The purpose of this thesis is to examine the view on reading and reading promotion in the Culture of Reading (SOU 2012:65), based on three different approaches to reading and reading promotion; the pragmatic, the emancipatory and the traditionalistic. The thesis is based on the following questions; which view on reading can be seen in the Culture of Reading and which view on librarians? reading promotion can be seen in the Culture of Reading. To answer these questions, I am going to apply the aforementioned approaches on the Culture of Reading. The Culture of Reading is an official report from the Swedish government and parts of it will be subject to a qualitative content analysis.

In this modern period, societal and religious groups are strongly divided regarding the acceptability of abortion. Despite so many attempts by various groups to find a middle ground, the debate on abortion still remains largely polarized, at its most dramatic point with the extreme conservatives claiming abortion to be the moral equivalent of murder and the extreme liberals see it as devoid of moral import. And this polarization is due to the legal battle that continues to shadow moral discussions. An acceptance of an ethical nuance will here play as a concession on the deeply contested question of whether abortion should be a legally protected option for a woman, and to an extent blame for the continued crudeness which can be laid at the doorstep of a moral theory itself. Apparently, the ethical literature on abortion has focused almost exclusively on the tiniest moral assessment on whether and when abortion is morally permissible.

This study is about the child?s perspective when it comes to work with financial assistance. The purpose of the study was partly to describe how social workers regard the child?s perspective in their work with financial assistance and partly to look into whether they impose a child?s perspective in their practical work. To fulfill this purpose the authors used a quantitative method and sent out a web based survey to all the social workers actively working with financial assistance in Stockholm town.

The study is divided into three parts ? the development of wage labour towards becoming the dominant norm in society, how this norm is challenged in a specific geographical context, and lastly a study of two unemployed individuals and their everyday activities, what and especially why certain behaviour occurs. The main purpose with the text is to study unemployed people in a specific geographical context in a overall society where wage labour is thought to be the norm. Questions that is being asked is how the unemployed individual works in a society where wage labour is the dominant activity for the day. This is connected to a study of Möllevången, a district of Malmö, where the wage labour norm can be thought of as being challenged.

This paper aims to examine how and to what extent, a transition of Sweden according to the principles of Omställning Sverige (Transition towns Sweden), have the potential to contribute to a society with increased happiness.The paper is based on a qualitative textual analysis of the key texts in the Swedish Transition towns movement, Omställning Sverige. In the first part of the study the most important transition principles of Omställning Sverige were identified. Four key principles emerged: An altered view of economics, a spiritual change, a stronger local community and increased awareness. These transition principles were then analyzed through the lens of the scientific fields position on happiness, followed by a summarizing conclusion.The altered view of economics which Omställning Sverige advocates, where sustainability and quality of life are priorities over economic growth, is even necessary to secure our basic physiological needs. Such an economy has also improved conditions for economic stability, high employment and higher efficiency in the sense of happiness promoted in relationship to how many natural resources are used.

The current trend towards globalisation and democratisation has made the theories of politics in pluralistic societies, and how to make them work, of particular interest and concern. Lijphart's theory of consociational democracy is an important influence in this field. At the same time the importance of civil society in transition studies and democratisation processes has been reinforced over the last thirty years. However, the complex political situation that plural societies face, creates obstacles for a healthy civil society. This thesis is based on a case study of Lebanon, a country with deep ethnic divisions and a government that resembles a consociational democracy.

This thesis intends to analyse conditions for a successful implementation of consociational democracy, as a democratic model in Afghanistan. The lack of critical reviews regarding the democratisation-process in Afghanistan initiated the purpose of this study.Lijpharts democracy model was used as the basis in the comparative study. Along with empirical evidence regarding how the complex process of democracy in Afghanistan is progressing, the study investigated whether the identified conditions occurred or not.The choice of which democracy model to use can be crucial for the democratic possibilities to even survive and become established in conflict-affected communities. The principle of consociational democracy is that it is an empirically based normative model that aims to organise the state in a way that works against the risks of majority domination and oppression against the minority.The empirical case study revealed that a majority of the conditions were not met, which then can counteract the possibilities for consociational democracy in Afghanistan. The study has critically examined the prospects for the success of consociational democracy in Afghanistan, and it can be assessed that there is a limited probability for a successful applying of this model..

The Swedish and Icelandic women's movements, the Support Stockings and the Women's Alliance both had the goal to change their nation's women politics. The goal was to increase the low representation of women in their parliaments and to highlight women issues on the political agenda. The essay shows that the most important reason behind the will to form a party, was a new issue being disregarded by existing parties, although there is a considerable interest concerning the issue amongst society. While a party was formed on Iceland the Swedish equivalence did not occur. Even though only one party was formed, both movements achieved the same results.

This essay examine how temporal claims (past, present and future) are used in two Official Government Reports (SOU) in Sweden considering rape and sexual assault. The Official Government Reports constitute an important and particular system for long-term planning, and the reports are used as an instrument to achieve desirable changes within the nation. The temporal pretensions in SOU 1976:9 Sexual offences: proposed new wording of Penal provisions against virtue, and SOU 1982:61 Rape and other sexual assaults, are analyzed in relation to the concepts realization of the possible and actualization of the virtual, in order to see how the concepts correspond to the process of desirable change in the reports. The temporal claims are used in a spatially sense where space is assimilated to the concept of time which in return create notions of spatio-temporal images of the past, the present and the future. This is partly a problem for the reports in their aspiration to transform old norms and create innovatory values and ideals..

AbstractThis is a story about the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme and his struggle against USA´s war in Vietnam in the late 60´s and the early 70´s. We follow the young Palme from his childhood to his travels to America and Asia, there he learns what true poverty means. Further we see Palme change side from his conservative background to a new social idealist. In Prag he learns to truly mistrust communism, an ideology he later in life paradoxical will be accused to stand for. Palme´s politic interests seems to take a great step forward when he starts to write articles in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, there he?s writings take more and more colour from Palme´s own politic stands.

Sweden experienced a decline in exports of 16 percent in the period after the financial crisis. The decline has created a lot of question marks regarding the traditional exports which has started a process with the aim of finding Sweden?s next cash cow in export.Sweden adopted stringent environmental laws early which positioned them as a strong nation in environmental awareness. The stringent environmental legislation meant that the Swedish companies were required to minimize the environmental impact, which created a demand for eco-efficient products. Despite the early demand for eco-efficient products, the international success of the Swedish cleantech companies has been modest.The government can increase firms international competitiveness by encouraging, supporting and promoting activities on the domestic market.

The artist Pehr Hilleström has been credited as the founder of the Swedish genre painting. In the second half of the 18th century he began painting everyday subjects of the different social stratums. Today his paintings are noted for their way of showing us the culture of the time since the photograph still had still not been introduced.   Hilleström was a court painter for King Gustav III who wanted him to depict the Swedish people and their different costumes. The king thought the costumes were of great significance for their psychological impact on people and therefore used them as a way to unite the nation psychologically, both by the genre paintings and also by making a national costume. The costumes were used as a symbol of an unbroken tradition and national heritage.

BakgrundSedan början av nittonhundratalet har Storbritannien varit delaktig i flertalet COIN-operationer.Deras erfarenheter har bidragit till att de numera räknas som en framstående nation inom justCOIN. Undersökningen handlar om Irland 1916-1922 och Storbritanniens agerade i förhållande tillden nuvarande brittiska COIN-doktrinen.SyfteUndersökningen skall klargöra, utifrån den nuvarande brittiska doktrinen, vilka skillnader ochmisstag Storbritannien begick under början av nittonhundratalet på Irland i förhållande till dennuvarande COIN-doktrinen.MetodUndersökningen är teorikonsumerande och delar upp teorin i variablerna mål, medel och metod.Dessa jämförs mot analysenheter som utgörs av tre tidsepoker från det anglo-iriska kriget.SlutsatserUndersökningen påvisar att Storbritanniens agerande på Irland i början av nittonhundratalet skildesig markant mot vad den nuvarande doktrinen förespråkar. Framförallt i mängden våld somnyttjades..

Denna text koncentrerar sig kring familjerepresentation samt tillhörande genus- och identitetsaspekter, med utgångspunkt i spansk och dansk melodramproduktion under perioden 1999-2004. Genom att med hjälp av närläsningar undersöka filmernas familjebilder, samt aktörerna och deras drivkrafter vill vi granska huruvida dessa fiktioner kan betraktas som symptomatiska för den kultur som de producerats inom. Frågeställningen är alltså huruvida filmernas familjerepresentationer kan utläsas som nationella skillnader och likheter, eller om det vi ser ? och anar ? snarare är en autencitet inom familjedramat, som inte nödvändigtvis är knuten till geografiska gränser utan skulle kunna betraktas som ett tidens tecken. Vår uppsats syftar alltså till att undersöka det kulturella upphovet samt hur dessa filmer står i relation till den kulturella kontext i vilken de är gjorda..

This study examines how the Swedish newspaper G?teborgs-Posten presented Swedish identity in relation to the country?s referendum and EU-membership. By investigating the usage of the Swedish identity, related to EU-membership, the ambition is to conclude whether the newspaper was positive towards EU-membership. The empirical base consists of articles produced by G?teborgs-Posten from the first of October 1994 to the last day of January 1995.