The aim of this thesis is to examine the properties of the municipalities in Sweden that influence the choice of being a certified Fairtrade city. The independent variables which are used in the statistical analysis are municipal governance, local tax rate, whether there is an university and/or university college in the municipality, average income and higher education in the municipality. The variables are examined by logistic regression. Since there are no statistical data on ethical procurement, this exogenous variable isn?t included in the regression.

Municipalities must establish budget annually but they are free to decide how the governance should be designed, this can lead to lack of consistency and measurability within and between municipalities. The purpose of this thesis was to present a proposal for a unified and more measurable financial structure of a municipality where this was lacking. In our theory we describe the issues of traditional management control and we introduce an alternative control with non-financial ratios included, called the Balanced Scorecard. In the empirical data it is investigated how the governance of a municipality could be designed, according to the respondents. In the analysis the information gathered to reach the answers to what are considered to be useful governance in municipality, are examined. In the conclusion, we design Balanced Scorecards with both financial and non-financial ratios to the councils of the municipality..

In the new media society, social media has become an important part of many organizations' daily lives. Organizations, whether public or private, must be where their audience is and many times, these can be found on social media channels like Facebook. Leading researchers in the fields of crisis communication and relationship management believe that social media is a great tool for managing relationships between an organization and its' public, whether it's before, during or after a crisis.The purpose of this study is to examine how the Karlstad municipality use Facebook to manage civic relations before, during and after a crisis. The municipality's approach will be compared to the citizens' experiences of the municipality's communication in different stages of a crisis.The theoretical framework used in this essay is the research on crisis communication and relationship management. How these two frameworks can be integrated with social media like Facebook, is an important part of understanding how the Karlstad municipality make use of Facebook to manage civic relations and communicate before, during and after a crisis.The empirical study consists of a qualitative interview, two qualitative content analysis and an online survey.

The possibility and the right to be able to communicate with municipalities or other state companies and politicians are natural for the Swedish citizens. However, they may be unaware that this communication process is called citizen dialogue.Today there are so many ways to communicate; one-way communication is not possible in the same way as before. It is above all social media such as Facebook, which has opened the gates one could only dream of.  Via a medium such as Facebook creates a strong citizen dialogue in which the municipality and citizens communicate openly and ask questions and give response.The purpose of this study is to find out how Karlstad?s municipality uses, and maintains, citizen dialogue on Facebook. What are the guidelines and how do the municipality use these? In this paper a qualitative expert interview and a qualitative content analysis has been used to answer the purpose of the essay.

In the new media society, social media has become an important part of many organizations' daily lives. Organizations, whether public or private, must be where their audience is and many times, these can be found on social media channels like Facebook. Leading researchers in the fields of crisis communication and relationship management believe that social media is a great tool for managing relationships between an organization and its' public, whether it's before, during or after a crisis.The purpose of this study is to examine how the Karlstad municipality use Facebook to manage civic relations before, during and after a crisis. The municipality's approach will be compared to the citizens' experiences of the municipality's communication in different stages of a crisis.The theoretical framework used in this essay is the research on crisis communication and relationship management. How these two frameworks can be integrated with social media like Facebook, is an important part of understanding how the Karlstad municipality make use of Facebook to manage civic relations and communicate before, during and after a crisis.The empirical study consists of a qualitative interview, two qualitative content analysis and an online survey.

In the field of municipal services there are a wide range of aspects a small community must consider, especially considering that the circumstances in which a municipality operate continuously are changing. The changes include, for example, migration, individual lifestyles, the political governance and environment. Especially the latter might have a big impact on a town based on tourism such as Borgholm. We particularly have taken an interest for how this might affect the internal branding and internal brand communication of Borgholm municipality.Through our research we have found that Borgholm municipality in no particular extent is working with living the brand or any similar concepts. Also, we have found that the success of the internal branding of the organization in a great extent depend on the individuals of the different branches of the municipality?s work rather than on a coherent communication structure which reaches the whole organization..

The purpose of this work is to study a circulation project in Enköping municipality, where the society?s rest products are used to make beneficial products. In Enköping the rest products from waste treatment plants and private sewers are used to fertilize and irrigate Salix plantations that later are harvested and burned at the local combined heating and power plant, ENA Energy AB, to produce electricity and heat. Possibilities to apply this kind of project ona municipality in Russia are also explored.Guryevsk municipality in Kaliningrad region was chosen since there is a need to improve energy systems and reduce emissions to water and air. This municipality strives to become environmentally friendly.

The knowledge that citizens have of their own municipality is very useful for the local politicians and planners in the event of such a major reconstruction in the neighborhood. It is the residents in the area that are most affected, and their view on the reconstruction is valuable if the end result will be as good as possible. Since the municipality builds for the citizens, and wants them to enjoy the outcome of the reconstruction as much as possible, it is essential that the municipality get a chance to inspect the citizen?s views and experiences about it in an early stage. If the citizens don?t want to get involved, or if only a few people involve themselves, it will be difficult for the municipality to find a solution satisfactory to all.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the properties of the municipalities in Sweden that influence the choice of being a certified Fairtrade city. The independent variables which are used in the statistical analysis are municipal governance, local tax rate, whether there is an university and/or university college in the municipality, average income and higher education in the municipality. The variables are examined by logistic regression. Since there are no statistical data on ethical procurement, this exogenous variable isn?t included in the regression.

The development that the Swedish society has experienced during the last four decades and the higher part of the population coming from foreign countries calls for a more intensive research on the situation of these groups. The purpose of this study is to find explanations of the differences in the share of immigrant politicians in Linköping and Norrköping. The starting point of the study is a model of factors assumed to affect the representation of immigrants in the municipality assemblies. The immigrant composition, the municipality organization and the view of democracy of the politicians, are all assumed to affect the civic participation. The civic participation is then assumed to affect the representation of immigrants in the municipality.

The purpose of this thesis is to present and analyze population developments within Umeå municipality during the period 1992 to 2012. The study also aims to discuss growth trends presented in previous papers to seek common factors and get a deeper understanding.Data for 1992, 2002 and 2012 on a sub area level supplied by Umeå municipality was used. The study shows a continued positive development across almost all sub areas, but a differing growth rate from centre to periphery, and also a diversified medium age among the inhabitants.While the city center continues to have the highest growth of population during the studied years, a recent trend seems to point to a growing popularity to settle in the outskirts of the municipality, primarily near the coast..

AbstractThe purpose and vision for the municipality of Torsby are to connect with a younger population in the municipality by the year of 2012.This study is a qualitative survey of the target group ?the young ones? within the municipality of Torsby, which is the population between 17?35 years old.Because of the size and the different intrests between the individuals in this group it has been divided into three smaller groups.? High school students, 17-19 years old.? Returning seasonal workers, 20-26 years old.? People who has moved to Torsby and are now living in the municipality, 27-35 years old.The results of the study show that all the respondents believes that with the right communication channels a positive and strong communication between the municipality and the target groups can be reached. The message and the significance of the message are as important as the communication channels and all the target groups together would like to see a wider range of leisure pursuits that will suit the respective target group.The analysis and the results also show that the communication with the target groups should come about in different ways to be successful, both when it comes to fundemental reasons and choices of communication channels.The two youngest target groups has an adjacent and a similar need of well-founded and entertaining communication and information to rach a long-term result.The older group needs communication that will give them opportunity to reflect and concider the message, which means that the municipality of Torsby needs to adjust both the message and the communication channel for a quicker respons. This target group is also in need of further studies so the municipality of Torsby succesfully can plan a more detailed communication, this because the target group is a less homogeneous group than the two other target groups..

In recent years it has become way more important for organizations to use their brand to market themselves as an employer. In a market where organizations are competing for labor it has been known that the brand can make it possible for organizations to differentiate themselves as unique and attractive place of work. The concept is called Employer Branding and if an organization wants to suceed they have to have a clear and defined structure. The concept is well known among private organizations and not as common with the public sector. The purpose of this study was to examine how a small municipality in northern Sweden is working to be an attractive employer.

Abstract?Political participation by the citizen?- Citizen proposals in Karlstad municipalityEssay in Political Science, C-levelAuthor: Tobias GustafssonTutor: Michele MichelettiIn Sweden the political parties are losing more and more of their members. That in combination with a tendency that the participation in the elections is getting lower is a problem for the representative and parliamentary political system in Sweden.In order to strengthen the democracy in Sweden and to make the gap between the citizens and the elected smaller there has been some democracy-projects. The purpose of these democracy-projects is to make the political participation by the citizens, between the elections, higher. One of them is ?citizen proposals to the municipality?.The purpose of this essay is to examine this democracy-project in order to see what influences it might have on the local democracy.

This thesis examine if social voluntary organisations are independent or if they are being regulated by the public sector. We ask how free the organisations are since they get so much support and funding from the municipality. This is examined by looking at the homogenisation pressure, which means that organisations are being exposed by a pressure to become more similar. The control that the municipality has over the organisations is another aspect in this paper. The study focuses on the relation between the municipality of Linköping and three social voluntary organisations and their characteristics.