During the last years a discussion has emerged around problems with Swedish state boards trying to influence the public opinion and even political bodies through different kind of information efforts. Several observers inside and outside the academy have studied how state boards increasingly use information as an instrument and also how political bodies increasingly have given such instructions to state boards. This essay put those studies into the context of both information political history and previous theoretical interpretations in that field of research.The analytical tool consists of four ideal typical ways ('state opinions') to arrange relations between the state and the citizen. Some critics focus on problems with too much political steering and how political majorities uses state boards to spread ideological propaganda. Others highlight problems with autonomy and bureaucratic organizations taking initiatives by themselves to spread normative information.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how the local governments have implanted the new public health policy, which Sweden adopted in April 2003. The new health policy stakes out a new direction for national public health policy. Instead of focusing on diseases the new public health policy focus in factors that determine health.Important factors to study are the role of central steering from the central government. The method used is a case study of three Swedish local governments. The main material used is interviews and different policy documents within the area of public health.The conclusion of the study shows that the local governments are fairly satisfied with the steering of public health policy by the central government.

År 2005 förstatligades Försäkringskassan, vilket innebar att de 21 självstyrandelänsförsäkringskassorna och Riksförsäkringsverket slogs samman till enmyndighet. I en litteraturbaserad fallstudie undersöks orsakerna till förstatligandetoch vilken betydelse det har haft för socialförsäkringsadministrationen. Detta görsgenom att vi utifrån ett instrumentellt och ett kulturellt perspektiv tittar på hurFörsäkringskassans verksamhet, processer, struktur och organisationskultur såg utföre respektive efter förstatligandet.Resultaten visar att Försäkringskassan instrumentellt sett blev statlig eftersomregeringen ville öka sina möjligheter till styrning och ansvarsutkrävande avFörsäkringskassan. Ytterligare orsaker var att man avsåg öka verksamhetensmåluppfyllelse, resursutnyttjande, samordning, specialisering och standardisering.Kulturellt sett genomfördes förstatligandet då regeringen önskade skapa engemensam organisationskultur för att öka värdestyrningen, rättssäkerheten,kompetensutvecklingen och tilltron till myndigheten.Slutsatsen är att det finns en basal förklaringsfaktor till förstatligandet, vilkenär regeringens önskan om ökad styrning. Därtill finns det två bakomliggandeförklaringsfaktorer, vilka utgörs av regeringens krav på effektivisering ochbesparingar..

Neighbourhood offices were established in the municipal of Lund by a decision in the municipal council 1999. During following years four offices opened in the surrounding villages; Veberöd, Genarp, Södra Sandby and Dalby. By using a goal oriented model and making interviews I study whether the offices reaches the goals of more effective service, developed IT-support, a stronger local democracy and a better feeling for service. The offices has improved the information to the citizens and efforts have been made to strengthen the local democracy but more complex matters can not be handled at the offices today, which is a disappointment for many involved.To explain the result of the evaluation I use Vedungs ?A general theory of public efforts result?.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the institutional effectiveness of the environmental institutions Helcom and the Mediterranean regime, by using Haas, Levy and Keohane's "the three Cs"; governmental concern, contractual environment, political and administrative capacity. The method used is a comparative analysis.This study takes into consideration the specific structural and economic factors that are prevailing in each region where the environmental regime operates. This study also takes into account the influence of the European Union as a factor that affects the environmental progress.By focusing the study on the line of conduct concerning hazardous substances by respectively regime this study shows that the institutional effectiveness is fulfilled in neither Helcom nor the Mediterranean Regime, although Helcom has been more successful. The lack of state capacity is the most restraining factor for both developing countries and countries in the transition towards being developed, to achieve a good environmental status of the sea. This study also shows that the European Union sometimes has a greater impact on the environmental progress in states, rather than the environmental regime in countries that were/are aspiring members, thus showing the ineffectiveness of the regime..

Konflikterna i Great Lakes-regionen har präglats av både flyktingströmmar och etniska dimensioner. Vi har genomfört en fallstudie på detta område för att undersöka vilken betydelse flyktingar har för konflikterna i regionen.Vi visar hur flyktingströmmarnas karaktär och flyktingskapets utsatthet leder till skärpta etniska spänningar och bidrar till försvagandet av stater. Flyktingarnas osäkra livssituation och kollektiva minnen innebär ett särskilt starkt identitetsbehov, vilket kan leda till ökad etnisk polarisering och gör att de blir lätta att mobilisera politiskt.Flyktingströmmar orsakar ett allvarligt försvagande av stater, eftersom de på ett fundamentalt sätt underminerar statens legitimitet, genom exempelvis deras förlorade förtroende för staten och dess institutioner samt deras inblandning i väpnade attacker mot hemlandet.Generellt uppmärksammas flyktingströmmar oftast bara som en allvarlig konsekvens av konflikter, men vi visar hur de också kan förstås som en starkt bidragande orsak till inomstatlig och regional instabilitet..

The topic of homosexuality was until recently a taboo in Russian public discussion, but has during the last years become a hotly debated issue. Analyzing what I call the new homophobic narrative I isolate and examine two ways of ?othering? homosexuals, constructing them as strangers, when sexual minorities are discussed in today´s Russia. Sexual deviants are portrayed as threats to the nation and are connected to the West and its influence. Using analytical tools from queer theory, security studies and postcolonial approaches I discuss different ways of configuring the relation between nation and sexuality, identities that are interwoven in the homophobic narrative.

Motives and reasons behind a decision to change the asylum process in Sweden are the central concern for this thesis. A symbolic political perspective will be applied in order to elucidate the symbolic factors that have influenced the decision process.The Aliens Appeal Board in Sweden will close down at the end of March 2006 and all pending and future cases will henceforth be decided by three administrative courts. This will be done in order to enhance the principles of legal certainty by making the process more transparent and oral. It is an extensive reform, but since very few amendments are made to the applicable substantive law it raises questions about the actual motives behind the change.One reason that seems to have had a major impact on the decision to close down the Aliens Appeal Board is the fact that the board is perceived as a symbol for an inhuman asylum policy. Transferring the process to the courts might ease the attempt to increase the legitimacy of the asylum process.

Rwanda och Darfur karaktäriseras som två av de mest fruktansvärda etniska krig i modern tid. Etnicitetens roll uppfattas spela en mycket viktig roll samt vara den grundläggande orsaksförklaringen till konflikterna. Detta anser vi dock vara en förenklande och missvisande bild som bör ifrågasättas. Enligt det socialkonstruktivistiska synsättet skapas etnicitet i relation till någon annan samt är i ständig förändring och utveckling. Såväl Rwanda som Darfur är starkt präglade av tidigare kolonialmakters välde, vilket bidragit till en polariserande effekt av de olika etniska tillhörigheterna.

Since the Maastricht Treaty the European Parliament has gained competence in the decision-making process and the Parliament is today one of two decision-making institution, next to the Ministers of Council. In this study the main focus has been to shed light over the negotiation culture within the European Parliament, which up till now has been a neglected research area. This is of great significance because the internal negotiations in the European Parliament decide the external negotiation position with the other institutions.After face-to-face interviews with MEP:s and assistants I have been able to identify certain characteristics to create an understanding of the negotiation culture in Europe's elected Parliament. The negotiations are oriented towards a problems-solving approach and the prevailing apprehension is consensus-based negotiations instead of the existence of political blocks. The committees are stronger than the European party groups, which further encourage negotiation.

This essay analyse the relationships between scientific paradigms and different logics of power in the field of psychiatry, primarily in the fields of attention disorders of children and schizophrenia. In these two fields of psychiatric research and treatment, there exist two scientific paradigms, a biological/neuropsychiatric and a socialpsychological, working from different standpoints regarding questions of ontology, epistemology and theories of value. Drawing from Thomas Kuhns paradigmatic theory of science, and Michel Foucaults concept of power, this essay proposes that different paradigmatic standpoints gives rise to different logics of power. Relying on the concept of power/knowledge and different paradigmatic standpoints, the essay states that the biological/neuropsychiatric paradigm produces a biological individualising logic of power that fixes the individual to his/hers biological condition. This in contrast to the socialpsychological paradigm, which on the basis of its paradigmatic standpoints produces a social-group related logic of power.

What role does the state play in economic development? This thesis seeks to investigate the relationship between a strong state and economic development. To define the concept of a strong state I focus on the relationship between the scope of state functions and the efficiency of which these functions are implemented. The concept of a strong state is in this thesis defined as the efficiency of the state functions. By using a database constructed by three economists; David Kaufman, Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi as a measurement of a strong state I test the relationship with economic development empirically.

Natten mellan den 19 och 20 mars 2003 inledde koalitionstrupper Operation Iraqi Freedom. Detta var slutet på det som kom att gå till historien som Irakkrisen.30 år tidigare formulerade Graham Allison en teori, i form av tre modeller, för att förklara utrikespolitiskt agerande utifrån Kubakrisen. Vi har prövat huruvida Allisons teori fortfarande kan förklara utrikespolitiskt agerande genom att pröva den på Irakkrisen. Detta har operationaliserats genom en systematisk genomgång av tillgängligt material som behandlar uppsatsämnet.Efter att ha betraktat Irakkrisen utifrån Allisons tre olika modeller kan vi konstatera att teorin fortfarande är bärkraftig. Dock behövs viss komplettering till den 30 år gamla teorin ? i form av en inrikespolitisk analys, bredare organisationsanalys samt en djupare value- och beliefsystem-analys ? för att kunna åstadkomma en fylligare undersökning som förenar Allisons modeller med dagens verklighet..

Every now and then new political ideas appear which creates debate. A current example of political debate is the one which concerns the creation of a feminist political party in Sweden -Feministiskt initiativ. Apparent in the current debate is that there are two existing conflicts of ideas present. The liberal thought of politics of ideas stands against feminism's demand for presence in the political life. And the other, the conflict which concerns the question of where a line between the public and the private spheres should be drawn.

Sjukvården har länge varit satt under hög press för att sänka de stigande vårdkostnaderna och öka produktiviteten. Med ursprung i den privata sektorn introducerades i slutet av 80-talet nya organisationsidéer, New Public Management, som strävar efter att ta till vara på ekonomiska värden. Vissa forskare har sedan dess oroat sig för att detta underminerar de normer som tidigare dominerat offentliga sektorn. Lennart Lundquist hävdar att det gått så långt att dessa värden influerat politiker och tjänstemän till den grad att det hotar demokratin.Denna uppsats fokuserar på hur Beställar-utförarmodellen och kontraktering till privata vårdproducenter har påverkat demokratiska värden såsom ansvarsutkrävande, insyn och politiskt styrning. Med Lundquists teori i ryggen har vi genomfört en fallstudie av ett sjukvårdsdistrikt i Region Skåne som har lång erfarenhet av arbete med privata vårdproducenter.