Since Muhammad Yunus, founder of the microloansorganization Grameen Bank, was awardedthe Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, the microloansorganization has received much attention. Thewoman has come to play a central role in the microloansorganizations. Her access to capital isis considered to improve her socioeconomic status. The overall aim of the paper is to examinehow access to microcredit considered leading to empowerment of women. To get an idea ofwhat a microloansorganization is the Grameen Bank is used as an example.

In this essay I discuss and analyse if we can witness any signs on regional dimension due to regional representation from our elected representatives in the five constituencies Malmö, Blekinge, Norrbotten, Uppsala and Stockholm. Two seperate terms of office between 1991-94 and 1998-2002 has been compared. In political science there has been much debate about the relationship between voters and their elected. By measuring each and everyone elected representatives in the work of produce introduced bills towards their own constitiency during both terms I have tried to see if there is an occurence of a regional dimension.The theory that´s been applied is based on geographical representation where one might aspect that central metropolitan areas and peripheral regions is somewhat over-represented in legislatures. By using a method of comparison between the five chosen constituencies and theirs elected representatives I have come the the conclusion that there is a weak tendency that this might be the case seen to a regional dimension perspective..

This project is a contribution in the debate of sustainable city planning. The conceptual ideas in this project can be used on many places and are here applyed on the center of Nacka, outside of Stockholm. The essay is based on an entry in the competition Europan 9, advertised by Europan in collaboration with the municipality of Nacka. The theme of the competition is ?sustainable city and public space?. The discussion of the sustainable city is a very wide subject which needs to be narrowed to suite the context of Nacka.

Since the financial crisis of 2007, the global financial market has been characterized by instability. At the same time the banks? lending rates and its link to the reporänta have been in the spotlight in various debates in the media. The government with Anders Borg leading the charge has criticized the banks for not lowering their lending rates when the reporänta has been lowered. The banks defend themselves by saying that the reporänta does not have a direct link to their lending rates anymore.

This paper examines what affects the demand for five Swedish ethical funds between the years 1997-2007. The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relation between fund value and other values than just financial. This study examines if the number of conflicts in the world and the media?s coverage of the climate change debate could have an impact on the demand for ethical fund. A multiple linear regression shows that we don?t have a significant result from the examined variables except for household wealth.

In this thesis I examine the development and expansion of judicial power in Sweden. The concept of judicial review is defined and related to democratic theory, and the various forms of judicial review in use in Sweden are explained. The main focus is on the political and scientific discussion concerning judicial review since the mid 1970s. It is shown that judicial review so far has been used only to a limited extent and that the number of court cases has remained quite stable over time. The main cause of judicialization seems to be the supremacy of EU law following the Swedish EU membership in 1995 and the inclusion of the European Convention on Human Rights into Swedish law.

This bachelor´s thesis analyzes the debate in a number of Swedish media regarding the introduction of video games as a new medium in the public libraries. The theory and method used is discourse analysis. Three questions were asked: how the introduction of video games as a new media in libraries is discussed, how is it motivated and in what way the authors of the articles analyzed are speaking about new media and the mission of the library. The selected articles were divided into four themes and the analysis resulted in the identification of two main discourses, one which is positive to the introduction and integration of new media in the libraries? collections, and one which has a more negative approach and uses quality and culture as an argument. The conclusion is that video games are a medium so widely used that librarians have to decide whether or not they want to include it in the libraries? collections, and by deciding this they reveal their attitude towards the mission and purpose of the public library..

AbstractThe aim of this thesis is to analyse a proposition that was made by the Swedish liberal party in the election campaign in 2002. The proposition was part of an integration program and the main point was that to become a Swedish citizen you should do a test to prove your ability in Swedish. In this paper, I?ve been investigating the way that this proposition was presented and the reactions that it met among the Swedish people. In my work I have noticed that there are some specific arguments that were very powerful and which were the ones that attracted most people.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the problems caused by students that characterize themselves as highly sensitive. The issue of high sensitivity and other categorizations are fiercely debated in the research. This empirical study was conducted in light of literature about high sensitivity, pedagogies, and interview methods. The students answered questions about what makes them categorize themselves and how they believe that the categorization affects their learning and social development. They also responded to questions about what they consider appropriate measures to improve their situation.

The codling moth, Cydia pomonella is a common pest in apple orchards and can be found worldwide. Feeding by codling moth larvae can cause a substantial decrease in apple yield. Control methods comprise for example the use of pesticides, viruses and pheromones. As a sustainable control method, pheromones have been successfully applied to disrupt moth mating behaviour. Other behaviours like foraging, search for mating sites or host finding could be potential targets for additional odour-mediated behavioural manipulation but need further investigations of the underlying odour stimuli and behavioural plasticity. Many insects are attracted to the smell of fermenting fruit and associated microorganisms.

The purpose of this study is to find out why the EU has not yet implemented the EuropeanCivil Peace Corps (ECPC), which the EU Parliament took a resolution about in 1999. Themore specific questions posed are whether the concept of ECPC has been redefined, whetherthe issue of ECPC has been prevented from coming up for discussion and decision-making,and what this has meant for the non-implementation. Steven Lukes' theory about the threedimensions of power is used in combination with a discourse analysis method. The materialused is documents from the EU Parliament's decisions and debate about ECPC, and ECPCfeasibility studies. In the analysis I find one "law and order"-discourse and one "peaceknowledge"-discourse.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how staff at secondary schools are thinking and reasoning about notifications to social services based on norm breaking behaviors in students. To find this out five qualitative interviews has been made with counselors in two public schools and three private schools in Örebro län. The results show that there is no clear definition of what norm breaking behavior is which making the reasoning difficult. There are clear procedures for the staff to dealing with norm breaking behaviors but they do not know when they will be applied. The decision to report behavior to the social service is usually not taken individually, it is a result of several people?s views and experiences.

The report by Boverket (2004), Hållbara städer och tätorter i Sverige - ett förslag till strategi says that large and somewhat intact green areas are better than severalsmall. Linking rural natural areas with the city's green areas, improves the opportunities for recreation and biodiversity (Boverket 2004). To create this, there isneed for a green structure in the city and its surroundings. But how to create this structure and what are the problems with the green areas in the city today? Thescenario that more and more people choose to settle in urban areas is a trend which not appears to decline, and at the same time our green spaces in cities and ruralareas decreases (Boverket 2007).

The increasing administration in IT-systems is the target of much debate today. It is viewed as taking time from what is considered to be managers? real tasks as well as resulting in an ineffective and stressful work environment. This view of IT-systems as problematic and time consuming can also been found among unit managers in a municipality in the north of Sweden. To be able to understand why IT-systems are perceived in this way this study?s aim has been to find what leads to this view.

This essay revolves around two questions: what is the nature of politics, and what kind of political order ensures a high rate of citizen participation? By using Cantal Mouffes theory on the political this essay shows how different understandings of the nature of politics can lead to diverging views on what forms democracy should take. Two such understandings are identified; one that sees the nature of politics as characterized by conflict and power, one that sees it as a space for cooperation in search for the common good. I trace these different ideas about the political in the parliamentary debate concerning Swedish constitutional reform. I conclude that the left-of-centre parties hold a view of the political closer to the conflict-perspective, while the green party together with the liberals/conservatives lean closer to the opposite view..