Several previous studies have in different ways tried to explain how new social movements are affected by the different sets of political and social contexts within different states and societies. This essay asks the question how much the institutional aspects within the theory of Political opportunity structures (POS) have determined how the rather successful animal rights movements in the Netherlands and Great Britain have mobilized and acted to gain progress. Since the Netherlands and Great Britain contains different kinds of political and institutional contexts, these two states are found to be suitable for a comparative analysis of the theory's durability. A qualitative portrayal of both state's institutional Political opportunity structures are presented. Then the mobilization, progress, and actions of the political party ?Party for the Animals? in the Netherlands, and a wide group of animal rights organisations in Great Britain are determined.

This essay is about the mobilization that have arisen due to the mining activities being planned in Norra Kärr, just outside of Gränna in the northern part of the county of Jönköping, Sweden. This study is based on the association Aktion Rädda Vättern and members of the associatons? individual thoughts and experiences of their possibility to success. Interviews were carried out with members of the association. The theoretical basis lies within the theory of Political opportunity structure and the defintion of the same by Sidney Tarrow.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the rise of the Tea Party movement in the United States. By using a known theory within social movement studies, the political process theory, this thesis look into the factors that could have played a role in the rise and fast mobilization of the Tea Party movement. The political process theory consists of three parts and hence looks into both the political structure of, in this case, the United States, how mobilizing structures have been used and into the cultural framing used by the Tea Party to create their identity. In order to bring structure to the thesis, the three theory parts have been transformed into analysis models. These give a very good idea of all the factors that could have played a part and therefore also a good way to describe the rise of the Tea Party movement.The research confirm what the political process theory says, that the Tea Party movements rise came at a time when there were a mix of factors at play, both structural and cultural, creating an opportunity that the Tea Party took.

This thesis is a study of social movements and their possibilities to effect politics by infuencing values in society through framing. I've looked upon social movements from a functionalistic-structuralistic perspective, as if they were carriers of values from people that otherwise won't be represented in the political life. The values that the social movements are struggling for can affect both the opinion and the decision-makers since the social movements in an active way are trying ti influence the society. The thesis examines the political opportunities that social movements hav to mobilise and grow. I have looked at different factors that either improve or make the political opportunities worse.

To create fair conditions between majority and minority in Sweden is a challeging project. Male immigrants usually do not get same opportunities for a success identity structure and integration into Swedish society as women and children. The aim of this thesis is therefore to critically examine and analyse the processes regarding identity structure and integration for male immigrants with a specific focus on Helsingborg. The object of this study is Mansgrupp, a project which helps men to build up a secure ground for identity structure and which further helps them to integrate into the society. To be able to reach the results I have made a literature study as well as a minor field study in Helsingborg, where I conducted interviews with men from the above mentioned project.

This paper examines the consequences of membership and participation in immigrant associations on individual immigrants? political integration and indirect political participation with reference to Swedish society. The theoretical underpinnings consist of a social structural outlook on social capital, combined with the Civic Voluntarism Model, both of which focus on the potential role of social networks for moving people into political action. After a presentation of parallel qualitative data over the experiences of individual members in a Finnish and Bosnian-Hercegovinian organisation, it is suggested that immigrant associations support the political integration of their members into the host society. Firstly, the case studies indicate that members of immigrant associations gain the opportunity to augment their civic skills, which is a significant prerequisite for political participation.

In order to fully grasp the phenomena 'City' we must understand its political structure as an integrated part of its physical structure and vice versa. This thesis focuses on one crucial element of the City, the public space, and discusses it in relation to the public realm, or sphere, of the City. The aim is to see if it is possible to conceive public space as a spatial dimension of power, and if so, how to analyse this. With the help of the theoretical tool of two ideal types of the configuration of public space, "The city as civic public life" and "The city as authoritarian control" an empirical study is carried out on the case of Prishtina, capital of Kosovo.Conclusions made are that function and use of a city's public spaces can be understood in relation to changes in the political climate of the society. Furthermore, a void in the asset of concepts offered by the ideal types is found ? and therefore also need for new concepts to describe and understand a public space undergoing a dynamic transformation, as being a part of a city in political transition..

The development aid from Sweden to developing countries is a activity thatinvolves a great deal of monetary founds as well as an opportunity to influence the environmental situation in a partner country. It´s also an opportunity to promote Sweden's values in a field like the environment, setting a good example is important. This thesis aims to evaluate Sida´s environmental policy and find out if there in fact is a Environmental Policy Integration Policy (EPI) taking place. EPI is a policyimplementation theory that emphasise the importance of the total integration of the environmental in the organisation as a whole. To identify this I will use a theoretical framework of indicators invented by William M.

This essay is the result of a case study. The aim of this study has been to gain an understanding of government employee?s opportunity to be involved in and contribute to the processes tied to organizational development. The case study is based on the perspective of the government employees and their experience and thoughts regarding their opportunity to be a part of the organizational development. The empirical data that was generated by the case study has been analysed with New Public Management and Sense Of Coherence as a theoretical point of view.

The corporate opportunity doctrine constitutes a prohibition for the directors and officers of a company to pursue for themselves any opportunity which falls within the scope of the corporation?s business. In Swedish law the doctrine has not yet seemed to attract any greater attention. This doctrine has been the focus of a multitude of cases in a both American and English law, however mainly in the America law. Therefore, the American legal framework can serve as guidance in trying to define the doctrine as it has developed, or perhaps more correctly not developed, in national law.The perhaps most crucial question to be answered in the area of corporate opportunities is how the law indentify an opportunity as a ?corporate? one.

The purpose of this essay is to critically review three different contributions to the agency ? structure debate from a political science perspective. My opinon is that the agency ? structure debate is one of the main problems within the social science. The theories which I will examine are Lennart Berntsons theory from 1974, Lennart Lundquists from 1984 and Walter Carlsnaes from 1992.

In 2003 the deciding political council in Bromölla municipality requested that an overhaul on the committee and public administration structure should be conducted. In the report Bromölla was characterized as a traditional organization with a low degree of change. This case study will examine why the organization previously has been reluctant to change its structure and why they are willing to do so now. In the pursuit of this objective I conducted document studies, interviews and observations. I have used theories on, institutional change and organizational culture to enlighten this.My findings shows that the traditionalists within the organization has greatly affected this reluctance towards change, in the deciding council 39 % of the representatives are 60 years or older.

In 2003 the deciding political council in Bromölla municipality requested that an overhaul on the committee and public administration structure should be conducted. In the report Bromölla was characterized as a traditional organization with a low degree of change. This case study will examine why the organization previously has been reluctant to change its structure and why they are willing to do so now. In the pursuit of this objective I conducted document studies, interviews and observations. I have used theories on, institutional change and organizational culture to enlighten this.My findings shows that the traditionalists within the organization has greatly affected this reluctance towards change, in the deciding council 39 % of the representatives are 60 years or older.

The purpose of this essay is to present, from a theoretical framwork about regional democracy, possible methods to handle the regional democratic problems in Östergötland in Sweden and to investigate the opinion of the political parties regarding this issue. Both the national and the local/regional level are investigated. The contents of the essay is based on literature studies and interviews of politicians in Östergötland. Regional democratic problems that is discussed are the political responsibility and the power distribution between the political actors on the regional level. A solution of the problem could be to organize the regional society structure in accordance with one of the following organization models"Statligt regionalt ansvar","Kommuner i samverkan"or"Regionalt folkstyre".

People are given better opportunities to participate in polity today. Democratic equality entails that all individuals are equal and therefore they should be included in the process of making the decisions. How can participation be defined and does it mean that having the possibility to participate means that people can influence the process of making the decisions in polity process?This paper focuses on participation and influence in polity and examine the relationship between having the possibility to participate and having the possibility to actually influence polity process on more local level. Therefore I have been examining the citizens? participation and influence in Helsingborg which is my case study.