Essay in political science, C-level by Mikael GranathAutumn semester 2012, Tutor: Freddy Kjellström- Ideological convergence in Swedish party politics?- An analysis of ideologies of the Swedish Social Democratic party and the Swedish Moderateparty and their healthcare and health service policies between the years of 2002 and 2010.The main purpose of this study is to examine the truthfulness in the common perception thatthe Swedish moderate party and the Swedish social democratic party are increasingly sharingthe same political views - particularly between the years of 2002 and 2010. The main researchquestion is:?Did the Swedish Moderate party and the Swedish Social Democratic partyideologically position themselves closer in the year of 2002 than they did in 2010within the health care policy area?The research design chosen for this study can be labelled as a comparative case study wherethe two political parties party programs and election manifestos that were current in the yearof 2002 and 2010 are studied. This is done to give a better view of ideological change.

The purpose of this master thesis is to describe the professional and literary life of Karl-Gunnar Wall, city librarian of Katrineholm between 1944 and 1975. Questions at issue are the reasons for Walls literary interests, Walls choice of occupation, crucial personal meetings, the context in which Wall acts, Walls fundamental principles as a librarian and as a critic, and the features comprising Walls life history. The method used is a merely qualitative one called "life history". It is founded on in-depth interviews with the persons involved and emanates from the individuals own story about his life. I have carried out three taped interviews; one with Wall himself, and two with his colleagues.

Conflict prevention is a term which has gained much influence during the last decades. To prevent conflicts from occuring have both humanitarian and economic incentives as the cost for war are much greater than the cost of acting preventive. To act in this matter has been regarded a priority for the United Nations during several years, and the European Union have also expressed a wish of playing a more active part. The essay compares the actions taken by the international organisations in Macedonia, a country which headed toward a violent conflict. The UN acted through the mission UNPREDEP and the EU through the mission of Concordia.

This essay examines two communist parties in Sweden; The Communist Party (Kommunistiska partiet [KP]) and Sweden's Communist party (Sveriges kommunistiska parti [SKP]). Furthermore, this essay is a comparative study where the two parties' political agendas are compared. The method with which the study was conducted is a quantitative content analysis, where the frequencies of usage pertaining to certain words and expressions have been measured. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx has also been compared to these two parties' political agendas concerning words and expressions. This was done in order to determine which of the examined parties stands closer to the aforementioned original document from an ideological perspective.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka faktorer och orsaker som kunde ha spelat en betydande roll i Taiwans demokratisering efter andra världskriget. De demokratiseringsteorier som vi fördjupar oss i är välkända men är skrivet utifrån ett Taiwanesiskt perspektiv. Var det den snabba moderniseringen som påskyndande Taiwans demokratisering? Eller var det enskilda individer med makt som kunde påverka Taiwans utveckling åt det positiva hållet. Inte direkt av välvilja utan istället på grund av att dessa individer ville överleva och var därmed tvungna att införa reformer.

In this thesis I discuss and analyze different factors, and different circumstances, that influence identity negotiation among the north american indians. I do this mainly by using two models.The first one is Druckmans three dimensions of identity; negotiating identity, durability of identity and spread of identity. Depending on how the identity fits in these dimensions one can se if, or how, they influence the negotiability.My second model for analyzing is Reeds ?fasteing and unfastening identity?, using this model I have tried to understand during what circumstances the identity is negotiable. The identity is more or less negotiable depending on where the indians live, who they are living with and also on their inheritance.My results shows that the indian identity is changing and developing over time but the main characteristics still remains the same.

This Master Thesis investigates changes in Thailand's foreign policy towards its neighbouring country Burma. It argues that Thai foreign policy towards Burma has experienced major changes during four periods between 1945 and the present. The thesis investigates these foreign policy changes during the four periods. What changes occurred? What were the reasons for the changes? What reasons dominated during what periods? The four periods of Thai foreign policy changes towards Burma and the common history of the two countries since their respective foundations does not suggest a stable peaceful relationship or a bitter hostile relationship leading to war.

The state of Israel is known as the only democracy in the Middle East. The purpose of this study was to examine if there is aspects in the Israelis society that can be questioned in terms of liberal democracy.Areas of concerns in the study are the Israeli official policy's concerning inclusion and exclusion of their citizens in areas of property owning, personal status and the duty of military service.The results show that the Israeli society distinguishes their citizens in these areas by their ethnic origin, in favour for the Jewish population. The law prohibits changes in the states Jewish character. One clear example how this is presented is that a Jew is prohibited to marry a non-Jew. The results show also that this official policy by the Israeli state violates important principles of liberal democracy.

One hundred years ago, boys and girls in Sweden went to school in two parallel educational systems. The girl schools were privately owned and had two educational goals; education for the household and education for work outside the home. The girl schools were free to give the education they thought was right, but around the turn of the century women?s education became an issue of growing political interest.The purpose of my study is to shine light on the idea-political impact on the teaching in the turn of the century independent girl schools. I ask two questions; What types of subjects did girl school pupils write essays about, and how do they change over time? Seen from a genus perspective, what is the relation between the essay subjects and the idea-political trends at a higher societal level?I conduct a quantitative study of Swedish essay subjects at a girl school in Växjö between the years 1884-1929.

The prospect of Turkish accession to the EU has sparked controversy in many of the member countries. It has highlighted the different ways in which European as well as Turkish identity is being defined in the debate, with some politicians seemingly trying to draw on old prejudices in order to make the case against membership. By utilising discourse analysis as advocated by Thomas Diez, this thesis seeks to explore the debates regarding the Turkish accession bid in the British House of Commons. Its purpose is to analyse how ?EU? and ?Turkey?, understood as contested concepts, gets described in different ways.

The study examines how social media can be used in a business-to-business context. To understand the communication conditions, factors has been identified that affects the choice of communication channels for different types of information transferred between parts. Furthermore, the study investigates the underlying reasons for why certain communication channels are chosen before others, in different situations. The study results are based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with employees in a small engineering consulting company. The investigation has focused on employee communication and choice of communication tools primarily in relation to the business relationship.

The care for the elderly in the municipalities has recently seen the need for a formalized system for quality assurance. Under increasing demands for monetary efficiency while bound by law to retain acceptable standards in health care, there is need for efficient and at the same time quality-assured management. The municipalities often solve this puzzle by introducing systems and standards influenced by theory-clusters such as NPM (New Public Management), TQM (Total Quality Management) or other quality management theories.This essay focuses on how the public administration in the municipalities defines quality and designs and implements system for formalized quality assurance. Our basic view of organizations is institutionalist and our theoretical framework includes theories about quality, NPM and TQM..

Syftet med denna studie var att reliabilitetstesta Alberta Context Tool (ACT) i svensk hälso- och sjukvård och beskriva ortopedsjuksköterskors skattning av kontextuella faktorer såsom ledarskap, arbetskultur, återkoppling, utvecklingsmöjligheter och forskningsanvändning, som kan påverka möjligheten att omsätta forskningsresultat i vårdarbetet. Urvalet bestod av 119 sjuksköterskor som arbetade på ortopediska vårdavdelningar på sex olika sjukhus i mellersta Sverige. ACT är ett frågeformulär framtaget utifrån de senaste årens forskning om vilka faktorer i kontexten som har betydelse för sjuksköterskors forskningsanvändning. Reliabilitetstest gjordes enligt analys med Chronbach`s Alpa och innehållsvaliditet. Resultatet visade att ACT var relevant att användas för sjuksköterskor som arbetar på ortopedisk vårdavdelning i Sverige.

To create fair conditions between the majority and minorities in a cultural diverse society poses a challenge for both the makers of government policy and the political theorist. The aim of this thesis is to examine the Swedish government official reports concerning integration and minority rights, with a special interest in values and cultural rights. As a methodological tool a theoretical model that classifies cultural rights is developed and the three normative doctrines lockean libertarianism, comprehensive liberalism and multiculturalism are distinguished from the discussion about how politics ought to be in a multicultural society. Through this perspective rights and values in the official reports are identified and analyzed. The result shows three different standpoints in the reports concerning which cultural minority group they are discussing.

Teorier om kön och ledarskap framhåller att könsordningen, sociala och kulturellauppfattningar om kön samt stereotyper om manligt och kvinnligt försvårar förkvinnor att nå högre ledande befattningar. Genom samtalsintervjuer med fempersoner vilka är involverade i rekryteringen av förvaltningschefer i Helsingborgs,Lunds och Malmö kommun har vi undersökt vilka uppfattningar ochföreställningar som kan påverka rekrytering av förvaltningschefer ur ettkönsperspektiv. Vi har funnit att könsrelaterade värderingar och fenomen somhomosocial reproduktion har en inverkan på rekryteringar av förvaltningschefer ide tre undersökta kommunerna. Vi har dessutom funnit att kommunerna betonarreflektion och handlingskraft avseende köns- och jämställdhetsfrågor irekryteringsprocesserna i olika utsträckning. Att det är nödvändigt med en balansmellan reflektion och handling anser både vi och de befintliga teorierna är enförutsättning för att jämställdhet ska beaktas i rekryteringen..