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 aim of the essay is to explore how so called ?safe spaces? are built, and the part that creativity can play in this construction. The essay also explores the duality of idea-based social work that at the same time strives to support vulnerable groups and strives to make social and political changes. The essay has its empirical base in the RFSL Ungdom project ?Tusen bilder, tusen ord? (A thousand pictures, a thousand words).

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.

Citizenship is fundamental for participation in a democracy. It gives us rights but also responsibilities in the state that we are citizens of. Citizenship provides us with the opportunity to vote in order to influence who should govern us. However, not all living in a state are citizens. Some individuals are not included in the political life of the state.In recent years, there has been a rise of nationalist political parties in Europe.

This essay aims to examine Martha Nussbaum's proposal for a classical defense of reform in liberal education and her critique of utility thinking in higher education. I want to explore how Nussbaum uses history to create an ethical alternative that cultivates both moral and intellectual virtues, which she considers to be crucial for the survival of democracy. In examining Nussbaum's use of Aristotle, I focus on her work as a proposal for institutional implementation of an Aristotelian epistemology and the cultivation of the individual as an ethical political subject. This study highlights the epistemological, educational and political ideas that form the basis of Nussbaum's ideals. I intend, however, to go beyond a contextualizing reading and thus establish a dialogue with a radical intersubjectivity to respond to Nussbaum's ambitions to recognize human vulnerabilities as assets for reason.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the ways in which culture and cultural policy are being articulated in the process of Lund's application to become Sweden's European Cultural Capital of 2014.I have used Dorte Skot-Hansen's three cultural political rationalities: the humanistic-, the sociological- and the instrumental rationality, as well as and Jenny Johannisson's extension of those into three cultural-political discourses, as sensitizing concepts in my analysis. The questions raised are: How are the three rationalities/discourses articulated in the chosen central documents and in the process surrounding them? Which themes and arguments dominate the chosen documents?The main objects of my study have been four texts that have been produced in the applicationprocess: a Prestudy, a Plan of action, a Broschure and a Cultural policy. Along with them local political protocols, newspaper articles and other related material have been used. The research method applied was a qualitative eclectical textual analysis with emphasis on the content and on tracing the way the rationalities were expressed in the material.The rationalities were all found to be articulated in the four texts.

What is it that drives a person with criminal behavior to change their lifestyle? What are the obstacles to a lifestyle change? These issues have been guiding us during this study. In the introduction, we describe the previous research that has been done among crime in men. The themes that will follow us through the course of the study are as follows; cause of crime, Self-efficacy, social network and lifestyle change. The aim of the study was to investigate the factors that a former prison convicted individual believes has been significant, as they break their criminal behavior associated with a lifestyle change.

This thesis studies three kinds of debate formats. Those are DN Debatt, SVT Debatt and Ring P1. The focus lies in the interrelations between these forums and how they interact with theri audience. Since debate is an essential tool for political and democratic practice, it is vital to study the movements and the realtions between these media formats. Some of the questions in this study are: What happens with a debate topic when it moves between the formats? In which way are the formats democratic and what does their communicative forms mean for political practice and citizen participation? The study shoes how the interpretation of a specific term can expand during a debate.

The aim of this paper is in part to distinguish the ideas raised in the Swedish political debate on the new discrimination law in relation to protection of groups. Is protection by law against discrimination needed for the individual or the group? If it is needed for members of groups, are these groups viewed on as static or variable. Are there any conflicts present between group interests? We link these ideas to three different theoretical perspectives: multiculturalism, feminism and intersectionality and further examine the differences and contradictions between the perspectives represented by members of parliament.

Internets framfart har föranlett att den elektroniska handeln etablerat sig som en allt vanligare kanal för konsumtion. Denna utveckling har gett dagens konsumenter betydligt fler alternativ att välja bland vid konsumtion, vilket har försvårat utvecklingen av långvariga relationer mellan konsument och företag. Genom ett konsumentperspektiv undersöker därför denna explorativa studie hur trogen dagens konsument egentligen är mot sin nuvarande butik. Genom att fokusera på de relationella komponenterna knowledge, trust och commitment är studiens syfte att ge en klarare bild av huruvida relationer påverkar konsumenters val att hålla fast vid en och samma butik. Studien genomförs med hjälp av teoretiskt stöd från tidigare forskning om de olika komponenterna.

Croatia became an independent country 1991 and has since then strived to reach a democracy level, which can lead to membership of the European Union. The purpose of this essay is on the basis of consolidate democratic perspective to illustrate Croatia?s democratic development.In order to fulfil the aim, I have applied a qualitative text analysis technique. Through analysis of books and documents, data was collected to accommodate a valid result. I have used consolidated democracy, with its five areas (political, civil, economic, legal and bureaucratic), as my theoretical framework to the data, to provide answers and develop an analysis.The conclusions show that the consolidate democracy in Croatia has developed a lot since the independence, and Croatia is on its good way to turn into a democratic state like other West-European countries.