The purpose of this thesis is to study the level of democracy within the European Union (EU). To do so the following issues were examined: How the EU works and the efforts it has made to improve levels of democracy; and the degree to which the EU fulfils the criteria set by Robert Dahl in his theory of polyarchy.The study is based on a qualitative text analysis. The focus of the analysis is documents released by the EU that can be connected to democracy, and human and fundamental rights. The theory of polyarchy proposed by Robert Dahl and Joseph Schumpeter?s theory of democracy are the principal theories applied.

The purpose of this thesis was to find out whether the main class C (religion) in the Swedish classification system Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek is well adapted to classify materials published in or imported to Sweden, and handled by Swedish libraries today. The questions we put to ourselves were:1. How easy to understand, and how useful is the main class C religion today?2. What, in the main class C, is satisfactory?3. What, in the main class C, is inconsistent, anachronistic or incorrect?4. What, in the main class C, is in need of change or renewal?The method that was used was a number of interviews with librarians and cataloguers. We have interviewed eight librarians from six different libraries, of different types, but all with a relatively large collection of religious materials.Though all of our respondents have expressed a feeling that all the major religions deserve equal treatment in the classification system and a similar division of space, after some pondering on the subject, our respondents have agreed that a larger space for Christianity is warranted considering the composition of the current collections and publication. Our respondents have in some cases expressed that there is a lack of instructions as to how the subdivisions of the main class C (religion) is meant to be used.

The main purpose of this essay is to look closer at how and when the Swedish women?s organization Grupp 8 changed their initial socialistic ideological approach and turned it into a feministic one during 1971 to 1979. By 1979 the group was referring to them self as a feministic movement. This is done by analyzing the way Grupp 8: s discussion in the areas of women in relation to work, family and society changes. The primary information is represented by the groups own magazine Kvinnobulletinen.

Islamic masculinity which quite often associates with oppression of women has remained an underexaminated category despite its constant presence in the debate on honour related oppression. Honour has primarily been studied from a feminine point of view and theories of masculinity have taken insignificant interest in the issue of honour. The aim of this study is to understand what attitudes boys/young men from the Muslim world have toward native Swedish men and what these attitudes do imply for their own conceptions of masculinity and honour. The ambition of this study is also to make explicit the similarities, differences and connections between honour and masculinity.The empirical basis of this study consists of twelve interviews with boys/young men from the Muslim world about their notions of honour and masculinity. The theoretical platform arises from theories of masculinities and honour.Some prominent ?patterns? that I have found:- That religious norms and rules appear to be significant in how the masculine manners of conduct should be adjusted.- That honour and women as carriers of men?s honour, play a crucial role for the constitution of proper masculinity.- That the Swedish context and its policy of equality seem to threaten the obviousness of the islamic masculinity.

The purpose of this essay is to examine Marjane Satrapi?s comic novel Persepolis from a gender and postcolonial perspective. To reach this I have used several theories from mainly three different fields of theory: gender studies, postcolonial theories and theoretical texts which focus on the form of comics.My analysis has shown that idols, heroes and other cultural symbols are important for the creation of the main character Marji?s identity, but that she at the same time has many Marxistic influences. These casts of mind do not stand in opposition, but become an expression for her hybridity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what consequences the discussed Balken-case have had with regards to freeze-out prices decisions for cash bids. In order to evaluate this, a comparison with a previous study is made. Last but not least, the aim is also to see what kind of arguments the minority successfully can make use of in order to reach a higher freeze-out price nowadays. Underlying the results is basically an empirical survey based on arbitrations disclosing the tendencies after the Balken-case compared to before. The empirical investigation shows that practice has become more clear and uniform after the settlement of the Balken-case where a movement from theoretical values towards market prices is recommended.

 Euro barometer surveys show quite an astonishing change in Turkish opinion towards European Union. In 2004, 73 % of the population considered EU as a good thing. In 2008, only 49 % were of the same opinion. At the same time, skepticism towards European integration is explained differently in earlier research. Some scholars claim that partisanship may explain attitudes of citizens better than ?cost and benefit? approaches.

This essay contains a comparative analysis of Erik Olin Wrights Marxist class analysis and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negris post-Marxist class analysis as presented in their books ?Empire? and ?Multitude: War and democracy in the age of Empire?. I discuss the shift in analytical focus from state level to global level that Hardt and Negri's analysis represent and the ensuing relevance of this for contemporary class analysis. The essay also address the challenge and implications posed to class analysis by the ever increasing economic globalization, from a material production to an ever growing immaterial service economy and the decrease in state power in controlling capital and labor movement. I propose that analytical understanding of class conflict help us to a better understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics that generate social and economical inequalities and that an updated Marxist class analysis still have much to contribute to our understanding to how these issues not only shape our society but also our capacity to counteract them..

It is of increasing importance to in the most effective possible way, manage and control all the transactions of raw materials, products and information that are exchanged between an organization and all its operators. These flows and the need for strategy and managing the processes of planning, implementing and control of the supply chain, has given name to the concept supply chain management. Supply chain management involves all movement and storage of raw material, and all the processes that is needed to manufacture a product from origin to consumption. Globalization, technology and increasing time and quality-based competition are all driving forces behind the concept and reasons for an increasing interest in supply chain management.The purpose of this essay is to by using a qualitative case study examine which decisive success factors that can be identified for effective supply chain management. We have compiled different theories on the subject to use for analyzing a case study Li & Fung, who is a successful supply chain management company.

Lately an increasing portion of the public debate in Sweden has been devoted to how societies may facilitate entrepreneurship, yet a negligible portion of this debate has discussed the impact of the community spirit on entrepreneurial activity. Further, this connection is a relatively uncharted field in terms of research as well. The aim of this study is accordingly to advance the study surrounding the impact of community spirit on the propensity for entrepreneurial activity and add new empirical data and insights to the existing body of theory. A four-month ethnographic study of the Provo-Orem region in Utah, USA, comprising of in-depth interviews and participant observations, was therefore undertaken with the aim of understanding the community spirit in the studied region and its influence on entrepreneurship. The thesis finds that numerous values such as self-reliance, family focus and security together with a strong religious culture make up the essence of the community spirit in Provo-Orem.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine and question the use of mindfulness in the workplace. Mindfulness in the workplace can be understood as an organization recipe and is now a so called trend. We believe that there may be an issue of how mindfulness at work is advertised when it is described in such a way that it could be the solution to many organizational problems, such as reducing stress, increasing efficiency, creativity and productivity. To get a better understanding of what mindfulness is and what it can bring to a stressful work, we conducted semi-structured interviews with four mindfulness instructors. We analyzed the interviews from a theoretical analytical framework consisting of both a constructivist perspective and a power perspective.

In 2002 George W. Bush held a speech where he classified six nations as being the main threats to American security, one of them being Syria, a state with a secular constitution, no resent offence towards the US, and with an improved diplomatic relationship to the US during the Clinton years.Being an ally to the Soviet Union during the Cold War Syria was forced to redefine its role in the region. Using neorealistc theory one part conlusion is the fact that the new Syrian leader, Bashar al-Hasad, in the early 21th century determined to set higher goals for the Syrian power ambition in the Middle East, threatened to destabilize the region and leave the US and its allies in a caotic situation.In the US, however, the new administration after 11/9 sharpened its tone towards states that did not cooperate in the new ?war on terrorism? or/and were likely to harbour terrorists. Syria was accused of doing both.

Right-wing populism has through the past decades flourished in several countries in Europe. Research has shown that right-wing populism is, with its political starting point in ?the people?, focusing on the majority and is sometimes excluding the minorities from the politics. Since human rights regulations are mainly a protection of minority rights, the aim is to examine if the politics of the Sweden Democrats, as a case of a growing right-wing populist party, is a threat to human rights and in that case, in what respects. The thesis is supposed to answer the question in what respects the politics of the Sweden Democrats contravene with the European Convention?s protection of minority rights.

This report describes the development of a sample loader for my diploma work at Q-linea AB in Uppsala. The sample loader will replace the process of loading fluid samples into Q-linea?s instrument for biomolecule analysis. The earlier process was done by hand and was a time consuming and inefficient task.The work was initiated with a design phase where an overview of the system was created. The sample loader will be receiving text commands from a PC that coordinates all the subsystems like pumps and lasers on the analysis instrument.

The purpose in this Bachelor degree project has been to create a visual identity and to design a compilation cassette for the small music distributor Kyrkvägen Kassett. My way of approaching the task has been to draw parallells between the cassette as an obsolete music format and more or less abandoned or anachronistic formats, materials and printing methods in the graphic design area. The result is a visual identity that is built upon materials and methods of production rather than specific visual elements. The work is to be seen as a tribute to the small non-profit producers of music and graphic design. As often done in the DIY movement, I chose to consider my lack of practical knowledge in these fields not as an encumbrance but as an asset and an incentive.