This thesis aims to examine the possibility of understanding social change by using new institutionalism approaches on a specific case, The case, which describes the implementation of new public management reform in the Swedish health care system, is analysed from two separate new institutionalismperspectives; the tool perspective and the symbol perspective. These approaches differ from one another in the sense that the first relies on a rational choice ontology, while the latter rather refers to a sociological tradition. In the analysis, causal explanations as well as aim related explanations are presented. Formative moments such as economic stagnation, non-socialist governments and ideological isomorfism are presented as important factors behind the reformation. By using the tool perspective, the motives of the idea spreading and reformation of the Swedish health care system, are connected to a strictly rationalbasis such as cost efficiency and quality improvements.

Abstract?Political participation by the citizen?- Citizen proposals in Karlstad municipalityEssay in Political Science, C-levelAuthor: Tobias GustafssonTutor: Michele MichelettiIn Sweden the political parties are losing more and more of their members. That in combination with a tendency that the participation in the elections is getting lower is a problem for the representative and parliamentary political system in Sweden.In order to strengthen the democracy in Sweden and to make the gap between the citizens and the elected smaller there has been some democracy-projects. The purpose of these democracy-projects is to make the political participation by the citizens, between the elections, higher. One of them is ?citizen proposals to the municipality?.The purpose of this essay is to examine this democracy-project in order to see what influences it might have on the local democracy.

In the year of 2002 a new council regulation on community designs was implemented. In the beginning of the essay the legal situtation before the implementation is investigated and part of the purpose is to evaluate if it constitutes a solution to the problems with protection of fashion designs that existed then. Because fashion designs more or less were excluded from protection during the period before the implementation the fashion business developed a habit of unauthorized reproduction. This attitude among the market players is a central point of the essay. The essay starts off with a review of the earlier lack of possibilities regarding the protection of fashion designs.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how the local governments have implanted the new public health policy, which Sweden adopted in April 2003. The new health policy stakes out a new direction for national public health policy. Instead of focusing on diseases the new public health policy focus in factors that determine health.Important factors to study are the role of central steering from the central government. The method used is a case study of three Swedish local governments. The main material used is interviews and different policy documents within the area of public health.The conclusion of the study shows that the local governments are fairly satisfied with the steering of public health policy by the central government.

Today there is an even higher demand on IT-projects success rate compared to a few years ago. IT-projects must be handled more efficiently and result in a more profitable investment. In order to make the handling of IT-projects more efficient and create profitability the developers must have a broad understanding of the IT-projects characteristics and which factors that affect the result of the projects. Changes within IT-projects are often carried out through the development of a system. Since this change is more common when it comes to IT-projects it is important to handle risk and change within these kinds of projects in order to prevent and avoid uncontrolled changes.

Today equal representation between the genders in parliament is something to be desired. One way to reach the goal of equal representation is by using quotas. The purpose of the study is to research the lack of equality in elected institutions by using a perspective on qoutas.  The study also seeks to find answers to if using quotas is a good method according to gender studies. A text analysis is being used to find reasonable solutions to the study´s presented complivations.  By analyzing different texts about quotas some of the more common arguments in the discussion about using quotas in parliaments were highlighted. Some of the more frequent arguments to implement quotas are that it would be more just but also that women and men may have different interests, experiences and therefore equal representation would be a question of resources.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe the change at Myndigheten and analyze its implementation to identify the employees' attitudes towards the change. The survey of attitudes is important to provide indicators of how they may affect the continued implementation of the process-oriented approach.Research methodology: This thesis is based on both quantitative and qualitative method. Surveys have been implemented on co-workers/employees and an interview has been implemented on a project participant.Theoretical framework: This thesis uses theories of organizations, organizational changes and attitudes.Conclusions: Both positive and negative attitudes are found for the employees and these attitudes are mainly weak. If Myndigheten makes interventions, it can help to minimize the negative consequences that the attitudes may lead to. By doing this the commitment for the change will increase, which is critical for the change to succeed..

?The new labour party? A study of the labor-market policy ideas of the Moderata samlingspartiet and their ideological change?Thesis in Political Science (C-level) at Karlstad University byJenny Ljung, Fall 2006Tutor: Susan MartonThe labour-market policy of the Swedish Moderaterna may have undergone changes in the liberal ideology. During the election the year 1991 Moderaterna focused upon questions that concerned the economic growth and the free market. In the election at year 2006 Moderaterna appointed themselves as ?the new labour party? and were called social liberals by several critiques.

AbstractSweden is a country with good reputation when it comes to questions aboutequality. The definition of equality is not always explicit though. The aim of thisthesis is to examine what Swedish equality is and what it should be. By studyingdescriptions of equality and discrimination in the political programs of the partiesof the Swedish parliament from the sixties until today, I examine which groupsare included and excluded from the concept of equality. The analyse shows thatthe concept initially was only referring to class matters.

This bachelor thesis is studying the INTERREG cooperation between Denmark and Germany, and if there has been a change to the organization and the individual conditions due to the Danish regional reform in 2007. The research method used is semi-structured interviews and the participants are a mixture of politicians and civil servants. The study is based on two themes, change in work routines and cooperation, and change in visions and targets.The participants have experienced change, both positive and negative, in work routines and cooperation and to a lesser extent in visions and targets. Preparation is the key to success and makes the transition much easier, which has been the case for Denmark. Other mentioned aspects are more work due to more complicated applications, and that the politicians so far lack a regional perspective and tend to stick to the local.

The purpose of this essay has been to compare different constitutions, and their outlook on citizenship, rights, obligations and natural duty. This has been done in the light of the political philosophy, in order to give the answer to four questions. These questions are: Which rights and obligations can be seen in the constitutions, and how can it be interpreted. Can there be signs of any political philosophy in the constitutions?  Are there any differences between the constitutions regarding citizenship, rights, obligations and natural duty? If so, what are the differences? Can the rights be seen in a further extent than the obligations in the constitutions?I have conducted a qualitative comparision study and analyzed the political philosophers and made a classification scheme of their views.

Youth unemployement in Sweden is at an all-time high, a fifth of all university and college students live in poverty and the number of young on welfare is increasing. This study attempts to answer the question of how youth deprivation has been made possible as a consequence of political action, focusing on youth unemployment.I critically examine the role of the Swedish government, the Swedish Labour Organisation (LO), and the various government departments through text analysis, in order to answer the question of how the current discourse on youth position in the labor market. Because youth unemployment is not an isolated phenomena the analysis covers several policy areas, such as education policy, labor market regulation and housing policy. I use discourse theories drawn from Laclau and Mouffe to expose how language is used as an instrument of political power.I conclude that the current situation is a result of policy choices where the young have fallen behind due to lack of political organization. Their situation is not problematized to the required degree and is often explained on an individual level rather than on a structural level..

Abstract?Political participation by the citizen?- Citizen proposals in Karlstad municipalityEssay in Political Science, C-levelAuthor: Tobias GustafssonTutor: Michele MichelettiIn Sweden the political parties are losing more and more of their members. That in combination with a tendency that the participation in the elections is getting lower is a problem for the representative and parliamentary political system in Sweden.In order to strengthen the democracy in Sweden and to make the gap between the citizens and the elected smaller there has been some democracy-projects. The purpose of these democracy-projects is to make the political participation by the citizens, between the elections, higher. One of them is ?citizen proposals to the municipality?.The purpose of this essay is to examine this democracy-project in order to see what influences it might have on the local democracy.

The aim with this paper is to examine the political background of the schools comission to integrate pupils with special needs in the public school. These following questions are examined: What political documents are the elementary? Which ones are juridically binding for the schools? What are the experiences for  parents of children with special needs in the school? The method used for this paper is mainly litterature-studies. The four documents which are examined are: skollagen, Läroplanen 94, FN:s barnkonvention och Salamancadeklarationen. The theoretical frame for this paper is political documents, curriculums and how schools concretize the special education.

Happiness is often considered our ultimate goal in life. This essay explores the political im- plications of this view, through the critique of happiness found in the works of Simone de Beauvoir and Sara Ahmed. Ahmed and Beauvoir consider happiness to be harmful as a po- litical goal, since it tends to diminish dimensions of power and conflict in favor of harmony, and is not compatible with a political philosophy based on freedom or liberation. Happiness is often confused with the ethical Good, but this essay argues that happiness does not ne- cessarily entail good things. Indeed, happiness can be used to justify oppression and unjust political systems..