The aim of this thesis is to explore the institutional design of Participatory Budgeting (PB) in Sweden and how the design may contribute to realize central democratic goods. The study records the different PB experiences in Sweden and focuses on one particular case, which is the only case that successfully qualifies as a genuine PB-process according to international standards and definitions. To examine this, the following questions are asked: which municipalities in Sweden have implemented Participatory Budgeting? How can the institutional design of Participatory Budgeting be described and to what extent does it enable the realization of central democratic goods? To what extent does the institutional design enable the realization of the democratic goods inclusion, popular control, considered judgment and transparency? To what extent does the institutional design enable the realization of the institutional goods of efficiency and transferability?The study is based on an institutional theory of democracy. The method used is a mixed method ideal type analysis that combines document analysis, surveys and interviews.

The aim of this study is to examine some teachers and assistants? perception of conditions for students? democratic participation in the compulsory school for learning disabilities specialization training school. In order to deepen and more clearly describe the purpose of the study, three issues have been selected. Firstly, how do teachers and assistants perceive the concept of participation? Secondly, how do teachers and assistants perceive students opportunities for participation in teaching? And finally, do teachers and assistants perceive students? opportunities for participation in democratic activities of school? It is a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews.

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has since the start of the Syrian uprising in March 2011 moved from a low-key position in exile to become one of the main actors in the political opposition. There appears to be a consensus among researchers today on the democratic commitment of the Syrian Brotherhood. However, ambiguity remains regarding its commitment towards gender equality, women?s rights and participation. This essay focuses on the gender discourse of the Syrian Brotherhood?s leadership, according to its policy-documents, from 2004 ? 2013.

This thesis contains a wider discussion on the analytical framework of classstudies in political science. The purpose is to put class into the light of a usefulmethodological and theoretical tool when it comes to studies on inequality and political,as well as scientific approaches and explanations to why people have awide range of differences in how they pursue their lives. It is my ambition to discusshow class relations can be theorized and explained within a given context, aswell as in society as a whole. I see the complexity of this field as a resource to enhancethe epistemological as well as the empirical discussions within the politicalscience scholars..

The Swedish school law says that students who need special education should have all the support they need to reach the qualification that is set up. The arrangements have to be written down in an Individual education plan (IEP). Before the IEP is set up there has to be an investigation about what kind of support and measures the student needs to reach the qualification that is set up. The aim of this study is to examine student?s participation in school and in the progress with their own IEP.I have accomplished a qualitative study by interviewing eight students during the letter part in the nine-year school.

Local cultural environment planning in Sweden often comes to rely on municipal heritage plans. These plans are meant to facilitate management of local cultural values, work as a tool for local planning and increase awareness of cultural environments for the public. In the last decades public participation in planning has become more and more of the ideal strategy, challenging the idea of cultural environment planning as an expert-led field. The idea of the field as one that implicates public participation as a strategy has been fortified in Sweden through national goals, government bills and conventions. Nevertheless the implementation of public participation in municipal heritage plans remains quite uncharted. The aim of this study is to explore public participation in regards to how municipal heritage plans are developed and the perception of public participation in cultural environment planning amongst professionals, comparing bigger and smaller municipalities.

AbstractThe purpose of this minor thesis is to describe and systematize the Swedish debate about Sweden?s participation in the defence community of the European Union. Should Sweden take part of this or not? My aim is to describe the debate in a structured and legible way, so that the reader can get a comprehensive picture. The questions of the study are:· Which actors join in the Swedish debate about Sweden?s military participation in the EU:s defensive community; the possible common defence of the EU and the EU:s military crisis management?· Which arguments are delivered (for and against) in the debate?To be able to fulfil the aim of this study I have done an argumentation analysis.

This essay examines how public planners and the inhabitants of södra Gårda relate to the physical planning of the area and to the demolition versus the preservation of the quarters Eken and Cedern, and how the dialogue between planners and citizens appears to be. How do the planners and policymakers relate to citizen participation in urban planning, and how is participatory planning carried out in the legislation, rhetorically and in practice. Former research indicates a distinct gap between rhetorics, legislation and actions in practice regarding citizen participation in planning, which is why we find it an interesting topic for further research. The essay aims to highlight the different actors interests and visions of the development of the area. Which are the standpoints and arguments the different actors set out for the future visions of the area? The essay focuses on citizen participation in urban planning in the city of Gothenburg.

The purpose of this study was to examine children's participation in court proceedings on supervised visitation and to analyse the descriptions of children in court verdicts. Eleven verdicts concerning supervised visitation resolved in 2014 were collected from two district courts in Stockholm County and studied with a qualitative textual analysis. The material was analysed with participation levels influenced by the ladder of participation for children developed by Roger Hart and with the theory of sociology of childhood. Our findings showed that children's opinions were mentioned in eight of the verdicts. In four verdicts the children's will influenced the courts decisions.

A hearing loss may affect the identity development and participation among adolescents. To understand adolescents with hearing loss in modern society, it?s of great importance to ascertain how identity- and participation processes occur in new areas, such as the internet.Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate what research shown regarding identity development among adolescents with hearing loss and whether social processes on the internet may influence the participation of this group.Method: A literature review was conducted to obtain a cohesive framework of research about participation processes and identity development among adolescents. Included articles have been published 1995-2015.Results: The results show the importance of the individual?s identification with the surrounding.

Around the world governments reach out to their emigrant population, embracingthem as part of the nation, expecting their economic contribution. The aim of thisthesis is to examine the political strategy and governmental activities of ElSalvador with the purpose to include emigrants in the nation building project. Themain question is what consequences this has for the significance of citizenship.This case study is based on the theoretical framework of external citizenshipwhich is a new fenomena emanating from states growing interest of theirexpanding diaspora. It divides external citizenship in two parts; a legal dimensionand a practiced identity.I find that as the economic potential of salvadoreans abroad increase, theSalvadorean government makes institutional changes to tie emigrants to thenationstate. This results in the possibility for salvadoreans to remain citizens intheir country of origin, practicing their salvadorean identity at the same time asthey naturalize abroad.

Clients with dual diagnosis have difficulties to recover and have a tendancy to fall between two stools. Among other things this is due to the fact that caregivers have different approaches, values and focus. The purpose of this study is to compare how clients, therapists and socialworkers look upon the aim of the treatment, its form, residential care, the conception of goalfulfillment and participation. In our study we have applied the theories of Aaron Antonovsky, Howard Becker and Erving Goffman. The paper consists mainly of qualitative interviews with clients, therapists and socialworkers.

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.

Purpose: From an activity-perspective examine the meaning of housing accessibility and older persons´ perception of participation. Method: Systematic literature review of articles searched in the databases, Medline, Pubmed, Ahmed, Cinahl, Scopus and Google Scholar. Search on individual keywords, and in various combinations of the words home environment, home modification, occupational therapy, aging, accessibility and participation. Nine scientific articles were examined. Results: The articles were published between 2005 and 2009.

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.