After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the satellite states of the former Communist bloc immediately departed on a journey towards democracy and market capitalism. Among the many tasks of the newly elected governments, one was to transform the paternalist Communist welfare state into a social system that would decrease the oversized role of the state, at the same time as protecting the citizens from the hardships ensued from the transition.I have studied the evolution of new welfare systems in The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, three countries generally agreed as the most similar and most successfull transition countries of the Eastern bloc. Gøsta Esping-Andersen's prominent typology of welfare regimes, consisting of the liberal, corporatist and social democratic regime-types, has constituted the theoretical basis of the analysis. Simultaneously, applying new cases to the typology implies an element of theory testing.The study shows that 40 years of Communism and partial isolation from the West has not prevented these three countries from developing welfare states fully compatible with those of Western Europe and the Anglo-Saxon nations and that all three of them in fact fall within the scope of the corporatist regime-type..

In this report two Sustainability Life Cycle Assessments are carried out for two types of tiles for Riksbyggen, to contribute to a sustainable urban transition. Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment involves performing a life cycle assessment based on four principles based on scientific research and presented by the non- governmental, non-profit organization, The Natural Step. The principles concern raw materials, chemically produced substances, degeneration of nature and social conditions.Origin of products, manufacturing sites and manufacturing procedures were initially completely unknown and much of the work has consisted of finding the entire cycles, understand manufacturing processes of ceramic tiles and evaluating what materials and what type of energy sources that are required for the production. A socially sustainable perspective has been of high relevance alongside an ecologically sustainable perspective.The report begins with the basic underlying facts and the purposes of this investigation and that the reasons why Sustainability Life Cycle Assessments are carried out are to provide Riksbyggen and the own workers with documents presenting Riksbyggens ideas regarding sustainability and to hopefully get the ideas further down in the supply chain. The methods used to fulfill the investigation are presented and scientific facts about LCA and ceramic building materials are reviewed.

The purpose of this essay was to analyze the collapse of democracy in the Weimar Republic. This was done by analyzing some of the most turbulent crises in its history like the communists attempt to take power in 1919, the kapp-putsch of 1920, hyperinflation 1923 and the economic depression 1929-1933. The method that I used in this essay is called methodological individualism. It was an analytical framework which helped to understand the citizens view on democracy and legitimacy. The theoretical framework was based on Juan J.Linz and Seymour Martin Lipsets ideas on legitimacy and efficacy.

The aim of this study was to compare educational systems in Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy and Scotland. In the light of the Bologna Declaration signed in 1999, I was particularly interested in comparing social work educations in these four countries. Especially to clarify how far they have come to fulfill the goals of the common European educational policy.Central questions asked were: How do the educational systems look like in each of the four countries? How are the social work educations organized in each of them? In what ways do the social work educations differ? How can we explain such differences?Each country in this study represents a different welfare regime, and therefore I was challenged to find out if this has an impact on the implementation of the incentives of the Bologna Declaration. By studying various documents from the European Union, documents from each country and presentations of various social work programmes, I have come to the conclusion that the differences found mainly depends on the historical and socioeconomic traditions in the countries.

Central African Republic has partly been portrayed in the media as a forgotten crisis, but also as something that is completely natural for how it is in Africa. The society has perceptions about Africa, which has been reproduced and reconstructed in the selected articles. The discourses in particular have appeared in articles are discourses about: us and them, the confidence in experts, social representations especially (emotional roots), ideological inequities and power relations between different parties..

The purpose of this essay is to study causes for the lack of political trust in Europe and especially in Sweden. The essay starts with a presentation of two theories about the reasons for low political trust. Robert D. Putnam among others presents a theory that gives social capital an important role when viewing the low political trust. As Putnam sees it a person that participates in any kind of organization, political or not, develop trust for other human beings that in the long run affects political trust.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine how exchange students experience looking for information in their new life situation during a semester in Prague. A further purpose is to investigate what barriers they have faced and how this affected their information behavior. Six qualitative interviews of students constitute the empirical foundation for the study. The interviewees are from six different European countries, were all participating in the Erasmus program, and all had social sciences/humanities/art as their main subject.

The gathered texts and letters from Ali Ibn Abi Talib, found in the book Nahjul Balagha,constitute one of the most important writings of Shiite Islam, next the hadits and the Quran.Imam Ali´s ethics and moral approach in Nahjul Balagha, is considered by imam Ali, to beseen as a guideline for both individual purposes as for any kind of governance. The esotericteachings, about truth and justice in Nahjul Balagha, should therefore probably have been of agreat concern to Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic revolution.This essay will from an deductive approach, on a relatively contemporary historic event, try toanalyze Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini´s interpreting on imam Ali´s texts and preaching inNahjul Balagha. The Islamic revolution, as the Islamic Republic of Iran, led by AyatollahKhomeini, was confirmed as both brutal and violent. My ambition in this essay, will there forconcern a possible interpreting on justice and political rule, from Ayatollah Khomeini and theIslamic Republic of Iran, on imam Ali´s teachings in Nahjul Balagha..

The gathered texts and letters from Ali Ibn Abi Talib, found in the book Nahjul Balagha,constitute one of the most important writings of Shiite Islam, next the hadits and the Quran.Imam Ali´s ethics and moral approach in Nahjul Balagha, is considered by imam Ali, to beseen as a guideline for both individual purposes as for any kind of governance. The esotericteachings, about truth and justice in Nahjul Balagha, should therefore probably have been of agreat concern to Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic revolution.This essay will from an deductive approach, on a relatively contemporary historic event, try toanalyze Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini´s interpreting on imam Ali´s texts and preaching inNahjul Balagha. The Islamic revolution, as the Islamic Republic of Iran, led by AyatollahKhomeini, was confirmed as both brutal and violent. My ambition in this essay, will there forconcern a possible interpreting on justice and political rule, from Ayatollah Khomeini and theIslamic Republic of Iran, on imam Ali´s teachings in Nahjul Balagha..

Hidden away in the pristine landscape on the northeast shore of the Dominican Republic, the remote village of Miches is on the verge of shifting its economic resource base from traditional fishing into what could become an international model for sustainable tourism. The aim of this thesis was to produce a vision of a waterfront park near the center of the village; demonstrating concept-based landscape design that reflects the goals of sustainable development originating from the local incentive structure. A composite landscape analysis and design concept both served to inform and guide the design work, which was executed through model building, hand drawings, and production of a visual presentation in the format of an architectural competition entry. The design concept, All invited, signifies the distinction between the development that is about to take place in Miches and the otherwise common all-inclusive resorts, where tourists are set apart from the local community and spend most of their time within the fenced-off premises of the hotel. All invited also captures the typical Dominican hospitality, and mirrors the aspirations of turning Miches into a safe and welcoming place for visitors. The result is a public park design that is equally inviting local residents as it is to tourists, and where the unique qualities of the site are emphasized without being exploited.

What is sketching for a landscape architect? Does it involve anything else than the sketching process, the tool withwhich we work and carry a project through? The answer is yes, it is a process but one that includes many functionslike making notes in drawings or words for remembrance, a way to convey your ideas to others and to clearifyideas for yourself or together in a group. This thesis aim to give a broader picture of what sketches and sketchingis through many voices, and images made by architects, a psychiatrist, a teacher, and landscape architect students.The focus is on the hand made sketch and show many examples of what a sketch can look like.What is a sketch? A sketch can be many things, but the general consensus is that it is made fast and as a draft. Itcan be made in any material, two or three dimensional.

In this thesis I will examine Willy Brandt's new Ostpolitik with the help of Robert Putnam's analytical framework of two-level games perspective and the theory of social constructivism. Firstly, I will briefly set out the development of Germany's history before it was divided into the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic in 1949. After that I present West Germany's foreign policy from 1949 to 1969 in order to show how Willy Brandt continued and broke with different foreign policy doctrines. Finally, I want to illustrate his new Ostpolitik and the international and domestic factors, which contributed to its realisation. The main question of this essay is: How significant were the changes of the West German society for the realisation of the new Ostpolitik from 1969 to 1973? One of the most important findings in this essay is that on the one hand that many West Germans had accepted that their country was divided and on the other hand that many groups in the society such as the significant newspaper Die Zeit and intellectuals supported the new Ostpolitik.

This is a study about how Swedish travel magazines write about tropical islands with a history of colonization. The study investigates how the islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles, Haiti, the Maldives, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Zanzibar and Guadeloupe are being portrayed in four Swedish travel magazines.Travel articles published in the travel magazines Vagabond, Allt om Resor, Res and Escape 360° during the period January 2004 to December 2009 have been analyzed through critical discourse analysis.The study concludes that the travel magazines tend to idealize and aestheticize the tropical islands. The islands are being presented as paradises on earth. They are described as fairy tales, magical, dreams and as playgrounds for Westerners. The inhabitants of the tropical islands are being judged by how well they attend to the tourists? needs and wishes.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate essentialprerequisites for companies and corporations aiming at marketingglobal brands in a restricted market.Method:The investigation strategy used for this essay was to perform a casestudy on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Both primary data ? such as asurvey, interviews and participating observation ? and secondarydata ? found in books, scientific articles and the internet ? have beenused to achieve the results. The gathering of empirical data wasperformed inside the Islamic Republic of Iran during two weeks inNovember 2007 in three different cities: Tehran, Ispahân and Bâbol.This was carried out by considering several theories: globalbranding strategies, brand equity, involvement theory andcommunication models.Results: The outcome of this essay show several factors that should be takenin consideration in relation to marketing global brands in Iran. Manycompanies have chosen adaptation as their promotion? and productstrategy because of countless rules and restrictions hindering globalmarketing.

Since the 1st of May 2004 Cyprus is part of the European Union. The Republic of Cyprus as a whole is part of the Union, but all of the advantages of the Union membership cannot be enjoyed in all parts of the country. Since December 1963 the Cypriot administration has been separated into two, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, and since 1974 the country is also territorially divided. The Greek Cypriot political administration is considered to be the legitimate representative of the Republic of Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriot administration is only recognised by Turkey. Since the disruption of the country in 1963 the UN has been trying to get the Cypriot parties to agree upon a peace solution in order to reunite the country.