Japan's foreign and security policy has seen some substantial changes as a result of events like the first Gulf war and 9/11th. This has been taken as proof, by some, that Japan is abandoning its antimilitaristic stance and pursuing a more traditional hard power role through military means. This essay aims to explore if these shifts have coincided with any substantial shifts away from antimilitarism, which has had a strong influence on the country's security policy since the end of WW2.To do this I use constructivist theory, specifically regarding the impact of norms and identities on states security policy and briefly look into the problem of actor designation. The thematic focus is on security policy, from a narrow perspective, and thus I examine areas like the input and output to the Japanese military and the actual applications of this force. State identity is used to explore the prevalence of nationalistic sentiments and support for anti militarism in the public opinion and the political elite.The result of this study points to the further relevance of constructivist theory and especially the application of norms and identity.

Elite sport is becoming more professional, and elite athletes have to be more committed to spend several hours in training to achieve elite level and this means that the time to pursue a university academic career to the side of elite sport is minimized. Still only few elite athletes will be able to make a living of their sport. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the opportunities and difficulties for a student who combines academic study with elite sport. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight students studying at the University of Umeå, combining elite sport with academic studies. Results show that there are high demands on elite students to structure and plan for the combination of studies and elite sport.

AbstractPurpose/Aim: To investigate how the positions between the paper, the public and the elite in society have changed on Aftonbladets Op-Eds and Letter to the editor-pages between 1999 to 2005. In a wider context this means Aftonbladets potential to contribute to the role of the press as a forum of public debate.Material/Method: The study focuses on one week during 1999, 2002 and 2005. Here a quantitative contents analyse with inspiration from conversation (dialogue) analyse has been used.Main results: The study shows that the paper has strengthened its position over this period of time. Mainly by taking a more active role in forming and encouraging the debate. The public was given more space in 2002, then in 1999 and 2005.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine librarian's opinion of computer filters, to bring order in the debate on these filters and also to encourage future debate on this subject. The main problem is whether librarians themselves think they have the right to limit the public access to information on the Internet by using computer filters. We will also see how many public libraries are using filters, why they have chosen to use or not to use them, what is the librarians' opinion of filters, what rules exist regarding the use of the Internet, and finally if it is legal to use filter programs in public libraries. We have also included a short report on what filters are and how they work. This paper deals only with Swedish conditions on a number of public libraries.

Retiring from elite sport can be a difficult and disruptive process for an elite athlete. To improve the quality of the transition after retirement, elite athletes are recommended to have dual careers which mean they combine their sport with education to be prepared for a new career when they retire from elite sport. To help elite student-athletes with this combination, universities and sport organizations provide different kind of support. This study was conducted and aimed to investigate elite athletes? perceptions of support offered by a university in Sweden and the elite athletes? perceptions of combining top level sport and academic studies.

Public opinion can be shaped as well as transformed in a number of ways. Government authorities occasionally make use of public information campaigns to educate and steer the public. In this thesis the balance between public and private, the individual and the society is analysed in terms of dimensions of individualism and communitarianism. These dissimilar theories on how the society ought to be constructed can be used when analysing many different policy areas, however, they also pinpoint the controversies seen in the public debate regarding Swedish information policy. Based on this analysis an empirical study identifies what kind of knowledge the state wants the citizens to possess and public information campaigns can be problematic.

This Master's thesis discusses the freedom of speech, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas in the context of public libraries in Sweden. The scope of this thesis is to examine the acquisition and maintenance of the literature about the killing of Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme 1986. This literature will serve as an instrument to measure the extent to which Swedish public libraries adhere to the rules set by the Swedish parliament, United Nations' universal declaration of human rights article 19, UNESCO's public library manifesto and the principles of the Federation of Library Associations and Institutions..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine seven public librarians? attitudes towards manga as a new kind of literature in public libraries. Manga is an art form, originally from Japan, but in recent years manga has become very popular in the Western societies. The main issue of this thesis is how the librarians? look at manga and what they think about manga.

AbstractTitle: An industry with a lacking trust ? PR-consultants about their own responsibility and how they can contribute to an increased trust for their profession (En bransch med bristande förtroende ? PR-konsulter om sitt eget ansvar och hur de själva kan bidra till ökat branschförtroende)Number of pages: 68 (79 including enclosures)Author: Ebba GöranzonTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring 2008University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityAim: The aim of this essay is to study the Swedish PR-industry and the distrust that is directed towards it. The starting point is different PR-consultants opinion about their profession and industry. What do they think needs to be done to increase the trust for the industry and what kind of responsibility do they think they have?Method/Material: Together with literature studies, a qualitative method has been used and five in-depth interviews with PR-consultants have been conducted.

The relationship between the government and organised interest in Sweden has changed. Formally considered as a good example of a corporatist state the country during the last 15 years or so experienced a more pluralistic system. This thesis is a qualitative study which discusses how interest groups seek to influence decision makers and policy thru lobbying and public opinion. It also examines how interest groups work with advertising and public relations in a changed climate of mass media. The main method of gathering material has been done thru interviews of representatives of different interest groups.The results of the study paint a picture where the interviewed organizations experience a vast competition in communication and information.

The social elite on Öland and in Möre in the south east of Sweden during the Iron Age is described on the basis of the archaelogical record, such as graves, settlements and traces of pre-Christian central places. The material is discussed to see if traces of an elite are to be found. The power configuration between Öland and Möre is also discussed.

This paper used a qualitative technique from a social scientific perspective, a model based on Hewitt and his theory of the self-concept. The purpose of this study was to investigate why some elite athletes experience troublesome periods after their career ending. Interviews were performed with five elite athletes with varying experiences after career ending. The length of the elite athlete careers vary between 7 to 17 years. Two groups were made based upon experiences after career ending.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what functions the public library has for parents of small children. If and how they make use of the library and what their opinion is about it. The research questions are: Which functions does the public library have for parents of small children? How do parents of small children use the library and what opinion do they have about it? Which factors have an impact on the parents of small children and how do they influence their use of and opinion about the public library and the functions of the library? The theoretical approach is based on Henrik Jochumsen and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen?s model of the social room and the lifestyles and Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the public library?s functions. To answer our research questions we have made seven qualitative interviews with parents of small children.

This study was a survey of how it is possible to create conditions for good elite environments in cities with elite universities. The purpose of the study was to create an understanding of how sports associations and National elit sportuniversities in Sweden can co-operate to create a good elite environments for people with dual careers. The study analyzed the current situation and what increased co-operation would do for the elitesports environments. To answer the purpose of the study interviews where conducted with leaders from sports associations and with a representative from the national sports university in Umeå. The result showed that in the current situation were was no cooperation to a significant degree.

This Bachelor thesis is a qualitative study of the public debate regarding the role of Public service in the media converged society today. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the public debate, that is the Swedish Public service television and people with broad representative knowledge about Public service, motivates a change of the function of the Swedish Public service television.Our issues are: What does the public debate say about the function of Swedish Public  service television in our society today and how is a change motivated in this debate? How does the public debate look upon today´s media convergence and the fragmentation of the audience which, according to Denis McQuail, is a consequence of this?The method of this thesis is a qualitative analysis and we have analyzed ten opinion articles and Swedish Public service television magazine ?DittSvt?. The theoretical background was obtained from Henry Jenkins and Håkan Hvitfelts theories and thoughts about mediaconvergence. We have supplemented this with Denis McQuails theory regarding the fragmentation of the audience.In this thesis, we see that the public debate is a lot about diversity in Swedish Public service television programming and that the democratic base is still very important.