The common literature about strategic alliances offers a very fragmented picture. This thesis gives a theoretical overview on strategic alliances and builds the basis for the following examination of the different dimensions most strategic alliances have. The examination of the different dimensions is the crucial point of this thesis. Here the reader gets a detailed insight into the different dimensions and the implications they have on the design of a particular strategic alliance. This examination leads in the end to a more differentiated view on strategic alliances and the insight that no simple models exist, which give a sufficient basis for decision-making and understanding strategic alliances, today.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine some pre-school teacher's and parent's perceptions about communication within the pre-school context and how this can be described in terms of conceptual dichotomy.The empirical investigation consists of a qualitative study, where data have been collected by interviewing two focus groups and one single parent.The main theoretical tools which the study uses as its premiss is Derridas' theory of hospitality and Habermas' theory of deliberative dialogues. The study also considers the conception of the intermediate domain as an arena for communication between parents and pre-school teachers, and further more the conception of stereotyping in social and cultural contexts.In order to explore these processes I have used the qualitative method of interpretation; Hermeneutic, also with a narrative approach to the analysis.The results and the analysis of the data show that the interviewed parent and pre-school teachers have a poor sense of knowing how much influence to give to each other. The parents were not satisfied with the level of open communication and how the pre-school teachers share information of the activities..

In 2009 transgendered persons were included in the Swedish law against discrimination. Prior to the inclusion a commission made an investigation of the necessity of such change in the law and how it could be designed. This essay focuses on the discourses regarding gender that appear in the law and the report written by the commission. Using theories by Judith Butler and discourse analysis inspired by Norman Fairclough it identifies two main discourses regarding gender: a two gender discourse and a queer discourse. The two discourses meet in the studied material in an antagonistic way, a conflict that is solved by separating the two and making one part of the law focus on gender and one on transgender.

The purpose of this thesis is to bring insight into and understanding of how the market for emission rights in Europe currently works and what problems it is currently facing. The research can be said to be based on positive theory, in the sense that it is grounded more on empirical theory on the subject than normative theory. Furthermore, a qualitative approach to generating data has been used. This has led to a pattern mode of explanation, where understanding a unique and complex field is the focus. The theoretical perspective utilized in this thesis is mainly based on empirical research on similar market-based systems for emission control.

With a hermeneutical method using narratology this thesis is interpreting the auteure Lars von Trier´s discussed movie Antichrist. On one hand within the limits of the hermeneutic Paul Riceours analysis of structure is used to reconstruct the narrative of the film out of the different part of discourses that I have construed in my first reading to find out a deeper comprehension of the relation between the characters and their relations to the different discourses. On the other hand the discourses which extracts out of His and Hers actions and statements are related to the clues that I´ve found out from interviews with von Trier regarding Antichrist where he, among other things, touches upon philosophical work of Friedrich Nietzsche and his own disregard about protestantism and religion. All in all this first phase of interpretation is termed the different horizons which I finally interprete and coalesce with my subjects comprehension on a metadiegetic and meta-metadiegetic level. By this a ?fusion of horizons? in the sense of Hans-Georg Gadamer can take place, which directly leads into the big scene of Relevations.

Syftet men uppsatsen är att göra en kartläggning av perspektiv på graffiti i det offentliga rummet. Detta görs genom kvalitativa intervjuer av semi-strukturell karaktär med sju olika aktörer som på olika sätt spelar en roll i konflikten om graffitins existens i det offentliga. Uppsatsen präglas av ett humanistgeografisk perspektiv och undersöker även hur dessa sju aktörer upplever det offentliga rummet. Det teoretisk ramverket för uppsatsen är Doreen Massey´s Sense of place. Som också utgör det huvudsakliga källmaterialet.

This essay will examine the seasonal word known as kigo ?? which mainly appears in the japanese haiku. The purpose is to offer a suggestion of how a systematic explanation of the semantic peculiarities of kigo could be conducted. The object of this semantic analysis is the kigo tsuki ? (moon).

The aim of our study was to examine Swedish crime reporters? approach to the social medium Flashback. Our main focus was the crime reporters? use of the medium Flashback, and attitude towards their own use of media ethics in relation to the medium Flashback.Flashback as a medium is not obliged to any media ethics and lacks a legally accountable publisher. In the search for information about committed crimes people tends to visit Flashback for the information that the traditional media cannot offer.

This is a qualitative study aiming to study stepparents? view of the relationships within the stepfamily and their thoughts about what makes it work. It is based upon three stepmothers? life stories focusing on their relationships with their stepchildren. The study is based on a symbolic interactionistic theory and explores the experiences and unique perceptions of these women in their life as stepparents.

With inspiration from Bitzers situational analysis a phenomenografic method has been used, influenced by Brown & Levinsons´s theory of politeness, to find perceptions concerning constraints (in Bitzer´s sense in his model of the rhetorical situation) in Internet-based communication. Based on three qualitative interviews, this essay has found that the perceptions are closely linked to views of what constitutes formal and informal contexts, varying due to the gender or age of the informant. Netspeak is not considered appropriate, with some exceptions, in any formal situation. However, the perceptions regarding decorum in informal situations differ in nature, based mainly on what kinds of associations and connotations are produced by elements found in netspeak. Since perceptions regarding informal situations vary, there is a large risk of misunderstanding, which this essay aims to survey..

The purpose of this essay is to examine the United Nation?s work and structure to find possible factors that can explain why some peacekeeping operations have achieved to mainstream a gender perspective, when others have not. This study is based on two cases; the peacekeeping operation in Namibia and the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo.The theory I have chosen to apply is feminism, a theory that allows an alternative explanation to this phenomenon. The conclusion is that there are three decisive factors: The leadership and its will to recruit female personnel to decision-making positions, the number of female employees and whether the peacekeeping operation cooperates with local women-organisations or not. All this is of great importance whether the institutional hegemonic masculine culture within the United Nation and its peacekeeping operations, is challenged or not..

This essay focuses on psychoanalytic theory and its relevance for political studies. It especially draws attention to the conceptual toolkit developed by Jacques Lacan and the way that it serves as the starting point for Slavoj Zizek´s approach to the theory of ideology. One important point of this approach is that the power of an ideology is not primarily related to the ideas or worldview it expresses but rather to the enjoyment it provides the subject with. This enjoyment is obscene in the sense that it forms the necessary, but seldom acknowledged, supplement to public values. Fantasy is a major source for this kind of enjoyment.

The game QuantoJump is developed in the programming language Java to be an educational game in quantum physics. By illustrating quantum mechanical laws of electron transitions with shapes and colours, QuantoJump hopes to spark interest and create a more intuitive understanding of quantum physics. The result is a game where the player plays as an electron in the outermost shell of an atom, with the goal of getting to the innermost shell. This while not making forbidden jumps by following the laws of electron transitions dictated by quantum physics. The programming of the game was done in the integrated develpoment environment Eclipse.

The purpose of this study is to examine the physical space of children?s libraries in Sweden, and also to see which influences there are in the literature about the same subject. What ideas exist in the literature about the physical room of children?s libraries? We have studied how and if these influences can be seen in a selected number of children?s libraries. Our theoretical perspective is based on Anthony Gidden?s theory of construction.

This study is focused on representations of power and masculinities in the movie ?Warrior?(2011). By using the notion of interdiscursivity, as discussed by Norman Fairclough, my goal isto analyze how the roles of the characters relate to existing discourses in today?s society. I amprimarily interested in discourses revolving around MMA-fighters, masculinities and familyrelations.The movie to be analysed in this study is suited for interpreting new sorts of masculinitiesthrough the sport of MMA, which itself is fairly new and therefore might represent a new type ofmasculinity in the making.