This thesis is about how nationalism is constructed from two competing groups, Kosovo Albanian and Serbs. Kosovo for Serbs is a deep symbolic value that continues to be a Serbian identification. This is one of the main reasons why no Serbian politician has the courage to give it up. On the other side of the coin we have the Kosovo Albanians that only settles for independence. To recognize the independence for Kosovo could jeopardize the security for the Serbian minority living in Kosovo.

The main aim of this study is to examine the development policies of Sweden and the European Union from a postcolonial perspective. Sweden and the European Union are increasingly coming to be viewed as normative powers rather than military powers. So how does the colonial past of the western societies affect the policies of today? Are there any signs of the power structures of the past, and if so, how are these power structures manifested in the development policies of today? Since both Sweden and the European Union have come to be viewed as normative powers they are compared with each other to highlight their similarities and differences. The results of the study shows that both Sweden and the European Union can be seen as carriers of western values and interests.

AbstractThis essay discusses different explanations and interpretations of what characterizes large areas containing clearance cairns (cairn fields). Results from the analyses show that there are different explanations about when and why cairn fields and clearance cairns occur. Explanations vary from introduction of the wooden ard in the early Bronze Age to the introduction of rational hay-making in the Roman Iron Age.  There is, anyway, relative agreement considering why and when cairn fields were abandoned. The reason suggested is an increasing pasturage with the consequence of reducing soil to poverty during the period of the Great Migration or in the Viking Age.The most likely cultivation system in cairn fields is a system consisting of both intensive and extensive characteristics. The latter coincides with the probable mobility of settlements.

Sammanfattning Syftet med vår undersökning var att få syn på vad som utmärkte nyexaminerade lärares beskrivning av vad och hur de använder lärarutbildningen i sin profession, med fokus på de teoretiska momenten. Den dominerande bilden i tidigare forskning är att nyblivna lärare upplever många svårigheter under den första tiden i yrket. I det nya Lärarprogrammet från 2001 fanns en strävan efter att utbildningen skulle bli mer vetenskaplig och akademisk. Vi undersökte om lärare, examinerade från den nya utbildningen, beskrev att de hade nytta av de teoretiska momenten och om dessa på något sätt underlättade i vardagen. Vi har gjort en kvalitativ studie med halvstrukturerade frågor.

In Sweden, a new feminist political party (?Feministiskt initiativ?) was founded in 2005. The main objective of this thesis is to study the reasons and driving forces behind the establishment of the party, as well as to explain the timing of its foundation in 2005. The theories that are used in the study are focused on the individual founders, and the empirical material comprise in essence of interviews with founders.The study reveals that several individuals, as well as political movements were involved in the process of the party establishment. Various interacting factors influenced the founders to choose the strategy of setting up a political party.

Since Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) several constitutional reforms has been taking place. During this time, Sweden has also changed its view on democracy,from a collective to an individual perspective of democracy in the politics. A reasonable hypothesis and the purpose of this essay is to investigate if the Swedish government has beendeveloped towards an Europeanization.The Swedish state audit changed in a pioneering way after the EU- entry, with the formation of Riksrevisionen. Another constitutional change is that the Swedish EU- membership is being instituted in the Swedish constitution. The role of Swedish courts has also changed since the EU- entry.

Torstensson, Niklas (2012): Anledningar till olikheter mellan Svenska kommuners skolkvalitet (Causes behind the differences in Swedish municipality´s quality of school) Örebro University.This essay is an explorative case study that will compare four Swedish municipalities quality of local school system against the municipality ´s backgrounddata and a governing document: Skolplan. This study begins in a previous benchmarking study made by one of Sweden?s teachers unions Lärarförbundet. This is a statistical study that ranked the Swedish municipalities against each other?s according to their accomplishments in a number of areas related to their school systems.

Vi har i denna heuristiska fallstudie utgått från hypotesen att företag under vissa omständigheter har stora möjligheter att påverka stater genom en central beslutsfattare. Vi har utifrån denna hypotes valt att analysera beslutsprocessen i USA som föranledde Irakkriget. Vår ställda frågeställning är: På vilket sätt påverkade företag USA: s beslut att attackera Irak. När vi svarar på denna frågeställning visar vi genom att använda oss av Graham Allisons teori Governmental Politics hur företaget Halliburton genom Vicepresident Dick Cheney påverkat USA: s beslut att invadera Irak. Genom detta försvarar vi tankarna att företag är viktiga aktörer inom utrikespolitisk analys och att man för att tillfredsställande kunna analysera ämnet måste komma ner på individnivå.

The parrot is a common symbol, or even cliché, in Western literature, going all the way back fromancient Greece to the present date, and in many a genre. This study reads the oeuvre of the NobelPrize winner Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) as being closely related to these certain traditions andconnotations of for example religion, satire, and speaking nonsense, in his frequent use of parrotsand their symbolic potentials, in his writing. Furthermore, it is possible to distinguish a movementin Beckett?s use of parrots, from a more or less traditionally use, to one more philosophicallyprofound.Although the parrot graces us with its presence (or at least may be traced) in almost everywork written by Beckett, from the poem ?Whoroscope? (1930) to How It Is (1961), they are onlymentioned sparsely by his interpreters. Therefore, a brief history of the literary tradition of theparrot will be expounded.

The European Union has faced lots of criticisms over the last couple of years when it comes to how refugees are treated in Europe. The Lisbon Treaty states in Article 2 that the European Union is founded on respect for human freedom, dignity and equality. Values such as democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and that the rights of persons belonging to minorities should be respected are also something that the Union should be based on. How is it then that the Roma people, which are Europe's largest minority, are being persecuted all over Europe, that they get deported and have their camps destroyed? Why are refugees from North Africa being sent back before they even have a chance to seek asylum?  In this essay I have examined how the EU are treating refugees and tried to distinguish if there are any differences in how they treat internal and external refugees.

This master's thesis analyses the concept of equality between men and women in parts ofRegion Västra Götaland's area of operation. With critical policy analysis I analyse how theproblem of inequality is represented in the European charter for equality of women and men inlocal life (CEMR) and the Region Västra Götaland's plan of action for the charter. Throughinterviews with people responsible for gender equality in different areas I analyse, withdiscourse theory, the ways in which the concept of gender equality is articulated in differentareas of Region Västra Götaland, and what kind of politics these articulations enables.In the analysis I show that a discursive struggle of how equality is to be defined canbetter be understood as a discursive negotiation. Equality between men and women isunderstood in several ways at the same time, as antidiscrimination and basic human rights, asbalance between the sexes, and as an approach critical of norms and stereotypes. Within thesenegotiations certain understandings of gender are made possible or impossible.

Elever i Eskilstuna kommuns förmåga att prestera i grundskolan är påverkad av vilket symboliskt kapital elever innehar. En uppväxt i en miljö som hedrar samma värden som skolan ger eleven ett habitus som i högre grad samstämmer med skolans och ökar därför elevens möjligheter. Ett motsatt förhållande kan ses hos elevgrupper med ett lågt symboliskt kapital. Elevers förmåga att prestera är även påverkad av hur elevsammansättningen ser ut. Denna effekt kan verka både i positiv och i negativ riktning.

Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur ungdomar beskriver steget vidare från studieavbrott till sysselsättning. Författarna använde kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer baserade på en intervjuguide för att besvara studiens frågeställningar, med avsikt att fånga in kunskap om de ungas uppfattningar kring vändpunkter samt betydelsen av självbilden och relationer i omgivningen. Totalt genomfördes fyra intervjuer med ungdomar i åldrarna 17-20 år, där samtliga gjort studieavbrott under gymnasietiden men vid tillfället för intervjuerna var åter i någon slags sysselsättning. Författarna använde tidigare forskning samt de teoretiska perspektiven symbolisk interaktionism och KASAM för att analysera datamaterialet. Resultatet av studien påvisade att samtliga ungdomar upplevt någon slags vändpunkt under vägen tillbaka till sysselsättning, som de anger varit betydande.

Posters had their breakthrough in 1830-1840?s all thanks to the lithographic printing technique. The poster was used as an advertising tool.In this essay, we have looked at which semiotic and rhetorical elements that are found in today?s Swedish movie posters. What kind of image and text elements does the poster use and with what function? With what and how do they persuade the audience that the movies are interesting and worth seeing?We have taken the most popular Swedish movies between 2001 and 2010, one for each year, going by the statistic found at the website of the Swedish Film Institute.

Stark tro på en rättvis värld (BJW) har setts ha samband med en benägenhet att nedvärdera olycksdrabbade men även med positiva aspekter såsom stresshantering. Politiskt har BJW setts relaterad till högerorientering. Denna studie kombinerar relationen mellan BJW och politik med fokusering på attribuering av orsaker till arbetslöshet vilket tidigare förbisetts. Elever (n = 63) från gymnasium och högskola tog ställning till föreslagna orsaker till arbetslöshet och besvarade bakgrundsfrågor inklusive politisk hemvist och två olika BJW-skalor: dels en cynisk inställning till andras misslyckanden (deserved misfortune, DM), dels en förmåga att glädjas över andras framgång (deserved good fortune, DGF). DM och DM för deltagare med lågt DGF uppvisade samband med högerpolitisk orientering, vilket även korrelerade positivt med intern attribution.