The aim of this thesis is to spread some light over the coming into being of the 2005 Pension Reform in Norway. The point of departure lies within an interest in Welfare State politics and the development in this field. Pensions constitute a cornerstone in the Welfare State. Making use of J. Kingdon´s Theory of the Agenda Setting Process, Discourse Theory and Institutional Theory the thesis seek to visualize the implications of structures, central actors and discourses on the reform processes.

The debate concerning face veiling has been brought in to view by several governments in Europe. Luca Mavelli studies the debate regarding the burqa using the concept of securitization and from that the objective of this study is to analyze the medial- and the political discourse in Sweden regarding the burqa. The formulated questions drawn from this is; who are the securitizing actors? According to the securitization actors, who can de defined as a referent object? Wherein is the threat according to the securitizing actors? Is it possible to recognize a difference between the medial and the political discourse?Furthermore the paper adopts the theoretical framework that is the concept of securitization, formulated by the Copenhagen School of security. The methodological foundation is based on a social constructivist approach and consequently uses Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analyzes as an analytical tool.

Kindergarden - How can we create different synergies between different fields that they can benefit from each other? What different activities will suit the kindergarden? How will our perception of the kindergarden, of its need and function in society, change?In this Degree Project in Architecture I will be investigating the combination of the kindergarden together with a restaurant and a dance studio. I believe these activities will harmonize since they have overlapping benefits: We all eat, move and grow.With the new architectural activities in mind, I will further investigate the importance of the kindergarden as a part of society, more specifically our perception of what function it may, may not or could fill. I share the idea with a lot of authors, scientist that we are headed toward a society where children are kept too safe, thus minimising their chance to experience and learn to cope with a harsh reality when they grow up as adults. It's ok to get hurt to an extent, as long as they do not endanger their lives..

The purpose of this essay was to further develop the discussion around the street-level bureaucrats and the dilemmas that they meet in their work environment. The paper will try to accomplish this by putting the spotlight on the professional role, the organizational control of the street-level bureaucrat and the effect of society on the work environment. Something that also will be discussed is the well-known difficulty of implementation of new programs and methods, especially when street-level bureaucrats are involved. The street-level bureaucrats that this paper focuses on are caseworkers within Försäkringskassan and handle benefits and take decisions about the need for rehabilitation for people who are ill and unable to work.I have used a qualitative method for this study. The empirical material consists of six interviews at two different offices.The main cause of the dilemma of the street-level bureaucrat is that there is a conflict between the human side and the professional role.

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze how adults who grew up in an exposed habitat experienced their upbringing and society's efforts and how it affected them in adult life. The method that we used was qualitative interviews. This method has given us a rich material, we believe. The results were analyzed by means of the theory we used and past research in the field. All of our respondents have in common that they were insecure in childhood.  And everyone has had negative consequences of their childhood into adulthood.

In this essay my aim is to examine how the term utanförskap is constructed and defined as a social problem in the public arena of the Swedish Parliament. The term utanförskap was widely used in the election-campaign prior to the Swedish Parliament election in the year 2006. The term, mainly articulated by the Right-wing Alliance, was used to describe indi-viduals and groups that were depicted as being outside the Swedish society. In the political debate, work and benefit dependency were constructed as binary opposites, with the latter describing the individuals in utanförskap. Translated to English the term utanförskap would be something like ?the state of being outside? or ?outsidership?.

The aim of our Master´s thesis is to investigate the development of the different libraries in the former communities of Flisby and Lofta during the former part of the twentieth century. We ask the following questions:How did the libraries in Flisby and Lofta develop between the years of 1905 and 1952?How can we understand the libraries? dependency of funding of different kinds? We have used case study as a method, and we have adopted a source criticism approach. We have mainly used our local archives and among other things we have investigated various sorts of protocols, annual reports, auditor?s reports and the accounts that were sent to the Board of Education.

Today many sociologists speak about the modern world and the god and bad that it brings. In association to this discussion there is a tendency to speak about an increased individualization, a process that often also means more choices and possibilities. But in addition to this follows a big responsibility for how we choose to live our lives, since our choices not seldom also influences other people, both locally and globally. The aim of this essay is to investigate the importance of non-profit organizations with social direction in our Swedish welfare society and thereby also in a modern world where people's individual choices are becoming all more important. In order to answer my main issue I have implemented thirteen qualitative interviews, of which ten of the informers are from different non-profit organizations and three from different stately authorities.

Hållbar utveckling har, allt sedan Brundtlandrapporten 1987 och Rio 1992, utgjort den fundamentala idén för långsiktiga miljö- och utvecklingspolitiska strävanden och kommit att dominera miljöpolitiken/policyn i många länder. Med utgångspunkt i Hajers teori om diskursiva strategier för ekologisk modernisering, studeras i denna uppsats (1) hur hållbar utveckling påverkat svensk miljöpolitisk diskurs samt (2) hur den diskursiva dynamiken kring skiftet i svensk miljöpolitik - från kretsloppstänkande och Agenda 21 till ekologisk modernisering - efter socialdemokratins nya vision om 'det gröna folkhemmet', bör förstås.I en fallstudie i Malmö studeras närmare hur förändringen av den miljöpolitiska diskursen återspeglas i en lokal kontext samt huruvida det är nationell styrning, lokal logik eller ömsesidiga samspel inom ramen för de diskursiva förändringarna som gör att den lokala praktiken 'blir vad den blir'..

In 2011, the new upper secondary school curriculum Lgy 11 set out to distinguish the characteristics of the two subjects Swedish and Swedish as a second language. This thesis analyzes the consequences, or rather the underlying premises for such a characterization with the contradictory ideologies of the multicultural society as a point of departure. Using theories of cultural and linguistic hegemony, the thesis applies an ideological critique to the comparative text analysis of the two curriculums. The aim is to reveal the underlying assumptions of the two student bases as representatives of the majority society and the minorities. The results show that the characterizations of the two subjects are dominantly made along the line of the multicultural experience versus linguistic and cultural heritage.

The society has always tried to get rid of those who do not "fit in". They doesn't follow the normal behaviour and rules and have to be "dismissed". The community has developed different kinds of institutional care for individuals with dysfunctional behaviour. Those institutions are mental hospitals and prisons. Many of these institutions put the individuals in an extreme situation since they loses their independence and freedom.

There are three main purposes for this thesis; the first is to distinguish the possible violations that can occur in time of natural disasters. The second is to analyze if there is a correlation between political systems and how the effected country handles the aftermath of a natural disaster. The third purpose is to determine the role of the global community and what responsibility lies with them. The issue is often that the aid becomes the main object for discussion and analysis, but the focus rarely shifts to the effected State. Therefore the focus in this essay is the political system and how they cope with the human rights violations that can occur in a time of natural disaster.

The aim of the thesis is to examine discourses about political violence categorised as ?ethnic? in academic literature and the media. Employing the method of discourse analysis, the study analyses news coverage of the wars in former Yugoslavia 1991-1995. The theory applied is based on Michel Foucault?s theory of the relationship between power and discourse in the constitution of knowledge, and the main arguments are supported by the work of the political scientist V.

The purpose of this Masters-thesis is to examine the impact of identity politics on (a) Turkey's foreign policy towards Europe and the EU, and (b) Europe's/EU's political attitude towards Turkey, and what implications this may have on a possibly future Turkish membership in the EU. It is a more interpreting thesis than it is an explaining one. The examination shows that Turkey has considered Europe as a political model, while Europe has used the muslime Turkey as a threat to determine its own identity. The negotiations between EU and Turkey this autumn will have great impact on the identity of both sites. If the EU accepted Turkey as a member, the union could gain a chance to spread democracy to the islamic world and thereby earn global respect.

Over the last decades there has been a steady increase in the representation of women on the political arena. Despite of this there are still fewer women in comparison to men in political organs particularly at the municipal level. It is therefore of great importance to examine which different factors that tend to effect the female representation at this level. Doctor of philosophy at Umeå University Jessika Wide presented in a study from 2000 that the share of women in the municipal councils tended to depend upon cultural, socio-economical and political factors. Other scholars also mean that women have specific interests and therefore are more represented in some areas.