Different reports imply that the Roma are an excluded group in numerous areas of both Sweden and Europe. Efforts have been done through the centuries without given intentional results. The past 12 years as a Swedish national minority have not diminished the gap between the Roma and the majority society. How does Sweden create and operate its minority policy especially towards the Roma? We have studied international and national minority policy to see how it is described and implemented in the municipality work.

Background: Investors use companies? credit ratings as a base in their buy and sell decisions. Companies? credit ratings are also used as indicators of safety in the legislation. This means that credit rating agencies have an important role in the society because they communicate the company?s credit rating to investors and other actors in the society.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the situation for democracy in China. The study raises two main questions. They are as follows: Are there obstacles to a democratization process in China? and Are there openings when it comes to a gradual change for democratization in China? The theoretical framework consists of Robert A.Dahl´s Polyarchy theory, and in addition , five factors promoting democracy. Also the notion of an MDP-society (a modern, dynamic and pluralistic society) is looked upon.

In today?s society more and more activities are digitalized. This means that everyone has to be able to use information and communication tools (ICT) in order to take part in the digital world, otherwise they will be left out of the digital community. There is a so called digital gap between for instance elderly and young people, where elderly do not know how to use the tools and there for cannot gain access to the digital society. What happens when people, not only grow old, but also have a communication disorder, such as aphasia? How are they included? The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not surf pads are good tools for bridging the digital gap for people with aphasia, and which activities and situations that encourages people with aphasia to work with the surf pad.

The aim of this study is to examine how and in what way users of the public participate and affect the archival information that is to be preserved for the future through the examination of three archival projects involving public participation. The study seeks to examine if participation of the public could lead to increased democracy and diversity of information in the archives. The study will be performed through the examination of three participatory archives all tied to traditional archival institutions.The study is based on the theoretical framework of Benn and Gaus and their notions of public and private which they discuss using the key words access, agency and interest. The study also takes into consideration Laura Millar?s theories of social memory as a means for the public good.

Sweden is today often defined as a multicultural society. The implications on organizing and providing information in public libraries are many, since the systems presently used in the western hemisphere are not adapted to multi-cultural information. This thesis aims to outline ethical and practical problems that arise when organising and providing information concerning cultures other than western, and not least, when dealing with material in other scripts. With this theoretical framework the thesis examines the website of the International Library in Stockholm, a website built to serve users of different languages and scripts than Swedish. The research questions in this thesis are: 1, what specific problems can be distinguished within library work in a multicultural and multilingual environment? 2, what problems and needs were considered in the creation and design of the International Library?s website? And 3, can examples of problems and possible solutions of these be seen in the information and it?s organisation on the International Library?s website? The empiric material consists of the International Library?s website, and interviews with three informants involved in developing it.

Introduction: The relationship between depression and stigma is known to cause suffering among the depressed population. Depression is also one of the most common diagnoses in the world. Stigma caused by society leads to people being divided into groups which in term results in a general loss of status and discrimination. Aim: To identify the stigma of depression and its impact on help-seeking behaviour and to identify the underlying attitudes. Method: We chose to make a literature review to explore and compile the current research on the subject.

After the fall of communism in Yugoslavia the ethnic resentment grew stronger and escalated in to interethnic civil conflict in 1992. After international intervention the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) installed peace in 1995. The treaty's aim was not only to establish peace but also to institute democracy in Bosnia. The OSCE were given the task to implement democracy within political institutions and civil society. This in a country with a lack of democratic experience and where great problems with ethnic antagonism still exists.By using democratization and transition theory this single case-study examines how democracy is implemented in Bosnia by the OSCE and clarifies difficulties that this democratization process is facing.

The South African nation and society have experienced significant changes and reforms over the last decade. Less than ten years ago black and white people were not even allowed to share a bench in a park. Today they are expected to live side by side in what is called a"Rainbow Nation". When a new society is built language plays an important part. The language constantly reproduces daily the small things that identify a nation and the people living in it.

The education sector can be seen as a cornerstone of today's society, an organization that is under constant change and evolve as society. The compulsory school system is of significant role in society that places high demands on its management. The following study investigates the requirements for documentation in primary school organization and operations, and how these requirements are perceived and affect the school's organization and activities of the study carried out at different levels of the organization so as to get an overall picture of its impact. In order to analyze and create understanding of the results, the study applies the theory of New Public Management and various reforms that can be linked to the increased documentation requirements and its influence in the public administration. Study results show that there is a mixed picture of the documentation impact on the school system. Shown are both positive and negative effects of the documentation requirements.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the majorities view on the minority can affect the minorities view on themselves.The study focuses on the research questions; what does the Roma identity look like? Is there a connecting between the week feeling of belonging to the majority ? Slovaks - that the Roma people feel and the widespread racism, stereotypes and scapegoat view towards Roma that the majority in the Slovak society have? Is the view Roma have on themselves effected by how other see them? Has the situation for the Roma gotten better since Slovakia entered the European Union?An empirical research study has been conducted in Slovakia during the period of April 2006 and interviews with Roma and NGO representatives where done.The Roma people's situation in Slovakia is bad and the discrimination towards them is widespread, both in the working life, healthcare, education system and housing. A lot has happened the last years, before Slovakia entered the EU the country adapted many new laws that strengthen the Roma people place in the society and gave them as a minority more support and rights.According to my findings it is found, and what most of the interview Roma expressed themselves, was that today they have a very low feeling of belonging and being a part of the Slovak society. They also expressed that they are very much affected by the poor view that the majority of Slovak have of them and in many cases they did not even want to try to be part of the society. The NGOs expressed that the situation for Roma in Slovakia is bad and even if it has been improved since the country entered the EU, the NGOs said that there are only a lot of new laws and in reality not much has changed..

In this study I compare the donor portraits on wallpaintings in Scanian churches from the 12th and the 15th century and relate them to medieval society.I find that women were equally capable of owning and donating land during the entire period. The image of the ideal woman changed during the 14th century from a married woman to the unreachable mistress of the chivalrous culture and the holy virgin. Women had a natural place beside their husbands in 12th century donor portraits, while single male donors are more frequent in the 15th century. While 12th century donors were supposed to show their position in society by offering plentiful donations directly to God, donors in the 14th century instead strived to present themselves as humble and pious. The individualisation of late medieval society meant that people had to depend on themselves to achieve salvation..

Anne Reese: Johan Lindegrens vägval : en studie i de faktorer som påverkade enskilda aktörers verksamhet inom Stockholms musiksamhälle 1860-1908, Uppsala universitet: Institutionen för Musikvetenskap, uppsats för 100 poäng, 2007.The aim of this essay is to show some of the factors which affected the production and work of the individual musician or composer within Stockholm's music society in the late 19th century. By a case study on Johan Lindegren (1842-1908) I demonstrate how a musician or a composer functioned in the social structures of the music society and how power affected the work of the musician or composer. This essay also fills another purpose as it gives Lindegren a more detailed biography, which is something that has been missing until now.By applying a concept of power, as discussed by Michel Foucault, to this subject and interacting it with the concepts of musical opportunism, I present a new way of talking about the social, as well as the individual factors that affects the individual musician within the music society.The conclusion is drawn that there are two different types of factors that affects the work of the individual; 1) the social network and power within society, which presents positions and opportunities for the musician and 2) the individual character of musician which determine the way the individual uses the position or opportunity he or she is given..

We have carried out a study of a classification system for the Swedish collection at The Royal Library in Stockholm from 1887. It was printed in 50 copies. The constructor, Bernhard Lundstedt, and his colleagues used it as guidance in lack of a catalogue. We regard it a local classification system. Little research has been done on old classification systems, but Francis Miksa points out the importance of examining them.

In recent years, many efforts on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferations have been made by non-nuclear states and civil society. The dissatisfaction has motivated non-governmental organizations to pursue a ?humanitarian initiative? based on international conferences aimed at highlighting the humanitarian consequences of certain arms and nuclear weapons. This study examines the five key roles, according to Rapport et al. (2012), that civil society organizations have played in the establishment of arms control conventions, more specifically the Mine Ban Treaty, also called Ottawa Convention, and the Cluster Munition Convention.