This study is mostly based on previous research, which includes Sub-national actor?s attitudes and regional action towards the European Union. The purpose of the study is to investigate if four Swedish municipalities in Värmland operate internationally towards the European Union and deepen an understanding of their actions. The main research question is: - How can we increase our understanding of municipal action against the European Union? The research questions of this study are answered through qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were conducted.

Title: Co-operative, prevent or complement? - An essay on the relationships between control systems. Authors: Kim Eriksson and Victoria KarlssonPurpose: The essay aims to describe the relations between control systems and how they related to each other, based on an operationalization of the control systems. Research question: What are the control systems relations to each other? With regards whether control systems co-operative, prevents and/or complement each other.Theoretical framework: The essays theoretical framework is based on Malmi and Browns (2008) description of five different control systems and control mechanisms associated with each control system.   Research methodology: The method was based on three different data collection methods. These methods were observations, documentation, and semi-structured interviews.Conclusions: It is concluded that the control systems has comprehensive relations. Control systems have more, than one, relation to each other..

AbstractCities are once again becoming the locus of economic, social and political processes. The effect of these processes on the city is two-fold: one one hand they threaten to fragment and dislocate the city and the actors within them, on the other hand they give actors within cities new opportunities to react and mobilize resources towards different strategies of integration. The latter gives rise to what Patrick Le Galès calls the collective actor-city. The aim of this thesis is to explore the notion of the city as a collective actor in a swedish context by utilizing Le Galès theory of european cities as collective actors in an abductive case study on the city of Malmoe. By utilizing Le Galès five dimensions that make up a collective actor I analyze interviews conducted with city officals aswell as documents produced from the city wide plan of action Welfare for everybody.

In this study thoughts of the individual?s right to equality are considered. By using critical ideology analysis the central tools of the study are strongly connected with thoughts of representation, equality, individual and collective rights, equal opportunities and possibilities and discrimination. In critical ideology analysis nothing can be automatically visible to us and critical ideology analysis is a method as well as a theory.A central point in this study is to investigate whether there are oppositional views or unanimity in the debate of affirmative action. The debate is still under ?construction?, which means that the debate has not yet come up with a solution to the problems of discrimination.

In this study thoughts of the individual?s right to equality are considered. By using critical ideology analysis the central tools of the study are strongly connected with thoughts of representation, equality, individual and collective rights, equal opportunities and possibilities and discrimination. In critical ideology analysis nothing can be automatically visible to us and critical ideology analysis is a method as well as a theory.A central point in this study is to investigate whether there are oppositional views or unanimity in the debate of affirmative action. The debate is still under ?construction?, which means that the debate has not yet come up with a solution to the problems of discrimination.

Aktionsforskning är samlingsnamnet för en palett forskningsansatser där det som förenar är kombinationen av en forskningsstrategi och en förändringsstrategi samt två involverade parter, nämligen forskare och praktiker. Denna studie är en översikt över aktionsforskning som tar sin utgångspunkt i nutid. Studiens syfte är att undersöka och problematisera den moderna aktionsforskningens praktik och teori. I studien görs ett försök att besvara tre frågor; 1. Vad är aktionsforskning och vilka inriktningar finns det inom aktionsforskning? 2.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze the processes and efforts involved in rebuilding the war-torn state of Afghanistan. The examined period span from the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, to the elections in 2005. This period, commonly known as the Bonn-process, sets out the initial time for the reconstruction of the state.A theoretical framework, which considers the necessary mechanisms for successful state-building, will be used to analyze Afghanistan's re-building process. The mechanisms include the prerequisite of a stable security environment, emerging from a cease-fire, together with the development of a well-functioning economy, re-introduction of rule of law and rejuvenating civil society.The failure to establish a secure environment has had a devastating impact on all analyzed aspects of the re-building process. It is therefore crucial that the international society continuing to assists the Afghan government in its efforts to strengthen its capacity, in order to improve the security situation.

Previous research on Twitter use among nonprofit organizations has been centered on the US, thisessay Nonprofits on Twitter: a content analysis of Swedish nonprofits working for gender equalityseeks to expand that research to include nonprofit organizations operating in Sweden. By studying tenSwedish nonprofits all working to achieve gender equality this study can begin filling a gap in theexisting research. Focusing on both what kind of messages the organizations publish, and what kind ofmessages engage the organizations? followers. This is achieved by quantitative content analysis:categorizing messages into the categories Information, Community and Action, and measuring whichof these categories got the most shares, comments and likes.

The purpose of this essay is to identify how violence against women is understood in the government's policy action plan called Handlingsplan för att bekämpa mäns våld mot kvinnor, hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck samt våld i samkönade relationer. The main issue that the study is based on, is whether there is a feminist gendered understanding that permeates the action plan. To examine this, I have formulated two more specific questions:     - What is considered to be the main problem of men's violence against women?     - What is considered to be the reasons for men's violence against women?    The empirical material of the study consists of the government's action plan. With the help of Carol Bacchis discourse analytical approach "What's the problem approach", important patterns in the material have been detected.

The increased frequency of reported Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) is of great concern to small animal healthcare due to limited options of antimicrobial therapy. The aim of this literature study is to investigate 1) characteristics and classification of S. pseudintermedius, 2) resistance mechanisms and emergence of MRSP, 3) risk factors for selection of MRSP, and 4) clonal distribution around the world. S. pseudintermedius is a skin and mucosal commensal in healthy dogs and cats, but can cause infections, including pyoderma. Beta-lactam antibiotics inhibit bacterial growth by binding to the penicillin binding protein (PBP), a vital enzyme in the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall.

Environmental management systems are a way of systematizing and streamlining an organization's environmental efforts. Within its EMS the organization determines it´s environmental policy and various environmental objectives. In order to achieve their environmental objectives the organization produces action plans that describe how they will work towards the objectives. Stora Enso Skog AB´s districts have been assigned to produce action plans for the company´s environmental objective of 90 % approved everyday nature consideration in final felling and any targets included within this objective. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the districts work with these action plans and how this could be improved.

The essay discusses a process of change at probationservice office. The purpose of the change was to decrease specialisation and increase flexibility of the probation officers. The change encountered several problems where the correctional supervisor was percieved to act unsurely and indecisively whilst parts of the staff constructed and implimented several courses of action to prevent the process of change..

This paper is a discourse analytic policy study with the intention to investigate the swedish government's policy action plan against prostitution and trafficking for sexual purposes. The document is called Handlingsplan mot prostitution och människohandel för sexuella ändamål. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there is a feminist gender understanding taking place in the action plan. This is made by both see how the problem of prostitution is produced partly by examining whether there is a gender-based power analysis in action. The research questions of this study are:What is considered being the problem with prostitution and trafficking fosexual purposes?Is there a feminist gender understandning in the government's prostitution politics?To answer these questions I use Carol Bacchis method Whats the problem represented to be? And the material being used is the government's actionplan.

How effective is consumer power? Can consumers regulate corporate behavior?And if so is the case, could the mechanisms where consumers regulate corporatebehavior have any democratic value to contribute with? These are the questionsthat this master's thesis comprehends with. The purpose of this writing is toconstruct a theory of consumer power that is compatible with democratic theory,this in order to contribute to the ongoing discussion within the discipline ofpolitical science about the third democratic transformation. A discussion that hasbeen actualized due to the democratic deficit created by the growing corporatepower and the shift of power from state to private enterprises. Besides showingfor a parallel between the democratic mechanisms that exists in the relationbetween citizens and state on the one hand, and the consumers and corporationson the other hand, this paper argues that consumers do have a great potential inregulating corporate behavior towards a higher social responsibility andawareness.

AbstractOil rich states all over the world share a common feature. They are less likely than other states, depending on other resources, to be ruled democratically. In this essay Saudi Arabia has been studied with the purpose of trying to find which mechanisms that lie behind why oil rich states do not have institutions or institutional change that promotes democracy.Saudi Arabia has the world's largest known reservoir of oil. The oil brings huge revenue each year to the Saudi Arabian government. Why have Saudi Arabia not developed democratically when their economic growth suggests that to be a natural step? Under the framework of historical institutionalism and path dependency theory, I have used process tracing trying to track the mechanisms behind Saudi Arabia's authoritarian rule down.