Regionalism is a concept of extensive proportions and as such is complex to define. This phenomenon becomes much clearer by studying it from different perspectives. This paper focuses on regional political parties and description of their political ideas. The goal of this paper is to examine and compare regional political parties in two Swedish regions: Norrbotten and Skåne. By studying two biggest regional parties in these regions, namely Norrbottensparti and Skånepartiet, I will try to get an insight into the regional politics, as well as illustrate Regionalism and its meaning.

This thesis in social anthropology is based on the inner essence, manifestations and tendencies of Scottish nationalism and Regionalism. The thesis intends to investigate how Scottish nationalism and Regionalism are related to each other. It is meant to highlight the meaning of the Wallace-myth for maintenance of the Scottish national consciousness and to illuminate factors lying behind this myth. It is also meant to study how Turner, Lévi-Strauss, Anderson, Eriksen, Hobsbawm and Hettne?s theories work in the Scottish field.

In May 2007 a committee called ??Ansvarskommittén??, assembled by the Swedish government, came with a proposal of changing the Swedish regional structure. The committee which consisted of representatives from all the sitting parties in the parliament proposed that the present regional structure consisting of 20 county council districts and 21 counties would be reduced to between 6-9  regions called ??regionkommuner??.The purpose of this study is to analyze how the committee?s proposal balances democratic and economic values by using a qualitative method. The committee?s proposal is analyzed by a comparison in five political areas with two differentiated regional theories called old and new Regionalism.

The analysis of regional development and the formation of regional policy have experienced an increasing importance in Europe and in Sweden during the last decades. There is a widespread assumption that the increasing significance of regions is due to the diminishing role of the nationstate in the era of globalization. This essay suggests that there is a hegemonic discourse, heavily relying on the assumptions of New Regionalism, when addressing regional building. Sometimes described as an ideology, New Regionalism, which is derived from research of successful regions, is based on the assumption that regional competitiveness and autonomy creates economic growth. The Committee on Public Sector Responsibilities (Ansvarskommittén) suggests that Sweden requires new regional structure, due to the increasing expenditures facing the welfare state.

This study investigates the concept of Regionalism in the context of the Swedish middle-level political arena. The used method is qualitative theory and two cases are studied: Västra Götaland and Norrbottens läns landsting.The aim of the study is to see what the politicans think about Swedens regionalization process by compare the views of politicans that function in a region and in a county council. Do they have the same vision about what constitutes a region and which advantages do they see in working in a region or in a county council? Also dimensions about territorially and sectorial autonomy on the regional level, presented by King and Pierre are investigated in order to explain the different regionala organs functioning accordingly to these dimensions.The empirical material that have been analyzed is taken from 17 interviews, from government writings and reports from the SKL association, Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting, about the topic of regionalization and the effects and goals in Sweden.The conclusion of the material is that there is common opinion among the politicans about the goals of a region and also about which areas that can benefit the most from the perspective of beeing a region instead of a county council. When it comes to explaining the dimensions of territorially and sectorial autonomy the results have shown that the region has the most both territorially and sectorial autonomy, which is due to the regions rightfullness to taxation right, which is high in the region and ensured by a strong catchment area.

Regionalization has become a catchphrase in European countries during the last twenty years with the establishment of the European Union. An ideational development has occurred during time towards emphasing more politicially powerful regions with the idea of new Regionalism. Sweden represents a deviant case study, where regions historically have been politically weak and where Sweden has been characterized as a strong unitary state. The aim of this paper is to analyze the political debate in the Swedish parliament concerning the implementation of a stronger regional level (storregioner) during 2007-2010 and to determine if the debate can be characterized as a case of depoliticalization. The theory of depoliticalization have been introduced by Richard Katz and Peter Mair to explain why political parties through external pressure from europeanisation and globalization tend to become more consensual with similar political agendas, leading to a diminished the lef-right scale.

Regionalization has become a catchphrase in European countries during the last twenty years with the establishment of the European Union. An ideational development has occurred during time towards emphasing more politicially powerful regions with the idea of new Regionalism. Sweden represents a deviant case study, where regions historically have been politically weak and where Sweden has been characterized as a strong unitary state. The aim of this paper is to analyze the political debate in the Swedish parliament concerning the implementation of a stronger regional level (storregioner) during 2007-2010 and to determine if the debate can be characterized as a case of depoliticalization. The theory of depoliticalization have been introduced by Richard Katz and Peter Mair to explain why political parties through external pressure from europeanisation and globalization tend to become more consensual with similar political agendas, leading to a diminished the lef-right scale.

Regionalization has become a catchphrase in European countries during the last twenty years with the establishment of the European Union. An ideational development has occurred during time towards emphasing more politicially powerful regions with the idea of new Regionalism. Sweden represents a deviant case study, where regions historically have been politically weak and where Sweden has been characterized as a strong unitary state. The aim of this paper is to analyze the political debate in the Swedish parliament concerning the implementation of a stronger regional level (storregioner) during 2007-2010 and to determine if the debate can be characterized as a case of depoliticalization. The theory of depoliticalization have been introduced by Richard Katz and Peter Mair to explain why political parties through external pressure from europeanisation and globalization tend to become more consensual with similar political agendas, leading to a diminished the lef-right scale.

The Swedish regions are new phenomena, from the start from the new Regionalism which started in the 1980´s. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze Region Skåne and Västra Götalandsregionen to come to a conclusion which model of region they are and want to be by using theories of regional identity and identity of politics and see similarities and differences. My research question is: Which of cultural, administrative and functional region are Region Skåne and Västra Götaland striving to construct?   The methods I have used are qualitative text- and content analysis to analyze the regions, by using theories about regional identity and identity of politics. Furthermore, I am using some statistic from SOM-institutet to analyze the regional identity in the regions.   The result show that Region Skåne is constructing a cultural region, because of their strong regional identity and that the politicians are using identity of politics to combine the citizens.

The formation of sovereign states in regional blocks has become an essential feature in the world system. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate which motives and driving forces that affect the creation of projects of regional integration outside Europe and the Western World. By choosing the Latin American project of integration ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas) as a case of regional integration outside Europe and the Western World, the study investigates the motives expressed by the most prominent actors of the project, Venezuela and Cuba. ALBA is chosen as a representative and a unique case and through the consumption of the gramscian and the realist approaches, the essay defines two motives that affect the creation of projects of regional integration. As a way of investigating the actors? motives, the paper studies political statements, especially those of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, and official positions expressed in central documents and declarations.

Den sydsvenska regionbildningen är en förening som tillsammans står bakom en avsiktsförklaring för att slå samman Blekinge, Kalmar, Kronoberg och Skåne till en region med eget utvecklingsansvar. Förslag på att Sverige borde införa regioner med eget utvecklingsansvar lade den statliga utredningen, kallad Ansvarskommittén, fram efter att utförligt undersökt hur Sveriges samhällsorganisation kan förbättras. Efter Ansvarskommittén lade fram sitt förslag diskuterades det kring regionbildningar runt om i Sverige, men dessa diskussioner har en efter en lagts ner, förutom den sydsvenska regionbildningen och denna uppsats vill försöka ta reda på varför. Syftet med denna uppsats utgår ifrån att ta reda på om argumentationen för att bilda region som presenteras i Ansvarskommitténs utredning är drivkraften bakom den sydsvenska regionbildningen. För att ha underlag för att besvara detta syfte utgick jag från följande frågeställning Vilka huvudargument lade Ansvarskommittén i sin utredning fram för regionalisering i Sverige?, Vilka likheter och skillnader finns det i huvudargumenten för regionalisering från Ansvarskommittén i förhållande till den sydsvenska regionbildningens sätt att resonera kring en regionalisering? och Mot bakgrund av forskningslitteratur om Regionalism, nyRegionalism och regionalisering, i vilken utsträckning kan dessa begrepp kopplas samman med Ansvarskommitténs utredning? För att besvara syftet utgick jag från Ansvarskommitténs utredningsdokument och dokument från den sydsvenska regionbildningen.

Should new buildings blend in or contrast from the older buildings around? Could contrasts even emphasize different characters? This report is a discussion on that theme. I´ve studied different architects wiev on the question and studied different of examples of where new buildings contrast to the context in a successful way. In part two I´ve done a proposal on a new housing settlement next to Hammarbyhöjden in Stockholm. The new buildings contrast to the existing and the aim is to emphasize the characters in Hammarbyhöjden as well as in the new structure.

Should new buildings blend in or contrast from the older buildings around? Could contrasts even emphasize different characters? This report is a discussion on that theme. I´ve studied different architects wiev on the question and studied different of examples of where new buildings contrast to the context in a successful way. In part two I´ve done a proposal on a new housing settlement next to Hammarbyhöjden in Stockholm. The new buildings contrast to the existing and the aim is to emphasize the characters in Hammarbyhöjden as well as in the new structure.

Globaliseringen ställer nya krav på regionernas konkurrenskraft. Gränsregioner som Wien-Bratislava-regionen och Öresundsregionen försöker öka sin konkurrens bl.a. genom integration och samarbete. Dessa två gränsregioner har likheter som gör dem intressanta för jämförelser exempelvis järnridåns fall och Öresundsbrons tillkomst som i grunden förändrat integrationsmöjligheterna. Därtill har de ungefär lika stort invånareantal.

The aim of the study is to examine different statements for and against regional identity in the research of the new organisation of the Swedish society. The aim is also to observe in what extend the Swedish committee of responsibility has had an awareness of the identity politics in its effort to improve the presumptions for the new, successful regional division.The questions are:1. In which ways do the opinions of the participant of the work of the committee of responsibility, coincide and differ when it comes to the importance of the regional identity in the case of a new regional division?2. How has the committee of responsibility worked on development of consciousness and mobilisation for the creation of the regional identity in its final report?A method called the argumentation analysis was used in this study.