different actors such as journalists and experts.The aim of this master thesis is to examine this new communication policy from a deliberative democratic perspective.

Den svenska veteranutredningen lyfter upp mediabilden från Sveriges deltagande i internationella insatser som ett problem. Syftet med uppsatsen är att kartlägga skillnaderna i rapporteringen av händelserna under Operation Artemis i Kongo 2003 utifrån Försvarsmakten och de fyra största dagstidningarna (Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet) samt att undersöka om rapporteringen skiljer sig beroende av om det är en morgontidning eller kvällstidning. Analysen har gjorts utifrån ett narrativt perspektiv och tidningarna har analyserats utifrån kategorierna dagstidningsekonomi, sensationsjournalistik, objektivitet, vinkling och förenkling. Uppsatsen visar på att det finns skillnader i hur både Försvarsmakten och dagstidningarna rapporterade från Operation Artemis. Uppsatsen visar också på att rapporteringen skiljer sig om det är en morgontidning eller kvällstidning som skriver artikeln.

AbstractAt the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 the nations stated that traditional environmental policies were not sufficient to handle the multidimensional challenges posed by sustainable development. Governments needed to broaden their political decision making procedures in order to coordinate and integrate environmental, social and economic policies. Therefore a new tool was introduced in Agenda 21, National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSDS). The aim of an NSDS would be to bring together actors from all parts of society to jointly reach a consensus on how to work towards the vision of a sustainable society. An NSDS would be seen as a strategic tool to help focus national policies for SD.

The potential of information technology as a means to invigorate democratic practise is constantly under discussion. Regardless of the differing opinions as to the most suitable way to utilise IT, there are certain democratic core values that have to be considered. One of these is freedom of information, defined by us as the right of every citizen to seek, obtain and express information. The aim of this study is to explore whether the use of IT as a means to enhance democracy can strengthen the citizens right to freedom of information. As an instrument for analysis we use an article by Jan van Dijk, professor of communication science.

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?.

Sammanfattning Tanken på en internationell brottmålsdomstol växte sig starkare under andra halvan av 1900- talet mycket på grund av andra världskriget. Medvetenheten om brottsoffren och krigsbrottstribunalernas framgång bidrog till att detta arbete påskyndades och 2002 hade tanken blivit verklighet. På grund av att domstolens stadga är en överrenskommelse mellan stater är den fylld av kompromisser. Den är inte heller allmänt accepterad.Domstolen har satt upp ett flertal mål för sin verksamhet. Den ska verka för minskad straffrihet, rättvisa, ha avskräckande verkan men också påverka de nationella domstolarna.

The amount of electricity is limited in Namibia and the large distance between towns andvillages complicates the energy supply in the country. Therefore an alternative way to provideaccess to appropriate energy technologies is needed. The Government of the Republic ofNamibia (GRN) has adopted an approach of helping off-grid households by establishing EnergyShops in each region in Namibia and these shops are going to sell basic renewable energy andenergy efficient products. The Renewable Energy Efficiency Institute in Namibia (REEEI), theinitiator of this thesis, is coordinating the establishment of these Energy Shops.The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the needs of energy products for the Namibianpopulation and develop an assessment method for the Energy Shop in how to select appropriateenergy products already on the world market. The purpose was also to develop a method forchoosing an Energy Shop.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur Voltaires idéroman Candide och ett urval av romanens motiv kan analyseras och kopplas till en nutida samhällsdiskurs. Den ger även förslag på hur verket, mot bakgrund av en didaktisk diskussion, kan användas i undervisningssammanhang. Uppsatsen behandlar Voltaire och hans kritiska förhållande till Leibniz optimistiska och deterministiska världsåskådning. Här orienteras läsaren i den filosofiska motsättning som ligger till grund för verkets kärna: Voltaires polemik mot en okritisk acceptans av tesen Vi lever i den bästa av världar. Uppsatsen siktar på att levandegöra verkets tema optimismen och ett tänkbart huvudmotiv: människans utsatthet (i tillvaron), genom att koppla detta till dagsaktuella och till synes seglivade fenomen, t.ex.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur Voltaires idéroman Candide och ett urval av romanens motiv kan analyseras och kopplas till en nutida samhällsdiskurs. Den ger även förslag på hur verket, mot bakgrund av en didaktisk diskussion, kan användas i undervisningssammanhang. Uppsatsen behandlar Voltaire och hans kritiska förhållande till Leibniz optimistiska och deterministiska världsåskådning. Här orienteras läsaren i den filosofiska motsättning som ligger till grund för verkets kärna: Voltaires polemik mot en okritisk acceptans av tesen Vi lever i den bästa av världar. Uppsatsen siktar på att levandegöra verkets tema optimismen och ett tänkbart huvudmotiv: människans utsatthet (i tillvaron), genom att koppla detta till dagsaktuella och till synes seglivade fenomen, t.ex.

The use of alcohol, narcotics, and tobacco have all long been considered health hazards, especially among children and teenagers. It is therefor not surprising to find that schools have promoted against the use of these substances in different preventative programs for many decades, and the Swedish school system is no exception. However, the use of, as well as the laws restricting alcohol, narcotics, and tobacco are, and have historically been, highly political issues. Individuals, groups, institutions, and states may all have different opinions on how these substances should be regulated and of their place in society, which in turn may lead to conflicts of values and different approaches. One can not expect parents or guardians to share the views on alcohol, narcotics, and tobacco policy presented by schools, laws or state regulations.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to adjusting corporate goals so that they are not only based on maximizing corporate profits, but include ethical standards on socially desirable behavior (Boatright, 2008). Even though many companies have integrated CSR into their business operations, there are still many issues that are difficult to tackle. Especially Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the global business environment face many challenging situations due to the fact that they often have linkages to countries where the local government is either unwilling or unable to take care of its responsibilities. MNCs often find themselves with increased responsibilities when they start solving some of the issues that earlier have been the sole responsibility of states. A specific case situation discussed in this paper is related to ?conflict minerals?.

AbstractAt the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 the nations stated that traditional environmental policies were not sufficient to handle the multidimensional challenges posed by sustainable development. Governments needed to broaden their political decision making procedures in order to coordinate and integrate environmental, social and economic policies. Therefore a new tool was introduced in Agenda 21, National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSDS). The aim of an NSDS would be to bring together actors from all parts of society to jointly reach a consensus on how to work towards the vision of a sustainable society. An NSDS would be seen as a strategic tool to help focus national policies for SD.

Engblom, Gustav (2009) De nya riksdagspartierna och den politiska dagordningen ?The new parilament parties and the political agenda.?1988 and 1991 the swedish parties Miljöpartiet, Ny demokrati and Kristdemokratiska samlingspartiet made it over the 4 percent threshold and successfully entered the Swedish parliament. Sweden was once described as one of the most stable political systems in the world, but the parliament elections of 1988 and 1991 showed that Sweden was no exception from the growing instability in west democratic political systems.The stability and instability that followed in the west democratic political systems is believed to be explained by the political parties? efforts to adjust to changes in their political environment. This has lead them to cartelize and the cartel party is believed to prefer stability over triumph for various reasons.The established political parties are believed to be able to manipulate the political agenda in such a way that political topics that would have caused great turbulence in the political system, if debated, are kept away from the political agenda.