The rise of the Swedish Democrats, as a political party in Sweden, has been surroundedby controversy both within and outside of the media. As such a polarizingtopic, the party has been the focus of negative and positive attention. On onehand it has been considered a racist and xenophobic party due to its policies onimmigrants. On the other, it has also been seen as a solution to what has been consideredby some to be a constant problem in Sweden, for those same policies.These policies are motivated by what the party perceives as a threat to Swedishsociety. That is to say, immigrants are a threat to Sweden because of thechanges they impose on the Swedish identity.

The aim of this study was to describe, analyze and compare the Left Party?s, the Social Democratic Party?s, the Liberal People?s Party?s and the Moderate Party?s ideas on immigration policy from 1960-2010. In this study the immigration policy program or party program was analyzed through idea analysis to find out what immigration policy interventions they have come with, and if they want to assimilate or integrate immigrants. Materials used for the study are the immigration policy programs and party programs. Even scientific journals and articles have been used, in both national and international level.

The aim of this master?s study is to examine the function of the public library in the local community at present. I have searched for the answers to the following questions: Which position has the public library in the local cultural policy? What characterizes each library and which are the priorities? What is the local profile of the public library? What cooperation partners does the public library have and what do they mean to the library? Does the public library intensify the local community in any way? To answer this, I have made three qualitative case studies. Interviews and collection of documents were carried out in three different communities.

With background in the acknowledgement of the current period of major change in the characteristics of traditional Swedish foreign policy, considering the membership in the European Union, as well as the new contextual scenarios that Sweden has been situated in after the end of the cold war, this thesis aims at scrutinizing the Swedish Foreign Policy from 1991 to 2010. The purpose of the thesis is further to localize continuity and change in the ideas which Sweden has explicitly stated in its foreign policy. Based on the theory of institutionalism, the thesis also aims to bring forward plausible explanations built on the main empirical findings. This has been done by identifying different types of goals and means within realism and liberalism as well as categorizing each theory within three ideal types.The chosen research method has been a qualitative text analysis with focus on an ideational analysis. The material on which the descriptive analysis is based upon is constituted by the annual statements of government policy in parliamentary debates on foreign affairs.The results of the thesis show that the ideas that are related to solidarity, consensus and active foreign policy are constant through the period of examination.

In Sweden there is an integration policy and a policy for national minorities. The integration policy aims to integrate newly arrived immigrants (nyanlända invandrare), whereas the minority policy aims to maintain and strengthen the rights of the national minorities. The national minorities are though, at times, included into the integration policy, even though they hold a minority status in Sweden. This paper aims to, through discourse analysis, investigate the research question: ?how is the content of integration referred to, when it is related to immigrants, contra when it is related to national minorities?.

Today Sweden is both a secular and multi-religious country, of which Christianity historically has been a dominant player. Both processes of individualization and migration have contributed to a changed religious character as the current Swedish social situation represents. An interesting question to consider is how the Swedish school system has been able to adapt to the changed religious climate. This study examines the policy documents for religious education produced for upper secondary school, to see how the role of religion in the processes of individualization and migration, and the changes that these processes have brought the role of religion in today?s society as a whole, are described within them.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the level of the uniform way of interpretation from the Swedish asylum officers at the Swedish Migration Board, of asylum investigations for asylum seekers who claim sexual orientation as reason of refuge. The interviews with the officers were analyzed in relation to the policy document with investigation- guidelines and methodology.The results of the study showed that there was a uniform way to conduct asylum investigations and interpret the policy document, this despite that the document was found to be ambiguous in certain aspects. The uniform interpretation of the asylum officers was explained by the knowledge and understanding that exists within institutional organizations. This because the asylum officers at the Swedish Migration Board might have similar experience, knowledge and also the demands related to asylum investigations.The uniform interpretation demonstrated a strong similar common understanding of investigative work within the agency. This suggests a certainty that the investigations are carried out in a similar way regardless of which asylum officer within the institution conducting the investigation which indicates a well-functioning ?rule of law? for the asylum seekers. .

This study aimed to explore the perceived role and mandate of civil servants employed in municipalities in Kronoberg county. The study aimed to answer the question whether civil servants engaged in municipal economics have different perspectives on their mandate and role based on how said civil servants implement and manage policy tools available in Swedish municipalities. The study aimed to through policy tools theory explain how civil servants through four categories view the policy tools employed in the municipality. The study is based on the reasoning that policy tools influences exercise of authority that in turn influences view on policy tools. In order to study civil servants perspective on perceived mandate and role interviews were conducted with a sample of civil servants from each of the eight municipalities in Kronoberg county.

In Sweden there is an integration policy and a policy for national minorities. The integration policy aims to integrate newly arrived immigrants (nyanlända invandrare), whereas the minority policy aims to maintain and strengthen the rights of the national minorities. The national minorities are though, at times, included into the integration policy, even though they hold a minority status in Sweden. This paper aims to, through discourse analysis, investigate the research question: ?how is the content of integration referred to, when it is related to immigrants, contra when it is related to national minorities?.

This study in Public Administration uses feminism and historical institutionalism toanalyze a highly debated contemporary policy problem that concerns genderequality in the policy of parental leave. The parental insurance was introduced in1974 with the governmental goal of gender equality. In 1974 only 0,5 percent of thenumber of days of parental benefit was paid to men. Today, 40 years later, the goalremains the same and the numbers of days of parental benefit paid to men are 24,8percent.The debate that has characterized the Swedish policy of parental insurance andspecifically the design of the parental benefit is the debate of freedom of choiceversus quota.Our study focuses on ideas and arguments that influence the policy of parentalbenefit. The study assumes, with basis in the theories of feminism and historicalinstitutionalism, that a policy like parental benefit is slow-moving and that pathdependency has lead to a slow development of gender equality..

This thesis aims to describe how a fashion designer should balance art and commerce in order to succeed in the fashion industry. We aim to define the Swedish term KRÄDD, and sort out how a designer or CEO in the fashion business should relate to the term, as well as the balance between cultural and economic capital. We present theories of the origins and fluctuations of fashion, as well as social studies on cultural capital, and brand building. The study is made in a qualitative manner where the empirics consist of interviews with 13 respondents that have different positions in, and experience from the fashion industry, including designers, journalists, buyers, a CEO and a PR-professional. In our conclusion, we emphasize the need for a balance between cultural and economic capital in order to succeed as a fashion designer.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relation between different kinds ofremedial teaching models, not specifically addressed to pupils with physicaldisabilities, in the Swedish school context, and to describe and analyze theobjectives related to each model. Research focus was held on professionaldescriptions of school related problems and arguments for different kind of models,but also on objectives formulated in Swedish school policy. As theoretical toolswere used discourse analysis and interpretive policy analysis. The concept ofalienation as it appears throughout Foucault?s work was also used to understand howdifferent knowledge fields as education, special education, psychology and medicinedivide themselves from each other.

Fiscal policy and its consequences have attracted much attention on both academic and societal level, in Sweden and elsewhere. However, the dependence between fiscal policy on municipality level and business cycles has only recently sparked a debate among Swedish economists. Studies point out that a law which came to force in 2000, balanskravet, may have caused municipalities to lower expenditures, alternatively raising taxes, during recessions. This thesis examines how the level of municipality taxes depends on business cycle fluctuations and the impact that balanskravet has had on this correlation. We employ econometric regressions, with annual data covering the period 1980-2014, to enable an analysis of the dependence between taxes and business cycles, both before and after the introduction of balanskravet.

In this essay, I investigate Swedish possibilities to influence the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (CAP). After having summarized my findings, I try to explain the structure of influence by using Multi-level governance theory.Ten years have passed since Sweden joined the Union, and many changes have followed in the agricultural sector. By investigating the small country of Sweden's possibilities to influence CAP, I hope to be able to get a notion of the possibilities to influence the EU in general. The essay examines four possible paths for agricultural interests to influence the policy process in Brussels:* Through elected representatives of Sweden in the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and in the Swedish Parliament* Through subnational institutions, such as the local authorities and regional representatives.* Through the Swedish Agricultural Office* Through the Swedish pressure group within the agricultural area, LRFThese four groups all have very different channels to the policy process on agricultural issues. The differences are mostly in terms of decisive power or advisory power and institutional contacts or lobby contacts.

In Sweden there is an integration policy and a policy for national minorities. The integration policy aims to integrate newly arrived immigrants (nyanlända invandrare), whereas the minority policy aims to maintain and strengthen the rights of the national minorities. The national minorities are though, at times, included into the integration policy, even though they hold a minority status in Sweden. This paper aims to, through discourse analysis, investigate the research question: ?how is the content of integration referred to, when it is related to immigrants, contra when it is related to national minorities?.