The current trend towards globalisation and democratisation has made the theories of politics in pluralistic societies, and how to make them work, of particular interest and concern. Lijphart's theory of consociational democracy is an important influence in this field. At the same time the importance of civil society in transition studies and democratisation processes has been reinforced over the last thirty years. However, the complex political situation that plural societies face, creates obstacles for a healthy civil society. This thesis is based on a case study of Lebanon, a country with deep ethnic divisions and a government that resembles a consociational democracy.

Social work as an traditional aid is an area that provides welfare services financed from public funds, which is one of the methods of microloans. Microloans have since the mid-1970s has become an increasingly common tool in the fight against poverty. Instead of purely assistance is now offered microloans from more banks and other institutions, as well as NGOs (non governmental organization). This paper aims to study whether and how microcredit can contribute to the empowerment of women in Bangladesh and India. This study is based on a qualitative text analysis, and has hence been based on a number of reports and articles. The paper examines, from a radical feminist perspective how microcredit can fight and eliminate poverty, and how empowerment can help women in developing countries to become independent and liberated. The introduction of micro-loan is considered to have positive effects on women's empowerment in the short term. But it is, however, the longer term effects that are considered to have the greatest positive impact on society's unequal structures.

In today's society, the internet is an important part of everyday life. Over recent years the number of electronic services has increased markedly. Communities such as Facebook, consume more of people's time than 5-10 years ago. How can public authorities benefit from these communities or are the municipalities not ready for this? The municipalities determine how their resources should be allocated based on the municipality's needs.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the information need of the incubators that comes from Chalmers University of Technology and are situated at Chalmers Innovation. It is also of interest to investigate how Chalmers University Library covers this information need. The investigation was carried out using qualitative interviews with representatives of the incubators. They were asked questions about the perceived need of information and which type of contacts they had with the library. The result is that the incubators feel that there is a great need for business information that is hard to find.

The Swedish mental hospitals existed for about one hundred years, the period around 1880-1980. The research is intended to be from a local setting perspective to study the local approach used to meet requirements from Furunäsets mental hospital principals 1960 - 1972, the effect this had on the care and treatment of mentally ill patients and how Swedish society's changing approach to mental health influenced the process. The results of the research showed that Furunäset searched for ways to meet the principals' requirements which often went against the patients? personal best. Furunäsets mental hospital strove to fulfill its institutional goals in them selves rather than giving patients the care and treatment they needed.

AbstractThe aim with this study was to enhance the understanding of the interaction between schools and social services. The study would also contribute to better understanding of what is considered work and burst in the interaction between the two, and examine the underlying factors for this. The study's approach includes semi-structured interviews with three employees of a school and two employees in the social services of the municipality. Both international and national research has been obtained for the study and theories as well, associated with the outcome. Conclusions of this study point to the existence of different opinions between the organizations in terms of the quality of their collaboration.

Background: Many companies have outsourced their IT-operations and their expectations of what this IT-outsourcing will contribute to the business are high. Cost cuts are not always a natural outcome of IT-outsourcing. Many companies that have outsourced their IT-operations consider it to be problematic and complex to exercise management control and reach cost control which was the purpose of the IT-outsourcing. Purpose: To describe and analyze what affect IT-outsourcing has on a company?s management control system and a company?s possibility to exercise cost control.

Vi lever i ett informationssamhälle. Idag hittar vi fakta om vad som helst, var vi än är, genom de gigantiska och otroliga resurser som nås via ICT idag. Med ökad teknisk kapacitet har informationsinsamlingen ökat drastiskt i mängd. Hur vi lagrar data är dock mindre diskuterat. Det nya skifte som kommit fram i datalagring är en flytt från lokalt förvaltade servrar till lagring i molnet.

Background: Companies and organizations of today spend large amounts of money on IT-based business solutions. Such business solutions normally include business- consulting and software-creation (IT-related services). Due to the rapid development of the technology within this field of business the IT-customers find it difficult to select among potential suppliers on objective grounds.Purpose: To increase the understanding for the professionl approach of the people involved in the sales- and purchase process of IT-related services in a business-to-business context. The study is taking the buyers'as well as the sellers'perspective into account when analyzing the process. Method: The empirical findings were collected from eight companies in Linköping and Stockholm.

Occupational Health Service (OHS) has an important role in society. It is designed to prevent illness and strengthen the health of workers. OHS operations and development are currently being studied at the School of Technology and Health at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. One of the industries studied is the home maker service. During the 2010s were such employees one of the most ill groups in Sweden.This master's thesis in occupational environment development and change management focus on examining the special knowledge an OHS and its clients in one home maker service need to strengthen the workers of the industry and find out how the interaction between OHS and home maker service works and how it could be evolved.A qualitative study was conducted in a Swedish city on the basis of an organizational perspective.

The initiative for this project was taken by Benteler Engineering Services, as a result of having identified areas of improvement, in designated accessible areas like the wheelchair spot onboard buses. Depending on a wheelchair to be able to move around can understandably be challenging.Public transport is a common good in today`s society, however despite the measures taken towards adjusting to accessible needs, the majority of those being disabled chose different alternatives of transportation. This is due to reasons such as the drivers' poor attitude, furthermore the limitations of the space allocated to accessible needs, as people with strollers also use these spots onboard. Also, some wheelchair users find the rides unsafe, as they could easily fall over during without the appropriate space for them onboard the buses etc. These are only a few reasons why other options are sought out, i.e.

This study was conducted by using a qualitative textual analysis on UNICEF Sweden?s website with the purpose of problematizing the role of UNICEF Sweden in today?s globalised society. This was done in the context of how organisations of civil society have gained influence. Following questions were answered: How does UNICEF Sweden legitimise its operation? Which strategies does UNICEF Sweden use to encourage involvement and donations?The study shows how UNICEF Sweden legitimises its work by promoting a unique influence, their unique methods of work and by showing how the organisation helps the most disadvantaged children.

The purpose of this study was to look into how learners of Swedish as a second language and some teachers of the subject think and reason about the choice between Swedish or Swedish as a Second Language and literature in Swedish at upper secondary schools. Similar studies have earlier been carried out at upper secondary schools in areas dominated by immigrants while the present study has been accomplished in a small municipality with comparatively few immigrants. The study is based upon qualitative interviews which have been analysed through the socio-cultural theory regarding those artifacts, communication and that mediating second learners of Swedish and their teachers and schools are using in their choices between Swedish or Swedish as a Second Language as well as selection of literature in literature teaching.  The study also shows how learners of Swedish as a second language perceive the choice between the two options of Swedish courses at advanced upper secondary school and how their teachers look upon their choice and the information given. Furthermore we will also get to know the learners of Swedish as a second language and their teachers? view on teaching Swedish literature at advanced upper secondary B-level in Swedish.

The purpose of this study is to examine certain aspects of work with men who use violence in intimate relationships. In a Government bill in late 90s the Government presented its action plan on what is expected to be done in each municipality, but investigations show that the work is stationary. 46 percent of the men, who are in treatment, choose to cancel it. We wanted to find out how society will meet up with men who use violence in their intimate relationship and how to go about in the meeting. Those who lead us to the answers in this qualitative method are three social workers and a therapist who has the task of helping these men. The study is based on interviews from three municipalities in southern Sweden, the municipalities made ??as in between 30-60 000 residents and businesses are startups; theoldest has been in operation for five years.The results showed that they had chosen to put these activities under the sections of the Social Services but is counted as a separate project, as the driving force may apply for funding via the County Council.

The aim of this study was to illuminate how social workers in social services work with the social phenomenon, homelessness in two municipalities. The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with interviewees from a department of social services. Our theories that we used was resistant inequality, structural discrimination, exclusion, empowerment and representation. After compilation of our empirical our conclusions are that homelessness is a complex phenomenon. Social workers handles homelessness based on client?s needs and the work is individualized.