Conflict prevention is a term which has gained much influence during the last decades. To prevent conflicts from occuring have both humanitarian and economic incentives as the cost for war are much greater than the cost of acting preventive. To act in this matter has been regarded a priority for the United Nations during several years, and the European Union have also expressed a wish of playing a more active part. The essay compares the actions taken by the international organisations in Macedonia, a country which headed toward a violent conflict. The UN acted through the mission UNPREDEP and the EU through the mission of Concordia.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the institutional effectiveness of the environmental institutions Helcom and the Mediterranean regime, by using Haas, Levy and Keohane's "the three Cs"; governmental concern, contractual environment, political and administrative capacity. The method used is a comparative analysis.This study takes into consideration the specific structural and economic factors that are prevailing in each region where the environmental regime operates. This study also takes into account the influence of the European Union as a factor that affects the environmental progress.By focusing the study on the line of conduct concerning hazardous substances by respectively regime this study shows that the institutional effectiveness is fulfilled in neither Helcom nor the Mediterranean Regime, although Helcom has been more successful. The lack of state capacity is the most restraining factor for both developing countries and countries in the transition towards being developed, to achieve a good environmental status of the sea. This study also shows that the European Union sometimes has a greater impact on the environmental progress in states, rather than the environmental regime in countries that were/are aspiring members, thus showing the ineffectiveness of the regime..

Abstract: The purpose with this study is to analyse the political debate about freedom of speech in Sweden and Denmark, after the caricatures of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed that the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten published in September 2005. For this debate four political parties have been chosen. These are: Socialdemokratiska Partiet and Moderata Samlingspartiet in Sweden and Socialdemokraterne and Venstre in Denmark.An idea analysis has been chosen as method, and dimensions as an analysing tool. The overall result of the analysis is that right- and left political parties in Sweden and Denmark are more alike, than different in their political debate about free speech. They all wish for total freedom of speech, and see that as the foundation of the democratic society.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka faktorer och orsaker som kunde ha spelat en betydande roll i Taiwans demokratisering efter andra världskriget. De demokratiseringsteorier som vi fördjupar oss i är välkända men är skrivet utifrån ett Taiwanesiskt perspektiv. Var det den snabba moderniseringen som påskyndande Taiwans demokratisering? Eller var det enskilda individer med makt som kunde påverka Taiwans utveckling åt det positiva hållet. Inte direkt av välvilja utan istället på grund av att dessa individer ville överleva och var därmed tvungna att införa reformer.

This Master Thesis investigates changes in Thailand's foreign policy towards its neighbouring country Burma. It argues that Thai foreign policy towards Burma has experienced major changes during four periods between 1945 and the present. The thesis investigates these foreign policy changes during the four periods. What changes occurred? What were the reasons for the changes? What reasons dominated during what periods? The four periods of Thai foreign policy changes towards Burma and the common history of the two countries since their respective foundations does not suggest a stable peaceful relationship or a bitter hostile relationship leading to war.

In this thesis I discuss and analyze different factors, and different circumstances, that influence identity negotiation among the north american indians. I do this mainly by using two models.The first one is Druckmans three dimensions of identity; negotiating identity, durability of identity and spread of identity. Depending on how the identity fits in these dimensions one can se if, or how, they influence the negotiability.My second model for analyzing is Reeds ?fasteing and unfastening identity?, using this model I have tried to understand during what circumstances the identity is negotiable. The identity is more or less negotiable depending on where the indians live, who they are living with and also on their inheritance.My results shows that the indian identity is changing and developing over time but the main characteristics still remains the same.

The state of Israel is known as the only democracy in the Middle East. The purpose of this study was to examine if there is aspects in the Israelis society that can be questioned in terms of liberal democracy.Areas of concerns in the study are the Israeli official policy's concerning inclusion and exclusion of their citizens in areas of property owning, personal status and the duty of military service.The results show that the Israeli society distinguishes their citizens in these areas by their ethnic origin, in favour for the Jewish population. The law prohibits changes in the states Jewish character. One clear example how this is presented is that a Jew is prohibited to marry a non-Jew. The results show also that this official policy by the Israeli state violates important principles of liberal democracy.

Motives and reasons behind a decision to change the asylum process in Sweden are the central concern for this thesis. A symbolic political perspective will be applied in order to elucidate the symbolic factors that have influenced the decision process.The Aliens Appeal Board in Sweden will close down at the end of March 2006 and all pending and future cases will henceforth be decided by three administrative courts. This will be done in order to enhance the principles of legal certainty by making the process more transparent and oral. It is an extensive reform, but since very few amendments are made to the applicable substantive law it raises questions about the actual motives behind the change.One reason that seems to have had a major impact on the decision to close down the Aliens Appeal Board is the fact that the board is perceived as a symbol for an inhuman asylum policy. Transferring the process to the courts might ease the attempt to increase the legitimacy of the asylum process.

Since the Maastricht Treaty the European Parliament has gained competence in the decision-making process and the Parliament is today one of two decision-making institution, next to the Ministers of Council. In this study the main focus has been to shed light over the negotiation culture within the European Parliament, which up till now has been a neglected research area. This is of great significance because the internal negotiations in the European Parliament decide the external negotiation position with the other institutions.After face-to-face interviews with MEP:s and assistants I have been able to identify certain characteristics to create an understanding of the negotiation culture in Europe's elected Parliament. The negotiations are oriented towards a problems-solving approach and the prevailing apprehension is consensus-based negotiations instead of the existence of political blocks. The committees are stronger than the European party groups, which further encourage negotiation.

During my education I have frequently noticed that pupils do not like science or find it hard and dull. The purpose with this investigation is to find out how pupils experience their science education and if they can understand the arguments for studying the subject at school.I have made a questionnaire study among pupils in grade 8 and 9. After analyzing their answers I have interviewed some of the pupils to get answers on further questions.The investigation resulted in conclusion that pupils have hard to connect their science-education to their everyday lives. The most important element in forming the pupil?s opinions about science is their relation to the teacher and how the lessons are set-up.The following questions will be answered in this paper:Do pupils understand why they have science at school?Can the pupils see the use of scientific knowledge in their everyday life?How do pupils look upon their science education?.

The prospect of Turkish accession to the EU has sparked controversy in many of the member countries. It has highlighted the different ways in which European as well as Turkish identity is being defined in the debate, with some politicians seemingly trying to draw on old prejudices in order to make the case against membership. By utilising discourse analysis as advocated by Thomas Diez, this thesis seeks to explore the debates regarding the Turkish accession bid in the British House of Commons. Its purpose is to analyse how ?EU? and ?Turkey?, understood as contested concepts, gets described in different ways.

The care for the elderly in the municipalities has recently seen the need for a formalized system for quality assurance. Under increasing demands for monetary efficiency while bound by law to retain acceptable standards in health care, there is need for efficient and at the same time quality-assured management. The municipalities often solve this puzzle by introducing systems and standards influenced by theory-clusters such as NPM (New Public Management), TQM (Total Quality Management) or other quality management theories.This essay focuses on how the public administration in the municipalities defines quality and designs and implements system for formalized quality assurance. Our basic view of organizations is institutionalist and our theoretical framework includes theories about quality, NPM and TQM..

Teorier om kön och ledarskap framhåller att könsordningen, sociala och kulturellauppfattningar om kön samt stereotyper om manligt och kvinnligt försvårar förkvinnor att nå högre ledande befattningar. Genom samtalsintervjuer med fempersoner vilka är involverade i rekryteringen av förvaltningschefer i Helsingborgs,Lunds och Malmö kommun har vi undersökt vilka uppfattningar ochföreställningar som kan påverka rekrytering av förvaltningschefer ur ettkönsperspektiv. Vi har funnit att könsrelaterade värderingar och fenomen somhomosocial reproduktion har en inverkan på rekryteringar av förvaltningschefer ide tre undersökta kommunerna. Vi har dessutom funnit att kommunerna betonarreflektion och handlingskraft avseende köns- och jämställdhetsfrågor irekryteringsprocesserna i olika utsträckning. Att det är nödvändigt med en balansmellan reflektion och handling anser både vi och de befintliga teorierna är enförutsättning för att jämställdhet ska beaktas i rekryteringen..

MST, eller O Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurias Sem Terra (Rörelsen för Lantarbetare utan Jord), är en av latinamerikas och kanske världens största och mest inflytelserika sociala rörelser. Rörelsen är dessutom verksam i en av världens största politiska, ekonomsika, kulturella och sociala smältdeglar.I vår uppsats vill vi undersöka, dels vilka metoder som en social rörelse kan tillämpa när det gäller att driva frågor om demokrati framåt. Som teoretiskt ramverk tillämpar vi befintliga teorier i kombination med egna begrepp. För att kunna svara på frågeställning har vi genom en bred empirisk bas försökt åskådliggöra den kontext i vilken MST arbetar och utifrån denna information dragit våra slutsatser..

The empirical material of this study consisted of tweets by four leading politicians in Sweden: Carl Bildt of Nya Moderaterna, Annie Lo?o?f of Centerpartiet, A?sa Romson of Miljo?partiet and Jonas Sjo?stedt of Va?nsterpartiet. The aim of the study was to examine how they use Twitter as a political tool and what that says of the mediatization of politics. What content did they publish, how did the content differentiate between them and what political messages and other subjects occurred in their tweets? Does the political debate become fragmented because they?re only allowed to use 140 characters on Twitter? The theoretical framework and method applied for the research was based upon critical discourse analysis (CDA), with special interest in ideology and mediatized discourse.The result of the study showed that the content they published consisted mostly of criticism towards political opponents, rather than of independent political opinions.