In subsequent to Post-colonialism the African nations have dilated into different political directions. While some nations have established well-functioning democracies, others are still under authoritarian regimes. The aim of this thesis is to examine if civil society has an impact on democratic development in West Africa. Therefore the theoretical starting point is Putnam?s theory of social capital, but this study will also examine other possible causal explanations for democratic transition.This study will be based on a comparative analysis of Ghana and Guinea.

The purpose of this study is to examine how Viking Line, Tallink Silja and Birka Cruises work with economic and environmental sustainability, and also to see how they work with new environmental legislations. In 2015 a new environmental legislation will be introduced, by the name Sulphur directive. The Sulphur directive entails a reduction in Sulphur dioxide emissions from ships where the emissions cannot exceed 0,1 percent. There are three alternatives to achieve the new environmental legislation, the use of Marine Gas Oil, LNG or scrubbers. All three alternatives will lead to increasing costs for the shipping industry.

In Sweden the real estate sector accounts for 33 % of energy consumption and just below 10 % of the emission of carbon dioxide. As a consequence of the external pressure from climate change it?s in everybody?s interest to reduce the energy consumption and thus reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. An additional incentive to reduce the energy consumption is the substantial increase of the energy price since the deregulation of the electricity market in 1996.In this study the techniques that exist to build multi-storey residential buildings with high energy performance will be investigated. Further the study intends to investigate the optimal energy performance from a real estate economic perspective.In order to investigate the optimal energy performance a model has been created with the parameters investment cost, rental revenues, operation and maintenance cost, discount rate and investment horizon.The result shows a relationship between a high investment cost and a high energy performance for newly constructed multi-storey residential buildings.

Sustainable development is a concept that has been interpreted in a multitude of ways in different contexts. This essay argues that the discourse of "ecological modernization" has strongly influenced the way in which the concept of ?sustainability? has been constructed in Swedish environmental policy. This interpretation of the concept of sustainability offers the possibility of combining economic growth with ecological sustainability which stands in contrast to the assumptions of Deep Ecology and Green Theory. The aim of this essay is to explore how the concept of sustainability is being formulated in environmental policy both on a national level and in the city of Malmö.Considering these issues in a specific context, this essay focuses on city planning that is as an important instrument to promote urban sustainability both on national and local levels.

Svartedalens nature reserve a social richness worth develop. The nature reserve of Svartedalen is an area of high biological and social values. The reserve is located close to several densely populated areas. The reserve has been classified as a national area of interest for nature conservation and outdoor life, and as a Natura 2000 area according to both the bird- and habitat directions. The reserve is the largest landarea in Västra Götaland, 3 410 hectares, where a resolution has been made about all these forms of protection. The foundation Skogssällskapet owns 1 956 hectares of the reserve, at 1 384 hectares of the property they pursue FSC-certified silver culture, according to current management plan.

The crisis on Wall Street. This essay is a comparative study of how two business newspapers report on the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings in September 2008. Seven articles from the Swedish European financial newspaper Affärsvärlden (Business World) and five articles from the Chinese-Asian news agency XINHUA FINANCE are examined. The aim is to analyze, understand and evaluate from a rhetorical perspective. My thesis is that rhetors storytelling can tell us more about how we cope with crisis in the global economic discourse. The texts can portray man as a narrative creature when identification as a rational actor is not enough. The analytical methods used are linguistic analysis with an emphasis on metaphor analysis, narrative analysis based on pentad - Critical dramatism, and discourse analysis with doxological outlook. The results show that both newspapers seek to defend the global economic discourse, but they do so in different ways. Affärsvärlden advocates calmness and conveys a cautious attitude. The heart of the crisis, as well as its solution, is on Wall Street. XINHUA advocates control and expresses confidence in authorities and the system. Asia is presented as Wall Street's savior..

The purpose of this study is to analyze the economic effects of different fertilization programs both on stand- and forest-level. The study is applied on an objective sample of inventory data for a forest area in Kalix in northern Sweden. The forest area belongs to the forest company Sveaskog. The study includes different economic models and will be used as a support when the company decides how to invest and how much to invest in fertilization. The study investigates the economy of five different fertilization policies. For each program the rate of interest invested in fertilization and the cost for the extra produced volume has been calculated.

The aim of this study is to examine possibilities and barriers for an introduction of electric vehicles in Sweden. The study has an interdisciplinary approach and thoroughly examines the essential topics which influence the future of the electric vehicle. The study reaches from answering the question on why electric vehicles lost the game to petrol cars in the early 20th century, to sketch how the difference in total cost of ownership will be between electric vehicles and petrol cars for the coming 20 years. Apart from these subjects the main topics of the study are today?s and tomorrow?s situation regarding technology, charging, fuel, market and economic incentives from an electric vehicle perspective.

Cost allocation ? a study of how Swedish energy companies allocate costs between electricity and district heating in a combined heat and power plant District heating is today the most utilized alternative for heating in Sweden. In a combined heat and power plant (CHP) electricity and heat are cogenerated. The environmental and economic advantages with this kind of production are high. A problem in a CHP-plant is to allocate costs between electricity and heat since both products are generated in the same process.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze two factors contributing to child labor in Ghana, one of the world's largest producers of cocoa. These two factors are: poor countries economic and political dependency on the rich countries, political leader?s ambitions and decisions. We will also describe and analyze the UN's efforts and measures to combat child labor. The method we used was a case study of child labor in Ghana?s cocoa industry together with interviews.

Med anledning av att Sida, och sålunda Sverige, utformat en ny biståndsstrategi i Sri Lanka, vilken i många avseende strider mot dess föregångare, syftar denna uppsats till att undersöka dess inverkan. Den nya strategin präglas av en återgång till ett kapitalfundamentalistiskt synsätt där den ekonomiska sektorn sätts i fokus, vilket markant frånskiljer sig sin föregångare som snarare såg till utbildningsområdet och missgynnade grupper på landsbygden. Strategins inverkan analyseras i tre separata avsnitt, först utifrån ett teoretiskt perspektiv med the Human Capital Approach och strukturstabilitetsteorin som referensramar. Därefter analyseras strategin med utgångspunkt i den svenska biståndspolitiken som genom biståndspropositionen 2003 grundligt omdefinierats, och där svenskt bistånd idag agerar utifrån en global kontext. Slutligen ses strategin i den internationella biståndskontexten gentemot Sri Lanka, där en diskussion förs huruvida arbetsfördelning föreligger mellan de stora biståndsgivarna eller snarare likformade strategier.

AbstractThe purpose for this study has been to discover and reveal what exactly it is that have made the Wallenberg family so successful in the Swedish business world for more than 150 years. We have narrowed our research by limit it to only find and concern the specific features of the Wallenberg family and not their entire corporate group. There is no research made before regarding this matter, as far as we could see, which is one of the reasons to why we find this study relevant. In order to answer our question we have chosen to use a qualitative approach in which we have interviewed three people. These three people all have deep and thorough insight in the Wallenberg family.

Uppsatsen Tjeckien och EU ? associationsavtalets effekter på handel och specialisering är en ekonomisk studie med behandling av handelsdata som belyser Tjeckiens ekonomiska transition. Denna studie har främst gjorts med syftet att analysera associationsavtalets inverkan på handeln mellan Tjeckien och EU. Det är främst effekterna av avtalet ur ett handelsalstrings- och handelsomfördelningsperspektiv, samt integrationens effekter på den tjeckiska specialiseringen som behandlas. Slutligen diskuteras även hur handeln mellan dessa två parter kan tänkas påverkas av Tjeckiens medlemskap i EU.Processen för landet har varit sådan från att först nästintill ha varit en autarki, till att senare ha blivit frihandelspartner till EU och slutligen fullvärdig medlem av Europeiska Unionen.

Huvudsyftet är att undersöka om det existerar väsentliga variabler som kan hjälpa oss att finna framtida vinnarfonder genom att studera historisk information. Studien mäts i förhållande till det existerande utbudet på svenska fondmarknaden. Konkret vill vi kunna få en högre signifikant avkastning under en given period än den genomsnittliga avkastningen för samtliga fonder på den svenska marknaden. Med denna undersökning vill vi bidra till en diskussion om det råder marknadseffektivitet. Variabler som vi studerar för denna undersökning är historisk avkastning, standardavvikelse, Sharpekvot, Stutzer index, fondstorlek, kapitalflöde, relativ volym, trading activity, fondavgifter och slutligen ålder.

Purpose: The main purpose of our study is to explain how the disability management in the municipality of Karlskrona can design its balanced scorecard from a theoretical basis. The mission of the balanced scorecard is to improve the management control system. To achieve the main purpose we have to study the problems that exist with the current control system, which then becomes our second purpose.Method: Our study has a qualitative approach. The design of the study is a case study in which one case has been looked at. The empirical data is collected through interviews and documents. We have gathered our theory through scientific articles and literature.Results: The goals set by the board are unclear and hard to define.