The object of this essay is to discuss the relationship between the definition of the concept of gender equality and attitudes towards gender equality and their consequences for gender equality measures. The point of departure is feminist political theory and interviews about attitudes towards gender equality at a department at the University of Linköping. The conclusions of this study is that there are a wide range of definitions and attitudes, and these conceptions are not necessarily the same as those being pointed out in the official gender equality policy at the University of Linköping. In this study the opinions of measures for gender equality among the interviewed are widely spread. Some finding Swedish men and women already being equal and therefore there is no need for measures, since this would result in discrimination of men since women would gain advantages from being women.

In this thesis we investigate the level of deliberative democracy in the current implementation of the 24/7 Agency in the local government. We are interested in how the combination of the two seemingly opposing ideals of Demokratiutredningen and the 24/7 Agency is solved. Our analysis is based on interviews with civil servants from three kommuner in Skåne and a schematic overview of their websites. As a theoretical framework we use New Public Management Theory, Deliberative Democracy Theory, and Citizen Theory.We have found that the local 24/7 Agency is initiated and implemented by public servants. Their experiences and worldview is mirrored in both process and result.

This thesis aims at studying the European Union?s actions against applicant states. In this case Turkey has been chosen as a variable, because of its unique applying accession.Turkey is a country which has been applying for a membership of the European Union since 1989 and Turkey is the only state which has been searching for membership for more than twenty years. Turkey has been given a lot of critic of not fulfilling the political criteria of the Copenhagen criteria?s.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the social movement Planka.nu with reference to the theory of new social movements in order to engage in a discussion about the presence of ?old? tradition and ?new? trends. As well as empirical, the purpose is also theoretical and methodological: to examine, and extend, the discussion about new and old social movements. A qualitative method is used. The analytical framework is based on a combination of theories of social movements and new social movements.

Den här politisktfilosofiska texten syftar till att undersöka den normativa problematiken kring migration i den Europeiska Unionen. För att göra det på bästa sätt har två primära frågeställningar ställts. Den första (Vilka normativa värderingar finns det att ta hänsyn till i migrationsfrågan?) är en normativ argumentationsanalys som syftar till att gå på djupet och försöka ringa in alla de premisser som gäller för öppna visavi stängda gränser samt de konsekvenser som kan följa av respektive sakförhållande.Den andra delen av uppsatsen syftar till att reda ut vilka normativa premisser som ligger till grund för de EU-beslut som tas i migrationsfrågor, men huvudsakligt fokus på utomeuropeisk immigration.Slutsatsen i arbetet är dels att migration är en synnerligen komplex fråga där man måste ta hänsyn till en mängd vitt skilda etiska och praktiskpolitiska premisser som ofta står i direkt motsatsförhållande, dels att EU: s migrationspolicys i hög grad styrs av partikulära moraliska värderingar..

The aim of this thesis is to discover facts about the Sweden democrats by looking at statistics of five different municipalities. The main question at issue is: What can you say about the Sweden democrat's voters by researching the voter statistics of the voter districts in the municipalities. The five municipalities who are the object of the study are, Helsingborg, Hässleholm, Landskrona, Svedala and Trelleborg.The Method for this thesis is a case study of five municipalities in Skåne. I have been researching the voterstatistics in the local voterdistricts of 2002 and 2006. I have compared The Sweden democrats with the Social democrats, the conservative party (Moderaterna), and the liberal party (Folkpartiet Liberalerna).The theories that this thesis is based on are voterbehaviour and rightwing-party theories.The Results are that one can not see any signs of the Sweden democrat's success being a result of a far-reaching right wave.

This Masters Thesis is about the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the arms length principle. The principle is used to explain the separation of power between two parts with a common interest. The main purpose is to elucidate if, and if so in what way, the arms length principle can be used to explain the relation between the National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture, i.e. the Swedish government, but also to examine the structures of power and relations within the Council. In the thesis we show that in the field of cultural policy the content of the arm lengths principle varies due to the many interpretations of the meaning.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how homosexuals and homosexuality were represented in the press during the trials against the Pentecostal pastor Åke Green, and to what kind of social representations and narratives these representations can be related.Using critical discourse analysis and theories about the differentiation between in- and outgroups I try to unveil implicit meanings and attitudes towards gay people mainly at the local text level. The material consists of articles in Ölandsbladet and Dagens Nyheter that were produced before, during and after the trials.The analysis suggests that homosexuals are construed as a deviant outgroup and that the majority, the ingroup, is presented as an essentially heterosexual, tolerant community. Homosexuality is wrong and heterosexuality is the right way of living. Homosexuals, in terms of group lobbyism, are construed as an enemy, a threat, against Western ideals such as family values and freedom of speech. They indirectly become a threat to Swedish democracy.

The point of departure for this essay is the observation that themunicipality of Lund is giving priority to handicap associations overother forms of associations. This act can be regarded as trespassinginto the realm of civil society. In respect of this, two aspects appearto be particularly interesting to explore. The first is to determinewhich perspective of freedom the municipality of Lund holds. Ireconstruct how the liberal and the communitarian state relate to thenegative and the positive freedom.

The Swedish emigrants, in 1901-1904, were displeased with their home country, so they moved to America with hope to find a better life. Even though they were displeased they still had a great love for their home country and tried to either create a ?new Sweden? (the Swedish-Americans), or they traveled back to their families, hopefully with savings big enough to buy their own home. Sweden did not have a homestead act like the Americans did, which probably is the biggest reason to the emigration. There was also the question of each individual?s right to vote.

ABSTRACTBjelkenbrant, Pernilla, 2006: ANC-galan i Göteborg 1985: en analys av sången Soweto som politisk mobilisering (The ANC gala in Gothenburg in 1985: an analysis of the song Soweto as a means of political mobilisation)The political scientists Abdul Karim Bangura, Ove Nordenmark and Tor Sellström, all believe that there, during the 1980s, existed a strong and unified ?Swedish? attitude against the South African apartheid system, and Sellström points out that this position had a strong anchorage in the ANC gala in Gothenburg in 1985. Over the past few years, singing has been identified as playing a crucial role in the struggle against apartheid. The aim of this study is twofold: firstly it presents a comprehensive discussion on how song is generally considered a tool of political mobilisation, secondly it discusses how that process can be applied to the ANC-gala. Consequently, the theoretical discussion constitutes the initial part of the study.

Using Varshney's theory about intra- and interethnic networks, this thesis examines how civil society in southern Thailand is built up.During 2004 the violence between Muslims and Buddhists rose in southern Thailand. The government tried to fight the insurgency using violent police and military forces, resulting in hundreds of deaths and part of reason why Thailand is loosing rank in Freedom House's democracy index. Varshney means that a civil society built up on intraethnic networks works favourable to violence between different ethnic groups. Sorting out and defining what is meant by ?ethnic? and ?civil society?, this thesis shows why to look at the insurgency in southern Thailand as an ethnic conflict surviving partly because of an intraethnic civil society.

The aim of this thesis is to study why Swedish authorities do organizational changes. Two organizations are analyzed; The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and the National Statistics Office of Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån). A qualitative method, consisting mainly of interviews with key officials, is employed to study two aspects of organizational change: first, the main reasons for changing the organization and, second, how the process that preceded the actual change was carried out. Furthermore, two different theoretical perspectives are used to construct a basis for the analysis. One of the perspectives assumes a social constructivist approach, while the other is rationalistic inspired.

The Swedish working-class author Ivar Lo-Johansson (1901-1990) wrote a collection of one hundred short stories between the years 1968-1972. His other productions, generally speaking, have partially different social reform purposes, but, according to himself, these short stories were written with the intention to be totally free of tendencies (even though he himself doubted that he succeeded with this).During the same period that these short stories were published, the Swedish social democrats were under the challenge of radical movements that, mainly on the radical left?s ideological foundation, had a relatively strong influence in Sweden, among other countries, from the mid 1960?s to the late 1970?s. Since Lo-Johansson mainly seemed to have supported the politics of the social democrats, the purpose of the investigation in this thesis has been to see if he ? in the three short stories: Vikingakärlek (1970), Rikslögnaren (1971) and Ansgars resa till Sverige (1972) ? is conveying an ideological use of history and basic political values that were used by the social democratic party during this time period.

Following an increase in hostile foreign activity. The discussion regarding Sweden?s defense force´s ability to perform its task has come to a new heading. With the end of the cold war as a major revolution in matters of international security, a major overhaul has taken place to transform the static total defense plan of the nation to a less rigid operational system.Following an analysis of the budgets total amount from the governments of 2002 until 2015 it is clear that while the amount of resources has never directly been lowered, it has shrunk in relation to the countries total GDP. The possible futures for the defense of Sweden bring three possibilities forward in correlation three unique perspectives on military and political policy.Out of the three possibilities the focus on military strength as a political resource seems to be garnering the most support with the latest incursions made my foreign submersibles and the ever growing presence of 5th generation of warfare.