How stakeholders can influence EU in global environmental politics and what consequences and risks this brings are heavily debated. Some scholars argue that civil society are being disenfranchised from the global political arena while others seem to find them having influence in areas where they normally shouldn´t have any influence. In this this paper I will compare the Europan Union policy on GMOs with the process in producing the Water Framework Directive using an analytical framework to study the level of stakeholder influence. Following the framework I will use two types of data namely NGO participation and Goal attainment. The data once summarized will be analyzed by using the methods of process-tracing and counterfactual analysis.My conclusions regarding both cases are that stakeholders, most notably, were able to influence policymaking in EU by using the internal revisions and by networking in smaller partnerships.

Title (Swedish) Kommunikation i forskarbloggar ? En motivationsstudie bland forskare vid Göteborgs universitetTitle (English) Communication in research blogs ? A motivational study among researchers at the University of GothenburgAuthor Maike MohlinTutor Annika BergströmConstituent Information department of the University of Gothenburg (Informationsenheten vid Göteborgs universitet)Course Master thesis in media and communications at the institution for journalism, media and communication at the University of GothenburgTerm Spring 2013Pages/ word count 77/ 32211 wordsObjective To examine why researchers at the University of Gothenburg chose to blog in their role as a researcherMethod Exploratory analysis of qualitative, semi-structured interviewsMaterial Eleven interviews with blogging researchers from different fields at the University of Gothenburg, material gathered in spring 2012Main results In the context of research communication blogs play an essential role for researchers for directly communicating with the public. A strong motivation for researchers to blog is that they can represent and create an image of themselves. Also the blog isused in several ways as a tool in the researchers? daily work.Despite the fact that there are disadvantages with blogging, the researchers in the study find that it brings along far more advantages than disadvantages, which is why they keep blogging..

I have studied how human networks can affect decision-making and different constellations. The primary purpose is to clarify the possibility to affect the decision to move the infrastructure investments from Region Skåne to Region Västra Götaland. The study starts at the EU-level and continues to the Government and on to the region. Region Skåne is studied especially since it was from there the infrastructure investments were moved.The conclusion is that there is no specific representation in the government that represents regional topics, in spite of the fact that almost 30% of the members of the Parliament come from these regions. There is no discussion between the members that could be considered a networking-activity beneficial for the regions.

This study focuses on the politics around ecological sustainable development in Sweden today, with emphasis on urban development, building and living. The starting-point for this study is the environmental adapted city district of Stockholm, Hammarby Sjöstad. The primary focus of the study is to investigate what means of control the environmental investment in Hammarby Sjöstad is expressing, and to elucidate their ideological, political and social implications. The empirical material is primarily based up on the local Hammarby Sjöstad environmental program along with qualitative in-depth interviews with citizens of this district. The study is based on critical discourse analysis The result of this study is that the ecological investment in Hammarby Sjöstad partly constitutes a hidden exercise of power, taking shape as built-in physical measures in the dwellings and the neighbouring surroundings.

This thesis studies how the Swedish government articulates social exclusion within the spring budget of 2007. Through a discourse theoretical approach, inspired by Ernest Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the empirical findings are reconstructed through the nodal point of labour and two chains of equivalence, based upon the duality between employment and unemployment. By viewing social exclusion as a phenomenon concerning discourse, identity and politics, this duality forms the basis of a deconstructive and hegemonic analysis.I argue that the term social exclusion is a powerful and flexible political concept in that it obscures ideological assumptions and objectives as well as draws attention away from alternative social concepts. Throughout the thesis social exclusion is stressed as a social category constituting the relation between individual and society. Hence I argue that it is of vital importance that the values underlying its usage are made explicit and that social exclusion as a floating signifier is made an object of academic analysis..

Both authors of this study have been involved in the School of Business at Umeå University Student Association (HHUS) and is due this discovery deficiencies and problems within the association. The pressure to engage in HHUS is compared with other financial organizations around the country very low. This led us to consider why this is the case. From experience we know that communication between the association and its members are not functioning optimally. Communication itself is essential for motivating students and for that motivation should be high for the students to experience good quality on the engagement. The purpose of this study is to identify lines of communication and motivational factors that affect students who are members of HHUS to get involved or not.

A daily newspaper?s main purpose is to inform its readers without creating noise. Theimportance of the visual presentation is therefore of weight for an effectivecommunication process. This study informs about the importance of typography inthe visual decoding process. The study includes the Swedish newspaper DagensNyheter?s transition from printed media to digital media adapted to an Ipad.

This is a study of democracy on the local level. It?s a comparison between the municipalities of Mo?rbyla?nga and Mo?nstera?s in the region of Kalmar in Sweden based on most similar design. The question is if the structure of the political organisation affects the quality of democracy, with focus on the reorganisaton in Mo?rbyla?nga and the quality of the political process.

In recent decades, public relations and news management have become increasingly important in organizations? communication efforts. This thesis aims to show how the Kalmar municipality works with this type of strategic communication to build the Kalmar brand and how their communication efforts can be improved. The thesis is mainly based on theories concerning Public relations and News Management but also the medias impact on forming opinion. An important issue throughout the thesis is that all theories must be related to the fact that the study concerns an organization in the public sector and the obligations that comes with that fact.

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the political debate on the education of newly arrived immigrant pupils at secondary school age. The following issues are under scrutiny:What are the goals, expressed by politicians during the examined periods, for the education of newly arrived pupils?What ideas about education and what educational ideals can be observed in the political debate on the education of newly arrived pupils?Has there been any change, during the examined period, in the policy debate on the education of newly arrived pupils?The research material consists of reports and statements of the Education Committee, as well as a number of parliamentary protocols. Two five-year periods, 1971-1975 and 2006-2010, are studied and compared. All in all, the material consists of 23 documents issued during these periods.

Title: What is important knowledge in social studies- An analyse of opinions among teachers in social studiesThe aim of this paper is to increase the awareness about how teachers in Social studies think about goals and substance in the subject. I also want to get a picture about what kinds of problems teacher?s experiences when teaching Social studies. My expectations told me that Social studies are complex to teach, because it derives from several university disciplines such as Political science, Economics, Sociology, Law and Geography, which I believe makes the subject harder to define and what to give priority to. Finally, I want to increase the awareness, if it seems to be any fundamental essence in Social studies as a subject.To achieve my goals with this paper I have studied relevant literature about Social studies.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain the European Union was challenged partly by an institutionalized organization of the union, as well as by a socio-psychology awareness concerning the meaning of the European Union. The increase in European integration has generated a political collaboration where national understandings in identities are constantly being exposed for reconstruction. This results in a collective European identity where states are united in diversity.National identities are created when boundaries are set up in a relation to other states. In these identity constructions there are thoughts and questions raised such as who we are and who we are not. Ukraine and the European Union has, during a long time, had diversified preconceptions concerning who has been the others.

The overall purpose of this essay is to study in which degree the democratic model that is called participant democracy works in the Swedish municipalities. To achieve what I set out to do I will focus on a central political area in which the Swedish municipalities has sovereignty versus the state, in other words in an area where they rule themselves. That political area will then represent how well the participant democracy works in the Swedish municipalities. The research questions then becomes:Does the participant democracy at Swedish Municipality level work in a satisfying way?Does the participant democracy in a large Swedish Municipality in a central political area work?Does the participant democracy in a small Swedish Municipality in a central political area work?Are there similarities and differences between the municipalities?If so, how can that be explained?To answer these questions I will study documents regarding the planning and building area.

This thesis examines the municipalities of Västra Götaland and the way they are prepared for crisis communication towards people with a foreign background. Over the past years there have been several studies that have examined the issue of crisis communications towards minorities but these are often focused on the target group. In this study, I focus on the authorities' actions. The theoretical approach is primarily an intersectional one and in this way the thesis is centred on the creation of different categories, the relationship between these categories and the possibilities working with these at the municipalities.On behalf of Region Västra Götaland, this investigation began with a survey that went out to the communications officers in charge of the crisis communication in each municipality. The ambition was to clarify the preparedness of each one and show how they relate to one another.

To create fair conditions between majority and minority in Sweden is a challeging project. Male immigrants usually do not get same opportunities for a success identity structure and integration into Swedish society as women and children. The aim of this thesis is therefore to critically examine and analyse the processes regarding identity structure and integration for male immigrants with a specific focus on Helsingborg. The object of this study is Mansgrupp, a project which helps men to build up a secure ground for identity structure and which further helps them to integrate into the society. To be able to reach the results I have made a literature study as well as a minor field study in Helsingborg, where I conducted interviews with men from the above mentioned project.