The aim of this thesis is to investigate the points of view of three groups of actors about their local learning center and its collaboration with the library. By interviewing groups of actors from the municipal sector, the library staff and students, I aim to investigate their associations of the learning centre, what kind of services it should offer, and how they understand the role of the library staff in specific collaboration between the public library and the adult education administration. The study design is based on Gunnar Grepperud?s and Terje Thomsen?s three missions for a local learning centre; the mission of a broker, a meeting place and a motivator. I also use Carol Kuhlthau?s levels of mediation as an approach to investigate how the actors want the library staff to work in relation to the centre.

The purpose of my study was to see what kind of relationships there were between the youth and the social workers in the treatment home Hassela in Klintehamn, Gotland. The social workers work for six weeks day and night by living together with the youth. I also wanted to examine what happens when there were conflicts between them as signs of tensions in the relationships. In addition to this I wanted to study the relations between power and influence in their relationships where Hassela strives for democracy. My questions were the following; How do the youth and the staff describe the relationships between them? How do conflicts work between them at Hassela? What does the relationship between power and influence look like?The study is based on qualitative interviews with four clients and four social workers.

The representative democracy has become weakened during the last decades. At the same time the United Nations declared at the Rio de Janeiro meeting in 1992 that environmental problems can best be solved by involvement of all concerned citizens in decision-making. The main purpose of this study has been to examine if citizens panels is a possible way to involve citizens in environmental decision-making and what the outcomes can be. Furthermore the study has investigated what the participation has contributed to environmental politics and how representative the results have been. This has been carried out by investigating the Piteåpanel in the municipality of Piteå by conducting interviews.The result of the study shows that the involvement of the citizens in the decision-making influenced the environmental politics of the municipality.

The national spatial planning guidelines and the subsequent legal regulation in the Natural Resources Act and the Environmental Code has been a part of the Swedish planning system for almost 40 years. In the recent years, critics have claimed that the regulations are outdated and does not work the way it was intended. This paper examines closer why it is perceived that the regulations does not work, with a focus on how the national interests are managed in the municipal planning. Why is the national interests not applied in the municipal planning as intended? Is the error in the system or in the implementation of it? The aim of this essay is to study the gap between theory and practice by studying how the land management provisions in the Environmental Code is applied in five selected municipalities.

Title: Digital christmas greetings - the viral communicators, public sphere and democracy(Digitala julhälsningar - de virala kommuniktörerna, offentligheten och demokratin)Number of pages: 41Author : Anna-Sara TorgnysdotterTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse : Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring, semester 2010University: Devision of Media and Communications, Department of Information Science,Uppsala UniversityPurpose: The purpose of this study is to see if social media could be an arena for the usersto increase democracy and the public sphere. Studying the role and possibilitys of the individual.Is there a space for any one to act and debate?Method: A qualitative analysis based on interviews with ten users of social media - viralcommunicators. They were discussing public and private sphere, democracy, norms andbehavior in social media.Theoretical platform: The theoretical basis has its roots in sociology: Ervin Goffman´sidea on self-presentation and social interaction, Manuel Castels´ theories of the networksociety and Jürgen Habermas idea of the public spehere.Main result: The viral communicators are ambivalent in their use of socialmedia. They are users because they want to be but also because they feel forced to - professionalor private.

Syftet med studien är att belysa och jämföra hur två jämnstora kommuner i Sverige har implementerat lagen om det kommunala uppföljningsansvaret för ungdomar mellan 16 och 20 år som inte studerar på ett nationellt eller specialutformat program. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod där vi har intervjuat fem personer i tre olika funktioner för att få olika perspektiv på det vi studerade. Vi fann att det praktiska arbetet skiljer sig åt mellan de båda kommunerna trots att målet är detsamma: att hitta och kartlägga alla ungdomar som befinner sig utanför gymnasieskolan och sedan erbjuda hjälp baserat på individuella intressen, behov och förutsättningar. Kommunerna har liknande verktyg för att hitta och motivera ungdomarna som t.ex. samma registreringssystem, centralt placerade utanför skolan, liknande kontaktsätt och trycker lika starkt på frivilligheten som en viktig faktor.

This master thesis aims to describe and examine Haninge cultural centre, inaugurated in 2002. We study the centre from an organization theory point of view, with focus on the buildings physical appearance. The question we want to answer is to what extent, and if, Haninge cultural centre fulfills the underlying vision, formulated by the municipality of Haninge. Is the centre the symbol of a new era of Haninge and a vivid democracy as it was meant to be? Is there a congruency between the image the building creates and the vision that was formulated by the municipality? We also seek out to see how the cultural centre relates to an older tradition of cultural centres.

My paper, ?Us and Them ? an analysis of the creation of ?the Other? in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas?, aims to examine Mohsin Hamid´s and John Boyne´s novels from the years 2007 and 2008. The paper tries to answer the following questions: How is ?the Other?and?Us and Them?created in the novels? And: What consequences does the thinking in terms of ?the Other?and?Us and Them?lead to in the novels? The examination is done through the method of close reading and by applying the theory of Orientalism and Edward W. Said?s analysis of the theory to the reading.It is, I believe, of utmost importance for teachers to create unity among their pupils, and peaceful and democratic classrooms where co-work is promoted.

AbstractBachelor thesis in political science by Alexander Hassan, autumn 2008, ?Effects of external factors on a nations democratisation process during the transition from authoritarian to electoral democratic rule ? A categorical analysis?Supervisor: Tomas SedeliusIn recent years globalization has become a hot topic in understanding the world we live in today. Globalization has indeed had a great impact on international relations and with it a great influence on the domestic conditions that determine a nation?s possibilities. It is therefore rational to hold true that this also would apply to a nation?s democratic process.

Syftet för uppsatsen var att undersöka om klienter med tidigare narkotikaberoende upplever att de har möjlighet till inflytande inom vården som de tar del av. Syftet var även att ta reda på hur socialarbetare inom samma vårdprogram arbetar för att möjliggöra brukarinflytandet för klienterna. Vi utförde semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem klienter och två socialarbetare från samma behandlingshem. De teoretiska perspektiv som stod till grund för analysen av empirin var brukarinflytande och demokrati. Resultatet visar att klienterna upplevde stor delaktighet inom vårdprogrammet samt i kontakten med socialarbetarna på behandlingshemmet.

We have chosen to write our essay in collaboration with Varbergs kommun, where our starting point is to improve energy efficiency by management control. Their occupation separates from a pure profit driven corporation and therefore the management controls have to be adapted accordingly.  The reason why we have chosen to write an essay about the management control opportunities to improve the energy efficiency depends on two different reasons. The first reason is that we find it very interesting, how with support from the management control it is possible to improve different parts of the operation. And the second reason is that Varbergs kommun expressed a wish that they wanted to improve their energy efficiency process.The purpose of the essay is to describe and analyze the opportunities with support from the management control to help improving the process of energy efficiency in a municipal operation.

We have chosen to write our essay in collaboration with Varbergs kommun, where our starting point is to improve energy efficiency by management control. Their occupation separates from a pure profit driven corporation and therefore the management controls have to be adapted accordingly.  The reason why we have chosen to write an essay about the management control opportunities to improve the energy efficiency depends on two different reasons. The first reason is that we find it very interesting, how with support from the management control it is possible to improve different parts of the operation. And the second reason is that Varbergs kommun expressed a wish that they wanted to improve their energy efficiency process.The purpose of the essay is to describe and analyze the opportunities with support from the management control to help improving the process of energy efficiency in a municipal operation.

Earlier studies shows that democracy within the preschool is an important and on-going work, but could implicate certain consequences. For example that goals regarding democracy and influence in the preschool, rarely is done in practice but instead remains just words on a paper. It could also mean that the pedagogues lack education and knowledge within the area, but also how they react to the influence of children. Preschool is expected to be a place for all children, no matter what luggage the child is carrying. The luggage is filled with the life experience, the personality and in this case the needs that the child has. The needs could be anything from nearness to physical and psychological disorders that requires more pedagogical attention.

In recent years, the right-wing extremist site Avpixlat (?Unveiled?) and the anti-racist blog Inte rasist, men... (?Not a racist, but??, IRM) have established themselves as political actors and platforms for political discussion in Sweden. However, we know very little about them and their impact on democracy.

Authors: Linda Olsson & Dennis A?stro?m Title: A journey of discovery on the third floor ? A case study in how juvenile agents in the municipality of Kalmar communicate with its young people Level: BA Thesis in Media and Communication Studies Location: Linnaeus University Language: Swedish Number of pages: 60Introduction: The participation amongst young people regarding political, democratic and society related questions is through an investigation confirmed not being high enough. Within the municipality of Kalmar, juvenile agents work as a link between young people and the opportunities that the municipality provides. To create this link with young people, communication is essential.Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of how the juvenile agents work in order to create and maintain communication with young people. The purpose is also to evaluate the result of the information campaign they executed in 2011.Methodology: For this paper we had a hermeneutic approach with an inductive viewpoint.