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.

Schyman?s legs in Let?s Dance as a communication strategy- a case study of ?Feministiskt initiativ? in the election campaign 2010.(Schymans ben i Let?s Dance som kommunikationsstrategi, en fallstudie om Feministiskt initiativ i valkampanjen 2010).Author: Joanna Morell, Tutor: Ann-Marie Morhed2009 was the first time where Swedish political parties were entitled to have TV- commercials, another sign of political communication taking one step closer to the strategic marketing communication. A type of communication that also is expensive.The Swedish political party Feministiskt initiativ (Fi) have existed since 2005 and is not yet a part of the Swedish parliament. They have not been entitled to the economic support that is given to Swedish parties with more than 2,5 percent of the votes in the last two elections. As a result Fi is completely dependent on economic contributions.

The number of parties in the Swedish parliament has increased from five to eight during the last twenty years. The political agenda is still based on a two-block system with the consequences that the number of parties in each block has increased. To be represented in the parliament, a party needs at least four per cent of the total votes in the election. If only one party fails to achieve that, the whole block will lose the election to the other block. This could encourage voters to vote tactically for the small parties in the block to ensure that the block wins the election.

The EU Services Directive has caused an intense debate across Europe. Its purpose is to remove obstacles to trade and to open up the public sector to increased competition. The Swedish labour movement has been deeply involved in the policy process, and union leaders have proclaimed the compromise reached in the European Parliament in April 2006 as a success.In the paper two major aspects have been considered: the meaning of the Swedish model and the process of Europeanization. The Swedish model previously allowed for a strong labour movement, through a social democratic hegemony, but the EU membership has implied new conditions for union influence. The paper examines how this change has affected the strategic choices of the Swedish labour movement, and how it has been manifested in the union's work with the Services Directive.

The starting point of this thesis is the debate surrounding the two referenda?s in France and the Netherlands in May and June 2005, regarding the proposal of a European constitution. The aim of this study is to analyse how democratic legitimacy and the role of the citizens portrays within the democratic discourse of the European Union. The empirical material is based upon both speeches from the European Commission and news articles from the French newspaper Libération and the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Discourse analysis is used as a theoretical frame of reference combined with models of democracy.

This study aims at describing if discrepancies can be found between the rhetoric in Swedish political parties? electoral campaigns to the European Parliament elections in 2004 and their representatives? actual behavior in the European Parliament and to develop plausible explanations to these possible discrepancies. The research method that is being used is content analysis, aiming to answer four research questions regarding the electoral campaigns to the European Parliament elections in 2004 and the behavior by the parties? representatives during the following term of office. The main findings are that some discrepancies can be found regarding which questions are raised most frequently in the electoral campaigns and in the European Parliament, but that no discrepancies can be found regarding the positions taken in questions in the electoral campaigns and in the European Parliament.

The aim of this study was to examine how the political party Sweden Democrats is represented in two Swedish newspapers. The study included a national newspaper and a local newspaper, Aftonbladet and Blekinge Läns Tidning. We studied 35 articles from both papers, from 2005 and from 2009. We analyzed the texts using the linguist Norman Faircloughs (1995) method for discourse analysis. Based on his theories, we created our own model to examine the texts. Our model primarily focused on representation. The study was conducted at a time when Sweden Democrats was given much support in opinion polls and knocked on the door to the Swedish Parliament. The study showed that Sweden Democrats in both newspapers, primarily by descriptions, the choice of interviewees, etc., often are represented as racists.

The aim of this study is to illuminate social worker?s perception of social class within the Swedish social service system. This study therefor examine if social class contributes to the production and reproduction of the client and what impact social class has on the interaction between client and social workers. The study was conducted with qualitative semi-structured interviews with social workers from three different departments of social service. The theoretical approach is Yeheskel Hasenfeld?s theory about moral practices in welfare organisations, Michael Lipsky and Roine Johansson?s theories about client construction and Pierre Bourdieu?s class theory.

The purpose of this study is to determine if and how municipal consultative entities through influence may affect the legitimacy of the Swedish democratic model. The study aims to do this through analysing the opportunities for influence present with the Youth Council and the Council of the Retired in Karlstads municipality, to determine how the councils may affect political participation and the role of elected representatives. To do so, the study asks the following primary research question:"What requisites for influence are present for participants of municipal consultative entities, as found for the representatives of the youth and the retired within the framework of their participation in the Youth Council and the Council of the Retired in Karlstads municipality?"The study answers this research question by dividing it into one question of policy and one question of democratic perspective, and investigating these matters through nine snowballing interviews with the decision makers, organisational actors and participants of the councils. The information from the interviews is then analysed per council through a framework of democracy theory, policy process theory and organisation theory.

The potential of information technology as a means to invigorate democratic practise is constantly under discussion. Regardless of the differing opinions as to the most suitable way to utilise IT, there are certain democratic core values that have to be considered. One of these is freedom of information, defined by us as the right of every citizen to seek, obtain and express information. The aim of this study is to explore whether the use of IT as a means to enhance democracy can strengthen the citizens right to freedom of information. As an instrument for analysis we use an article by Jan van Dijk, professor of communication science.

AbstractTitle: PR and Politics- the role of the PR consults in Swedish politics (PR och Politik ?PR konsulternas roll i svensk politik)Number of pages: 34Author: Andia GhafouriTutor: Peder Hård af SegerstadCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: HT 2006University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science,Uppsala University.Purpose/Aim: To study the PR functions role in Swedish politics and what role it plays for the democracy.Material/Method: Interviews with PR peopleMain results: That the PR people have the right kind of network and the knowledge about how to influence political decisions and the public opinion. Their methods could be criticized from a democratic point of view since they are professionals and their ability to bring up issues in to the public agenda is stronger than ordinary peoples? ability, which could be discussed if it is fair in a democratic society, that people who get paid have more power to change than those who don?t.Keywords: Public Relations, Communication, Politics, Democracy, Information, Networks.

?Liberal Democracy? is a common term in political theory, and it is used as if it had a commonly accepted referent, with both normative and descriptive content. This is certainly the case in democratic theory, where it on the one hand seems to refer to a normative democratic model; on the other hand it is used descriptively, to refer to real-life democracies. The deliberative democratic sub-field is not an exception; on the contrary, the term is frequently used albeit rarely defined; yet the concept it refers to is supposedly developed enough to allow detailed propositions about its citizens?s political behaviour.This essay is an attempt to analyze how Liberal Democracy is used by three deliberative democrats (Jürgen Habermas, John Dryzek and Stephen Elstub), in order to understand the democratic model (or models), whether normative or descriptive, they refer to.

AbstractAt the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 the nations stated that traditional environmental policies were not sufficient to handle the multidimensional challenges posed by sustainable development. Governments needed to broaden their political decision making procedures in order to coordinate and integrate environmental, social and economic policies. Therefore a new tool was introduced in Agenda 21, National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSDS). The aim of an NSDS would be to bring together actors from all parts of society to jointly reach a consensus on how to work towards the vision of a sustainable society. An NSDS would be seen as a strategic tool to help focus national policies for SD.

When Deng Xiaoping introduced his reform program, he began China's transition from a plan economy to a socialist market economy. Liberal theorists often argue that there is an automatic link between ?free market? and ?democracy?, however this link is not evident in China. This contradiction constitutes the problem area of this thesis.With a theoretical framework containing ?totalitarism? and ?Tang Tsous culturalist approach? I have analysed the leadership of CCP (China's Communist Party) and its strategies to maintain the Chinese political system.

On the 8th of May 2007 a local power-sharing goverment consisting of Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was formed in Northern Ireland. The aim of this dissertation is to explore why the DUP, who in the past have opposed all forms of power-sharing decided to form a goverment and take active part in a power-sharing agreement. The study is based on a consociational theoretical framework developed by Arend Lijphart and further developed in a Northern Irish context by John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary. Using this theory the study seeks to understand the broad conditions surrounding the DUP's power-sharing. After a description of consociational theory and the road leading up to the Belfast Agreement,three possible explanations for power-sharing, based onconsociational theory are discussed.