This study analyzes how civil society contributes to the democratic development in a Nicaragua governed by the sandinist party FSLN. The empirical focus lays at the relationship between state and the civil society. By using a conceptual framework outlined by Caroline Boussard, the civil society is being analyzed as an actor with a democracy-building potential that is supported or constrained by a political context.The civil society is divided between traditional social movement and more newly borned NGOs. Social movements tend to approach the government comparatively to NGOs, which adopt a highly critical attitude. In contrast to NGOs, the traditional social movements are improving their democratic functions as a counterpart while NGOs confine its democratic potential to an agenda setter drawing attention to democratic deficits.

The aim of this study was to illuminate how social workers in social services work with the social phenomenon, homelessness in two municipalities. The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with interviewees from a department of social services. Our theories that we used was resistant inequality, structural discrimination, exclusion, empowerment and representation. After compilation of our empirical our conclusions are that homelessness is a complex phenomenon. Social workers handles homelessness based on client?s needs and the work is individualized.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to investigate the importance of subject expertise for academic librarians in Skåne. Virtually all librarians in Sweden have studied other subjects besides library and information science (LIS) before becoming librarians, and in this thesis we ask what happens to this expertise. How many librarians can be said to have a good background in the subjects they are working with? Do academic librarians use their subject knowledge on the job? Does it make a difference what subject one has studied when it comes to job opportunities? What do librarians themselves think of the importance of subject expertise? We are also interested in finding out how subject expertise fits in with the growing professionalization of librarianship.A quantitative questionnaire was sent to 195 academic librarians at four different institutes of higher education in Skåne. A total of 107 librarians answered questions about their LIS education, subject background and current job as well questions on how important they perceived a subject background to be for themselves and for academic librarians in general.

Lagförarbeten intar en unik position i Sverige vid en jämförelse med andra rättsystem genom sin starka ställning bland de andra rättskällorna. Sverige är antagligen det land där lagförarbetena åtnjuter starkast ställning i världen. Varför Sverige är så annorlunda är en fråga som det inte har reflekterats över eller diskuterats om i någon större utsträckning i den offentliga debatten. En intressant frågeställning som aktualiseras angående förarbeten är emellertid frågan om maktdelning mellan den lagstiftande, verkställande och dömande makten, dvs. riksdag, regering och domstolarna.

Utvidgningen av Europeiska unionen medför att allt fler aktörer måste samarbeta i syfte att uppnå och utveckla en stark och gemensam europeisk marknad för varor, tjänster, personer och kapital. I och med att antalet länder i gemenskapen ökar uppstår också allt större klyfter mellan så väl medlemsstaternas sociala förhållanden som nationella lagstiftning. Detta innebär att mer komplexa förhållanden växer fram som kräver allt större anpassning hos de enskilda medlemsstaterna, vilket genererar problem. Det ligger varken i Europeiska unionens eller i medlemsstaternas intresse att den fria rörligheten medför några större ekonomiska problem för arbetsmarknadens aktörer. I Vaxholmskonflikten har dock problemet med nationella skillnader aktualiserats utan att den nationella domstolen anser sig kunna finna en gemenskapsrättsligt godtagbar lösning.

Syftet med detta examensarbete var att ta fram en modell för att attrahera innovationsmöjligheter till Munktell Science Park i Eskilstuna. Detta gjorde författarna genom att från befintliga teorier deducera fram en hypotetisk modell. Modellen används inte för att skapa innovationer utan för att hitta komplexa problem. Det är lösningarna på de komplexa problemen som i sin tur kan vara innovationerna. Därför har vi kallat de komplexa problemen för innovationsmöjligheter. .

The society has always tried to get rid of those who do not "fit in". They doesn't follow the normal behaviour and rules and have to be "dismissed". The community has developed different kinds of institutional care for individuals with dysfunctional behaviour. Those institutions are mental hospitals and prisons. Many of these institutions put the individuals in an extreme situation since they loses their independence and freedom.

The topic of this thesis interest is the relation between branding as a place making/marketing technology and the process of regionalization. The main proposition advocated is that the officially communicated image of the Øresund Region, as a cohesive place and community, is a space that has been configured with branding and can be described as a territorial simulation. The concept of territorial simulation consists of two conjoined terms: simulation which aim at explaining the idiosyncratic brand image, as a social formation, which does not represent the place it imitates but commoditise it; and territorial which seeks to visualize the process of the unfolding of this image as a territory. The main argument is made in the third chapter, which traces the process of actualization of the brand image as a territory: ?Øresund?.

The aim of this study was to reach a deeper understanding of the process that occurs within the social services after receiving a notification according to Chapter 14, section 1, The Social Services Act. More specifically the focus of this study was to illustrate how social secretaries reason about children?s participation in the process, as well as to examine whether the legislative change, Chapter 11, section 1 a, The Social Services Act, has affected the process in any way. The study?s results reflect interviews with five social secretaries who are active in four different municipalities in southern Sweden.

AbstractAuthor: Josefin Gustavsson, Moa OsbäckTitle: School social workers view on young people using social media ? a study with a discourse theoretical approach [Skolkuratorers syn på ungas användande av sociala medier ? en studie med en diskursteoretisk ansats]Supervisor: Anders GiertzAssessor: Jan Petersson The aim of this study is to investigate school social workers view on young people using social media. With this study we are intended to understand how discourses affect the interventions of school social workers. This study has a qualitative approach and contains seven interviews with school social workers and one social worker who responded through a written response document. The interviews were semi-structured to enable spontaneous reflections and to catch the essence of the respondent?s language in the context as a school social worker.

Our curiosity was awakened when we became aware that many social workers use "mindfulness" methods in their profession. In this study, we used qualitative methodology in our desire to examine and understand why the mindfulness approach, with its roots in eastern philosophy, is becoming established in society at large and, simultaneously, being used in the social work field. We were interested in when and why social workers choose to use mindfulness with their clients. Our prior research has revolved around development and use of methods in social work, and on the human reaction to stress.We conducted seven semi-structured interviews, which incorporated four comprehensive questions:1. Why has the mindfulness method become established in the social work field and in the culture in general?2.

Vi har funnit att den sociala identiteten har förändrats på Banverket Projektering i och med organisationsförändringen, och att coaching haft inverkan på detta. Vidare har framkommit att det förekommer gråzoner inom coachingverksamheten. Gråzonerna kan motverkas genom social identitetscoaching. Social identitetscoaching bygger på utvidgad och koncentrerad gemenskap, utbyte av åsikter och trygghet för de anställda..

Lately, alarming reports have appeared regarding the work environment and work situation of social workers. Research focusing on the promotion of health and well-being in the workplace among other professionals show that factors such as social relationships, ability to influence their work situation and leadership are important. A quantitative study was conducted focusing on the work climate for social workers employed by some of the district administrations in the City of Malmö. A questionnaire with questions and statements on various factors in the work environment was sent to 34 social workers. They were asked how important these factors were for their well-being, as well as to what extent they felt that these factors were present at work.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union a lot of hope has been put on civil society to help develop Russia into a more democratic society. This study explores the constructive elements in the relationship between civil society and the state in Russia, and how this enables the work toward political development. By using Julie Fishers theory about political development and organisational autonomy I discuss the varying and often complex ways in which civil society and the state interacts. These are often not mentioned in the liberal tradition, which believes that civil society's most important democratic function is to act as a watchdog for the state.There is very limited political space for NGO's in authoritative Russia. The existing oppositional NGO's are important for the political development, but they are few and their impacts on society are limited.

This masters thesis aims to explore the branch libraries in Kalmar municipality and their relation to the Information and communication technology ICTsociety. How do they adapt to and assimilate with, the ICT-society? What are their roles in local social networks and do they make a difference there? To answer these questions, critical discourse analysis, CDA, as founded by Norman Fairclough is applied to four interwievs with branch library managers. Other theorists used are Michel Foucault, Chaïm Perelman and Ludwig Wittgenstein. A solid description of todays society on different levels is also given.