The purpose of this thesis is to study the level of democracy within the European Union (EU). To do so the following issues were examined: How the EU works and the efforts it has made to improve levels of democracy; and the degree to which the EU fulfils the criteria set by Robert Dahl in his theory of polyarchy.The study is based on a qualitative text analysis. The focus of the analysis is documents released by the EU that can be connected to democracy, and human and fundamental rights. The theory of polyarchy proposed by Robert Dahl and Joseph Schumpeter?s theory of democracy are the principal theories applied.

In order to be a good teacher according to preferences from outside the school area, there are many different voices to listen to. The different roles that are assigned for teachers are colliding with the latest research from the pedagogical Institutions and therefore the role as a teacher of today is in a complex state of mind. Somewhere, between the traditional role of teaching and the moderating ideal image, reality is revealed in the ambivalent role of the teacher of today. In this pedagogical essay on advanced level we are focusing on obstacles that are hindering the moderating teacher?s role, to be fully developed in the classroom.

In order to answer the question in the title, a cross-cultural analysis of two countries was done. Countries chosen were the Republic of Latvia and the Kingdom of Spain. The need for this research was suggested by increased cross-border business activities inside the European Union, and the lack of previous studies involving new Member States. The aim of the research was to see what environmental factors influence advertising adaptation in the European Union, as well as to evaluate the applicability of a standardisation approach. According to the theory, there are three external factors that influence the creation of a global advertising.

Globalization is one of the most popular catchphrases in the international relations debate today. Globalization is a complex concept with as many definitions as authors. National borders or jurisdictions do not control the phenomenon, instead, it is moving without restraints from region to region. Is this a threat to the sovereignty of nation-state and an end of the system of Westphalia? Does the globalization undermine the nation-state by increased factor-mobility, less tax revenue and participations multilateral co-operations, as the globalists think? Or is it strengthens its importance by offering better allocation of resources through free and healthy competition, as the skeptics believe.The aim of this thesis is to analyze theories of globalization by applying them on Sweden and the Netherlands.

The purpose with this study was to investigate how parents experience their situation in life, having personal assistance at home to support their small children with disabilities. Different areas were investigated. What made them apply for personal assistance? How does the support affect the family and their parenthood? What would it mean if their children would not have personal assistance? The study was made using a qualitative method and the material was gathered through interviews. A combination of symbolic interactionism and system theory were used as theoretical perspectives.

The purpose of this essay is, using discourse analysis, to define how the Swedish society sees sexuality and how this is conveyed to young people. The questions at issue are; How is the term sexuality defined and delimited? How are the young people described in relation to sexuality? Are young people ascribed to different needs and qualities in relation to sexuality depending on their gender?There is previously a lot of research with great multitude about the sexuality of the youth. The research methods vary but text analysis within the subject area is unusual. The material used in this discourse analysis have been published by normative public Institutions.

    The purpose of this essay is to examine trust, or lack of trust, in the social services. Previous research considering this topic is limited, which, in our point of view, implies the need of further studies. A quantative method was used, consisting of an online questionnaire containing statements about the social services. The statements were designed using a five level Likert-scale which required the respondent to rate their level of agreement. The questionnaire was published on five webcommunities directed to parents.

Since the war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina in1995 the country's economic and political crisies has grown dramatically. As in so many other Post-communist states the corruption has become a large problem for the whole society. The ethnic entities in which Bosnia is divided makes it possible for the national parties to operate and rule the same political propaganda that was the result of the war in the first place. However the international forces like the EU and the USA have made this kind of no non-centralised governmentship possible through the Dayton peace agreement, according to many experts this has to change in the constitution by any means possible if Bosnia will have a future. By the thesis of Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman the theoretical analysing tool should be followed for the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This essay is an ideographic study over the capacity of high school students to use the Internet with source criticism, and their attitudes towards this media. It?s a qualitative study whose main purpose is to seek out how the students reflect upon the problems facing them when searching facts and information over the internet.The focus group is six 18 year old high school students, who are studying in a normal sized town in the middle of Sweden, and are about to finish their studies in the program for social sciences. The study was made through interviews, one on one with the students,The results of the analysis have shown that even if students not necessarily use a pre meditated method when searching for information over the internet, they do have a basic understanding of the matter, especially concerning the nature of the source, who published it and why. Not all students made any thorough comparison with other, already established media, such as TV or books, but the analysis made it clear that they more or less deliberately saw the established media as more trustworthy in general.

The aim of this essay is to examine whether democracy in St Petersburg isconsolidated or not. Since studies of democratic transition have been rarelyconducted on post-communist cities, this study seems fruitful. Using the Linz andStepan theory, where democracy is considered consolidated when it has become?the only game in town? and Orttung's three criteria legitimacy, politicalpolarisation and policy effectiveness; this essay analyzes people's attitudes,political behaviour, the rule of law and civil society in St Petersburg. Theory isused to interpret the material mainly consisting of two interviews and newspaperarticles.

Though death and mortality is an inevitable part of our lives it seems like both the society with its culture and the individual in some way repress death. This study was set to explore how and why the individual holds back thoughts on his/her own death and in which way society affect the individual?s repression of death-thoughts. Using a hermeneutic approach I have interviewed five informants about death and thoughts about death in everyday life. Also for the analysis of the empirical material a hermeneutic approach was used, and the works of Bauman, Giddens, Heidegger, Fromm and May served as a theoretical starting point.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether institutional ownership has an influence on CEO compensation in companies where the Institutions have invested. In order to fulfil the purpose of the thesis a quantitative study was carried out within the Swedish corporate context where we have studied Swedish institutional investors and companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Our period of study was the financial year of 2007.The empirical questions at issue is; Was there a connection between Swedish institutional ownership and the size of the CEO compensation, and, does Swedish institutional ownership lead to a certain type of CEO compensation in terms of structure?Our results did not suggest that an increased institutional ownership neither leads to a certain type of salary level nor a certain kind of salary structure. These results contradict earlier American research, which has been done within this area and has previously shown a secured connection.The reasons for our results may be many and it is difficult to state any concrete conclusions to why we received differing results.

This thesis examines the relationship between recognition of prior learning and the aim to increase social and ethnical diversity in higher education. Recognition of prior learning is a result of educational politics aiming to broaden social and ethnical recruitment to higher education. By examining if recognition of prior learning rather can, and shall, be seen as part of what Pierre Bourdieu calls educational social reproduction I try to question whether it fulfils education policy goals or not. My results show that persons responsible for recognition of prior learning rather recognise knowledge from prior educational Institutions than knowledge gained outside the educational system. Considering this, recognition of prior learning does not quite live up to the aims.

The purpose of this study is to examine what readers of fiction literature are influenced by when they choose books. What libraries and bookstores do to influence readers in their choice of literature and how readers perceive the librarys and the bookstores influence on them in their choice of fiction literature. We have also studied which factors outside the library and the bookstore that readers are influenced by when borrowing or buying a certain book and to what extent readers are influenced by the books appearance. To answer our questions we chose a public library and a bookstore, where we interviewed six persons in each place. We have interviewed a librarian and a bookstore manager for information about how these two cultural Institutions work with marketing of their fiction literature.

The aim of this study is to combine queer theories with quantitative methods. In social sciences, queer theories are being widely and increasingly used. Quantitative method is also widely used, and as a traditional method it can be regarded as a cornerstone in social sciences, sociology in particular. However, the two perspectives, queer theories and quantitative method, seem at a first glance to be very different in their understanding of social phenomena. Queer theories have, with some exceptions, mainly focused on qualitative research concerning such phenomena as sexuality, while the field of science is quite diverse.