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The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how health care providers, working at care facilities providing maintenance treatment programs for opiate dependence, perceive and manage the legal framework governing the treatment. The study is limited to a few particular rules within this framework which over the recent decade have been the subject matter of debate regarding i.a. their alleged lack of relation to scientific research and their frequently disastrous implications for program participants. The empirical material consists of interviews with five respondents working at four different care facilities and has been analyzed by using Lipskys theory on street-level bureaucrats as policymaking agents. The results of the study show that the rules are looked upon and dealt with in a liberal fashion and that the primary loyalty of the maintenance treatment staff is clearly directed towards promoting the well-being of their patients and helping them reach their treatment goals rather than strictly following the rules.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the social workers work with the best interests of the child has changed since the incorporation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child(CRC) in 2020. It was also to see how their work with the child's right to participation, and how the social workersroom for action has been affected by the incorporation of the CRC. To answer the questions of the study, we chose a qualitative method. The collected data came from interviews with social workers who work in different areas and in different parts of Sweden. As a theoretical frame of reference, we used the concept of room for action and Lipsky´s theory of grassroots bureaucrats. The results showed that the more the respondents worked with children, the smaller the difference and the less they worked with children, the bigger the difference.Something that has changed since the CRC became law is that there has been greater clarity around the best interests of the child. Something that the study shows is how lack of resources has affected the work with the best interests of the child. The reason why those who work with children did not experience any difference in their work before and after the CRC became law is to some extent due to the social workers working method, the childs need in center (BBIC). / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur socionomernas arbete med barnets bästa förändrats sedan inkorporeringen av barnkonventionen 2020. Syftet var också att undersöka hur socionomerna arbetade med barnets rätt till delaktighet, samt hur socionomernas handlingsutrymme påverkades av inkorporeringen av barnkonventionen. Som teoretisk referensram använde vi oss av begreppet handlingsutrymme samt Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar valde vi att använda oss av en kvalitativ metod. Empirin samlades in genom intervjuer med sju socionomer som arbetade inom olika områden inom socialtjänsten och i olika delar av Sverige. Resultatet visade att i de verksamheter respondenterna arbetade direkt med barn blev skillnaden i arbetet mindre medande som arbetade i verksamheter som inte vände sig direkt mot barn märkte större skillnad. En av skillnaderna respondenterna såg sedan inkorporeringen var att det blivit tydligare vad som är barnets bästa. Något som under studiens gång tydligt framkom var hur resursbrister påverkade arbetet med barnets bästa. Anledningen till att de som arbetar med barn inte upplevde någon markant skillnad i arbetet före och efter inkorporeringen av barnkonventionen som lag beror till viss del på arbetsmodellen Barns behov i centrum (BBIC).

The Confucius Institute has recently become more prevalent in political discussions and news headlines. Questions regarding its operations, influence from the Chinese government, and programing are common topics in news reports about the institution. The rise of China in the global economy has caused demand for language and culture education and the Confucius Institute has attempted to fill this demand. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to investigate the perceptions of K-12 school and higher education employees that work closely with a Confucius Institute program in the state of Tennessee by exploring issues that have been presented in current research and reports, and to identify alignment and misalignment of these perceptions between higher education and K-12 settings in Tennessee. The study surveyed 42 higher education personnel and 58 K-12 personnel from Tennessee educational institutions that work with Confucius Institute programing. The survey consisted of 18 items that centered around 10 research questions. Quantitative data for six of the research questions were analyzed using a one sample t-test. A 5 point Likert-type scale was used to measure responses with a 3 point neutrality rating. Two research questions data were analyzed utilizing an independent samples t-test and two research questions were ranking questions that were coded in a point system to understand current perceptions. The results indicated that personnel interacting with Confucius Institute programing in the state of Tennessee generally found it to be positive regarding adhering to academic freedom principles, local control principles, media perception, and meeting the needs of the local institution or school. Higher education personnel listed political environment, alignment with institutional or school needs, educational benefit to students, and national media coverage as challenges facing the Confucius Institute. K-12 participants listed Chinese teacher turnover, Chinese teacher training, and alignment with institutional or school needs as challenges. Higher education personnel listed educational benefit to students, programing quality, Chinese teacher training, and resources as benefits connected to Confucius Institute programing. K-12 participants listed educational benefit to students, alignment with institutional or school needs, curriculum, and programing quality as benefits.

The aim of the study is to describe and analyze how LSS-administrators talkabout user involvement in investigations based on their profession in anorganizational context. Eight LSS administrators have been interviewed.LSS-administrators work in a paradox where they are supposed to be theextended arm of the welfare state, at the same time as they are supposed togive voice to vulnerable individuals and their needs and wishes. The resultsof this study show that five administrators use the word participation whentalking about user involvement. All of them also talk about image support ininvestigations, but in varying degrees. There are also signs in the interviewsthat adaptation and focusing on the best interests of the user are ways ofdoing user involvement. Similar signs can also be seen in that theadministrators may experience difficulties communicating with users andthat it is not always possible to rely on what the representative says withoutchecking with the user. The results also show that there is a varyingperception of how much can be done as an LSS-administrator in relation tohow controlled the work is.

The purpose with this study is to examine how social workers collaborate with clients that have both financial aid and substance abuse problems. The study aimed to examine if the social workers experienced that there were limits in their work when collaboration takes place. The study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with social workers from four different municipalities in Sweden. Criteria for the social workers were whether they should work with financial aid or addiction treatment. The interviews were analyzed with former research and theoretical concept discretion. The results of the study show that collaboration in social service is different depending on errand. Often it happens with information exchange. The result of the study also shows that social workers' work is affected by collaboration. Sometimes it supports their own work and sometimes it can create obstacles in their own work. One part of the result is that the nearness is an important component for functioning collaboration and the geographical nearness and distance affects the social worker’s work. That creates questions if the digital world can be helpful for collaboration in social service.

Since the fall of September, 2011, there has been a major increase in awareness and study of global terrorism. Academia, the media, politicians, and the average citizen all have varying definitions, ideas, and concerns about terrorism. The focus has mainly been on international terrorism. Terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda have permeated the discussion. However, there is a growing concern of the "lone wolf terrorist." A lone wolf terrorist acts without a terrorist organization and is capable of having his/her own radical agenda with the audacity and simplicity to carry it out solely and enact great damage. The focus in the United States and globally has been on international lone wolf terrorists. This is important, but a longstanding concern (that often goes without much conversation) is the domestic lone wolf terrorist. Using Gustav Freytag’s Triangle and Rational Choice theory, it is shown that lone wolf terrorism must be examined by the United States government to ensure safety of its citizens. A lone wolf terrorist is characterized as a United States citizen who enacts a terrorist action without being part of an organization or terror group. His motives are extremist in nature. This thesis examines the iii growing phenomena of the domestic lone wolf terrorist. In doing so, the primary function is to look at an even starker reality: that some lone wolf terrorists have served in the military, and during service have shown to portray radical thoughts and actions. Furthermore, these lone wolf terrorists used their military training and weapon insight to enact their catastrophic aims. This thesis uses a case study methodology to examine three lone wolf actors. From the Oklahoma City Bombing, to the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta and on to the Ft. Hood shootings the studies find that in all cases the actors did have radical beliefs, military training and used that training in concert with their attacks. This thesis can be used as a discussion about lone wolf terrorism, but also about governance. The findings show an increased need for the Department of Defense to work closely with the Department of Homeland Security and seek greater advice from organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation in order to conduct better psychological studies and examinations of military personnel. A disclaimer must be made that this thesis does not, in any way, seek to disparage the amazing amount of work and sacrifice of United States government personnel and agencies. This thesis aims to provide research towards improved understanding and combating of lone wolf terrorism.

This thesis is both descriptive and philosophical, and at its core, it justifies the need for social foundations of education courses and programs in the university setting. It begins by analyzing the meaning of oppression and the part knowledge plays in confining the individual. The analysis then draws upon Patricia Hill Collins' theory of intersecting oppressions to get at the complexities and restrictions of working in the public schooling institution. It works through the ways in which sexist, classist, and racist practices afflict everyone in the institution through the bureaucratic mechanism and collateral oppression. The four components that make up the wires on the cage (gender, class, race, and bureaucracy) not only confine; they cause varying degrees of direct and indirect harms (psychological, emotional, moral, financial) to those on the inside. The concept of the institutional cage is then merged with Rodman Webb's work on schools as total institutions. Through an analysis on the characteristics of total institutions, it becomes apparent that standardization, technological developments, and the influence of venture philanthropy have brought schools more in-line with the total institution. The study then clarifies the ways in which corporatic, bureaucratic, and technocratic mentalities infect the institution, where they intersect, and how they restrict those within. The components coalesce into the conceptualization of moral oppression: the act of being coerced to ignore and suppress one's morality, moral impulses, and moral way of knowing. The remainder of the study explores the meaning of moral action and suggests some ways educators can let go of the ways of thinking and acting that may be keeping them from confidently doing what they know to be good and just.

Crime is a social problem and leads to many negative consequences, and it is therefore of interest to analyze how officials in The Prison and Probation Service implement the principles risk, need and responsivity, (RNR-model) in crime prevention measures to reduce the risk among incarcerated prisoners to relapse into crime based on the informants’ perceptions. Furthermore, differences in the official’s autonomy regarding the implementation of crime prevention measures will be analyzed based on the RNR-model and what consequences these differences have according to the officials. The RNR-model is an innovation that has been spread in The Prison and Probation service and will be analyzed by Rogers (2003) Diffusion of innovation theory. The officials' autonomy to implement the RNR-model will be analyzed by Lipsky's (1990) theory of street-level bureaucracy. In this case study, I have conducted eight individual semi-structured interviews and the sample consists of officials who have many years of experience working with treatment in The Prison and Probation Service. The results show that the informants take a similar approach to the RNR-model and that the RNR-model pervades the entire crime prevention measures. The conclusion is that the prevention measures consist of treatment programs combined with work management, adult education, and other structured activities and that these parts are interconnected. The crime prevention measures are characterized by helping the prisoners develop necessary skills to be able to get out of crime and get the best possible conditions to reduce the risk of relapsing into crime. The results also show that there are differences between the officials' autonomy regarding the implementation of the RNR-model in the crime prevention measures and that the officials' do not act from a common approach. The officials have, based on their autonomy, the opportunity to create their own interpretations of the RNR-model that can affect the outcome of the work, which can mean that the prisoners are treated differently depending on how the officials have chosen to implement the RNR-model. The conclusion is that the RNR-model contributed to clear structures and guidelines, but that there is a certain problem with implementing the receptivity principle in a similar way because of the officials' having difficulty understanding the meaning of the principle.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceived freedom of discretion and emotional labour of travel service officers in relation to the austerity in political decisions. The study aims to raise the importance of travel service officers' role in people with reduced mobility lives and ability to move freely and without obstacles in society. The study uses Lipsky’s theory of Street-level bureaucracy to highlight what kind of work travel service officers do, and to analyse their perceived freedom of discretion. Together with Hochschild’s thoughts on emotional labour, which aims to point this study in the right direction when it comes to travel service officers' outlook on emotional labour in their work. The study’s empirical data consists of 10 qualitative interviews lasting approximately 45-60 minutes each. Since the aim is to gain an understanding of how the travel service officers experience their discretion and emotional labour, a phenomenological approach is utilized. The justification for the qualitative approaches is that the focus of the study is on the lived experiences of the travel service officers; human behaviour. The analysis of the collected material of the interviews resulted in 3 themes, The relationship in conversation with customers, the importance of work experience and different roles in the work of travel service officers. The study shows how work experience at the travel service government as an officer affects which role an officer takes on, and how that role affects how they view their discretion and essentially how they perceive their emotional labour as well. The study finds that officers with longer experience tend to have a more personal role with the customers, and the officers with shorter experience tend to take an approach of more authority.