The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) promotes the Ecosystem Approach (EA). In this thesis it is analyzed how the EA approach could be applied to regional management of coastal areas in Sweden. The aim of this report is to compare management for preserving biodiversity on a landscape level in two regional coastal areas in Uppsala and Västra Götaland respectively. In Uppsala, one of the plans consists of a previous nature reserve and in Västra Götaland, a Regional landscape strategy has been established. The ecosystem approach is used as a theoretical framework in this thesis.

This bachelor thesis examines the relation between countries? degree of economic freedom and their economic performance. Economic freedom as a concept is defined as the degree of market economy within a nation.The variable of measure that is used is the Frasier institute Economic freedom of the world index (EFI). The paper is built upon the Solow growth model and is extended by incorporation of additional variables; among which of course economic freedom. The study is performed through regression analysis, based on the neoclassical model both on rich countries, poor countries and on all investigated countries.Two investigations are performed: i) the impact from economic freedom on countries level of GDP per capita and ii) the impact from economic freedom on the growth rate in GDP per capita.The finding is that economic freedom can be seen as a relevant determinant of differences in GDP per capita growth rates between nations.

The dairy cow?s ability to resume estrus after calving and to conceive is affected by their metabolic status after calving. For high yielding cows there is a high risk that the feed intake will not be sufficient to cope with the increased energy demands after calving, and the cow will end up in a state of negative energy balance. Energy balance can be measured in various ways, for example by body condition score or by plasma concentration of several metabolic hormones and metabolites. After calving, endocrine pathways stimulate tissue mobilization; insulin signaling is blocked, the concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) and leptin decreases, and the concentration of growth hormone (GH) increases.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if and how children acknowledge TV-commercials, and if that is the case, are their preferences in products a result of it? The study also investigates which TV-commercials that are broadcasted together with children?s programs and if and how the children acknowledge these. The studies are based on interviews and an exercise with pictures that was carried out with two groups containing four children each. One group contained four children in the age of 6, and the other four children in the age of 7. The children are situated in a school in the Swedish countryside.

This study is grounded in an interest in the Swedish Upper Secondary Schools? role as an educator of democratic citizens, with a specific interest in the moral and cognitive development of Upper Secondary School students. Development in these two areas is treated as results of citizenship education.The purpose of the study is to examine moral and cognitive development of students in Upper Secondary School to see if there are any structural differences to be found between the Upper Secondary School programs that are vocationally oriented and the programs that are preparing for further studies on higher levels ? since these differences have been both theoretically and empirically implied. The study is based on an enhanced version of Lawrence Kohlberg?s stages of moral development (with teachers? evaluations of students? capacity as a reference point of the students? actual level of moral development) as well as on Kieran Egan?s theory of development through the use of cognitive tools (as seen in five different ?shapes of understanding?).

The Regional Forestry Board in Värmland- Örebro needs increased knowledge on silviculture in broad- leaved forests. This thesis is an inventory of naturally regenerated broad leaved forests, and the results from the inventory have been compared with The Regional Forestry Board?s demands on regeneration results. The result of this inventory was that the regenerated sites were suitable for broad leaved trees, but only half the number of the stands fulfilled the demands of regeneration results of The Regional Forestry Board, mainly because of gaps in the stands. The gaps in the stands were mainly caused by lack of soil preparation and seed trees..

This study deals with the phenomenon of European integration and its impact on national party programs in Poland, a current member state of the European Union. The author will argue that the question of European integration has left a mark on the political party programs of two mainstream domestic parties on opposite sides of the ideological dimension, in the form of a certain degree of convergence regarding the ?European issue?. Relating the result of the analysis to the theoretical structure of Europeanization and sociological institutional change, the essay will attempt to show a possible link between them. Although this trend does not seem to indicate any dramatic effects of the membership per se in the programs (the national arena seems, in most cases, be of more value for party activities) there is an indirect effect in the form of the presence of Europarties and a pronounced incentive for social and economic adaptation..

In a global context the traditional democratic process is facing new challenges. Scholars are talking about a transition from government to governance, where local and regional networks as well as international collaboration are an important part in how regional policy is produced and implemented. In this paper the processes in regional projects funded by the European Union are considered, and related to the traditional democratic process. The study has been fulfilled through informant interviews with representatives from four EU-projects. The interviews are supplemented by a qualitative text analysis of current statutes.

I Sverige har det pågått en fyra decennier lång regiondebatt om hur den regionala förvaltningen ska organiseras. Denna debatt har resulterat i ett beslut om en försöksverksamhet med regionalt självstyre i fyra län från 1 juli 1997 till 31 december 2002. I den regionala försöksverksamheten som ytterligare har förlängts till 2006 ingår Kalmar, Gotland, Skåne och Västra Götaland. De två sistnämnda regionerna är mitt undersökningsmål. Syftet med denna uppsats är att lyfta fram de väsentliga faktorer/element som kan relateras till och förknippas med regional identitet.

Regional säkerhetskomplex-teori är en central del av Köpenhamnsskolan, och den beskriver säkerhet som något som sker framför allt på en regional analysnivå. Teorin kan beskrivas som en blandning mellan neorealism och konstruktivism, sett ur ett regionalistiskt perspektiv. I den här uppsatsen försöker jag ta reda på vad den här teorin tillför till förståelsen av säkerhetspolitik, utöver vad vi lär oss av konventionell neorealistisk eller liberal teori. Detta gör jag genom två fallstudier där de olika teorierna jämförs med varandra och deras förklaringskraft studeras. Min ena fallstudie handlar om Europa, den andra om den post-sovjetiska sfären med fokus på Ryssland. Jag drar slutsatsen att regional säkerhetskomplex-teori har både för- och nackdelar jämfört med dominerande teorier.

We live in an exciting society, characterized by continuous changes and challenges. The effects of the globalization are widespread. The continuous flow of people, capital and goods follows in the wake of advances in communications, transport and information technology, resulting in a changed situation for different stakeholders in the society. This situation leads to increased cooperation and exchange, but also increased competition. The primary means of collecting empirical data for this study was interviews and a document study.

With the end of the Cold War the number of conflicts where the United Nations have intervened has increased dramatically. This has entailed a need for a burden-sharing between the UN and regional organizations regarding management of conflicts. The aim of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the effectiveness and the efficiency in the efforts undertaken by ECOWAS and the UN during the civil war in Sierra Leone, through using theories on conflict resolution and the advantages of regional organizations in conflict resolution.My conclusion is that both ECOWAS and the UN were quite successful in managing the conflict and had an impact on the resolution of the war, although both peace operations suffered from internal problems. ECOWAS was effective in managing the conflict and in its mediating efforts as an insider from the region. The UN was more efficient in managing to attain their goals.

Sustainable development is a concept that has been interpreted in a multitude of ways in different contexts. This essay argues that the discourse of "ecological modernization" has strongly influenced the way in which the concept of ?sustainability? has been constructed in Swedish environmental policy. This interpretation of the concept of sustainability offers the possibility of combining economic growth with ecological sustainability which stands in contrast to the assumptions of Deep Ecology and Green Theory. The aim of this essay is to explore how the concept of sustainability is being formulated in environmental policy both on a national level and in the city of Malmö.Considering these issues in a specific context, this essay focuses on city planning that is as an important instrument to promote urban sustainability both on national and local levels.

The role of cultural policy within the general political planning of a community can vary both historically and regionally. The aim of this study has been to explore the cultural policy plans, during the 1990's, in the recently formed geographical region of "Västra Götaland". This is a qualitative study, carried out during 1999, and based upon structured interviews with five representatives of the cultural-policy sector in the "Västra Götaland" region. In order to identify connections and tendencies in a more general social context the aims of the five representatives regarding cultural policy have been explored from the perspective of three cultural policy paradigms, namely Dorte Skot-Hansen, Olav R. Spilling and Göran Nylöf.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka de alternativa drivmedlen på en regional och en global nivå. Författarnas syfte var att fokusera på hur dagens infrastruktur påverkar användandet av alternativa drivmedel, men under arbetets gång visade det sig att den egentliga problematiken låg kring debatten om de olika alternativens framställningsprocesser och kostnader för dessa.I uppsatsen tas regional geografisk teori upp och även politisk och ekonomisk geografi för att kunna förklara de alternativa drivmedlens framtid och dess konsekvenser.I metoden har författarna valt att intervjua flera olika intressenter som är med i utvecklingen kring miljöbilar och alternativa bränslen för att få olika perspektiv.Intervjuerna var informationsrika och gav författarna insikt om hur komplex den nya marknaden egentligen är och att det krävs ytterligare forskning inom området för att tillgodose våra framtida energibehov..