The aim of this study was to examine how the political party Sweden Democrats is represented in two Swedish newspapers. The study included a national newspaper and a local newspaper, Aftonbladet and Blekinge Läns Tidning. We studied 35 articles from both papers, from 2005 and from 2009. We analyzed the texts using the linguist Norman Faircloughs (1995) method for discourse analysis. Based on his theories, we created our own model to examine the texts. Our model primarily focused on representation. The study was conducted at a time when Sweden Democrats was given much support in opinion polls and knocked on the door to the Swedish Parliament. The study showed that Sweden Democrats in both newspapers, primarily by descriptions, the choice of interviewees, etc., often are represented as racists.

The aim of this report was to investigate which factors determine municipal taxes in Sweden.The aim was also to find out whether and how the forms of political rule are significant covariates. A multiple regression analysis was performed using data from 289 municipalities. The analysis resulted in five dierent models, of which a model based on municipal grouping was found to be most satisfactory. In all of the models, there are effects from the form of political rule. The results indicate that socialist municipalities have higher tax rates than non-socialist.

Today Europe is faced with an identity crisis concerning its borders. Turkey stands at the threshold for an EU-membership while the EU-Commission is trying to formulate what constitutes a European identity. This identity seeking process will determine the future not only for Turkey, but also for immigrants now living in Europe.In this thesis a discourse analysis, underpinned by socialconstructionist theory, is conducted to explore how the European identity has been constructed throughout history up until today. A starting point is that identity always is defined through a dialectical relationship to "otherness". Therefore the analysis is focused not only on what a European identity consists of but also what and who it excludes.

The purpose with this essay was to examine how the European Union is working totransfer norms to states they signed an agreement with and provide support for inframe of the Barcelona process and the Tacis programme. The theory which weused was Ian Manners (PhD in Political Science) theory of "the EU as a uniquenormative power". The aim was to examine whether the EU - which Manners mean- has had a normative power to influence states to change. We used a qualitativeapproach through the use of a multiple case study and qualitative text and contentanalysis. The States which formed the basis of our study were within the BarcelonaProcess; Morocco and Tunisia as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia funded by theTacis programme.

The purpose of this study is to examine how adolescents can participate and have influence in the society, by making obstacles and opportunities that are considered central for their possibilities to power visible. National and international research indicates that adolescents opportunities to participation and influence are limited by the structures of society. A qualitative method was chosen, in which group interviews were made with 14 youths in development areas in Örebro. Theories are presented which constitute tools for analysis of the obtained results and has been chosen based on power- and participation perspective. An analytical model has been used to illuminate what kind of participation adolescents have in different parts of the society, where the concepts from the theoretical perspectives, power and participation are inserted.

This essay examines what some of the Swedish authorities? argument are for vegetation, what their grounds are for the arguments and why vegetation is important for the human health and experience. I have examined publications and reports from 6 different authorities on state- , regional and communal level. The authorities which publications I have studied are Boverket, Naturvårdsverket, Folkhälsoinstitutet, Miljödepartementet, Länsstyrelsen Skåne och Malmö Kommun. The publications has been analyzed by different themes; Children and young peoples influence of vegetation, Elderly and sick?s influence of vegetation, Human health, wellbeing and experience of vegetation, Vegetation at work, The influence of vegetation on stress and The effect of vegetation in the city.

In 1998 a new regional development policy was introduced by the Swedish government. A central feature in the policy was the formation of partnerships at the regional level. The partnerships were meant to consist of local and regional stakeholders, representing a great variety of interests, who would collaborate in order to improve regional development. The new policy was promoted, besides being more efficient, as a way to broaden political participation and to break male-dominated structures.This thesis discusses whether the regional partnership actually favours ?women's interests?, in terms of how the relationship of power between women and men is constituted by the model.

This comparative linguistic textstudy focuses on the relationship between a newspapers own outspoken political standpoint and it´s ambition of being an unbiased provider of objective information. This connection becomes particulary interestering in times of election when a newspapers role as provider of information is of great importance for the citizens. When a newspaper reports an event to the public, the reporter always has to choose from a small selection of possible linguistic forms when representing the story. Through linguistic analysis of these forms we can see that the final choice is often not a complete arbitrary one. We compared two daily newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Dala-Demokraten, that stod on opposite sides in the Swedish EMU-elections 2003.

The purpose of our study is to examine the bloggers? influence on the brand?s image to see whether and if so in what way the blogging trend affects the brands. We also want to analyze how companies use bloggers in their marketing. This is a subject that has attracted our interest and that experience has not been touched in a higher extent. Our purpose has led us to the following research questions;Which relationships occur in collaborations between businesses and bloggers from a marketing perspective? In what way in terms of reciprocity can relations be described? To what extent can the credibility through blogs be affected in terms of how brands are presented in the blog? In this study we have used a qualitative method with an abductive nature to create a deeper understanding of our chosen subject.

The purpose with this study is to gain understanding about student´s view of mathematical education, in the later years of nine-year compulsory school, and the motivation factors that can be identified when student´s gives opportunity to express their own thoughts due to the mathematical education. From experiences we have gained during the practical part of our teachers education we got the impression that student´s think that the mathematical education is boring and uninteresting. Through qualitative methods such as survey and discussions in focus group we have analyzed student´s views of mathematical education and pointed out witch motivation factors that are expressed when student´s gives opportunity to influence over their own education. The results are shown from the answers and comments that student´s gave, during the survey and focus group, and is divided into two main parts, both with focus on motivation ?Mathematics and motivation? and ?Student´s influence and motivation? and also a summery part ?Motivated for mathematical education when the student is given influence over the education?. The study showed that student´s wants to have more difference in the work methods that are used in their mathematical education such as problem solving, games, more work in groups and pairs and more use of IT. In conclusion the study also gives suggestions to other studies that can be made in the same genre as this study in the way that IT can be used in mathematical education and how student´s interest can be used in the education to gain more motivated student´s..

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. .

AbstractIn the literature on multiculturalism and group rights there is a strong tradition that sees diversity as something directly paradoxal to unity. In this tradition, scholars put forward a view of multiculturalism as a divisive and exclusionary process which breaks down the cohesion and unity of society. Related to this notion is that of a neutral and universally valid frame of reference in which political dilemmas can be solved; for example a neutral civil sphere where the ?true essence? of society lies. In this essay I attempt to criticise these two notions.

Denna uppsats är ett resonerande argument kring massmedias roll i det demokratiska samhället.Vi diskuterar inledningsvis ett antal demokratiideal generellt, med syftet att ur dessa kunna identifiera ett gemensamt karaktärsdrag: att demokrati kräver politiskt medborgerligt engagemang. Detta karaktärsdrag används sedermera för att fälla ett normativt påstående kring massmedias roll och innehåll. Detta normativa påstående appliceras slutligen på tre stycken skilda demokratiska ideal med utgångspunkt i en specifik massmedial innehållstyp, personcentrering..

This paper aims at describing and explaining the bi-and multilateral negotiations that are, and have been, taking place between Sweden's chief negotiator Allan Larsson and European countries, and within the EU institutions in Brussels, in order to seek support for the Swedish offer to host the European Spallation Source, ESS. It applies a case study method using political science theories ? governance and government ? and to a large extent information from the involved actors in the policy process. The paper also presents a constructive position, in showing how the negotiations on ESS can turn into a process leading to a decision on the construction of this research facility. ESS is negotiated in networks on bi- and multilateral levels consisting of European research representatives and financiers.

AbstractThe aim of this essay is to analyse the effects of women's representation on actual political outcome. Quantitative method and materials are used to study the consequences of women's political participation in Swedish municipals.Many theorists think that women have special interests, different from men?s, which is also the belief of this essay. This political interest is here defined as freedom from discrimination and violence against women. In order to see if this interest is present in local policy it is transformed into variables concerning whether the local authority has an equality plan, supports a local shelter for abused women and by how much money it supports women's shelter.