This thesis examines the democracy theories that can be found in the internet websites of Region Skåne and Stockholm county council. Within the framework of deliberative democracy, participatory democracy and electoral democracy, the author tries to distinguish democratic aspects by empirically studying these websites and their communicative effect on the internet users.This research shows that Region Skåne is slightly better in implementing democratic aspects at their home page, which is probably due to an active work with these issues carried out by the politicians and the report on the democratic development from 2004. However, a great deal of work regarding democracy and the possibility of civic participation in the decision- making process is still to be done.The problems and challenges in using internet as a democratic tool shows that citizens run a risk of being neglected, due to their uneven participation in using internet in daily life. The conclusion of this thesis is that the politicians have to make an active choice in deciding to what extent the internet is allowed to be used when it comes to developing democracy. This work has to be done in cooperation with political scientists and IT experts, in order to assure a correct democratic model..

In this thesis we have tried to show the problems that the categorisation of ?norrlänningar? generates. We have also tried to describe what the stereotypes of ?norrlänningar? are by examining what people say on web logs. The method we have used to find the stereotypes in our empirical material is the discourse analyse.

Glulam?s position at the Swedish market for building constructions has been established over the past decades. Factors affecting glulam demand are found both in global and national contexts as well in customer attitudes and knowledge of the material. Arguments for environmentally friendly and sustainable construction processes and energy-efficient designs are nowadays common, which is something that should motivate increased usage of wood as a renewable material. For the glulam industry to increase its sales, improve profitability and thereby gain market share in present competitive climate, reliable market information and updated market intelligence is required.

In recent years the concern about the future of the European Union and itssupposed lack of democracy, efficiency and legitimacy has increased. Thisconcern has resulted in extensive debates and the establishment of a conventionwith the task to create a draft treaty for a European Constitution.The aim of this essay is to study how the three theoretical concepts,democracy, efficiency and legitimacy, have been described and used in the debateabout the future of the European Union. My main interest is to see how theseconcepts are described in a debate regarding a political system that goes beyondthe borders of the nation-state. I have made a comparative textual analysis of thedebates taken place in Sweden and Spain during a period of over two years. Ihave, for instance, found out that openness and clearness have a prominentposition as democratic values together with equality and justice (in Spain) and theinstitution of accountability (in Sweden).

I Colombia idag råder det efter nästan 50 år fortfarande inbördeskrig mellan vänsterorienterade gerillor, paramilitärer och den colombianska staten. Colombia har också stora problem med droghandeln. Konflikten och droghandeln är djupt förankrade i varandra. För att få ökad förståelse i detta samband belyser denna uppsats situationen med hjälp av teorin om nya krig. Denna teori tar fäste på krigsekonomins betydelse i de nya typerna av krig.

After the appointment of a new European Commission in 2004, ?communication? was made a top priority on the agenda. The Commission presented a new communication policy, which would establish a dialogue with the citizens, thereby bringing more democracy to the union and bridging the gap to the citizens. Three documents containing the policy were published, namely an internal action plan for the Commission, Plan D which establishes the framework for national debates and a whitepaper on EU communication policy. These documents were met by mistrust and criticism from many different actors such as journalists and experts.The aim of this master thesis is to examine this new communication policy from a deliberative democratic perspective.

This essay examines the international communitys intervention in Bosnia. The purpuse i to give the reader a deaper understanding of the problems appeared in re-building the bosnianstate. Office of the higher representive (OHR), was to become the koordinator of therecontruction of the institutions and governance. The theory used fore the examination isstate-building, whith an alingnment of state-building trough the international community.The second part of the essay examine the ideas of the High representive (HR) trough threedifferent dimensions. The idea-analysies search to present the core of ideas of OHR, nationalparties and the reconstuction of media.

När personvalet infördes 1998 fick väljarna ett större inflytande över vilka våra riksdagsledamöter skulle bli. Min frågeställning är om denna möjlighet har gett upphov till en ny roll för politikerna, friare från partiet och närmre väljarna. Jag har i denna uppsats bl.a. använt mig av en frågeenkät till de senaste två valens personvalda för att se vad de anser om sin roll som politiker.Min slutsats är att det idag inte går att säga att en ny politikerroll skapats genom personvalets införande. Däremot finns det tecken som starkt pekar i den riktningen och gissningsvis dröjer det inte allt för länge tills vi får se dess fulla genomslag..

What kind of international actor is the European Union and how shall we define it? These are questions that many have tried to answer often by addressing the apparent uniqueness of the EU itself. One of these theories is Normative power Europe. A theory whose main argument is that the EU is best perceived as a changer of norms. My aim with this thesis is to test this claim and to see if the Union should be regarded as a normative power.

The special relationship between Israel and the US has been subject to questioning, and good many theories have tried to explain why it is so strong. The most common explanation is rooted in the school of realism, where strategy and national interest decide who one's ally is. This essay aspires to examine another possible reason for allianceformation; identity. Several books, which make for the theoretical backbone of this study, have been written on the subject of sharing beliefs, identifying with others and the consequences of this. The question being asked is whether Israel and the US actually share beliefs and, if so, which ones.

Och nu blir det reklamfilm - En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av de sju svenska politiska reklamfilmerna inför EU-valet 2009Seminar date: 2010-01-14Department: Media- and Communication scienceReport category: Degree project undergraduate levelAuthors: Johan Heikensten and Elin LarssonAdvisor: Kristoffer HoltPurpose: When TV4 for the first time offered advertising time to the Swedish political parties for the upcoming election of the European Parliament in 2009, a huge debate broke loose in the media. Regardless of opinions on the matter, we find it safe to say that political television commercials will have a great influence on future election campaigns in Sweden. Hence, we find it of great interest and importance to examine these seven commercials in order to look for tendencies, strategies and trends within the material. Theories: The theory chapter includes Communication, Political communication, Videostyle, Commercial strategies, Rhetoric and Semiotics. Methodology: The survey is based upon two qualitative analyses, a rhetorical analysis and a semiotic analysis.

Doharundan inleddes på initiativ av EU i samband med ministerkonferensen i Doha 2001. Utvecklingen i rundan har varit begränsad, främst på grund av EU: s roll som försvare av egna intressen. Unionens roll har lett till framsteg på många områden. EU har i rollen som ledare varit pådrivande för en ny och ambitiös runda samt gång på gång förmått övriga parter att återkomma till förhandlingsbordet. Dock har ett försvar av unionens jordbrukspolitik orsakat en rollkonflikt i EU.

AbstractTITLE Birdflu in the press ? a critical discourse analysis on the tabloidnewspaper ExpressenAUTHOR Per VågebrantSUPERVISOR Malin SveningssonPURPOSE The purpose of this essay is to find out how the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen writes about the birdflu H5N1. To be more precise the purpose is to find out how the discourse is constructed. The Birdflu or H5N1 witch is its real name is something that could affect us all, yet very few people know a lot about it. To achieve this purpose I constructed one primary research question:o How has Expressen, in the public media discourse, treated the phenomena we know as the birdflu?This primary research question holds three more specified research questions:o What does Expressens discourse about the birdflu look like?o What actors are participating in the articles?o Why does the discourse look like this?THEORY The theory chapter of the essay contains four different parts.

Denna komparativa studie behandlar regionaliseringen i Skåne och Västra Götaland.Med fokusering på befolkningen's egen uppfattning undersök's de förhållandensom definierar och formar dessa regioner. Uppsatsen grundar sig till stor del på deundersökningar som gjort's av SOM-institutet.Genom att tillämpa ett centrum - periferi försök's sedan delar av utvecklingen inom regionen förklara's. Även identitet då primärt i anknytning till regionenundersök's och kontrollera's jämte andra faktorer.En kort del som undersöker de två regionerna's demokrati arbeten konstaterar att arbetet går framåt men att mer arbete kräv's..

The thesis analyzes the making of Nordic identity after the cold war which brought an end to Nordic exclusiveness of emphasizing ?soft power?. A need for a revitalization combined with an effort to enter History as an active subject, created constructivist project of a narrative style.My study relies on contemporary literature, focusing mainly on the construction of Nordic identity and regional cooperation in the 1990: s.I argue that Nordic identity was, and still is, determined of its comparable weakness in regard to the superpowers of the cold war, and, nowadays, to the EU.The architects of establishing a new Nordic identity, able to challenge a new Europe, fails in their effort, and what is left of their endeavour are separate states, each following their own agenda..