Over the last years there has been a considerable change in Swedish municipals. The number of municipals run by a rainbow coalition, a coalition made up of parties from different political blocks, has increased dramatically. Despite this clear pattern little research has tried to explain this increase. My thesis? aim is to try and clear the water around this subject by answering three questions about this type of Coalitions.

This thesis aims at studying the development of the party cohesion and oligarchichaltendencies in the party groups of the Swedish national parliament, riksdagen, after theintroduction of two clear block Coalitions during the years 2006-2010.The result of the cohesion during these years has been compared towards the years 1998-2006.The research method being used has been 18 semi structured interviews with member of the parliament during the examined years. The main findings show an increment of both the cohesion and the oligarchical tendencies after the block Coalitions during the years 2006-2010. The result verified therefore also the two originally stated hypothesis..

AbstractSince the 2006 election the country of Sweden is governed by four Liberal and Conservative parties. Parties that by cooperating maintain power in office and forms a so called coalition. A coalition that not only can be seen at the national but also at the local level. According to pervious research Coalitions that holds control of the seats in the government at the national level tends to increase the total expenditures compared to other types of government formations. Can a similar connection be seen at the local level? This the fundamental issue of this essay.

AbstractIn this essay, policy change and learning is studied in the case of the Social Democratic Party and their policy concerning independent schools. Their policy differs clearly from the right-wing parties. Between 1991 and 1994, the right-wing government made substantial reforms concerning independent schools. The question posed in this essay is whether the policy of the Social Democratic Party has changed as a result of these actions, and if they have approached their right-wing counterparts.Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework, defining a policy as a result of the values the actor holds, the question is studied by applying the theory's assumptions of policy-learning across Coalitions. The argumentation of the Social Democratic Party, as it is expressed in official text documents before and after the right-wing government, is analysed.

The aim of this report was to investigate which factors determine municipal taxes in Sweden.The aim was also to find out whether and how the forms of political rule are significant covariates. A multiple regression analysis was performed using data from 289 municipalities. The analysis resulted in five dierent models, of which a model based on municipal grouping was found to be most satisfactory. In all of the models, there are effects from the form of political rule. The results indicate that socialist municipalities have higher tax rates than non-socialist.

During the last decades the Swedish local party systems have gone through some considerable changes. The number of parties present in local party systems have increased and in some cases even doubled. This makes coalition building between parties complex and parties will be forced to rethink their coalition strategies and adjust to the new circumstances. Theoretically, coalition building has often been considered and applied to national data and there have been just a few attempts to develop and theoretically explain Coalitions on a local level. Thus the aim of this paper is to use different theoretical approaches to local data to test the significance of traditional coalition theories.

When discussing local development attention is often given to the problems involved. Factors like decreasing population and inadequate infrastructure are two examples. Local politics has, however, lately been argued to have possibilities to affect its own development and its chances to achieve growth. Some of the most important factors from this debate are to make a community attractive for people and companies, committed leadership, the local business world with entrepreneurialism and a good business climate. These factors serve as a starting point for this discussion where focus is on the possibilities to achieve growth on the local level and the politics that is used for this purpose.To illustrate the chances to affect local growth I apply the theoretical perspective of regime theory and thereby examine the governing Coalitions "power to" govern and not "power over" as the earlier theoretical perspectives in the area.

Det finns en uppfattning att antalet stater i en koalition har en negativ inverkan påsannolikheten för seger i krig. Flera författare beskriver de koordinations- ochinteroperabilitetsproblem som finns mellan stater i en koalition. Interoperabilitetbeskrivs som nyckeln till framtida krigföring. Denna uppsats bedömer dettapåstående genom att med en statistisk metod undersöka problemet. Syftet meduppsatsen är att med utgångspunkt från en teoretisk diskussion kvantitativtundersöka huruvida antalet stater utgör en betingelse för seger i ett krig.

Since the 1980's economic policies has become an important issue in municipalities and more resources are put into projects that are intended to have a positive influence on the local economic growth. From a theoretical perspective of regime theory and a model of local political economy, concerning the strategies chosen by the actors involved designed by Jon Pierre, the discussion points to the fact that it is possible to affect the local development. The municipalities discussed and compared in this thesis, Bromölla and Östra Göinge, have similar prerequisite for growth mainly due to their dependence to large industrial companies.In order to fulfill the aim of the thesis and examine the change in economic policies over time and between the two municipalities a comparative method is used. The creation of local governing Coalitions is emphasized which makes efforts and intentions of individual actors crucial for the success of the local economic policies. Bromölla started their more active efforts in the area of economic policies earlier than Östra Göinge and has also come a bit further in the process.

The purpose of this research is to identify how E-NGO and forest stakeholders, in the study referred to as non-state actors, have influenced the EU timber regulation; through participation and lobbyism towards the decision- makers (policy makers) at EU and national level, to achieve adjustments in the legislative text. The study also examines the relationships between the forest stakeholders, the E-NGOs and the EU-institutions, regarding communication, cooperation, informal and formal consultation where interviews were accomplished with decision-makers from the EU-institutions, forest stakeholders, E-NGOS and representatives from Swedish authorities that participated under the development of the EUTR during the period of 2008-2013. The participation and lobbying from non-state actors have most likely affected the outcome of the regulation, through alterations in the legislative text and through influencing the EU-institutions. Several factors that have affected the efficiency and timing of the influence have been identified through interviews as well as various approaches to influence the decision makers. The findings of the study may be useful for forest related interest groups that are involved in decision-making procedures at EU-level and as substance and material for further research in the subject of forest policy making at supranational level..

Ljusförorening är ett relativt modernt fenomen som allt mer påverkar tillgången till en stjärnklar natthimmel. Det finns en mängd olika internationella organisationer som arbetar för att minska ljusföroreningar och för att bevara natthimlens synlighet, bland andra International Dark-Sky Association, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada och Starlight Initiative. I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag ett antal strategiska dokument genom textanalys, för att analysera deras huvudsakliga motiv till förändringar och för att få en överblick över vilka sorters åtgärder som dessa organisationer föreslår. De analyserade dokumenten är Astrolabs Practical Guide for Lighting, Dark Sky Societys Guidelines for Good Exterior Lighting Plans, International Dark-Sky Associations Practical Guide, Royal Astronomical Society of Canadas Dark Sky Guidelines, Patersons Sark ? Dark Sky Island Lighting Management Plan, Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalitions Lighting Tips, Starlight Initiatives Defence of the Night Sky and the Right to Starlight och Narisda och Schreuders Light Pollution Handbook.