Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a number of strategically selected employees at the Swedish Institute, with the purpose to promote Sweden in the world, look at the challenges facing Sweden concerning nation branding in the new era of cooperation within the European Union. I examine how these people look upon the work of public diplomacy and nation branding in order to actively participate and influence the EU's common communications platform.Material/Method: The method used in this thesis is qualitative interviews. The reason why I chose this method is because I consider it to be the most appropriate in order to collect information about how these selected employees at the Swedish institute regard the challenges that lay ahead in terms of nation branding within the European Union.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained by dint of the analysis, it can be concluded that it is of utmost importance to take the societal changes, which are a result both of the worldwide globalization and the EU cooperation, into consideration when designing a future communication strategy for the Swedish Institute. The nation-state continues to play an important role in Sweden, but its importance is declining as the EU cooperation is progressing. The citizens? identity plays a crucial role in designing a nation?s communications strategy, and from the analysis I conclude that we move not from a Swedish to a European identity, but towards a pluralistic union where multiple identities meet under one umbrella; the EU..

This essay aims to emphasize and clarify the positions that exist within the current globalization debate. The positions are the neo-liberal, the opponents, the pragmatists and the skeptics. The text presents and explains their ideological, moral and political positions and beliefs about the world, the nation state, the society and the individual; in light of Steven Lukes? and Antonio Gramsci's theories regarding the interaction and the relationship between power and hegemony. The methodological starting point is the ideology-critical analysis; in which their arguments in the current globalization debate is highlighted and categorized.

Abstract (magisteruppsats, 61-80p)This paper is concerned with the national sentiments in the Federal State of Germany,regarding the east- and west-German cleavages, since the unification of the country in 1990.The point of departure is the nationalistic theory crafted together by the scholar AnthonyDavid Smith, which implies an ethno-symbolistic perspective on the dynamics of nations.The main question in the paper is to which extent you can consider the East- and WestGermans to be a unity, considering the past and the forty-year-division. For this reason theauthor basically uses two different sources: scientific books and the German journal DerSpiegel.Founded on Smith's theory, the study contains a broad explanation for national identities incontemporary states, which ranges from pre-modern times, when the ethnic communities werecreated, to the national world of today.The discontinuity of the German case, represented by the separation 1949-90 of the Germannation into two entirely different societies, makes it possible to draw conclusions about whichfactor that has the pivotal impact on national identities.The result turns out to be that the national historical core-values and symbols of the currentGerman state and nation are more profound than the splitting national sentiments. Thus theGerman nation is likely to recover from its Cold War break-up.Keywords: German unification, A. D. Smith, Nation and nationalism, National identity, DerSpiegel.

At the moment, democracy enhancing projects can be seen everywhere on the municipal level. The purpose of this thesis is to explain how the city of Lund takes on this challenge, why they have chosen to carry out citizen councils and if these are a good way to intensify democracy and open communication channels between citizens, the administration and the elected officials.The theoretical framework consists of seven arguments for gaining citizen influence on policy, and as a counterweight three critical arguments that opponents of participatory democracy often use are added.After a survey over both the Swedish national trends in municipal renewal and the last years work in Lund, the analysis goes on showing that most of the arguments point to the disadvantage of the citizen councils. Even though legitimacy possibly is enhanced by the project, there are probably better ways to open up for more communication and intensify democracy in the local community..

Every single child has the right to a childhood as well as a future. The labor regulations within the international conventions exist in order to make sure that these rights are looked after, but the ratification of the conventions is just the beginning. In order to receive the results which are set by the conventions, it is crucial that the implementation is successful. The politics of the country have to change and improve in order to achieve compatible laws, but also the population has to be given the opportunity to obtain education and knowledge about their human rights. Children who are forced to work at a young age, often under inhuman conditions, are not only deprived of their childhood but also of the chance to develop into an independent individual at the same time as this interferes with their education.

Uppsala University Library owns eight volumes of manuscripts attributed to the academy equerry Johan Leven Ekelund (c.1701?1775). In this thesis, I apply methods from the field of material culture studies in order to establish which of the volumes that formed the donation from Leven to the library mentioned in his will. By mapping certain markers such as places, names and dates I am able to identify to some extent where Leven gained his practical skills and which writers influenced him. By analysing the texts, I draw the conclusion that the manuscripts can be divided into groups aimed for different audiences.

Background: Nurses´daily has to face death and dying in their work with patients in a palliative state.  This means both emotionell and workrelated challenges. However nurses in this context are not experiencing more stress then others.Aim: The aim is to describe nurses´experiences of caring for patients in a palliative state.Method: A litterature review based on ten qualitative articles published between 2006- 2012. To collect data we used the databases Cinahl, PubMed, Nursing Allied Health Source and Medline. We worked with Fribergs (2006) model ?Contribute to evidensbased care with a base in analyses of qualitative science? in the analysis.Result: Four main themes were identified; The meaning of the nurses´ spirituality in the care, Why the nurse choose to work in this field, To be certain in the professional role and The meaning of the caring relationship.

This essay studies how and why large sports clubs from sports with a different degree of commerciality interact with their institutional surroundings in the way that they do. It compares two large Stockholm-based table tennis clubs, Ängby SK and Spårvägens BTK, with a large Stockholm-based football club, AIK Fotboll. In order to get proper data, a number of key persons within the organisations were exploratively interviewed using open and semi-structured questions, together with study of literature and other sources related to the subject. One of the key findings was that the non-profit table tennis clubs, who were expected to resemble the institution association closely, were subject to company-ization, and thus acted a lot more like the institution company than expected. The other key finding was that the football club, although driven partially like a public limited company, in many aspects placed a greater value on cultural capital than on economic capital..

Latvia has been an independent state twice, the first time during the years 1918-1940 and the second time from the year 1991 and ahead. During these two periods Latvia has been a destination for tourists. The aim of this study is to describe how Latvia as a destination has developed during the years of independence. One further aim is to compare what Latvia?s tourism industry looked like during the same periods to descry similarities and differences.

Entrepreneurial firms face unique challenges in attracting and acquiring human resources due to difficulties associated with resource constraint and organization legitimacy, often described as liabilities of "smallness" and "newness". The aim of this paper is to examine the "smallness" and "newness" challenges met by small entrepreneurial firms, which strategies they apply to counter these challenges, and if these strategies can be explained by the firm's HR philosophy. Since few studies on Human Resource Management (HRM) in small entrepreneurial firms exist, a framework combining theory from the research fields of HRM, entrepreneurship and small firms has been developed. Employing a qualitative case study design of five small Swedish entrepreneurial firms, our findings demonstrate four "smallness" and "newness" challenges and seven strategies that either counteract or prevent them. Furthermore, results showed that the strategies applied seemed to have no significance with regards to the firm's HR philosophy.

Sedan andra världskrigets slut har internationell debatt förekommit angående hur internationellt bemötande bör ske då en främmande befolkning utsätts för våld och övergrepp av dess egen statsledning. Ofta har inom ramen för denna debatt normen om icke-intervention kommit att ställas mot ett globalt förespråkande av mänskliga rättigheter.Efter uppmaning av FN:s tidigare Generalsekreterare Kofi Annan, upprättades år 2000 International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Kommissionens arbete mynnade ut i en rapport benämnd The Responsibility to Protect, vilken syftar till att söka internationell konsensus kring möjligheten att genomföra intervention med humanitärt skydd som mål, samt rekommendationer om hur en sådan bör ske.Syftet med uppsatsen är att genom kvalitativ textanalys söka svar på i vilken omfattning rekommendationerna inom The Responsibility to Protect överensstämmer med internationellt agerande under den inomstatliga konflikten i Libyen 2011.Studiens resultat visar på att internationellt agerande från FN, dess medlemsländer samt internationella organisationer till viss del överensstämmer med rapportens förespråkade konflikthantering innan demonstrationer utbröt i Libyen. Vidare visar studien att internationellt agerande väl överensstämmer med The Responsibility to Protect´s rekommendationer, då de libyska demonstrationerna eskalerade och mynnade ut i en inomstatlig väpnad konflikt..

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

The abrupt and early weaning of intensively kept lambs may have serious animal welfare implications, but relatively little is known about this. Weaning includes the breaking of the mother-young bond and abrupt replacement of milk by solid food, often coinciding with changes in the (social) environment. Altogether, these changes are likely to affect lamb welfare significantly. This study aimed to establish how strong and persistent lamb welfare is impaired following abrupt weaning by means of measuring behaviour parameters indicative of affective state. Also, we investigated the existence of a diurnal rhythm in play behaviour, which is considered an important indicator of positive affect and good welfare.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the reasons to why management consultants choose to leave their positions at large and established management consultant companies. The empirical data are made up of eleven interviews with men and women, both management consultants that have left their previous positions as well as a consultant who has chosen to stay with her first company and a representative from one of the large companies active within the management consultant industry. We have used the Job Embeddedness Theory combined with theories about identity, legitimacy, institutional norms and gender in order to understand the thoughts and reasoning behind the management consultants´ resignation. We have found that issues with the work itself and characteristics of the industry prevent the management consultants from being embedded within the management consultant company. Rather, some of the characteristics of the industry such as ?up or out? and the need to constantly perform work as a ?pushing-out mechanism?.

The aim of this study is to analyze the change of Basque nationalism during the last ten years and discuss how the main nationalist party (PNV) tries to impose "we"- feelings and support for its cause. Theories of nationalism and national identity are used in the analysis.A textual analysis of PNV:s unofficial documents is discussed and compared with a discourse analysis of its official documents. Although the unofficial documents deal with similar view of basic political/territorial ambitions, language and identification, there are some differences in the latest documents regarding the view of who is defined as Basque and also to the detoriated relation to Spain. Although references are made to the regard that the Basque Country is for everyone, the persistence of emphasizing the uniqueness and myths of the Basque culture signals a different matter. The discourse analysis of the official documents supports this claim and although they contain an ambiguous relation to Spain it is clear that Basque nationalism has been radicalized.