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.

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.

This is a qualitative study with a hermeneutic and partially inductive approach. The study?s purpose is to enhance the understanding of young adults experiences of unemployment and the importance of being employed. In this study, eight young adults participate in the project Framtid Kronoberg. The youths are 19-25 years of age.

A young adult is defined to be in the ages 16?25 and it is during these years that they step in to the job market. Many young adults feel pressured by society to have a job and to keep it. There are motivational factors such as money, activity level, variation, social contacts and personal development that drives the young adult to want a job. The purpose of the study was to examine which motivational factors are significant and the difference between the genders.

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..

Earlier the regional social insurance office was exposed to critisism because of bad administration and a lack of providing public service. Among other things the regional social insurance office was attacked because of long investigation hours and indinstinct working methods and was blamed for not being able to solve the unhealth in the society. This lead to the reformation of the previous regional social insurance office into a government authority agency on the first of Januari, 2005. Extensive organizational changes were made so that regional social insurance office could handle the demands and become a uniform public administration. I have made a qualitative study where the purpose was to se how the changes affected the public administrators and I focused on their participation and willingness to change.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay was to examine how young people who are about to graduate from high school define and value their future. We also wanted to se which emotions they associate with their future and what or who influences them in their choices in life.The questions for our study were:What does it mean for these youths to become an adult?What images do they have of future education, profession and unemployment?What or who influences the picture they have of their future?What kind of attitude do they have towards the future?We approached the research with a qualitative method and interviewed ten youths in high school. Our conclusion was that the youths had an ambivalent attitude towards becoming adults; it was scary and yet exciting. The youths had the impression that education was important in order get a good job and to avoid unemployment.

The study is divided into three parts ? the development of wage labour towards becoming the dominant norm in society, how this norm is challenged in a specific geographical context, and lastly a study of two unemployed individuals and their everyday activities, what and especially why certain behaviour occurs. The main purpose with the text is to study unemployed people in a specific geographical context in a overall society where wage labour is thought to be the norm. Questions that is being asked is how the unemployed individual works in a society where wage labour is the dominant activity for the day. This is connected to a study of Möllevången, a district of Malmö, where the wage labour norm can be thought of as being challenged.

The name of the study means ?The short arm - a study in diversity and arm?s length in the cultural collaboration model?. Right now there is a reform in the Swedish cultural administration where the responsibility for handing out state funds and grants to cultural organizations is changing from the state government to the local regional governments. The purpose of this study is to map the organisational changes caused by the reform and investigate how this affects the regional policies concerning cultural diversity and the arm?s length principle.

I februari 2007 redovisade ansvarskommittén sitt slutbetänkande för regeringen. I sitt slutbetänkande föreslår ansvarskommittén en omstrukturering där 6-9 regionkommuner kommer att ersätta dagens 21 landsting, samtidigt kommer 6-9 län, sammanfallande med de föreslagna regionkommunerna, att ersätta dagens 21 län. Den föreslagna omstruktureringen har fått regionaliseringsdebatten att åter blossa upp i Sverige. I debatten är det tydligt att känslorna för den egna regionen varierar mellan olika regioner, då vissa regioner vurmar mer och andra mindre för den egna regionen. Vad beror detta på? Handlar det om regional identitet eller avsaknaden av densamma? Dessa frågor ligger till grund för denna uppsats med syfte att undersöka hur region och regional identitet konstrueras och rekonstrueras i tidningsmedia.

The purpose with this master thesis is to analyze how the Swedish County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) acts in an environment that changes fast with more regional actors than ever before. There are also proposals regarding new public authorities and eventually a reduction of the Swedish County Administrative Board.By studying a report issued by the Board in December 2005 the aim is to find their intentions and actions for the future. By using three diverse theoretical concepts - the public organisation, the instrumental perspective and two separate perspectives from new institutionalism - the expectation is that I will have the possibility to analyze the intentions of the organisation in many different ways.In this case study I also want to take into consideration the central discourses in the regional debate, shall we decentralize or shall we keep on having a strong state even in the future? What kind of regional policy does the Swedish County Administrative Board prefer?The result shows that the Swedish County Administrative Board struggles for a strong state even in the future, but it does not propose any huge changes. In many ways it seems like they act as they are supposed to - as an instrument for the government - but despite that it is obvious that the Swedish County Administrative Board tries to show that it has the traditions and knowledge.

The essay shows that temporary agency employees work in a complex business. Both labor and management differs from other businesses in the Swedish labor market. Regarding the unemployment insurance, they have previously been separated from other businesses through legislation. Based on the essay question regarding workers protection has the statutory rights for employees been strengthened. This by the implementation of the directive on manning into Swedish law and now covers all workers in the business.