This study looks at how probation, client experiences, and criminal policy decisions affect recidivism in Sweden. Gaining a thorough grasp of how social, organizational, and political issues interact and impact the chances of rehabilitation and reintegration is the goal. Three research questions are addressed in the study: First, what are the causes of recidivism? Second, how is probation perceived by staff and clients in terms of control and support? Thirdly, what effects do Political Decisions have on probation services' operations and clients' chances for recovery?? A qualitative study was conducted with semi-structured interviews with twelve respondents, eight probation clients, three probation officers and one parliamentary politician. There were six themes that discussed the issue of recidivism from different perspectives, the collected data was analyzed through thematic content analysis.

This study aims to investigate the origin and the development of a certain type of decision phenomena, namely political decision chains. A political decision chain is defined as a seemingly rational decision being made, that is reverted through a new decision and this for other reasons than the original decision being regarded as having fulfilled its intended purpose. The essay attempts to explain the occurrence of these decision chains through a case study in order to thoroughly examine the complexities that surround Political Decisions overall. The essay concludes that uncontrollable factors and chance to a large extent affect the origin of these chains, allowing actors to change the political agenda according to their preferences. The relative weighting of these factors that is made by the actors, which exist within the decision chain, makes them underestimate the relative power of other actors that may have different preferences.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate what kind of motives where behind the long term decisions for the Swedish military defense in 2000 and 2004. This leads to the questions that the essay is meant to answer; 1. Were the motives behind the two decisions for the Swedish military defense of economic character or an adjustment of security and defense policy? 2. Was the parliament united in the two decisions and if they were not, why? 3.

The means to political participation at the local level in Sweden are changing and this change is analyzed through a case study. The first aim is to explore the forms of public political participation in Swedish municipal Älvkarleby, namely public question time in local government, citizen motions and open meetings. A part of this is also to analyze he every day contact between citizens and representatives. The second aim concerns the reasons why politicians decide to support these means to participationThe empirical material consists mainly of semi structured interviews with local politicians, civil servants, participating citizens and local press. Official documents such as public minutes are also used in the process of creating an image of local participation.Local political participation is found to be limited but yet having the potential to strengthen democracy, provided that public decision-makers are open to a dialogue with the participants.Using Kjell Arne Røvik's theories of organisational change, the changes in local democracy can be explained as being partly rational, partly symbolic and partly identity shaping Political Decisions..

GNT Group is a Nordic/Baltic wholesaler that distributes products in the IT, entertainment and home electronics sector. GNT is facing problems with inaccurate inventory levels which can lead to unnecessarily high inventory carrying costs or lost sales. Currently the decisions about when and how many to order are made somewhat arbitrarily by the responsible personnel. Their decisions are based only on some brief sales history and on experience. GNT wants to develop its ERP system to be able to support the purchaser in these and other related decisions.

As EU?s authority increased the number of lobbies in Brussels grew. Today there are approximately 15 000 lobbyists in Brussels. EU decisions and EU directives can have a huge impact on companies and organizations. They can however influence these decisions and directives through lobbying.

Municipal Real Estate Companies runs by a political boarder who makes decisions in large investments. In some cases the municipal counter have to take the decisions about big and expensive investments. A successful investment needs to be built on solid ground.Media has lately focused on energy topics as a part of the environmental discussion and the real estate companies tries to use the new technology that the market has provided. Energy investments in new buildings are not longer a small part of the energy saving program. Long-term investment demands needs large knowledge and awareness about the energy topics that have recently grown in the municipal real estate companies.

On the 17th of January 2002 the Swedish government presented a bill to theSwedish parliament, proposing ways of strengthening the Swedish democracythrough reforms for increased elements of participatory democracy. A publicreport on the state of the Swedish democracy had been released two years earlierwith similar enthusiasm for participatory democracy. However, the participatoryideals of these two documents were strongly criticised by a group of scholars.The aim of this thesis is to analyze and compare the arguments articulatedbetween the years 2000 and 2002 by the actors mentioned above, and to examinetheir relation to arguments concerning political participation, articulated bythinkers from previous times. By classifying the arguments into different groupsdepending on their content I find that both parties in the Swedish argumentationfocus on the effects of participatory democracy on political equality, on theefficiency of the political decision-making and the quality of the decisions beingmade, and finally on the personal character of the citizens. Among the argumentsarticulated by thinkers from previous times, similarities with the Swedishargumentation can be seen as well as important differences.

What role should science play in democracy? Political scientists often assume that it is possible to demarcate between ?instrumental? and ?moral? knowledge, and argue that citizens and/or politicians should use their moral knowledge to agree upon political goals and then apply the instrumental knowledge of scientists to achieve them. This straightforward view is challenged by writers in science studies, who identify three major problems in the use of science in democracy: uncertainty, risk and hidden values. They suggest that these problems could be solved through citizen participation.In this essay I perform an analysis of the internal logic of their suggestion. Is it likely that citizen participation enhances the democratic decision making process so as to reduce the problems? The internal analysis shows that it is rational to advocate citizen participation by reasons of legitimacy.

AbstractIn this bachelor thesis I discuss and analyse the current situation of the Venezuelan democracy. By using a theoretical framework based on the theory of horizontal accountability, I focus on the interaction between different institutions and branches within the state of Venezuela. The analysis focuses on the strenghts and flaws of the newly accepted constitution, and to what extent the institutions of checks and balances remain true to the laws and the constitution of 1999. My conclusions are that in terms of vertical accountability, the Chávez-regime acknowledges a wide popular support for their governmental actions. In contrast, the incumbent administration shows almost no respect for horizontal accountability.

The purpose of this essay was to analyze the management and steering of the social welfare service. The objective was specifically to examine how the leaders approach their position as managers of the social welfare service, and also how they approach their way of steering. The social welfare service acts under Political Decisions, but the management interpret and transform these decisions into actions. The managers of the social welfare service are therefore important from a democratic perspective. The study was based on five qualitative interviews with two managers of the unity, two departmental managers and the head manager of the social welfare service.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine the current situation as regarding the political equality in Iran. The method of this reaserch is based on a single-case studie wich grounds in secondary sources. The analysis of this paper is based on fields that concern political equality which in this study will focus on the right to vote, candidacies in the parliament election 2004 and the presidential election 2005. A democracy theory by Jack Lively is used to analyze the political equality in Iran´s political system.The Iranian regim is strongly criticized by the goverments in the Western world and NGO´s for the situation of the democracy and the human rights in the country. Despite the criticism, Iran still continues in the same political direction, although the democracy has gained a stronger role in the political sphere.

In today?s Sweden there is great belief in entrepreneurship and the benefits it can bring to the country. The Swedish government has taken note of this growing enthusiasm and realized the contribution it can make to facilitate national growth. Successful efforts have been made in Sweden to support entrepreneurship and innovation, which has resulted in a relative ease for individuals to start their own businesses.The number of companies started today is higher than ever and there are signs of a common faith in growth among new entrepreneurs. Unfortunately only a small fraction of these new businesses succeed in growing big.

This thesis explores and compares the former armed opposition groups; Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO), Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) and South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) transformation processes into political parties. The first question addressed is; What factors determines the ability of these armed opposition groups to transform into political parties after armed conflict? The question is addressed through four structural and organizational factors; international involvement, the organizations ideology and identity, their ability to change inter-elite relationships and their ability to change collective incentive strategies. The second question addressed is if the transformations process can affect the parties? degree of institutionalization? The degree of institutionalization is examined through the party's adaptility, complexity, autonomy and coherence.

The aim of this essay was to describe the power elite of the Swedish town Karlshamn, and its influences on the local political process before the realization of the narrow-gauge railway Karlshamn-Wislanda-Jernväg. During the mid 19th century, a revolutionary period began in the Swedish pre-industrial epoch. The political and institutional regulatory frameworks were disassembled and restructured, away from protectionism and centrally controlled administration, for the benefit of free trade, local self-government and liberalism. The changes were carried through during times marked by a drastic increasing native population and upcoming demands for adjustments to meet the growth of the industrial-, trade- and labour markets. An essential industrial development factor was the building of the national railway network, which started after some important decisions in the Swedish Riksdag during the 1850´s.