This evaluational study has been initiated by the County Council of Gävleborg (LandstingetGävleborg), politically responsible (and the main economical) authority of BibliotekGävleborg, the regional library institution in the county of Gävleborg, Sweden.The aim of the study is threefolded:1. to evaluate the organization of Bibliotek Gävleborg during the 1990's as we11 as theeffects of a reorganization carried out in 1990, and, through the use of interviews and a questionnaire, to ascertain the attitudes of Bibliotek Gävleborg's branch users (mainlythe municipal libraries in the county) towards the organizational development.2. to evaluate and compare regional library activities in Gävleborg prior to and duringthe 1990's, and to investigate the attitudes of the afore-mentioned branch users towardsBibliotek Gävleborg's activities.3. to investigate and discuss possible future directions of regional library development in Sweden in general, and in Gävleborg in particular.The closing, debating chapter in the study also'contains a few suggestions of measures to enhance regional library activity in Gävleborg..

This rapport examines six Swedish workplace unions, in manufacturing internationalised companies, degree of internationalised trade union work. The report is based on interviews with local shop stewards. All local workplace unions were in some form internationalised. They were placed in three different groups of strategies: Passive, Tactical and Strategic. The Passive union only tried to get information; the Tactical unions were reactive against initiative from company management and used the channels provided of Industrial Relation laws.

New Zealand is currently the third largest global producer of kiwifruit and thus plays an important role in the international market. Exports of kiwifruit are also of significant horticultural value for New Zealand and in 2007 the kiwifruit industry accounted for export values of NZ$790 million. The global kiwifruit market has experienced substantial changes in recent years and is likely to change significantly in the near future due to developments in production sources, adjustments to trade policy settings and shifts in consumer preferences. The New Zealand kiwifruit industry needs to consider what the impacts of these changes might be so that future strategies can be constructed effectively. Little quantitative modelling has been done in New Zealand to consider the impacts of changes to the global kiwifruit industry. The major contribution of this research was the development and calibration of a kiwifruit industry-specific partial equilibrium trade model. The model was then used to examine the impacts on New Zealand producers of these trade-related changes in the global kiwifruit market.

The general aim of this paper is to describe how the European Union can affect and transfer their conditionality politics to the Western Balkan countries. A specific purpose of this study is to describe and explain what we in this paper consider to be a specific additional membership criterion, regional cooperation that has been especially designed for this region. The point of departure for this paper is Europeanization theory that will be used to study the European Union?s impact on non EU-members in Europe. The theoretical Europeanization mechanisms are taken from Heather Grabbes ?Europeanization model?.

In the light of ever increasing international trade around the globe, affecting men and women in all countries, it is surprising that so little attention is given its gender effects. The effects of trade are said to be gender neutral, but could potentially act reinforcing on the existing gender patterns in a society. The aim of this thesis is to examine whether the implications for men and women in relation to trade liberalization can be found to differ. By stylizing some differences between men and women, this is done by examining the theoretical implications mainly via the Heckscher-Ohlin model and through a Beckerian approach. The implications found are then compared with the findings in existing empirical work.

Swedens membership in the European Union have resulted in an international characterized labour market. The construction sector is the area who employs most posted workers among the 7400 employees who monthly enters the market. It?s also the sector where a big part of the work-related deaths occurs. The purpose of this study is therefore to contribute to a greater understanding of the regulation regarding posted workers, their work environment and the consequences of it.

Trade Unions are finding it increasingly challenging to appeal to employees and all trade unions alike are encountering new challenges to attract and retain members. Additionally a more diversified and educated labor market is creating demands for trade unions to better meet individual needs. The purpose of this study was to explore and analyze the role of branding in Unionen, the largest white-collar trade union in Sweden, and how branding efforts help in attracting and retaining trade union members. The theoretical foundation of this thesis is based on theories related to corporate branding and relationship marketing. Furthermore, the study develops and introduces the concept of member branding in the context of trade unions.

Abstract This thesis is a case study aiming to give explanations to Russia?s annexation of Crimea in March 2014. By using three different theoretical perspectives, realism, regional hegemony and constructivism, the aim is to find different but also complementing explanations to the case. The theories realism and regional hegemony are related and also similar to each other, but still contributes with some different focuses on the case. Both realism and regional hegemony has their main focus on the sovereign state?s security and their power militarily, politically and economically.

In 2009, the Swedish Basketball Federation started a Region U15 development project in order to change the structure of the regional organization to get into a more transparent and similar operations throughout the country. My purpose is to study the attitudes to the change among the region leaders in the regional operations and evaluate the change from an organizational perspective. The study is primarily based on the following questions: What are the experiences of the change process among the region leaders in the regional organization? How involved have region leaders been in the changing process? Which are the positive and negative aspects with the regional operation today? What can be done further to develop the regional operation and to what extent do the organizational change follow general organizational theories? In my study, a qualitative method was used in terms of interviews with 8 regional leaders to understand their attitude to the project and the changing process. To analyze the results of the region leaders ?responses, a transcription have been made.

This thesis deals with the supranational organization of European trade unions. The European trade union movement is, via its umbrella organization the ETUC, an institutionalized social partner within the European Union. The ETUC is a very diverse organization with great potential of conflicting interest among its members. This thesis therefore seeks to explore the dynamics and interest heterogeneity of the ETUC. Drawing on previous research and literature it formulates a number of hypothesises to test what variables that influence the member organizations policy preferences (i.e.

The purpose with our essay was to increase our knowledge about what social workers, with experience from working with drug addicts, perceive as the explanations to a person stopping the abuse and succeed in staying drug free. Our framing of the question was:- How do social workers define the term drug free?- How big a roll do the social worker believes she/he has in the process in which a person stops abusing drugs?- How do the social worker work with a person towards getting that person drug free?- What do the social worker believe to be the reason why a person stops abusing drugs?- What do the social worker perceive as helpful for a person to stay drug free?We did qualitative interviews with six social workers. Our main conclusion was that it is difficult to define the term drug free. The reason for stropping the drug abuse can vary, it can be the family situation, "hitting rock bottom", finding love or tiring.

The aim of this study is to look at the environmental effect on toddlers? social interactions during free play in two older and two newer preschools. Furthermore, we would like to investigate four preschool teachers? thoughts about the indoor environment when it comes to toddlers? interaction during free play.Qualitative methods containing interviews of the preschool teachers and observations of the children during their free playtime have been used to help us reach our conclusions. In addition, our theoretical conclusions have been derived from both the sociocultural perspective and the environmental psychology perspective.Our results have shown that variations in the preschool environment are of importance in the outcome of toddlers? different social interactions.

One fundamental principle in Swedish contract law is that passive acceptance does not constitute a binding acceptance of an offer. Still, business owners use the consumers unknowing of this, and form offers saying passivity will lead to a binding agreement. Business owners are thus trying to ?negatively bind? the consumer to agreements. There are rules prohibiting this kind of actions in the Swedish marketing law (MFL).In order to find out what constitutes this forbidden kind of agreement-entering according to the Swedish Market Court, an analysis of seven cases settled between 2002-2009 and concerning consumers in these situations, is made.

The analysis of regional development and the formation of regional policy have experienced an increasing importance in Europe and in Sweden during the last decades. There is a widespread assumption that the increasing significance of regions is due to the diminishing role of the nationstate in the era of globalization. This essay suggests that there is a hegemonic discourse, heavily relying on the assumptions of New Regionalism, when addressing regional building. Sometimes described as an ideology, New Regionalism, which is derived from research of successful regions, is based on the assumption that regional competitiveness and autonomy creates economic growth. The Committee on Public Sector Responsibilities (Ansvarskommittén) suggests that Sweden requires new regional structure, due to the increasing expenditures facing the welfare state.

?The importance of representation and structures to establish influence. A study of the Trade Unions Youth Activities within The Swedish Trade Union Confederation.?-Katrin OlofssonThis essay is studying the importance of representation and structures for the youth to establish influence, within the Trade Unions of The Swedish Trade Union Confederation, LO. More specific it is about the youths influence in each trade union´s executive committee.