The main purpose of this essay was to study whether niche parties that were represented in municipal councils in Sweden during the 2007-2010 term of office were politically relevant. Furthermore, factors that might facilitate political relevance for niche parties were studied. Political relevance was studied using two theoretical perspectives. The objective model of political relevance presents four categories of relevance based on the relations between political parties in a political assembly; governing parties, coalition parties, blackmail parties and isolated parties. The subjective model of political relevance relies on the party representatives? own judgments of the relevance of their parties.

Palm oil has been used in processed food commodities since the 19th century. An increasing demand for regulating and ensuring a more sustainable palm oil production has resulted in various initiatives. However, these initiatives have received critique due to lack of compliance and insufficient revisions of palm oil plantations. The initiatives for creating an ethical, social and environmentally sustainable production are not sufficient for the Swedish industrial users of palm oil. As a result, stakeholders such as Swedish food processing companies, commit to ethical sourcing codes of conduct that go beyond the international palm oil initiatives.

To plan and build a garden in Dubai has other conditions and challenges than what you experience in Sweden. The heat, wind and lack of water makes the need for durable plants, a good design and landscaping important if you want to have the opportunity to use your garden during most of the year. The soil is poor of nutrients, alkaline and sometimes saline, witch makes supplying the soil with organic material and various fertilizers necessary if you want to be able to plant a bigger range of plant material in your garden. Another important part is to provide your garden with a good irrigation system that should be put into the ground before planting so that the plants are given a more even irrigation. It?s relatively green scenery you meet and to me it?s in a way surprising since the country with its climate is rather harsh for the purpose of supporting plant life.

This article discusses desirable political representation within the framework of representative democracy. In the desirable representation it is the responsibility of the politician to balance authoritative decision making with responsiveness towards the voters. The article intends to make visible the ethical complexity within representative democracy. Ethically the commission to represent is further complicated because the political parties constitute a central role in the political life and request loyalty of the politician. At the same time the politician is elected by the voters and thus the representative has to balance the dual representation.The politician can meet supplementary but also contradictory norms of action in decision taking.

This bachelor thesis describes why investors should invest in environmentally certified buildings instead of non certified buildings. The report provides an overview of possible factors influencing an investor in the investment process of an environmentally certified building. The report explains why building companies find incentive to build green buildings and how a cash flow method can be adapted so it can be used in the valuation process of an environmentally certified building. Environmentally certified buildings are used as a strategy to reduce emissions that threaten the environment as well as a strategy to obtain market shares for the building companies. This report focuses on the economic advantages of an environmentally certified building.The construction- and real estate industry stands for approximately 40 percent of the energy consumption in the world.

The climate issue is a significant question, and the problem is mainly caused by human activities. Everyone can help to counteract the enhanced Greenhouse effect by reducing the amounts of energy they use and by not consuming more products then they need.Schools are some of societies many consumers and therefore contribute to the Greenhouse effect. The School also has an important task; to teach and disseminate knowledge and information about the climate and the environment. According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, Skolverket, must all schools regularly consider the environment and sustainable development throughout the entire education process. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many schools in Sweden today.One of many tools that can be used to coordinate environmental work and initiatives, and also to make it more efficient, is environmental management systems.

The increasing significance of social economy as a concept is linked to general global processes such as the crisis of the welfare state, neoliberal globalization, anti-bureaucracy tendencies and decentralization, but also to a growing political interest in human rights and social development. In Sweden the idea of the social economy generates wide support within civil society as well as within the government and across party political boundaries. Furthermore, what is problematic in this context is the fact that the discussions on the subject tend to be relatively uncritical and often it seems as if though the expansion itself is the main objective. The emphasis on cooperation and the third sector in terms of welfare production implies a set of risks in relation to state responsibility, democracy and the autonomy of civil society. This paper aims to explore those risks and how they can be dealt with within the Swedish context..

Who is the journalist, a conversation analysis of interviews with party leaders during the 2006 election period, focus on the ideology of journalismÖrebro University, Department of Humanities, Media- and Communication studies, C-studySupervisor: Mats EkströmAuthor: Erica HellstrandIn contemporary society the media is part of the politics, or maybe, politics is part of the media. Whatever the case, they are important to each other, the media play a conclusive role in the connect between politics and citizens, and thus, results of election. The relation between the media and politics should continuously be studied and discussed in the continuously changing modern society.This paper examines the practice of news journalism in interviews with swedish party leaders during the 2006 election period. Focusing on how the ideology of journalism and the professional identity of journalists affect the practice the researcher hopes to contribute to the further understanding of the area. Steven E.

Nature-like plantations are areas that, by today?s maintenance procedure usually gains low prioritiy and are forgotten. Most nature-like plantations are currently disadvantaged and have in many cases grown up and formed dense,impenetrable and brushwoody green volumes. These green volumes is rarely used, but usually only fills out gap surfaces. With proper care nature-like plantations can become health promoting environments in the increasinglyhardened urban environments.How vegetation systems work and how trees and shrubs interact is dependent on many factors.

We were accepted to the field study Dignity and therefore chose to write our thesis in connection with it. Our subject is the oasis of Siwa in Egypt. The society has long been isolated, and therefore, the city has been able to preserve their handicraft methods and values. We chose to study the Ecological and Handicraft Development Center, which is a newly opened center for craft production. We wanted to see how the centre could use storytelling as a marketing strategy.

A logical cause of migration is of course immigrants which is a topic always creating discussions. When arriving in a new country a process of integration with the goal to adapt to the environment is started. This study will explore the need for integration and seeks to examine the connection between population composition and radical right opinions.To fulfill the aim, a multivariate regression analysis is done on aggregated level in Sweden with statistics concerning the year of 2010. The relation between ethnic composition and voters support for the Swedish radical right party Sverigedemokraterna is studied as well as integration as an explanatory intermediate factor operationalized through unemployment, financial assistance and trust.The results of the study indicate a positive connection between immigrants from EU/EFTA and the voter support for Sverigedemokraterna. A negative relation is identified between trust and the voter support for Sverigedemokraterna.

The aim of my thesis is to unveil orientalistic powerstructures in the new national curriculum for religious studies in Swedish upper secondary schools. Western imperialism and modernistic ideals has formed the Swedish perception of what constitutes as Swedish, this perception also influences the Swedish religious understanding. This understanding is imbedded in the national curriculum for religious studies which enables a western hegemony to prevail..

The socialdemokrats? long possession of government power from the 1930?s to 1976 gave them the opportunity to put their stamp on Swedish domestic and foreign affairs in the shadow of the cold war. The government policy in security and foreign affairs, therefore, was that of the socialdemokratic party. The stance of the government has been researched, but it lacks focus on the opposition. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Folkpartiet´s view of security and foreign affairs in comparison with government policy.

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

Today?s climate research shows that the climate may increase its temperature. One sector that is being threatened by global warming is the winter tourism of the Swedish municipality A?re. Tourism is an important economical source of income in A?re and is now threatened by a shortened winter season.