In the social sciences, geopolitical theory is used in order to analyze states actions and commitments when it comes to foreign policy. This thesis develops a new understanding of geopolitical theory. Firstly, the development and application of geopolitical theory, from its foundations in the early twentieth century to contemporary geopolitical studies is discussed. Secondly a revised understanding of the variables integrated in the concept and how it can be operationalized as an analytical tool is presented and tested empirically.The critical assessment of the research field of geopolitical theory tells us that six different geopolitical perspectives have been considered the most influential (room, strategy, power projection, identity, affiliation and governance) when it comes to analyzing state action. This model is applied as an analytical tool and thus tested on a single case.

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the retrieval effectiveness on the European Unions official website EUROPA, depending on which language is used to formulate the search question. Our main concern were if you get access to the same information depending on which language is used to search information The European Union has so far eleven official languages, and with the forthcoming expansion with negotiations with thirteen new countries to affiliate to the union by May 1:st 2004, the official languages will be even more. We have made a comparison between Swedish and English, using 29 different topics from which we formulated 2x29 queries. The topics used were found at the Swedish Governments FAQ about the European Union, EUsvar. We wanted the topics to be as authentic as possible to avoid bias.

The aim of this paper is to try to explain how specific, foreign policy decisions are made, and why one state decides to use violence against another state. A qualitative method is used, and text and documents are analysed. The two theoretical points of departure are central within foreign policy analysis: realism´s theories on external threats and constructivism´s theories on ideas´ policy influence. The empirical case chosen is the US decision to use military violence against Iraq. The paper investigates whether the real threat from Saddam Hussein´s Iraq was the cause of the American military attacks, or whether the ideas of leading politicians in the USA were decisive for the decision to invade the country.

Abstract My purpose of doing this study is to investigate the culture of delivering education in a strange combination of subjects labelled ?Language choice Swedish/English?. The activity however exists without curriculum, syllabus or certification. I want to put study the problem of delivering an educational activity without national certification. I will use a hermeneutic approach and render properly the headmaster?s, the teachers? and the students? views on the activity in one school.

I denna uppsats har jag fortsatt den ndersökning av svenska inlärare av franska som påbörjades i min C-uppsats. Avsikten har varit att studera om de språkliga avvikelser från den franska normen som upptäcktes i den förra studien kvarstår även denna gång då studien inte längre gäller vokaldurationer utan istället det tonala förloppet och final förlängning.Svenska inlärares prosodiska konstruktioner har studerats och jämförts med mönstret för fransktalande referenspersoner. Antagandet var att man skulle kunna observera tydliga, och därtill likartade, avvikelser från den franska normen - avvikelser som eventuellt skulle kunna härledas till det svenska modersmålet och de prosodiska skillnaderna mellan språk med betoningsbaserad respektive stavelsebaserad rytm. Informanterna utgjordes av två grupper av svenska inlärare av franska, den ena med informanter som enbart lärt sig franska i svensk skolmiljö och den andra med inlärare som därutöver under en period även vistats i en franskspråkig omgivning. Tydliga avvikelser från den franska normen märktes för samtliga svenska informanter men någon inbördes gruppering bland inlärarna kunde inte noteras.

Sjöherravälde, Corbetts teorier inom ramen för modern ubåtskrigföring.Studie om Corbetts teorier och hur de appliceras på modern ubåtskrigföring. Sjökrigets grunder beskrivs inledningsvis samt av Corbett sammanställda metoderna för etablerande, bestridande samt utövande av sjöherravälde och ubåten som vapen. Därefter följer en studie av historiska källor rörande modern ubåtskrigföring. I denna ingår Scapa Flow 1939, ubåtsstrid vid slaget om Atlanten och USAs sjöfartskrig mot Japan samt sänkningen av Belgrano och det inledande skedet av Falklandskriget 1982. Fokus ligger på de olika metoderna som Corbett beskriver för sjöherravälde: avgörande slag, blockad, fleet in being, försvar mot landstigning, sjöfartskrig, amfibieoperationer samt stödjande av expeditionsstyrkor. Med bakgrund i dessa utmynnar uppsatsen i en diskussion om modern ubåtskrigföring som i stor utsträckning verifierar Corbetts teorier..

The purpose with this paper is that trough a description of the management control at Jitech AB find out if traditional management control have been abandoned for benefit for modern management control and in which extent the transition have happened. Further is the second purpose with this paper to find out which decisions that lies behind the design of the management control and how these are in opposition to with the theory..

Identification and analysis of key success factors for an entrepreneurial firm to achieve leverage when establishing on a foreign market with a premium consumer product..

Abstract My purpose of doing this study is to investigate the culture of delivering education in a strange combination of subjects labelled ?Language choice Swedish/English?. The activity however exists without curriculum, syllabus or certification. I want to put study the problem of delivering an educational activity without national certification. I will use a hermeneutic approach and render properly the headmaster?s, the teachers? and the students? views on the activity in one school.

Förhållandet mellan modern gnosticism och New Age har visat sig vara oklar i den aktuella akademiska diskussionen. I denna studie gjordes ett försök att bringa en större ordning i denna aktuella akademiska diskussion. Huvudsyftet var att jämföra modern gnosticism och New Age utifrån några valda verk, och se vilka likheter och skillnader som fanns. Metoden som användes var deskription och komparation. Studien visade att det fanns både likheter och skillnader.

A study of how pseudoscience is used in modern science as a method for dividing people into groups depending on their extraction with focus on the book The Bell Curve written by Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrstein..

The Sub-Saharan countries have for a long time struggled with poverty and conflicts which might have proven hostile for investors. The analysis aims to see if there is a significant correlation between foreign direct investments (FDI) and economic growth and which cultural and institutional factors seem to be significant in this correlation. Considered are also other variables and their influence that might explain what motivates and gives incentives for foreign direct investments (FDI) and are used in the construction of a regression analysis. This to see whether there is an effect on the economic growth in relations to FDI. The results show that FDI is of significance to the economic growth in the region and the study shows that corruption seems to be the most significant institutional factor in the correlation with effect on economic growth and the ability to attract FDI..

The purpose of this essay is to try to understand the relationship between the structures of modern working life and the development of burnout. By using the method of qualitative interviews we wanted to see if the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model could be applied to the data we had collected. Two questions have been highlighted in our research:        ? Is it possible to establish a relationship between the structures of modern working life and the development of burnout among the subjects interviewed?  ? Is it possible to explain the development of burnout among our interviewed subjects through the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model?    Our theoretical frames are the general theories of the modern society and the modern working life as developed by Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Zygmunt Bauman. We have also used Johannes Siegrist?s medical-sociological Effort-Reward Imbalance Model (ERI-Model).

The main purpose of this essay is to investigate if Latvia´s pattern of trade has become more similar to the mature market economies, after Latvia´s independence 1991.Today, the intra-industry trade (IIT) dominates the trade of mature market economies. One of the pioneers of intra-industrial trade is Paul Krugman, who was the first to emphasize the importance "of scale and consumers' desire for variety" in explaining the basis for modern commerce. Customers get more variety and usually cheaper goods when the market gets bigger. I mainly use the modern trade theories to explain the trade pattern in Latvia. To measure how Latvia has developed its intra-industry trade, and thereby is approaching the mature market economies´ trade pattern, I use the Grubel-Lloyd index (GL-index).

Uppsatsen är en diskursanalys och retorisk analys av genren veckotidningsledare. Den undersöker hur veckotidningsledarna svarar mot de kontextuella kraven att marknadsföra tidningen, att underhålla läsaren och att liera sig med läsaren. Det undersökta materialet utgörs av ledarsidor från tidningarna Veckorevyn, Amelia, M-magasin och Slitz. Uppsatsen visar hur ledarsidorna präglas närhetsskapande strategier som konversationalisering, humor och bekräftande av likheter..