The purpose of this essay is on the one hand to study Sub-Saharan Africa from a comparative perspective to analyze different explanations to democratization and on the other hand to compare the democratization of the most interesting cases found. To fulfil the purpose, the essay is divided into a quantitative and a qualitative part. The quantitative part starts from four different theories of democratization and thus has a deductive theory testing approach. We intend to use four theories: the modernization theory, the theory of stable institutions as a prerequisite for democratization, political culture and ethnic diversity as an obstacle for democratization, to test how they correspond with the democratic situation in Africa, and at the same time find deviant cases. The second part of the study takes its start from an inductive perspective and examines institutions and citizens of the deviant cases.

The public libraries in Sweden has an obligation to serve all of its citizens, but despite of this they often fail to include their LGBTQ-patrons. Since the year of 2008 RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) have arranged a specially designed certification-process based on normcritical criterias that a chosen institution should fulfill to make their work more inclusive for LGBTQ-people. Sollentuna is the first municipal in Sweden to certificate all of their libraries. This study aims to examine what the certification have meant for the public library in Sollentuna and how a normcritical view can contribute to include LGBTQ-patrons at the library. As a method we used a qualitative interview-study to get a full picture of the certification-process and its influence on the public library of Sollentuna.

The aim of this thesis was to explore and analyze the sponsored debates on Newsmill, so called seminars. How does the sponsor use Newsmills seminars for marketing purposes? Who is allowed to write in Newsmills seminars?To answer these questions we used both a quantitative survey and a qualitative survey.To examine how the sponsors use Newsmills seminars for marketing purposes we conducted a qualitative analysis which included three of the eleven seminars - a total of 26 articles. We examined how the sponsors conveyed the picture of themselves and if the written content in Newsmills seminars contained any hidden marketing. We could see that the sponsor has a great deal of influence on the seminars and also used them to market their brand with hybrid messages.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how preschool pedagogues in Stockholm and in Tornedalen speak about and relate to creative activities. By qualitative interviews in two geographically distant areas, one minority culture and one majority culture, I have collected information from six pedagogues, three in each area. Values in, and the significance of culture in creative activities have been the main focus. From this study I conclude that all pedagogues agreed upon the creative activity having an extensive role in the preschool work. The role of the individual pedagogue within the creative activity is multiple and dependent on where, when and how the activity is carried out.

Climate change is a phenomenon that know no boundaries. While focus on environment and climate change has become highly prioritized, nationalism has spread across Europe. Nationalism is by many considered to refuse action to combat climate change although some argue that nationalism could combat global climate change. Previous research on how nationalism is implemented in environment and climate politics has mainly focused on single parties. The thesis therefore aims to give a broad approach and compare how nationalism is used in environment and climate politics by analyzing 4 European parties with either ethnic or civic nationalism and different roles in their party system. With a qualitative content analysis on party programs and election manifestos the findings imply that parties use nationalism in the climate and environment discourse in a variety of ways.

According to the national legislation concerning discrimination within labour law, it is prohibited to discriminate on the grounds of sex, ethnic belonging, religion or other religious belief, functional disability, sexual nature and part-time work or time-limited employment. The EC-law goes further and also prohibits discrimination on the ground of age. According to an EC-directive the member states must incorporate a national provision against age discrimination by the 2nd of December 2006 and the Swedish legislator is now in the progress to implement this into Swedish law.Even though national legislation does not contain any provision on the area, the EC-law directive has a certain influence at national law. Measures that are in breach of the purpose of the directive can for example not be taken. When the time for implementation has expired, the directive has direct effect and can be referred to within the member states.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to find out in which ways a group of first generation immigrants use Swedish papers and magazines in a public library and which information needs this group has about Swedish society. One important aspect in this essay is integration of immigrants in the Swedish society as a possible effect of newspaper reading. The method used in this study is qualitative. Data is generated through semi-structured interviews.

En bättre värld genom faith? En studie om hur organisationen DIAN Interfidei arbetar för att skapa fredliga relationer i Indonesien [A better world through faith? A study about how the organization DIAN Interfidei works to pursue peaceful relations in Indonesia]. The aim of this study has been to analyze how an Indonesian NGO called DIAN Interfidei works with peacebuilding through faith in order to bring harmony between the various ethnic and religious groups of people that inhabits the nation. Through interviews and the study of Interfideis own source-material could their methods and problems be explored, and later on related to contemporary research in the field of conflict-resolution and peace-making. The conclusions that could be drawn from this study is that Interfidei primarily targets two specific groups (teachers of religion in schools and future religious leaders) in their programmes, because these groups in turn have the potential to affect several people in their own work.

During the autumn of 2007 I carried out an investigation within the bank and finance Sector. The aim of the investigation was to see how informal aspects could be understood in relation to equality within Bank AB? The main question was: Which are the obstacles and opportunities for equality within Bank AB? To answer the main question I asked the following questions to the material: Are there any gender related different within the organization? How are men and women represented within the internal magazine? Which are the conceptions related to sex/gender within the organization? The investigation is based on a survey, the internal magazine was investigated and finally interviews took place. Throughout the investigation I used organization theory in a gender perspective. With the gender organization theory I examined concepts as structures, leadership, symbolism and changes associated with equality.

Background: Older people are a major patient group seeking medical care in Sweden. Several of the elderly are living alone and the main reason for living alone is when the spouse passes away. Loneliness is a factor that can affect quality of life, health and wellbeing. Loneliness is an individual experience, loneliness can be self-chosen but involuntary loneliness can lead to lifelong suffering and feelings of loneliness. Aim: The aim of the study was to highlight the factors affecting loneliness among elderly people within municipal care living in Sweden.

The study is a qualitative survey with the purpose to through interviews with Employment Office social workers examine their perception of possibilities and obstacles in the employment market for immigrants. This purpose is specified through two specific problems; how are cultural and ethnic affiliations portrayed in relation to what is perceived as Swedish in the communication with Employment Office social workers and whether they reckon that the specifications in the employment market are pragmatically or normatively motivated. The materials are presented using a social constructivist perspective and in relation to previously conducted research and our chosen theory. The results are presented and analyzed in themes. The main conclusions drawn from the interviews are that it primarily is the individual prerequisites that are central, but that structural factors also affect the entry into the employment market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how six students who attend a high school relate to their multilingualism and emphasize how their multilingualism has affected their views of themselves and their identity. The fundamental questions were:How do six students who attend a secondary school relate to their multilingualism?How has students' multilingualism affected their views of themselves and their identity?I did use a qualitative research method in terms of interviews to receive answers for my inquiries.Carla Jonsson (2010) speaks inter alia about ?the third space? which concerns adolescents creating a ?third room?. Almqvist (2006) believes that adolescents that are exposed to discrimination and prejudices can lead to them turning their backs on society in disappointment. Boyd (1985) has, in his thesis, found that multilingual students communicate with the majority language and with their mother tongue with their parents.

This essay examines a presupposed correlation between the way one look upon values and the way one look upon the will of the people in a theoretical democratic context. The more specific purpose is to test the following hypothesis: There is a reversed connection between the way one look upon values and the way one look upon the will of the people in a theoretical democratic context, that is; a strong claim of values give reason to a limited conception of the will of the people and a weak claim of values gives reason for a more unlimited conception of the will of the people.In order to test the hypothesis I examine three different conceptions of democracy, these are: pluralist democracy, deliberative democracy and constitutional democracy. I analyze the way they look upon values, there view of the will of the people and finally if there is a connection between the way they look upon values and the will of the people. Values should be understood in a metaethical context. In other words it is not values in the ?common? meaning, instead its how val-ues in them selves should be understood, and even more relevant, what we mean when we ex-press values.My conclusions are, first and foremost, that there is a correlation between the will of the people and values, according to the formulation of the hypothesis.

The subject of this study is conflict management. The purpose of this paper is to examine how teachers deal with conflicts between pupils in primary education. The purpose is also to get more insight on what a conflict is and show different strategies to manage conflicts. To learn about how teachers deal with conflicts between pupils in primary school, I chose to do interviews. I interviewed four teachers. In the interviews we talked about: their definition of what a conflict is, what kind of conflict that are most common, and how common it is with conflicts in the school which they work at, how they handle conflicts between students, how they believe that they manage conflicts, if they have received any training or education in conflict management and if the school they work at have any special guidelines for handling conflicts. My questions are: How do the teachers think about their own involvement in students' conflict management? How do the teachers think about which types of conflicts that can be difficult to manage? The result of the study is that the teachers often let students handle conflicts themselves and they think it is good for them to do it because it is a knowledge that we humans need have.

To create fair conditions between majority and minority in Sweden is a challeging project. Male immigrants usually do not get same opportunities for a success identity structure and integration into Swedish society as women and children. The aim of this thesis is therefore to critically examine and analyse the processes regarding identity structure and integration for male immigrants with a specific focus on Helsingborg. The object of this study is Mansgrupp, a project which helps men to build up a secure ground for identity structure and which further helps them to integrate into the society. To be able to reach the results I have made a literature study as well as a minor field study in Helsingborg, where I conducted interviews with men from the above mentioned project.