The main purpose of this study is to examine if variations in voter turnout for the European Parliament elections in each member state is affected by the rate of national party polarization on the EU-dimension of party politics. The theoretical background assumes that a high level of polarization generates higher voter turnout since more alternatives are presented to the electorate. This makes it easier for the electorate to find a party that represents their preferences. This will, in turn, increase the likelihood that they will participate in the election.This study uses a research design based on a quantitative analysis with data from each member state, except those with compulsory voting, in the European Parliament elections of 2004 and 2009. The results of the analysis indicate a relationship between high levels of party polarization and lower turnout in the European Parliament election.

This paper discusses animal welfare, and Sweden, as an EU member state, has a responsibility toensure that official animal welfare inspections are carried out in accordance with communityregulations. The first of January 2009, the welfare moved from the municipalities in to the 21county administrative boards. This restructuring was made due to the deficiencies that the auditconducted by the EU of the FVO (Food and Veterinary Office) 2003 found in the Swedishsystem. Sweden failed in coordination and inspection to ensure animal welfare.The aim of this examination paper is to shed light on animal welfare work operated in the countyof Halland and in Sweden in general. The paper focuses on a few questions.

To introduce a standardized component assortment takes a lot of effort in order to make real cost savings. The rationalization effect itself is important, but perhaps even more important is to state the aim of the standardization efforts in a well-defined way. How can an organization assure that they are working in a proper way? How do they know that their efforts are being interpreted into the whole organization? And, how do they know that the standardization efforts actually save money? Different components differ heavily e.g. in technical complexity and quality issues.

Those companies that have taken a stand in corporate social responsibility and work with these issues often experience difficulties orienting themselves in these areas. There is a picture of how companies want to be in their CSR commitment on corporate websites and a different reality which is reflected in the media. These different images are not in harmony with each other.The purpose of this study is to revise the CSR work of Sweden?s largest clothing companies.To answer the problem of this study a qualitative method has been used. The choice to explore a few clothing companies resulted in a multi-case study.

In our world, more than two billion people are living under insecure food conditions and more than eight hundred million people are estimated to be starving. The majority of these people live in developing counties which are poor and often subject of civil war. The past fifty years the main subject of security analysis has been the sovereign and rational state and the threats have been viewed in terms of military and weapons of mass destruction. This has come to change over the last decades and security as a concept has broadened, which better represents the reality of today. Within this broader conceptualization of security the main referent of security is the individual, rather than the state, and threats are not only analyzed from a military point of view, but also seen as threats against human rights and freedoms.

The family and relatives caring of older people in Sweden lies on an old tradition. By legislation the responsibility for the older people has gone through a development from the family to the society. According to the new social service law (2000) it is not that clear that the utmost responsibility lies on the society. According to the social service law ( 5th chapter, 10 §) the municipality should ease things up by giving support and relief for relatives taking care of older people, prolonged ill and function disabled people. The purpose with the study was to examine how the family care givers are finding their everyday work and their experience of the support that the society is giving.

The current trend towards globalisation and democratisation has made the theories of politics in pluralistic societies, and how to make them work, of particular interest and concern. Lijphart's theory of consociational democracy is an important influence in this field. At the same time the importance of civil society in transition studies and democratisation processes has been reinforced over the last thirty years. However, the complex political situation that plural societies face, creates obstacles for a healthy civil society. This thesis is based on a case study of Lebanon, a country with deep ethnic divisions and a government that resembles a consociational democracy.

Bortom historien slut ? Beyond the end of historyAccording to Robert Dahl there are seven criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for a state to be democratic. Dahl also states that there are several factors that effect the development of democracy. In today?s world it is mostly developing countries that have failed to bring about democratic changes.

How can the object based art help us, as viewers and as makers, to access a supplanted emotional state?One way of positioning yourself within the corpus-field is to step outside the traditional borders of the field and aim for other values within the objects, such as a visible working process, a storytelling or an emotional relationship to the object.  It is a way of taking a step from the traditional silversmithing towards some kind of free undefined corpus-art.  To reach for suppressed feelings is one way to find an importance within the artistic work, to give it a purpose.By investigating the concept of the sublime and the surrealist movement I try to find examples on how you, both as a viewer and as a maker, can put yourself in an emotional/intuitive state.  Through interviews with Jewellery and corpus artists I get a maker?s perspective which I compare with my own reactions to their work.Works of art can be used as a catalyst to reach, and maybe also to process, unattended feelings. This creates a strong emotional connection to the work.  As a maker you can, for example, do this by working with it as a theme, or by using an intuitive working method.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur elever berättar om läsning och   läsundervisning samt hur de berättar om sin delaktighet i arbetet med sin   läsning. Studien utgår från elevens perspektiv och från ett   specialpedagogiskt perspektiv.Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och utgår från den sociokulturella   synen på kunskap, att vi lär i gemensamma verksamheter genom att kommunicera   med andra. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sammanlagt   åtta elever i år 2 till och med år 5 intervjuades.Resultaten visar på ansvarsfulla elever som berättar om nödvändigheten   i att kunna läsa och insikt om att läsförmåga och att leva i vårt samhälle   har ett samband. De är i det stora hela positiva till läsning och berättar om   flera positiva upplevelser som de får genom sin läsning men läsvanor och   elevernas erfarenhet av undervisning skiljer sig åt.

In part this paper is a contribution to the ongoing Swedish discussion about our public structures. The discussion has picked up speed in the last years thanks to a government backed committee trying to come up with a suggestion to make our public sector more efficient. A big part of the debate is about the independence and work of our municipalities, what they should do, what they shouldn?t do and when the state should step in and take over. I make a theoretical investigation into one of these issues, the one about job creation.

This paper provides a study about human trafficking with sexual motives performed in European states and the measures taken from national, international and Non-Governmental organizations with the purpose to oppose human trafficking. According to the UN human trafficking has increased and shows tendencies to continue escalating, regardless of the measures taken by various organisations. In this study, four countries with associations to human trafficking have been chosen and organisations related to these countries are studied. The purpose is to inquire into how these organisations work against human trafficking and which objectives and guidelines these organisations strive for together with their values. The aim is to find out which result the organizations efforts gets and if, according to my hypothesis, the efforts oppose themselves.

Sexual harassments have since long been an issue all over the world and schools have not been an exception. Reports from Swedish secondary schools show how 47% of the female pupils state that they have, sometime during their time in school, been the victim of sexual harassment. Other studies claim that pupils exposed to sexual harassments will develop low self-esteem and a decreased sense of self. The Swedish curriculum state that all children shall have the right to a harassment free school environment, but still many pupils claim to be exposed to sexual harassment in school. Several studies have theorized about why sexual harassment is so prevalent in schools but what do the pupils think? This study aims to reveal and analyze pupil opinions about sexual harassment; what do they think it is and why do they think it occurs? This will be done from a post-structural feminist point of view with focus on the shaping of identity among the respondents.

Tasmania is a state in Australia, and is also the country?s largest island. It is separated from the main land by a 429 kilometer wide strait. Every year, a large amount of people, cars and goods are transported to the island using a government owned ferry line, which generates approximately 300 million Australian dollars to the state?s economy ,every year. This bachelor thesis investigates the possibility of reducing the fuel consumption for the ferry traffic to and from Tasmania, which would also reduce the overall cost.

This is a comparative study examining one school with scheduled homework assistance andone school without homework help tuition. The study has investigated the use of the schoolbasedhomework assistance program at a grade school in a municipality outside of Stockholm.To what extent do the pupils use this resource, and what are their attitudes to it? Do theyregard it as a useful resource? What is the opinion of the teachers involved, do they findhomework tuition relevant and meaningful?The governing documents for the Swedish schools do not make the handing out of homeworkmandatory, and do not require that schools organize homework assistance. The emphasis inconnection with homework is that pupils should learn to take responsibility for their ownstudies. There is, however, a commersial market for homework assistance, at prices that arenot accessible for most parents, and some municipal schools have stared programs forhomework tuition.