This essay has the ambition to examine and compare Croatia?s and Bosnia and Herzegovina?s development towards a consolidated democracy. By applying Linz & Stepen?s theory on how to consolidate a democracy and put focus on political society, behavioral patterns, attitude and constitutional structure the purpose is to find similarities and differences between Bosnia and Croatia within this field.The focus of this study is to compare two similar countries that have developed in very different ways. By applying the theory and a comparative method the purpose is to examine why two so similar countries with so much in common have developed in so different ways?In order to better answer the question there are two part questions and these are:What difficulties, concerning consolidation of democracy, have Croatia and Bosnia faced since the democratic transition in the beginning of the 1990s?What similarities and differences in the area of democratic consolidation (with focus on political society, behavioral patterns, attitude and constitutional structure) are there between the two countries?As the analysis shows, the main reason why these two countries differ so much is that Bosnia is a divided country with different nationalities and each nationality only wants to realize its own interest and does not care about what is best for the country as an entity.

The recent development in society?s structure has given rise to a more complex reality for the Swedishbanks. There is an increased pressure from external stakeholders for the banks to take a greater socialresponsibility in society; the bank must therefore focus on both direct as well as indirect effects of itsactions. The term corporate social responsibility implies that the company does not only focus on itsfinancial status but also on values such as ethics and environment. These commitments are crystalized,more or less clearly, in the banks? lending policy?s, whom are entirely defined by the banksthemselves.The nature of the abstract CSR expression gives rise to uncertainty, both in regards to the banks ownefforts towards social responsibility but also for the external stakeholders, for which it can be quitedifficult to understand what commitments are actually made.This study aims to investigate how the Swedish banks public statements, with regards to their lendingpolicy, correlates with the actual actions carried out by the banks.

This research study constitutes a critical stand, which departure from the increase in welfare, and decrease in quality of life, and is further directed to the sphere of consumption. Contemporary consumers appear to seek for components to construct their self with through consumption, consumerism has become a sphere of life, and has consequently also become a victimizing force steering the identity and self construction of consumers. The alarm bells however are echoing in Western society, and consumers are experiencing dilemmas such as fragmentation, powerlessness, uncertainty and meaninglessness.In this respect we have presented spiritualism as an applicable path of escape or alternative to the scheme of the material oriented consumption sphere. We intend to broaden the scope of the interplay between spiritualism and consumerism in the act of yoga, and we have therefore been researching: what yoga is doing to consumers, and what consumers are doing to yoga. The study is based on an existential epistemology paradigm, which emphasis on the meaning of the yoga experience attained from the subjects of research; the yoga practitioners, and therefore we have carried out three focus group discussions.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine the attitudes of deaf and hear-impaired people towards libraries, information, and culture. The issues are: What are the attitudes of the informants towards libraries and culture? What do reference group theory and the theory of information access-/avoidance implicate concerning the information behaviour of the informants? In-depth interviews with five deaf and hear-impaired university students have been carried out in this qualitative study. The world of deaf and hear-impaired people is presented as well as a survey of political guidelines to make, for example, libraries and theatres more available to disabled people. The research overview analyses scholarly studies on deaf and hear-impaired people.

In the beginning of the 19th century, Swedish was the only official language of Finland, and thus the dominating language in administration and higher education. However, during the latter part of the century, efforts were made to develop Finnish into a language which could be used in every part of society. In 1881, the medical society Suomalainen Lääkäriseura Duodecim was founded with the development of a medical terminology in Finnish as one of its main purposes. In 1885, a medical paper, Duodecim, and a medical dictionary were published. The aim of this study is to illuminate the vocabulary of the dictionary.

The focus of this essay is set on a number of processes that affect the challenges of the tourist trade, to be more precise ? an analysis of the attitudes towards tourism and sustainability within this line of business ? from an ethical and moral as well as social view. These issues are examined with reference to the concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Thus, acquaintance with theories of social constructivism, post colonialism, globalisation and global civil society is essential in order to understand the analysed material. The essay is mainly based on the outcome of qualitative interviews with various kinds of persons working with CSR related questions.

As a result of a successful human development around the world an extensive urbanization of societies are taking place that are networked in various ways. In these networks, increased travel and digitization are central where individuals and organizations converge in a constant and immediate wireless and mobile technology flow. An example of this is Stockholm and its public transportation company Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL). Although most participate in most of the network society, SL is struggling with an audience that seldom travel with them: families with children. We intended to find out how the communication of SL´s digital platforms could get families to travel more with public transportation.

Journalists´ role in society has traditionally been of representative nature with a task to distribute news and scrutinize those in power. But technological changes have created a new publishing world outside the traditional media institutions. In today?s redactional society anyone can become a publisher in a blog or through other channels on online. This process can be seen as contributing to increased democratization giving everyone the opportunity to publish.

With the Culture Survey 2009, the Cultural policy in Sweden has got a new direction. The new direction emphasises the importance of broadening the non-public funding for the cultural sector. The new direction opens up new phenomenon to establish themselves in Sweden. Crowdfunding is such a phenomenon. Crowdfunding is an online-method "by which the individual becomes financiers of projects and activities they have passion for" (Jakten pa? medborgarfinansiering, 11).

The three dystopian novels Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Kallocain by Karin Boye and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell have been highly discussed amongst literary critics and scholars. Although these works are well-known, some themes have had very little or no recognition. Biological reproduction is a recurring subject in dystopian literature. Although it is not the main theme in the novels, it is a very important part in dystopian culture and dystopian society. By focusing on reproduction and the structure of gender roles in these three dystopias, I hope to bring to light something that's been in the shadows for a long time i.e.

This thesis is a cultural theoretical case study of the art project (O)önskad samhällsförbättring.Via an analysis of the project, that is based on theories of power, resistance and contemporaryurban development, it examines the construction of urban space, its impact on public art including the ability of art to initiate evolvement of the urban public space.The last decades art has plaid an important role in what is called the creative city; to become attractive nodal points of the global economy, larger cities increasingly invest in art,culture and creative industry. Simultaneously the urban public space is limited to activitiesand expressions of art that are presumed to create economic growth. This introduces animpression of what is allowed and what is not allowed, possible and not possible, wished andnot wished which, as a consequence, evolves the public space. The events during the artproject and the reactions that followed enlightened these limitations. This tells a story, not only about the structuring process of the local urban space, but also important changes that are created as a simultaneous effect at different levels in society, as well locally as globally.

The purpose of this essay was to study some selected magazine articles by examining how the concept of child poverty is produced in the public debate, and to see if the definition of the term has changed over time. The theoretical approach on which this study is based has been used as a tool to provide better understanding on the subject. Furthermore, theories of consumer society, the "collateral damage" and the theory of welfare regimes have been used. In the previous research presented in the paper focuses on linking children and families living in precarious economic conditions, consumer standards and welfare systems that characterize society.This study has a qualitative approach as it attempts to capture and increase understanding of how the concept of child poverty can be understood from a Swedish context. The study is based on newspaper articles that are studied using a structural text analysis.

Allocation of funds to public libraries is uneven and this study will try to explain the reasons and clarify why the allocations of funds are distributed like they are and what calculations influenced the financial apportionment. This master thesis accounts for allocation in seven public libraries in Uppsala. The study shows that one reason for uneven allocations is demographic. Another reason is that the library has come into a good or bad circle. There are no models for allocation of funds to public libraries in Uppsala, thats why their allocations are given after a percentage increase of earlier years allocations, and that leads to a good or bad circle.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the social identity of students at upper secondary school for physically disabled students. The youths I drew my attention to suffered from severe physical disabilities and therefore received specially adapted education in small classes, but integrated at an ordinary upper secondary school.By "social identity" I mean how the students view themselves as a group, how they value their membership of the group and how they relate to non-disabled students at school. I wanted to investigate the connections between these students' social identity and the problems of marginalization of disabled people in society.According to qualitative methods I interviewed five physically disabled students, aged 18-19, at upper secondary school level taking part of especially adapted education. The study showed that these students regarded themselves as a segregated group at school. None of them associated with non-disabled students at school.

The society?s view of pupils with needs of special support in nine-year school has changed over time in Sweden. The teachers? views of the pupils have had an influence of how the special education process is designed. The aim with my paper is to make a comparative study of how special education teachers in rural schools and schools in Stockholm have designed their work with pupils with needs of special support.