Essay in political science, C-level by Mikael GranathAutumn semester 2012, Tutor: Freddy Kjellström- Ideological convergence in Swedish party politics?- An analysis of ideologies of the Swedish Social Democratic party and the Swedish Moderateparty and their healthcare and health service policies between the years of 2002 and 2010.The main purpose of this study is to examine the truthfulness in the common perception thatthe Swedish moderate party and the Swedish social democratic party are increasingly sharingthe same political views - particularly between the years of 2002 and 2010. The main researchquestion is:?Did the Swedish Moderate party and the Swedish Social Democratic partyideologically position themselves closer in the year of 2002 than they did in 2010within the health care policy area?The research design chosen for this study can be labelled as a comparative case study wherethe two political parties party programs and election manifestos that were current in the yearof 2002 and 2010 are studied. This is done to give a better view of ideological change.

SammanfattningSexuella trakasserier och övergrepp är välbeforskade ämnen inom många områden, forskning saknas dock i stor utsträckning inom idrotten. Sexuella trakasserier och övergrepp bör belysas inom de svenska idrottsföreningarna, bland annat då de aktiva är i beroendeställning till sina tränare. Syftet med denna studie är att åskådliggöra hur idrottsföreningar i Umeå kommun förhåller sig till sexuella trakasserier och övergrepp, som begås av tränare på aktivt barn, utifrån Riksidrottsförbundets policy och handlingsplan. Studien är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på sju intervjuer från fyra olika idrottsföreningar. Studien har en deduktiv ansats och har sin utgångspunkt i riksidrottsförbundets riktlinjer.

SammanfattningSexuella trakasserier och övergrepp är välbeforskade ämnen inom många områden, forskning saknas dock i stor utsträckning inom idrotten. Sexuella trakasserier och övergrepp bör belysas inom de svenska idrottsföreningarna, bland annat då de aktiva är i beroendeställning till sina tränare. Syftet med denna studie är att åskådliggöra hur idrottsföreningar i Umeå kommun förhåller sig till sexuella trakasserier och övergrepp, som begås av tränare på aktivt barn, utifrån Riksidrottsförbundets policy och handlingsplan. Studien är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på sju intervjuer från fyra olika idrottsföreningar. Studien har en deduktiv ansats och har sin utgångspunkt i riksidrottsförbundets riktlinjer.

AbstractIn this thesis I will discuss the relationship between the European Union and the regions of Europe. The development of the European Union has meant that many decisions are taken in Bruxelles. Many actors participate in the policyprocess ranging from national goverment to policynetworks of different kinds. An emerging actor has been the regions of Europe. Their influence on the policyprocess have grown and today almost all of them are represented in Bruxelles through Region Offices.

Children of school age, who have just moved to Sweden can either start in a preparation class or in a normal class. There is no Swedish law or national policy that determines how new children will start and continue their education in Swedish schools. The decision is up to the schools or the communes.This study investigates what kind of educational methods teachers, from a sample of two different schools, are using to educate the newly-arrived students and if these methods are making any contribution to integrating these children into the Swedish school system. The study will raise questions like, how are the new students introduced to the Swedish school, what is the purpose of having the children in preparation class as opposed to normal class, and what methods do the interviewed teachers use to integrate the new children into the school system?Interviews were conducted with four teachers, an associate professor and a senior lecturer in education, who has done several years of research about children from abroad coming in to the Swedish school system.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate what kind of motives where behind the long term decisions for the Swedish military defense in 2000 and 2004. This leads to the questions that the essay is meant to answer; 1. Were the motives behind the two decisions for the Swedish military defense of economic character or an adjustment of security and defense policy? 2. Was the parliament united in the two decisions and if they were not, why? 3.

The aim of this study is to examine how the induction period for newly employed upper secondary school teachers is implemented in practice, in relation to the Swedish Education Act and the National Agency for Education?s general guidelines. Although this induction period has been legally mandated since 2010, both previous research and current statistics indicate significant shortcomings or wide variation in its practical execution. The study is based on a qualitative interview study involving 13 school leaders. The interview responses were analyzed using three complementary theoretical frameworks: Lipsky?s theory of street-level bureaucracy, Meyer and Rowan?s concept of decoupling, and Schein?s model of organizational culture.

The aim of the thesis is to highlight external factors to explain why the EMU was created. The external factor considered here is the monetary policy of the United States, which often conflicted with European interests. The statistical data in the thesis, as well as previous research, show that even though the EU economically in many ways had become an equal partner of the US during the second half of the 20th century, the union still faced US influence and dependence.The results of the thesis can be explained with neorealist theories on power measured as an actor's distribution of capabilities and balancing of power. An actor that is equipped with the world's leading currency is more independent from others. Other actors, on the other hand, become increasingly dependent on the major currency and the policy of its owner.

The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers and parents are communicating with each other in a foreign area. In case of obstacles in the communication, this study will examine how the preschools create opportunities to solve the problem. This study will also look closely at this relationship from an intercultural communication.This study is based on interviews. My informants are four teachers and four parents, one of the parents is Swedish and the other three have different ethnic and culture backgrounds.This study has reached to several results. The interviews with the teachers have shown that they are unsatisfied with their relationship with the parents because there are two factors that result to their communication difficulties.

Student influence is a well debated subject and all Swedish teachers should let the students influence their education. According to research the student influence is generally low and something that varies from school to school. The school policy documents do not clarify how much impact the students get to have on their education and the impact is therefore something that every individual teacher decides. These individual differences are the reason of this study.This is a qualitative study about four teachers work and thoughts focusing on the subject of school democracy and student influence in the school environment. The study is based on qualitative interviews in order to highlight four different teacher?s thoughts.

The regulations for energy consumption are consistently getting more and morestrict. This leads to a higher customer demand for energy analysis early in the buildingdesign process. Many building planners and architects use powerful modeling softwareto visualize their projects. These digital models contain sufficient information aboutthe building?s physical characteristics for reliable energy analysis.

My main purpose for this paper was to find out what the four teachers I interviewed thought about the design of their classroom and how they linked that to pedagogy, pupils learning and policy documents. I also wanted to find out if classroom design were something they discuss and reflects on in the college.My questions for this study were: What do some teachers who work in the early ages in the school think about the classroom design? Do these teachers link the classroom design to policy documents or pedagogy? Do these teachers consider classroom design to be something that should be discussed in the same way as other factors (for example teaching aids, resources etc.) within the college?My method was to make qualitative interviews with four teachers, analyze their answers and link them to my main theories and research in the area of the study. My main theories were multimodal communication, which means that there are several systems of signs in communication, which all have an essential function for the meaning of the communicated. It also means that learning happens both individually and socially and that school is a social construction, and that the system of opportunities and boundaries in which it takes form is mediated within our multimodal systems.

In Sweden there is scepticism if there really is a difference between the two biggest political parties, the Moderate/Conservative party and the Swedish Social Democrats. The voters feels that the arguments used by both parties are more or less the same and that it does not matter on whom you vote. Hence I am going to compare the parties? policy programs, developed by the members in each party, by an analysis of ideas to see if the two parties are so similar that they hardly are two different options, or if there is a divergence between the two. My choosing of the parties? policy programs comes from a decision to look at the members? party, they are the authors of the programs, the core. I have to admit I am not unbiased in this work.

SammanfattningSexuella trakasserier och övergrepp är välbeforskade ämnen inom många områden, forskning saknas dock i stor utsträckning inom idrotten. Sexuella trakasserier och övergrepp bör belysas inom de svenska idrottsföreningarna, bland annat då de aktiva är i beroendeställning till sina tränare. Syftet med denna studie är att åskådliggöra hur idrottsföreningar i Umeå kommun förhåller sig till sexuella trakasserier och övergrepp, som begås av tränare på aktivt barn, utifrån Riksidrottsförbundets policy och handlingsplan. Studien är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på sju intervjuer från fyra olika idrottsföreningar. Studien har en deduktiv ansats och har sin utgångspunkt i riksidrottsförbundets riktlinjer.

Over the past twenty years, the cooperation within the European Union (EU) has strengthened and expanded with both more number of Member States and stronger influence on international politics. The unique character of the Union and its ability to enforce peace and humanitarian intervention has attracted attention in political science. This prominent position of the Union is perceived by many scholars who often hold this derived from the Union's influence in international relations. Various terms have been used to define the powers of the Union. The British researcher Ian Manners states that the unique identity of the Union in the international arena is formed by its normative power.  An important policy area within the Union is the environmental cooperation.