Social policy has now received an increased attention in the European Union. The European welfare states experience a high level of unemployment, which the EU now tries to handle through the European Employment Strategy (EES). The core of this essay is whether the welfare institutions of the European member states are integrating through an institutionalization process or not. Within the EU four different types of welfare models can be identified: the Scandinavian, the Continental, the Southern and the Anglo-Saxon. The welfare models differ in the institutional settings e.g.

The following thesis is examining compliance with EU-law from a member state perspective. The variation in the compliance level between the member states from 1995 to 2005 is analyzed to prove the fact that the Nordic member countries during the measured time period experienced a low number of infringements. The infringements that did occur were resolved faster and more efficient in the Nordic countries then in the other member states. The theory used to explain the Nordic compliance rate is divided between external and internal pressure in a pull and push model. The external pressure is illustrated with argumentative persuasion from the EU-commission to the individual member states; how the state responds to the persuasion in order to act compliant.

In January 2007 the Öresund committy changed its statutes to become a more politically oriented lobby organization. This change can be interpreted as one part of a continuously evolving process where the Öresund region is emancipating itself from the national states in a multi-level European environment. By focusing on this latest development the thesis puts forward the importance of political institutions, as well as politicians and civil servants as actors in them, as crucial factors in the process where the region is gaining political power. The thesis shows how the political cross-border cooperation in the Öresund region is being institutionalized which affects its power relations to other levels in the multi-level system, predominantly the national states. In other words, there is a connection between power and institutionalization.The Öresund committee has by gaining better access to policymaking agendas on the national levels proven that the organizational change has already started to bear fruit.

This study is an examination of how conditions for formal and informal music education look like in two townships in South Africa. The purpose of this examination based on different actors' experiences is to find out whether the children in South Africa receive some form of music education and if so, how they think it can help the children in the surveyed areas. The information was gathered both through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with a music teacher, music therapist, creative music facilitator, students, and people who have worked for Sida and partly through unstructured observations. The results show that children in the surveyed townships do not receive any formal music education through the school but they sometimes can get music education through a NGO project (Non Government Organization) which usually runs by an enthusiast and is funded by various aid agencies. My examination also showed that for the children in the surveyed areas music education can be an alternative from being on the streets, giving a positive group experience, the ability to express themselves, fend off young people from drugs and criminality and bring together various grouping.

The aim of the study is to examine which present conceptions of sexuality there are in treatment of substance abuse for men. The intention is to examine how staff members in these environments perceive clients? sex and sexuality as well as studying if and in that case how they work with sexuality in treatment. A qualitative method formed the methodological approach and semistructured interviews were carried out for the collection of data. Four staff members from two different treatment institutions for substance abuse were interviewed.

AbstractKnowledge is today usually used as a way to compete in todays working life. It has become a fashionable concept and is used without a purpose. Both Plato and Aristotle used knowledge as a concept and Plato foremost acknowledged the theoretical aspect of knowledge and called it episteme. The practical aspect of knowledge was by Aristotle called techne. Today there are several concepts that describe the practical and theoretical aspect of knowledge.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the design and function of an engine production management?s control system and its intended function, and to contrast it with the present management control systems in use on an operational level. Interviews conducted with employees from all levels of the engine production are the main source of this study?s empirical foundation. Information has also been gathered from relevant written material such as annual reports, internal documents etc.

The aim of the study is to examine which present conceptions of sexuality there are in treatment of substance abuse for men. The intention is to examine how staff members in these environments perceive clients? sex and sexuality as well as studying if and in that case how they work with sexuality in treatment. A qualitative method formed the methodological approach and semistructured interviews were carried out for the collection of data. Four staff members from two different treatment institutions for substance abuse were interviewed.

Background: A great part of all projects within Swedish industry are conducted in a multiprojectenvironment, which means that several projects are performed simultaneously. The research within the field of project management is though focused on single projects. Projects are highly dependent on the context in which they are conducted, although the organization of the multiprojectenvironment is only partly explored. Furthermore is the research within the project management highly concentrated on standardization of the project work. The question is whether this implies to the basic advantages with the project-oriented organization, which is flexibility and creativity? Purpose: To describe and obtain an understanding for the multiprojectenvironment regarding management control and organization.

This thesis examines art exhibitions, literature events and music events in public libraries in Sweden. The aim is to study which event occurs most in the libraries in Sweden. I also examine who takes responsibility for the events, who the libraries engage, how much the events cost, and how often the libraries have the events. I also study Swedish cultural politics in purpose to see if the libraries follow the aims and directions decided by the Swedish government. One aim of the Swedish culture politic is to give every citizen in Sweden the same possibility to experience culture, no matter where they live.

In scientific investigations on how organizations can learn from their mistakes the perspective is usually that of the social engineer; the object is to prevent human errors through modeling the system in a certain way. The aim of this paper is to explore the learning process from a different standpoint than those usually applied in organizational learning and error theory. By studying the learning process in Swedish health care I seek to discover how theoretical presumptions affect the outcome in terms of what we actually learn. The theoretical framework draws on two major discussions in contemporary political science; the question of structure and agency and the question of whether to focus on formal or informal structures when explaining organizational behavior.The investigation shows that Swedish health care tend to understand human errors as a result of formal organizational structure. Such a view leads to insufficient explanations to why errors occur but is useful in producing preventative measures.

Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) and Active Ownership have become increasingly important concepts when it comes to the corporate governance of investors today. Institutional owners highlight the importance of engaging in dialogue, in their pursuit to influence the companies to become sustainable. However, stakeholders and academia are requesting more insight into the workings of these dialogues, concerning their purpose, design and function. This study attempts to increase the existing knowledge of dialogue as a tool for active engagement, used by institutional investors in Sweden. The performed study is based on interviews with five public and private Swedish institutional investors, an SRI consultant firm as well as representatives from two NGOs.

The intention of this study is to perform a content analysis based on a theoretical framework founded on multi-level governance, MLG. The thesis examines the formal changes within employment politics between 1999 and 2004 (Sweden´s action plan for employment) and 1998 and 2007 (the spring budget proposition). I will investigate how multi-level governance has effected the Swedish employment politics. Furthermore, the purpose of the thesis and the questions under consideration are: How have the formal structures within Swedish employment politics changed since Sweden?s admission to the European union, particularly during the periods 1997-2008 and 1999-2004? And: How do the changes in Sweden, together with the European union directive concerning employment, coincide in the so-called employment strategy?While performing the analysis I have focused on multi-level governance.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine similarities and differences in qualitative experiences between formal and informal reading groups from the participants? point of view. The empirical data was acquired from interviews with nine reading group participants, of whom four of them participated in formal reading groups and five in informal reading groups. To analyze the empirical data, Louise M. Rosenblatt?s theory concerning reading and a method concerning reading groups by Immi Lundin were used.

Property sales involve two main contract partners, the buyer (the new owner) and the seller (the property owner). In some cases the property owner can have let a third person (the leaseholder) lease the property or the land.The rights and obligations that fall on the property owner, the leaseholder and the new owner according to the Code of land laws can appear difficult and unclear, especially con-cerning reservation, the new owner?s duty to inspect the property and when he does not act in good faith, the formal requirement and when terms are changed.The work towards a more uniform interpretation of the Code of land laws should result in a greater correspondence between the rules of leasehold and property sales, the rules of leasehold should be interpreted in accordance with the rules of property sales. This should mean an increased responsibility for the property owner to reserve the lease and a de-creased duty for the new owner to inspect the property. If the lease is only partially re-served, the new owner is only bound by the leasehold to the parts which he understood from the reservation and the duty to inspect the property is limited to documents in the property owner?s possession.