Taiwan's recent democratization seem to have rallied a wider support of the notion of a national identity amongst its citizens which in the year 2000 led to the election of the pro-independence party DPP and President Chen Shui-bian. Meanwhile, China insists on the "one country, two systems" formula, regarding Taiwan as merely a Chinese province, and continues to fight any Taiwanese initiative towards sovereignty. Through a narrative perspective, this essay analyzes the self-conscious national identity-building quest embarked upon by DPP and President Chen Shui-bian. The analysis consists of three parts. Firstly, a text-analysis of President Chen Shui-bian's speeches is conducted to examine in what way he enforces and legitimizes the identity-building-process through narratives.

This thesis examines the possibility of Bolivian indigenous women?s social movements? getting their demands of a gender equal society fulfilled in the new state which was initiated in 2005 when Evo Morales became the first president representing the indigenous people of the country. By using a qualitative method I have showed that although the Bolivian indigenous women?s social movements? historically has been significant political actors for social change in the country, with representation at both regional and national level, Bolivian women are still subordinated in the social and political sphere. By applying a feminist intersectional perspective which takes its point of departure in a understanding of power as multidimensional, where gender, ethnicity and class are constitutive principals, multiculturalism theories and a social movements theory framework, I have found that even if institutional changes, that opened the system increased the indigenous women?s social movements political participation in Bolivia, power structures based on gender limited their possibilities to influence both socially and politically.

The aim of this Master?s thesis was to investigate if one can identify a pattern in a family?s reading habits. Our empirical data was gathered in a survey distributed to a family in three generations, between the ages 15 to 82. The family was interviewed in a life time perspective, in a so called life story character. The questions addressed in this thesis concerned how the reading habits and the general attitude toward literature differ between generations in one family.

This paper examines the consequences of membership and participation in immigrant associations on individual immigrants? political integration and indirect political participation with reference to Swedish society. The theoretical underpinnings consist of a social structural outlook on social capital, combined with the Civic Voluntarism Model, both of which focus on the potential role of social networks for moving people into political action. After a presentation of parallel qualitative data over the experiences of individual members in a Finnish and Bosnian-Hercegovinian organisation, it is suggested that immigrant associations support the political integration of their members into the host society. Firstly, the case studies indicate that members of immigrant associations gain the opportunity to augment their civic skills, which is a significant prerequisite for political participation.

Climate change is the modern society?s common issue. The developed countries areconsuming more than what is sustainable, and the climate change due to the use offossil fuels can be seen clearly. EU has specified goals, in order to stop furtherdamage, which demand that every member state have to reduce its energyconsumption by 20 % before 2020 and 50 % before 2050, relative to 1995.The Swedish government uses a number of instruments to encourage reduction in theusage of energy, but every individual has to contribute to reach the goals.With increasing energy price the cost of living is going up. A lot of people are lookingfor ways to save energy and not be affected as much by the increasing price.Investments for insulation, replacement of windows and replacing old heating systemfor a new efficient heat pump is getting more and more common.This thesis is about investigating the possibilities in becoming independent from buyingenergy for households.

In this study we examine trade patterns between Turkey and 13 member states of the European Union and how these have developed over the time period of 1983 ? 2006. To represent the industrial and agricultural goods included in the study we look at the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). Following, we investigate internal differences in the EU by selecting four countries each to represent the Northern and Southern countries of the EU. Internal differences were studied in relation to the amount of trade occurring between Turkey and the Northern and Southern countries.

The European Council agreed in 2008 on a climate and energy package to combat global warming. This package is valid for each EU member country and means that greenhouse gas emissions must fall by at least 20% and the EU's energy use to 20%, consisting of Renewable Energy in 2020. The Swedish Government has set stringent climate and energy with the intention to set an example for the rest of Europe. For example, renewable energy sources account for at least 50% of energy use and our climate emissions to fall by 40% by 2020. A combination of these goals and a steadily rising oil price has led to an increased demand for wood fuel in the form of such branches and tops.

Over the past thirty years the political parties in Sweden have lost five out of six members. In order to retain existing members leadership in these organizations has become increasingly important. The aim of this paper is to identify what group leaders for party groups within the municipal council believe are the driving forces that underlie the councillors' voluntary commitment, identify the group leaders' leadership style and identify whether there exist a relationship between these driving forces and the leadership style. The approach applied is qualitative consisting of twelve interviews with twelve group leaders from six different municipalities in Stockholm county. The theoretical framework of this paper includes the Volunteer Functions Inventory and the Full Range Leadership Theory.

Ethical evaluation of scientific studies carried out using animals is legally mandated in many countries and has been so in Sweden for over three decades. The animal ethics committees (AECs) responsible for the task have however been subjected to criticism; common critique being that the wrong issues are discussed and that the ethical evaluation is thus incomplete, that there is a lack of coherence across committees and that the committees are not as democratic as they might appear. This study investigates the view of Swedish AEC members on a number of issues in order to shed some light on the mandate and functioning of the committees, and on the grounds for ongoing criticism. In a survey and interviews AEC members and other persons connected to the committees gave their views on the AEC task in relation to their roles, the ethical evaluation per se and whether or not emotions such as empathy play any part in it. There were significant differences found between AEC member categories and several issues were encountered, many of which have been stressed in previous studies.

Teorin om Leader- Member Exchange antar att en chef differentierar mellan olika anställda i arbetsgruppen, vilket därav kan kännas av i arbetsplatsomgivningen. Ett högt utbytesförhållande med chefen har visat sig få betydande konsekvenser inom en organisation. Utifrån det kan det vara viktigt att chefen upplevs som jämlik. Denna studie undersökte hur chefen brukar differentiera förhållningssätt gentemot olika anställda samt om chefen uppfattas som jämlik, detta för att utröna vilken påverkan det har på commitment till organisationen, och till arbetsgruppen. Beroende på om avdelningscheferna skiljer sig åt beträffande uppfattad jämlikhet undersöktes om anställdas commitment skiljer sig åt mellan avdelningarna.

Recent studies about refugees have shown that there are differences in how refugees are framed, depending on where they are fleeing from. Studies have also shown that right-wing populism and refugee framing can be linked. With the theoretical framework of Banulescu-Bogdans three frames and right-wing populism, this study examines how polish politicians within the PiS party have framed refugees fleeing in 2015 in contrast to refugees fleeing in 2022.The aim is also to analyze how and if right-wing populist discourses are reflected in the frames. Using framing analysis, nine statements from different PiS-politicians were analyzed. The results show that the dominating frame towards refugees during 2015 was the threat-frame, contributing to frame the refugees as a cultural threat and security threat. The dominating frame used towards refugees 2022 was the victim-frame, contributing to frame the refugees as deserving and worthy of help. Furthermore, right-wing populist discourses were clearly existing in the framing of refugees in 2015. Discourses as ??us?? and ?? the other?? along with signs of nativism are reflected in the frames.

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse the possibilities and problems facing a privatised work injury insurance. This discussion includes the element of premium differentiation. Todays´ Swedish social insurance system is ineffectively formed. The costs have dramatically increased during the 1990´s. The Swedish government is now looking for ways to improve the efficiency of the system.

How does the recent wave of preferential trading arrangements affect, the incentives for further trade liberalization of member states, and the possibility of obtaining global free trade? And are there any differences in this aspect between custom unions and other forms of preferential trading arrangements? These questions are well debated and have divided international trade researchers into two camps, one in favour for preferential trading arrangements and the other side against them. I have used well acknowledged researchers in the area of international trade theory to make a literature study of the above mentioned key elements in the debate. When comparing the two sides I have focused mainly on their differences, assumptions and results. I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing to be alarmed by of the wave of regionalism that?s occurring in the world today, but caution should be applied and more research in this area is necessary before any certain conclusions can be drawn.

The so called democratic deficit and the lack of legitimacy have been at the core of the EU-debate in the last decades. Low turnouts in the elections for the European parliament and disapproval in the ratification processes of the latest changes of the treaties are examples of the citizens lack of confidence for the EU and continuous integration. In Nice 2000 the heads of the member states governments agreed to try to improve the democratic legitimacy in the EU and initiated a public debate aiming at proposals for changes in the decision making processes in the EU. In July 2001 the commission published a white paper with their view. A fundamental presumption in discourse theory is that language and language usage not just is a way to deliver information about ideas and behaviours.

University of VäxjöSchool of Social SciencesBachelor Thesis in Political ScienceTitle: ?Sverigedemokraternas valframgångar 2006 ? En ulv i fårakläder??Author: Emma Haraldsson and Åsa NeuschützTutor: Emil UddhammarThe aim of this study is to explain Sverigedemokraterna?s electoral success in 2006 and the essay assumes that some form of change has occurred. To study this change two hypotheses have been constructed. The first hypothesis concerns the change within Sverigedemokraterna and the second hypothesis concerns the change of the Swedish voters attitudes.Kirchheimers catch-all theory is used to explain the change in Sverigedemokraterna. The catch-all theory states that parties have to change their structure to maximise the number of votes.