AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this thesis was to examine to which extant the politically governed organization, Swedish association of local authorities and local regions (SALAR), has been mediatized. Furthermore the purpose was to examine how SALAR being a Meta-organization affected the mediatization process. To accomplish this the thesis studied how SALAR organized themselves internally in order to form opinion through the media in one of their prioritized issues. A further purpose was to equalize SALAR?s mediatization process with the mediatization process for the whole political system. Method: This is a qualitative study which the gathered material has been collected through two types of methods, semi structured interviews and field observations.Material: A total of eight interviews were made distributed over three departments inside SALAR.

In this study, my intention has been to examine how the ambiguous concept of corruption is constructed by the press. Emphasizing the media?s representations of the socially constructed and context-specific concept, this work adopts a critical perspective on discourse, together with an approach of conceptual history. Finland has for many years been appointed as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, signing several international conventions against corruption since the 1990s, which in turn has led to an increase in discussion regarding the phenomenon. By conducting a multi-method study, my aim has been to analyse the possible changes in the definition of ?corruption? in the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet during the period 2000-2013.

The Catalan movement of Independence is a well debated subject in Spanish news for the last decade. This thesis aims to examine what kind of identityarguments that spanish versus catalan newspapers make about the independence movement, in relation to nationalism and national identity. This is to deeper the understanding about the current complex situation in the Iberian Peninsula. The research shows that identityarguments about the independence movement presented by catalonian newspapers clearly put focus on identifying the ethnic and cultural reasons for the growing nationalism in the region, as well as discussing the political possibilities and obstacles of a sovereign Catalonia. In comparison, the identityarguments presented by spanish newspapers has another view of the situation, where the political aspect of the nationalistic catalan movement, identify the process as defying the Spanish Constitution and challenging the traditional historic unity of Spain.

Background and problem: Corporate Governance is a well-known phenomenon which has been the focus of plenty of research where the board of directors and the CEO have been regarded as important actors. What's affecting decisions regarding these actors has been debated whereas media has been pointed out of having an impact. To decide whether or not media can affect Corporate Governance have shown to be problematic whereas it exists divergent views regarding this. At the same time this relationship is more explored in other contexts than the swedish one, although this one is considered suitable for this. Consequently there is a motive for examining medias impact on Corporate Governance in Sweden. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explain if media has an impact on Corporate Governance at an overall level.

Detta arbete rör sig inom det organisationsteoretiska området. Ämnet som behandlas är kontrollspann och vad som påverkar och påverkas av detta. Vi har funnit att det finns en stor mängd olika faktorer som kan sägas påverka hur en organisation väljer eller bör välja att strukturera sig. I uppsatsens första del har vi försökt identifiera vilka effekter olika breda kontrollspann kan tänkas ha för en verksamhet samt vilka rekommendationer som finns i den existerande forskningen kring kontrollspann.I andra delen av uppsatsen undersöker vi Lunds universitetssjukhus akutmottagning, där man nyligen (2006) genomfört en omorganisation som bla innebar avsmalnande av första linjens chefers kontrollspann. Vi har funnit att många av de effekter som man kunnat förvänta sig inte har inträffat i vårt exempelfall..

Lately information- and communication technology (ICT) has been seen as an important tool to vitalize democracy. What kind of democracy it generates is however debateable. The objective with this thesis is therefore to examine what democratic ideal that dominates the use of ICT in Region Skåne and Västra Götalandsregionen and what kind of citizenship it brings. The two case studies were chosen because the Swedish regional level is facing a reorganization with democratic ambitions which in relation to ICT is fairly unexplored. To fulfil the objective there are two perspectives; e-democracy and e-administration, which are defined and integrated with democratic theory including Premfors´ "Fast, Strong and Thin" democratic ideals and Marshall´s three citizenship rights.

Information Technology (IT) makes it possible to electronically distribute data between actorswho are in geographically diverse areas. Nowadays, information is sent less frequently throughtraditional correspondence in favor of faster electronic equivalents via the internet.Despite effective IT environmentand secure encryption techniques choose some actors to sendinformation through physical delivery. This phenomenon occurs in those working withconfidential information as it is handled by a number of rules and safety regulations.Based on a set of rules and requirements, we have looked over the possibility of sending sensitiveinformation electronically over the internet. The aim was to find general guidelines for howcompanies and organizations should manage and send sensitive information over insecurenetworks. This led us to our research question: How can information be exchanged betweenactors in geographically diverse areas be categorized and encrypted so that it can be transportedover the internet without security or integrity deficiencies?To answer the question, there was a case study at a defense company.

AbstractThe political parties in Sweden are losing members. This is seen as a problem because the political parties are the base and the recruiting ground for members to decision-making bodies. Social movements are seen as a place where people with a modest background could express their opinions and also learn the political process. These movements have also lost members during the last decades and this could seriously affect the representation of lower social groups among the decision-makers. This essay emanates from Robert D.

Taiwan has over the past thirty years experienced a substantial political transformation. Being ruled by Chinese nationalists since World War II, Taiwan started its democratic transition in the late eighties. The new democratic system did not only provide people with freedom to vote, it also marked the beginning of a search for a new national identity. Based on the international theory of constructivism, this paper defines and studies the Taiwanese people?s progression away from a dominant Chinese national identity towards a uniquely defined Taiwanese identity.

The aim of this paper is to clarify the up till now somewhat shady definition of legitimacy, and to investigate what happens to this concept when it is transferred from the boundaries of the nation state to the realms of the international arena. By creating a model of legitimacy from which an institution can be evaluated, the purpose of this paper is to investigate what legitimacy is and how important it is for the actors within the international society. The next step involves evaluating what makes the UN a legitimate institution and how its foundation is affected by the blatant disregard of its authority by one of its? most influential members.The theoretical framework consists of a summary of what contemporary analysts? views of legitimacy are, which I have incorporated into my own institutional model of legitimacy. The role of institutions is central to all aspects of this study.

Can we harm future people? According to our commonly used contractarian theories, it seems we cannot. This is because our actions of today not only influence what they are supposed to influence, but also who mates with whom and when, and thus which particular persons will ever live in the future. Had we not performed a particular action, the future people born as a result of that same action, would not have been born. It therefore seems they cannot reasonably reject our actions.

Since the breakdown of the Soviet Union, more than fifteen revolutionary yearshave passed. Estonia and Latvia have undergone a change from communist statesto members of the European Union. As in so many other post-communist statescorruption has been a problem. However, Estonia has since the independence hada lower degree of corruption than the neighbour country Latvia. The main purposeof this thesis is to explain why so.

Background:It is always fascinating to observe the events that affect the stock market, especially as the numbers of influencing factors are so many and various. Political elections are important events in society and affect the corporate environment in different ways depending on which political party that is in power. This brings up the question of whether political elections are important enough to affect the stock market; and it is this question we intend to analyse in this paper.Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether political elections affect the stock market and to discuss the reasons for any possible affect that might be found.Procedure:An appropriate and thoroughly tested method to investigate if an event affects the stock market or not, is to do an event study. Subsequently we chose to do an event study on whether the Swedish general elections in 2002 and 2006 affected the Stockholm Stock Exchange. In order to give the analysis more depth we have also chosen to interview people with knowledge of the stock market.

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

The development aid from Sweden to developing countries is a activity thatinvolves a great deal of monetary founds as well as an opportunity to influence the environmental situation in a partner country. It´s also an opportunity to promote Sweden's values in a field like the environment, setting a good example is important. This thesis aims to evaluate Sida´s environmental policy and find out if there in fact is a Environmental Policy Integration Policy (EPI) taking place. EPI is a policyimplementation theory that emphasise the importance of the total integration of the environmental in the organisation as a whole. To identify this I will use a theoretical framework of indicators invented by William M.