This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary Elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

In this study, I have examined the previous Social Democratic government?s communication with the voters, focusing on its promises during election campaigns, and the presentation of achieved results. The theories used are the mandate- and sanction theory; the first focuses on voters comparing manifestos to find the most agreeable, whilst the latter concentrates on voters evaluation the work of the previous government, to either discharge or support it. For the sanction theory to work, voters must have the necessary information to evaluate the government in progress. The question is; did the previous government provide the voters with such information?This has been done through scrutinizing the Social Democrats? election manifestos that was used between 1994 and 2006, to examine what the party promised to achieve in economics and the labor market.

Title: Under the surface - Fredrik Reinfeldt and Stefan Löfven in a comparative photo studyAuthors: Jon Demred, Fanny Wijk & Olivia WikströmLevel: Bachelor of JournalismLocation: University of GothenburgLanguage: SwedishNumber of pages: 39This thesis compares how Stefan Löfven was being portrayed in Swedish media the week after the generalelection 2014 with how Fredrik Reinfeldt was portrayed in the first week after 2006?s general election.There has been made a lot of research on how politicians are portrayed in the media, but most of theresearch focus on text portrayal. This thesis focus on something different, it compares how the two ?winners? were portrayed in news photos.A semiotic approach was used to analyse news images in the newspapers Aftonbladet, Expressen, SvenskaDagbladet and Dagens Nyheter. It was important to not only look at the pictures, but also the outer context, i.e the headlines, had to be analysed to come to any conclusions.Fredrik Reinfeldt was portrayed more positive and more as a winner than Stefan Löfven was.

J.O. Mallander?s Extended Play (1968) is a sound recording, a readymade, of the counting of votes in two presidential Elections in Finland, during 1962 and 1968. A voice repeats monotonously: ?Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen?? Although the Finnish president Urho Kekkonen represents, almost personifies, the politics of the post World War II period in Finland, Extended Play does not explicitly address the political. Rather, as this essay argues, it engages in the discourses of power and politics by providing a temporalization of its fixedness, or what Jacques Derrida terms the proper.Extended Play is, in parallel with Derrida?s critique of western metaphysics, a deconstruction in sound that challenges the state ideologies conveyed in the process of the counting of votes, where the presuppositions of the presence of the voice characterizes the ambiguities of power that Kekkonen?s politics of neutrality represent.Mallander?s readymade emerges as a double of the game theory strategies of the Cold War, a mimetic surplus of the administrative control mechanisms of sound recording.

If guidance counselors are to do as good a job as possible, they need to have as much comprehensive information as possible when it comes to possible career paths for their clients. To get on the way to get this information I, in this study, examined how musicians - specifically flute players career paths could seem. I examen this by doing five interviewees. This study is for guidance counselors, so they hade a more solid foundation to stand on, but also for aspiring musicians to get new perspectives to consider when faced with career choices.The study is conducted through five interviews with professionals flutists; Agneta, Harry, Jenny, Eva and Pepita who all work or have recently worked as professional musicians or teachers. With professional musician, I mean the ones in one way or another is or has been employed musicians and also is in the same or higher level in terms of their music ability than those who are employed.

This essay deals with the subject of the use of news medium amongst the students inKarlstads University. The presentation of the problem is about illustrating the or thosemedium that is the most used amongst the students, and also which one, ore which onesof the news medium the students puts largest trust in. This subject was chosen with thepurpose to illuminate patterns and attitudes of and to news medium, to make it easierfor eventual research in the future to connect these patterns and attitudes with theparticipation in political Elections. The subject in question is interesting because of thefact that the news medium is one of the largest sources of information for the citizensknowledge?s about the society, and the citizen?s attitude to the news medium mightpossibly have the ability to affect people?s commitment in politics.

From a democratic viewpoint, the way in which the media frames politics is essential. Should issue frames be left out in favor of other types of frames, it could result in voters struggling to make informed decisions come Election Day. What is more, research shows that game frames may cause lack of confidence in politicians and declining political interest. Against this background, the present study aimed to find out how two broadsheets, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, and two tabloids, Aftonbladet and Expressen, framed politics in connection with the 2014 Swedish parliamentary Elections. The thesis also intended to identify possible differences between the two newspaper types and to make tentative comparisons with previous studies so as to be able to comment on framing developments.

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.

?The new labour party? A study of the labor-market policy ideas of the Moderata samlingspartiet and their ideological change?Thesis in Political Science (C-level) at Karlstad University byJenny Ljung, Fall 2006Tutor: Susan MartonThe labour-market policy of the Swedish Moderaterna may have undergone changes in the liberal ideology. During the election the year 1991 Moderaterna focused upon questions that concerned the economic growth and the free market. In the election at year 2006 Moderaterna appointed themselves as ?the new labour party? and were called social liberals by several critiques.

The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine the debate in Swedish library press concerning outsourcing of public libraries. The two magazines studied are BBL (Biblioteksbladet) and bis (bibliotek i samhälle). The period of time covered by the selected articles is 2005 to 2011. Although there are still quite few cases of tendering arrangements in Sweden, the question has been raised in the last years by the decision of the Municipality of Nacka (Stockholm) to outsource their public libraries. Another important factor for bringing the question into focus has been the general Elections of 2006, which brought an alliance of right-wing parties to power.     In this thesis the arguments of the participants are documented and analyzed.

Primad information är lättare tillgängligt i minnet och kan således lättare bli igenkänt. Förutsättningar för priming är bland annat subliminal perception, mål, tillförlitlighet, icke vaksamt och icke vanemässigt. Studiens syfte är att få bredare förståelse gällande subliminal primings påverkan. Frågeställningen var om kunder i en affär kan manipuleras, primas, till att ta en specifik kulör på plastpåse vid kassan samt om det finns någon könsskillnad vid effekten av priming. Deltagarna var 490 kunder, varav 333 män.

BackgroundPolitics in some ways has always been about communication and marketing. In Sweden some people believe that communication and meaningful relations with the voters are of no value, instead it is the political content that is of importance. Media evolution has changed the conditions of political marketing; this has meant that the choices of the right communication channels in political marketing have become more important today than ever. Political competition in Sweden has become more even in recent years, this has called for political communication and marketing to be more planed and well thought out. Political parties have therefore begun to spend millions on marketing themselves.

ABSTRACTEssay in Political Science, Advanced Continuation Course, 61-80 credits, by Jonas Nilsson?The democratic islamist? - a study of three islamist movements and their potential role in ademocratization process?Supervisor: Jonas LindeThe purpose of this work has been to explain to what extent islamist movements can be said to bebearers of democratic values and if they have a role to play in future democratization processes. Thepurpose of this work is also to examine the democratic views of the different islamist movements andto compare them with each other in an effort to find a specific islamist definition of democracy.The essay is a qualitative analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Front Islamique du Salut inAlgeria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The analytical framework is based on the political institutionsincluded in Robert A. Dahl polyarchial democracy.

Schyman?s legs in Let?s Dance as a communication strategy- a case study of ?Feministiskt initiativ? in the election campaign 2010.(Schymans ben i Let?s Dance som kommunikationsstrategi, en fallstudie om Feministiskt initiativ i valkampanjen 2010).Author: Joanna Morell, Tutor: Ann-Marie Morhed2009 was the first time where Swedish political parties were entitled to have TV- commercials, another sign of political communication taking one step closer to the strategic marketing communication. A type of communication that also is expensive.The Swedish political party Feministiskt initiativ (Fi) have existed since 2005 and is not yet a part of the Swedish parliament. They have not been entitled to the economic support that is given to Swedish parties with more than 2,5 percent of the votes in the last two Elections. As a result Fi is completely dependent on economic contributions.

Torstensson, Niklas (2012): Anledningar till olikheter mellan Svenska kommuners skolkvalitet (Causes behind the differences in Swedish municipality´s quality of school) Örebro University.This essay is an explorative case study that will compare four Swedish municipalities quality of local school system against the municipality ´s backgrounddata and a governing document: Skolplan. This study begins in a previous benchmarking study made by one of Sweden?s teachers unions Lärarförbundet. This is a statistical study that ranked the Swedish municipalities against each other?s according to their accomplishments in a number of areas related to their school systems.