The aim of this master's thesis is to describe the role of language and culture as ethnical identification factors and illustrate how these have been used as political weapons by the Serb regime in Kosovo during the last decade. The thesis discusses the concept of ethnicity, the relations between the politics of identity, nationalism, ethnic mobilization and the importance of language and culture. Kosovo has historically been characterized by severe ethnic antagonism between Serbs and Albanians. Different languages, cultures and religions beside political processes led to ethnic cleavages that paved the way for ethnocentrism, ethnonationalism, chauvinism, ethnic cleansing and civil war. Since 1989, the Serbian authorities have intervened in all important spheres of life, in an attempt to Serbianize Kosovo.

The three post-communist states - Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine ? have gone different ways in terms of freedom and democracy since the breakdown of the Soviet Union 1991. During these years, the state and the civil society have been fundamental actors in the struggle against, and even for, authoritarianism.A strong state with great capacity in Belarus has undermined the chances for the civil society to fulfil its task as a watchdog of the state and link between the citizens and the government.Failed authoritarianism in Moldova has led to a situation where both the state and the civil society are weak. The major problem is lack of organization and cohesion; both the state and the civil society have often been divided by ethnical differences and are therefore not strong enough to promote democracy.In Ukraine, the dominance of a strong state ended in 2004 when the Orange Revolution took place, sometimes called a ?peak of democracy? where popular mobilization and protests succeeded in it's opposition against the state.

Edward Said's book Orientalism (1978) is the most important reference point in the post-colonial theory and describes how the West is dominant over the Orient. There is a clear distinction between "us" and "the other" and the purpose of this study is that, from a postcolonial perspective, focusing on Said's theoretical concepts "the other" and "discourse", examining how two foreign-born people with ethnic backgrounds living in the same place, are looking at themselves, at other foreign-born and native Swedes. My questions to answer this are; ?what are the concepts of "the other" and "discourse" and is it possible to use these concepts to examine how foreign-born people are looking at themselves, at other foreign-born and native Swedes in a specific location??, ?who is "the other" in a place where there are almost as many native Swedes as foreign-born??, and ?how do these two foreign-born people with ethnic backgrounds perceive Norrliden as a place and what effect has that place had on their identity?? I have used a post-colonial philosophical ground and a qualitative approach, focusing on two different interviews with two men, living in Norrliden. In Norrliden almost 50% of the inhabitants are foreign-born were both of the interview-persons are feeling safe and secure.

The aim of this study was to seek knowledge about how the media audience interprets media representations of immigrants as well as the construction of ?us? and ?them? that is created from the media report.We implemented two focus group interviews, one containing only ethnical Swedes and one holding a variety of people with different ethnical backgrounds. The focus groups got to read nine news articles from different Swedish news papers selected by us, based upon previous research. These articles got to serve as the basis of the discussion.To supplement the focus groups, which got to represent the media audience, we also interviewed two different persons we choose to call informants, whom are both immigrants and are or have been politically active and often appear in local media.The interviews were our empirical material which was used for analysis. The method we used was qualitative analysis of meaning and was based upon a hermeneutic starting point, meaning that all humans are interpreting beings.

Since 2005 the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has prescribed a mandatory requirement that all ?Publicly Consolidated Entities? abide by the ?International Financial Reporting Standards? (IFRS). However, due to a difference in institutional elements, between countries, differences in financial reporting are still possible. This essay aims to identify such differences between Swedish and British companies in their adaptation of the IFRS, specifically differences in; ?Disclosure Requirements for Goodwill? specified in ?IAS 36 p 134?.

This essay examines the differences and similarities, weaknesses and strengths of the two Cognitive Semantic theories Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Principled Polysemy Approach to Meaning Analysis. To illustrate the two theories, the Swedish verb-particle construction "gå upp" is examined and analyzed accordingly. The results showed differences in the number of polysemous meaning found. The methodological evaluation showed that the differences in the underlying ideas concerning meaning-construction behind these two theories make them incompatible..

The employment interview is an important part of the recruitment process because the recruiter then has a chance to form an opinion about the applicant as a person. The purpose with this study has been to examine if there are any differences between inhouse-recruiters and recruiting consultants concerning the employment interview and its assessment methods. Five inhouse-recruiters and five recruiting consultants have been interviewed on the basis of a manual. There are differences between the groups in 6 of the 17 themes that have been examined: purpose with the employment interview, private-, double- or panelinterview, length of the interview, personal chemistry, appearance and objectivity in the assessment. Many of the differences are caused by the fact that inhouse-recruiters recruit for their own organisation and recruiting consultants recruit for a client.

ABSTRACTPurpose/aim: Are there any differences between how ?old? and ?young? groups within social movements in Sweden view (value) and use alternative and mainstream media?Material/method: The answer to the research problem is sought by conducting qualitative research interviews with representatives of four different groups: Alternativ Stad, Folkkampanjen mot Kärnkraft-Kärnvapen, Attac Sverige and Ingen Människa är Illegal. The theoretical framework consists of research on social movements, especially on their relation to media, and on alternative media.Main results: There exist some, but not great, differences between how ?old? and ?young? groups view and use mainstream and alternative media. The differences are relatively small when it comes to views on media and somewhat larger concerning media use.

The aim of the study is to investigate attitudes about rapists and to determine whether it is felt that they need treatment, imprisonment or a combination of the two. The study examines differences in attitudes between two different educational groups. The first group of students is comprised of those studying on programs that lead to careers working with people, whilst the other contains students who will work in business administration. The investigation also includes views on which punishment alternative the informants believed to be the most appropriate. The same differences are also investigated between gender and age.

In  the  constantly  changing working  life  of  today, where  emphasis  on  human  capital  grows stronger,  the  importance  of  recruiting  and  retaining  good  staff  increases.  Successful recruitment  requires  a  first-rate  recruitment  process.  In  literature  on  recruitment recommendations for successful recruitment are presented.   The  aim  of  this  study  is  to  describe  similarities  and  differences  between  these recommendations and Svenska Spel?s recruitment practice on the basis of a description of the recruitment process at AB Svenska Spel, and also to identify possible reasons for differences between theory and practice.  To  meet  the  purpose  of  this  study  literature  and  scientific  reports  have  been  studied. Interviews  with  five  HR-specialists  and  four  managers  have  also  been  conducted.  The recruitment process is therefore described out of the employer?s point of view.

This study attempts to examine the existence and development of price differences in the car sector in Europe. The time period is between 1995, the year of the Swedish entrance in the European Union, and 2003. The study is based on data supplied by the European commission, on a bi-annual basis. Both price differences in general in the EU, and price differences between Sweden and other countries in the EU are examined. The theoretical law of one price is related to the economic integration of the EU and the car sector.

The aim of the study is to investigate attitudes about rapists and to determine whether it is felt that they need treatment, imprisonment or a combination of the two. The study examines differences in attitudes between two different educational groups. The first group of students is comprised of those studying on programs that lead to careers working with people, whilst the other contains students who will work in business administration. The investigation also includes views on which punishment alternative the informants believed to be the most appropriate. The same differences are also investigated between gender and age.

This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

There are many researching studies to be found that describes how media relates to men and women differently. Even if it?s a newspaper research or a magazine research they all display the same information. That there are differences in the way that women and men are described or portrayed in articles and pictures. Most of these gender studies are made on a basis of magazines that are mainly intended to men or to women.

The purpose of this study was to examine if there are gender differences in computer use among the young. Our aim was to find out in what respects boys and girls differ, if at all. The main method of investigation is a literature review. We have also made a complementary empirical study in a public library. The literature studied principally covers computer use at home and in school.