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.

Vårdpersonal och allmänheten uttrycker ofta negativa attityder till patienter som är överviktiga. Antalet patienter som genomgår en operation för sin övervikt ökar för varje år. Det är en omvälvande operation för patienten och patienter söker mycket information innan operationen. Den perioperativa dialogen, en ideal arbetsmodell har tidigare prövats på andra patientgrupper men inte på patienter som skall genomgå en operation för sin övervikt.  Syfte med studien var att beskriva patienters upplevelse av sin övervikt och hur kontinuiteten i den perioperativa dialogen kan ge lindrat lidande i samband med operation för övervikt.Studien har en hermeneutisk design. Data samlades in med hjälp av den perioperativa dialogen som dokumenterats vid sjuksköterskans möte med 26 patienter.

Organizational democracy has been a popular research area in recent decades but the implementation in real organizations is slow (Kokkinidis, 2012; Verdorfer, Weber, Unter Rainer & Seyr, 2013). Several researchers (Schön Jansson, 2012; Falkheimer, Heide & Johansson, 2013) argue that communication practitioners have a key role in democratic processes and that because their job role is under constant change there are only a few modern studies regarding the subject. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how communication practitioners in private and public organizations experience their role in the process of internal communication and to what extent they are aware of, and work with internal organizational democracy.The practitioners we interviewed had a strong feeling that they were a support function for the business and the organizational management. As a result of the study it is clear that communication practitioners are very loyal to their employers and to the organization they work for. They are, therefore, not neutral in their professional role and argue that their task is to represent the management's interests.

This essay is based on students' growing lack of interest in science at school. Both from a democratic and social perspective, this is a worrying factor for the future. Through observation, I investigated how five science teachers conduct their teaching. This is to get a better understanding of how teachers' behaviour in the classroom can affect students' interest in science. With a socio-cultural research approach, I have tried to highlight a few pieces of the puzzle that may explain students' declining interest in science.

The specific task of this thesis is to illustrate the complexity of a cooperation between civilian and military entities by examining Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and their role as an actor among others in the field in a war-torn Afghanistan.By using counterinsurgency strategy as an analytical framework it has been possible to examine the civilian and military contexts closer. Underlying structures concerning the norms and interpretation of reality of the PRTs has been partly revealed. Studies of the PRTs as one significant bearers of "the comprehensive approach", which includes a holistic approach regarding the use of civilian and military capabilities, new conclusions can be drawn on whether a general civil-military approach can be a part of the solution for current and future conflicts. Based on the counterinsurgency strategy, the author has identified three themes as bearing and thus appears through the thesis as a foundation. These are Coordination, Development and Security.

The purpose of this paper was to learn more about the strategies used by senior high school librarians and teachers in educating their students' information skills, such as criticism of the information sources. The paper was based upon qualitative interviews with one senior high school librarian and three senior high school teachers. The respondents were asked to spontaneously tell me about their counseling strategies when the students do research assignments in medicine-oriented subjects. The respondents? narratives were analyzed with Carol Collier Kuhlthau?s theories about the information search process and its levels of mediation, as well as with literature about counseling strategies in mind.

Information technology (IT) with its enormous capacity involves more and more in our daily activities and public sector is using IT to make their activities more efficient. The government goal with electronic government (e-government) among other things is increasing the availability and service to the public as well as improving the democratic process. Democracy can be strengthened by involving citizens in public decision making process but this goal has not been achieved yet and the development of e-government has mostly been focused on improving efficiency within administration and electronic services (e-services). Promoting the democratic process has been postponed in the development of e-government because of the lack of political commitment and decision. Digital divide is also preventing public sector to promote democracy with the support of IT.

Organizational democracy has been a popular research area in recent decades but the implementation in real organizations is slow (Kokkinidis, 2012; Verdorfer, Weber, Unter Rainer & Seyr, 2013). Several researchers (Schön Jansson, 2012; Falkheimer, Heide & Johansson, 2013) argue that communication practitioners have a key role in democratic processes and that because their job role is under constant change there are only a few modern studies regarding the subject. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how communication practitioners in private and public organizations experience their role in the process of internal communication and to what extent they are aware of, and work with internal organizational democracy.The practitioners we interviewed had a strong feeling that they were a support function for the business and the organizational management. As a result of the study it is clear that communication practitioners are very loyal to their employers and to the organization they work for. They are, therefore, not neutral in their professional role and argue that their task is to represent the management's interests.

The aim of this essay is to investigate to which extent the novel Kvinnor och äppelträd by Moa Martinson can be classified as a polyphonic novel. The concept polyphony was established in literary theory by the Russian language theorist and literary critic Michail Bachtin in 1929, in his book Problems of Dostoevsky?s poetics. In order to understand and comprehend the concept of polyphony I have used an interpretation due to the literature scholar Robyn McCallum. She notes that the characters in a polyphonic novel function as focalizers.

This study aims to analyze the effects of the proposal regarding mandatory reporting for undocumented individuals within the Swedish public sector and how this potentially affects leaders in their efforts to motivate their employees to comply with this requirement, which is considered ethically charged. The primary focus is to understand how these leaders can motivate their employees considering legal requirements that are both legally binding and ethically sensitive. By interviewing leaders from various sectors within the public domain in multiple Swedish municipalities, this case study seeks to highlight the challenges arising from the amalgamation of legal mandates and ethical dilemmas. Its goal is to provide insights that can support these leaders in their complex decision-making regarding such issues. The study addresses theoretical aspects such as change management and critical organizational theory. The study's findings indicate that political decisions play a pivotal role in the processes of change within public operations. Resistance to change varies and takes various forms.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how a bank?s features and internal factors have affected its choice of method in calculating the capital requirement.Theoretical and Empirical Method: The research strategy of this study has been of a qualitative nature with a deductive approach. The choice of method was depth interviews with respondents from a targeted sample of Swedish banks. These respondents were chosen based on the knowledge they possess as key employees in the capital requirement process and their involvement in choosing their banks? method for calculating the capital requirement.

With the curriculum Lpfö98, and its revised version 2010, the demands for evaluation of the quality of the preschool have been emphasized. Accordingly, the activities need to be systematically documented, followed up and assessed, to be improved. Most importantly, this includes continuous follow up, documentation and analysis of the development and learning of the children. This is usually carried out by means of pedagogical documentation, but how this working tool should be used in practice is not totally clear for all pedagogues. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate how pedagogical documentation is performed, assessed and made accessible for the children, parents and staff-members, in practical preschool work.In the study, four pedagogues (two preschool teachers and two pedagogical mentors), working in two different preschools where the Reggio Emilia concept is practiced for pedagogical documentation, were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire.The informants described pedagogical documentation as a complex and time-consuming working tool, albeit necessary and helpful to fulfill the requirements of the curriculum.

Sociala mediers uppkomst har inneburit nya möjligheter för marknadskommunikation men de har också vänt upp och ner på traditionella marknadsföringsmetoder. Det finns därför en osäkerhet kring hur mediernas fulla potential för dialog, interaktivitet, relationsbyggande och viral spridning ska utnyttjas. Syftet med denna studie är därför att skapa ökad kunskap och förståelse för hur ideella organisationer använder sociala medier för att kommunicera samt skapa och underhålla relationer till sina supportrar. En flerfallstudie genomfördes av tre väletablerade ideella organisationer i Sverige, Djurens Rätt, Greenpeace Sverige och Amnesty Sverige. Empirin samlades in med hjälp av intervjuer med ansvariga för kommunikationen i sociala medier inom respektive organisation.

The aim of this essay is to make clear, whether or not, textile research is visualised in a wider archaeological discussion today. The aim is then to discuss what the archaeological and textile technological research situation in Scandinavia looks like today, and how that relate to what has happened in these two research fields during the years. This essay also has a purpose to find out if there is a need of visualising textile research more in future archaeology, how that shall be done, and what that can possibly supply to our general picture of the prehistory.The head questions are discussed in the light of three investigations. The first is a study of literature used in archaeological education at five Swedish universities. The other two consists of a study which is aimed to find out how textile research results are published, and one in which archaeologists and textile researchers have answered questions about how they experience the relation between archaeology and textile research.There has also been done a comparison between interpretations of the archaeological material from the site of Löddeköpinge in west Scania.

The aim of this study is to examine which communication channels and communication strategies Umea? municipality could use for information concerning outdoor recreation. To achieve this aim the following theories and views have been applied: social communication, communication strategies, two-way symmetrical communication, social media and uses and gratifications. The study was conducted through four focus group interviews and one informant interview. The focus groups consisted of four groups of outdoor enthusiasts in Umea? municipality: outdoor interested students, organized outdoor enthusiasts, active families and active seniors.