The thesis objective was to study the partnership between the municipality of Gothenburg and three nonprofit organizations concerning the mobile EU-citizens. The study examines how the EU-enlargement affected Sweden and eventually the municipality of Gothenburg, and how Gothenburg responded to the new situation regarding the target group. The thesis contains one case study and the empirical data are based on semi structured interviews with politicians and officials from both the public- and the nonprofit sector. The results were screened with New Institutional Theory, Resource Dependence Theory and Decision Making Theory: Rule Following. The theories were used to locate any type of isomorphism, resource dependence and rule following in the partnership.

The purpose of this paper is to view Karlstad Municipality and their financial support to non-profit organizations within equestrian sports. Despite the varying representatives of various equestrian sports in Karlstad, there seems to be a single beneficiary within the sport when it comes to financial support from the municipality. The policies and plans concerning cultural development are directly compared to the Karlstad Municipality and its contribution to these organizations within equestrian sports. Through interviews and reports I have studied the process of financial support from the Karlstad municipality using an intersectionality theory based on Nina Lykkes guide on gender studies and feminist theory. Pierre Bourdieu?s theories on field, habitus and capital are also used as a method to enhance the understanding of equestrian sports and its role in modern Swedish society. The conclusion is that the Karlstad Municipality is, for a several of reasons, promoting non-profit organizations within equestrian sports, which are operating as riding schools.

AbstractA general store is a grocery store that is located in the countryside. In today's modern society, it is difficult for general stores to compete with the supermarkets and discounters in terms of price and supply. The purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding of both the rural merchants and its customers? perspective on a well-­?functioning general store. We have conducted a case study of three general stores where we interviewed the merchants about how they do to please their customers? needs and identify key elements of a well-­?functioning general store.

All around the world more and more people move from rural areas to live in the cities. Because of this, the urban areas have become an important part in the debate about the effects on the environment and sustainability. In many countries word wide initiatives have been taken to build sustainable cities and eco cities, the Stockholm Royal Seaport is one example. The vision for the district is to become a world class sustainable city based on the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and ecologic. The municipality of Stockholm has set requirements for the buildings? energy usage, emissions and amount of waste generated during the building process.

This thesis suggest an explanation for is how it is possible to understand that the large arena project in Växjö grew to cost sums of money that initially in the project not would have been an alternative to discuss, how goals changed and how the institutional environment changed the prerequisites of the project. As empirical part of the research, to describe and analyze the project, the municipality?s documentation of the project have been analyzed and semi-structured interviews have been made. Theoretical perspective is taken from the neo-institutionalism in sociology of organizations and change, and theories of the complexity of large projects with major symbolic value and importance. The project starts with the municipality?s investment and cost to be hold back, defined as a necessary condition in order to fulfil an ambitious drive towards new sport arenas.  Eventually the necessary condition was abandoned and the arenas were built with the municipality responsible for the investment, cost and risk in the project.

In the era of urbanization and globalization, many small, rural and post-industrialcities struggle for growth. The competition for citizens and visitors is intense, andone commonly used strategy is to promote the city to a target audience. Placemarketing, however, is homogenized to a great extent. Marketing thus seems likea useless approach, yet almost every city does it.By using discourse analysis and institutional theory, this essay aims to explainwhy the city of Kramfors markets itself. There are several problems arising due tothe marketing of places, especially concerning the discrepancy between the city?simage and identity.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the policy proposal The right to Challenge (utmaningsrätt) and the political motivation that has been used to implement it, as well as the result of it. The focus is on a case study of the implementing in Örebro municipality. Moreover, a comparative study is done to investegate the differences and similarities between Örebro and other municipalities that have chosen to implement The right to Challenge.The main question in this essay is How did Örebro?s municipality implement it and what was the result? There is also four minor questions: How was The right to Challenge motivated and what hopes did the politicans have for it? What has The right to Challenge so far contributed with in Örebro municipality? What do the entreprenures think about their oppertunity to challenge the municipality? What similarities and differences exists between Örebro and other municipalities that have chosen to implement The right to Challenge?The results that are presented in this essay generate conclusions that the implementing of The right to Challenge was motivated with arguments that it will result in increased diversity, improved efficiency, and reduced costs. This has however not been the case since very few challenges have been submitted, most likely due to a lack of promotion.

?Life on a delicate thread?Baptism and godparenting in Bottnaryd and Ulricehamn 1781-1783The aim of this study is to discover if there were differences between the baptism traditions maintained in a typical rural parish and in an urban town parish in the period 1781-1783 and to suggest possible reasons for any differences found. Baptism records from rural Bottnaryd parish and the town of Ulricehamn were studied and compared. In both communities, parents were anxious to have their child christened on the day of birth or the day after. They did not want to wait until the following Sunday, as church law prescribed. Infant mortality was high and if the child died before it was christened, it would not go to heaven.

Our purpose was to research the new reform amendment" Lag om etableringsinsatser för vissa nyanlända invandrare", and whether the establishment of the reform is good and if it was a necessary amendment. For that reason, we have chosen to answer our purpose in these issues with this question formulation; how can the change of the law establishing operations influence the newcomers in the labour market, the problems the law intends to address, how the new change in the law is different from when the municipality "kommun" was responsible, and how the law can be discussed based on theories of social capital and weak ties. The method used in this study is from a adductive approach where the research is based on both empirical evidence and existing theory that interact between these two. The results that emerged in our work was that the newcomers within the labour market has been remote, the way the municipality?s addressed the problem did not work and the result of this was a new reform amendment, where a new participant established.

This essay wants to give the reader a glimpse of a planner?s situation in the development of different commercial establishments in a town. What they are influenced and directed by and also how these commercial establishments in the town borders effects the commerce and the life in the town center. This essay doesn?t declare to bring up all possible aspects concerning the planner?s role regarding these commercial establishments in the town borders.

The most important conclusion of this study is that the negotiations between the parties ends when conflicts arise from property owners, and with this the time will be extended and be more costly. During the study it has been shown that good communication is the key to an effective and successful negotiation between the parties.The purpose of this study is to investigate how the practical procedure under expropriation is in relation to the legal text, in other words, describe and analyze the procedure for expropriation under current rules but also to explain how it operated in practice. This is to get a picture of how the process works and what effects it receives.Three methods were used for the study. A literature review for understanding how expropriation relates according to the law. A case study from an ongoing expropriation in Sundsvall municipality, and an interview with seven affected interested parties from the expropriation.Reviewed literature describes how the application of the Expropriation Act must go to as well as other research on the topic.

The world around us is shrinking and globalization and capitalism are processes affecting the world. Global trends, like outsourcing and relocation of firms to low-cost countries, have become more common. This creates a huge vulnerability in the municipalities that today are concentrated around a single large company. One of these is Olofström which today is one of the most vulnerable municipalities in Sweden and whose survival today lies in the hand of the company ?Volvo Cars Corporation?.

In today's society, the internet is an important part of everyday life. Over recent years the number of electronic services has increased markedly. Communities such as Facebook, consume more of people's time than 5-10 years ago. How can public authorities benefit from these communities or are the municipalities not ready for this? The municipalities determine how their resources should be allocated based on the municipality's needs.

Due to the forest industry downsizing, many communities in rural forest regions in Canada and Sweden are facing problems to survive. In order to create community sustainability, resilience and well-being in remote forest regions, the view on the forest resources has shifted towards multiple use, through the concept of sustainable forest management (SFM). Beside the economic and ecological elements of sustainability, the social forest values are needed, contributing to the human well-being, local participation, stakeholder collaboration, human rights and cultural connection. In this thesis the embodiment of the social component of SFM within Prince Albert Model Forest (Canada), and Vilhelmina Model Forest (Sweden) will be examined. Being partners and facing similar challenges as rural boreal forest regions, the two model forests are compared through analysis of projects and activities, conducted interviews and organization documents. Looking at projects mentioned as successful by the interviewees, they all have elements from the social values of SFM. The direction can be explained by the introduction of the Forest Communities Program in Canada, demanding the Model Forests to work towards community stability and resilience, the Model Forest organization concept itself and the way global focus are increasing around social forest values. In the future, it may be important that the role of the MFs enable some kind of political authorization and legitimacy in order to improve conflict solving and indigenous rights equality.

Municipalities in Sweden are responsible for physical planning by developing a general plan. This plan contains intended land and water use for the area. This study aims to investigate the level of integra­tion of environmental issues in the general plan of Arboga municipality and also how well adapted the municipality is for climate change. Further on, the study intends to examine the focus of the gen­eral plan and at what rate the national environmental strategies are implemented in the local physi­cal planning of Arboga municipality. Methods used for this study are interviews and reviewing of the general plan itself and other key documents.