The aim of this essay is to investigate the situation for democracy in China. The study raises two main questions. They are as follows: Are there obstacles to a democratization process in China? and Are there openings when it comes to a gradual change for democratization in China? The theoretical framework consists of Robert A.Dahl´s Polyarchy theory, and in addition , five factors promoting democracy. Also the notion of an MDP-society (a modern, dynamic and pluralistic society) is looked upon.

This essay has the ambition to examine and compare Croatia?s and Bosnia and Herzegovina?s development towards a consolidated democracy. By applying Linz & Stepen?s theory on how to consolidate a democracy and put focus on political society, behavioral patterns, attitude and constitutional structure the purpose is to find similarities and differences between Bosnia and Croatia within this field.The focus of this study is to compare two similar countries that have developed in very different ways. By applying the theory and a comparative method the purpose is to examine why two so similar countries with so much in common have developed in so different ways?In order to better answer the question there are two part questions and these are:What difficulties, concerning consolidation of democracy, have Croatia and Bosnia faced since the democratic transition in the beginning of the 1990s?What similarities and differences in the area of democratic consolidation (with focus on political society, behavioral patterns, attitude and constitutional structure) are there between the two countries?As the analysis shows, the main reason why these two countries differ so much is that Bosnia is a divided country with different nationalities and each nationality only wants to realize its own interest and does not care about what is best for the country as an entity.

The transition from having been under another country?s control to becoming a democratic country can, many times, pose difficulties, which has proven itself to be quite common. Estonia and Moldova?s processes towards a democratic regime are two examples of countries with varied success in the final transition phase.When the USSR (Soviet union) fell and collapsed in 1991 Estonia was well on their way from having a communistic ruling to a democratic one due to the fact that their democratic work had already begun a few years prior to 1991. After the collapse Estonia continued with their democratic work and in 2004 the country became a EU member state.

The aim of this paper is to examine whether the theory of cosmopolitan democracy provides a satisfactory solution to the boundary problem in democratic theory. I argue that David Held's version of cosmopolitan democracy rests on two incompatibleprinciples: the all-affected principle and the all-inclusive principle. However, the theory does not need to presuppose both these principles; it requires only one of them.Furthermore, I try to show that both of these principles fail to provide an adequate solution to the boundary problem. The all-inclusive principle suggests that all citizens of the world should be included in a global democratic unit. I argue that such an ideal is not desirable since it conflicts with the principle of subsidiarity and withdraws from regional political communities their sovereignty.

Background: Chronic pain is a condition that approximately 18% of the Swedish population suffers from. This condition affects many aspects of a person´s life and causes psychological, physiological and social suffering. Multimodal treatment is considered the most effective treatment for patients with chronic pain. Patient participation and motivation are very important to treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore patients´ experience of a multimodal chronic pain treatment program regarding their experience of patient participation and interaction with the rehabilitation team.

In this study we have aimed to explore how participation and self-determination is implemented in the daily life of disabled people who receive support through LSS. The questions addressed concern possibilities/obstacles for the participation and selfdetermination of disabled people who live in group housings, and how the terms participation and self-determination are realized. Nine interviews have taken place with staff members and directors of different group housings. We have found that the interviewees believe that the nature of a person?s disability can be a barrier to the individual?s self-determination and participation in his or her everyday life.

During the latter part of the 20th century the situation for people with intellectual disabilities in Sweden changed and developed. Clients have the right to participation and self-determination in society and in applied measures under the law of individual rights legislation; LSS. The purpose of this study is to describe and understand how team-leaders and managers in day-centres in a municipality works with participation and self-determination for clients, and what the professionals consider affects the client's possibility to self-determination and participation. The research questions intended to be answered are:? How does the team-leaders and managers work to enable self-determination and participation of the users in the public day-centres?? What does the team-leaders and managers describe and understand as enabling and limiting factors for the client?s possibility to self-determination and participation?The study is qualitative and interviews have been held with eight interviewees, which I contacted through snowball sampling.

In this essay we have examined how social workers experience their positions as a public authority person in a society of democracy. As a public officer you have to follow rules and obey the law, which can be difficult if they don't agree with your personal opinion and values. In social work you work with people in a vulnerable situation and it may become extremely demanding to stand between the directions of established public administration and your own opinions. We have interviewed ten social workers working in social childcare division and analysed how they experience their situation at work. Our starting point is the critical theory of professor Lennart Lundquist about how democracy works in Swedish administrations.

According to the curriculum Sweden?s elementary school is to educate students in subjects such as "Listening, debating and argumentation". I ask myself if this is actually something that every student is being provided with. The purpose of this study is to gain additional information about children?s participation in the classroom.

This is a qualitative study with the aim of getting better knowledge and understanding of how people with mental illness experience having access to a public communication channel. The study builds upon qualitative interviews with four participants of a radio project called Radio Totalnormal (RTN). RTN is a community radio station where people with mental illness do radio. The study focuses on how the respondents describe the participation in the project and how it has affected their self-image. The analysis uses the concept of empowerment and four social psychological concepts: social responsivity, asocial non-responsivity, abstract sociability and concrete sociability.

Essay in political science, D-level by Lisa Kringsberg, spring semester 2008.Tutor: Michele Micheletti.?Civil Society in Singapore? can it make democratization possible?The third wave of democratization and the end of the cold war has together increased the interest of the civil society as an impact on democratization. Singapore is a country which is higly-developt in both the socie-economic and economic field. Dispate this Singapore has not yet achieved to become a democratic state. The purpose of this essay is to study how the civil society can affect democracy in a country.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how students relates to and perceives the schoolswork with the value base. To answer my purpose has been two studies conducted. The first study aimed at finding out students' perceptions regarding the content and concretization of the value base and on their perceptions of participation and retention of this work. This study was conducted using a questionnaire survey.The second study has aimed to highlight the approach embodied by the schools' plans and treatment plans. This sudy has been conducted trough a review of policy documents available on the websites of education departments, municipalities and schools.

In the late 20th century there has been some changes in the public sector. These changes are described as New Public Management. When ideas from the private market is transferred to the public sector, for example to regard citizens as cus-tomer. Central in this paper is the use of term customer in the Swedish public sec-tor. There are two questions in the paper; which possibilities has a disappointed customer to effect the public sector, and what may happen with democracy, the common good, when the citizen becomes a customer?To answer the questions I study two different cases, Svedala kommun and the tax department, Skatteverket.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not there has been a change in the use of democratic values in textbooks in social science for classes 4-6. The focus lies on democratic values from two different theoretical perspectives, Dahl?s theory of democracy and Habermas deliberative democracy. The method used is a text analysis based on a model made by Lennart Hellspong. The material we?ve analysed consists of four textbooks in social science from different decades, with a range from 1981 until today.

Background: The need for structured practice has in recent years appeared in connection with the request for a more evidence-based nursing. In psychiatric care with its complex disabilities, it is important to have methods to identify these. Research has demonstrated the importance of patient participation in nursing that has been shown to affect their mental health. It is essential to get to know how patients with mental illness are capable of involvement in their life situation. The ICF emerged as a useful theoretical framework for development of questionnaires of patient participation.Aim: The aim of the present pilotstudy was to develop and test a questionnaire for participation, based on ICF.