När stadsbyggnadsprojekt planeras och städer omformas, var kommer medborgares kunskap om sin omgivning in? Hur behåller eller skapar medborgarna en anknytning till stadens platser, när deras användning och identitet förändras? Om staden ska vara en allmän rättighet krävs det att den växer fram kollektivt. Därför måste medborgares kunskap tas till vara på i stadens utveckling och i konkreta stadsbyggnadsprojekt. Det är svårt att se hur medborgare kommer få en koppling till dessa platser när de under en lång tid av stadsomvandlingen är avskärmade från den. Hur kan dessa platser, istället för att exkludera medborgare, bli en del av deras vardag redan under planerings- och förändringsprocesser? Hur kan medborgarnas delaktighet i planerings- och byggprocessen vara med om att bygga upp värden för platsers framtida användare?I Jubileumsparken i Göteborg används en metod planerarna kallar platsbyggnad. Arbetet bygger på att koppla samman medborgare med platsen under planeringen av den nya stadsdelen i Frihamnen genom att skapa urbana prototyper. Prototyperna öppnar upp för medborgarna att använda och utveckla platsen medan den planeras och tar fysisk form.Genom att prototyperna är i ett konstant flöde av användning och omvandling kan nya förståelser av hur planering kan gå till och vad platsen kan bli skapas. Prototyperna hjälper till att gå från något flytande (planer, idéer, visioner) till något fast.I studien ställer vi oss frågorna: var kommer idén om prototypprojekt ifrån? Hur har idén vuxit fram? Hur har prototyperna utvecklats och förändrats? Hur förstår och använder olika aktörer prototyperna och hur fungerar de i arbetet med Jubileumsparken?Prototyperna i sig själva hamnar i ett gränsland mellan aktörers relationer till prototyperna. Kontrasten av aktörernas relation till prototyperna gör det svårt att definiera vad prototyperna egentligen är, men genom att för en stund gör relationerna till något fast kan vi studera dem. När prototyperna är stabila och relationerna inte längre kommer omvandlas, och inga nya relationer kommer skapas, så har de kanske slutligen övergått till något fast. Men kommer de någonsin bli permanenta? Kanske är de bara i ett fast tillstånd för en stund? De är fasta objekt så länge inga relationer skapas eller omvandlas. / When urban construction projects are planned and cities are transformed, where will citizens’ knowledge of their surroundings come in? How do the citizens create or keep an attachment to the city’s places when their use and identity change? If the city is to be a universal right, it is required that it grows collectively. Therefore, citizens’ knowledge must be taken into account in the city’s development and in concrete urban construction projects. It’s hard to see how citizens will get a connection to these sites when they are shielded from the urban transformation for a long time. How can these places, instead of excluding citizens, become part of their everyday lives during the planning and construction process? How can citizens’ involvement in the planning and construction process help to build up the values ​for site’s future users?Jubileumsparken in Gothenburg uses a method the planners call space building. The work is based on linking citizens with the site during the planning of the new district in Frihamnen by creating urban prototypes. Prototypes open up for citizens to use and develop the site while it’s being planned and taking physical form. Because the prototypes are in a constant flow of use and conversion, new understandings of how planning can be and how the site can be created. Prototypes help move from something floating (plans, ideas, visions) to something solid.In the study we are asking the following questions: where does the idea of ​​prototype projects come from? How has the idea emerged? How have prototypes evolved and changed? How do different actors understand and use prototypes and how do they work in Jubileumsparken?The prototypes themselves end up in a borderland between actors’ relations with the prototypes. The contrast of the actors’ relation to the prototypes makes it difficult to define what the prototypes really are, but by making the relationships solid for some time we can study them. When the prototypes are stable and the relationships will no longer be transformed, and no new relationships will be created, they may eventually have shifted to something fixed. But will they ever become permanent? Maybe they are just in a solid state for a while? They are fixed objects as long as no relationships are created or converted.

Engagement and proactivity of the general public in democratic process is essential for a stable and functional democracy. Participation of citizens in the political environment can be expressed by either elections or by other forms of political involvement. Current research shows that political participation requires skills, motivation to get involved and support of a group of public actors. Million Moments for Democracy is a civic organisation who support and cultivate political culture in Czechia. This work examines the supporters of the civic movement. The results show that the supporters is a group that has higher individual resources, higher political interest and distrust of the government. The supporters of the civic organisation more politically participate, especially in the activities that the organization emphasizes. The model of belonging to the association showed that the fact that the organisation was originally a protest movement cannot be ignored. Keywords political participation, electoral and non-electoral participation, civic movement, active citizens, demonstrations, petition, politics Title Participation of supporters of the civic association Million Moments in the democratic process

Returning citizens face a host of barriers when attempting to reintegrate into society; thus, services for these concerns are imperative for successful reintegration. Unfortunately, services are often lacking, particularly in rural communities which tend to be overlooked in reentry research. In order to better determine service need for justice-involved populations in rural communities, the current study completed a gap analysis, both inspired and supplemented, by qualitative information collected from mental health providers (MHPs) in a rural Appalachian region of Tennessee. To complete the gap analysis, an estimation of need was collected via local crime statistics. Using this data, a two-sample t-test revealed that increased rurality was related to a significantly higher percentage of substance use related crimes, but not to crimes against persons or sexual crimes. Service availability data was then collected for local providers in the domains of general mental health, substance abuse, anger management (or anger management aligned), and sex offender treatment. It was found that nine of the ten counties in the identified region are considered mental health professional shortage areas (MHPSAs) for general mental health care. Using average caseload data from local MHPs, a calculation of provider shortfall was completed for specialty services for returning citizens. For the identified 10-county region, provider shortfalls were existent in all treatment domains. The largest gap identified was for anger management aligned services, while the smallest gap identified was for sex offender treatment services. An increase in rurality did not ensure an increased provider shortfall across domains. Overall, MPHs in the area identified similar needs in treatment services via two major qualitative themes and five subthemes. The findings from the current study provide a specific example of what services are missing for rural returning citizens. It is hoped that the results of this study help inform policy and programming efforts in rural communities as they attempt to close the service gap and successfully reintegrate rural returning citizens.

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E-government, electronic Public Administration, has led to streamlined work processes within and between government departments. As theories of administration and management seek to improve processes, electronic administration seeks to improve electronic processes in an effort to provide efficient services. The unique contribution of this study on Public Administration and the related e-government initiatives of the Government Employees Pension Fund is that none of this research has been documented before. Whilst e-government is not new, its application to the Government Employees Pension Fund is novel. E-government espouses integrated partnerships between governments and e-citizens by creating an understanding of electronic relationships between and within organisations. The thesis considers electronic Public Administrative service delivery in the Government Employees Pension Fund as it relates to civil pensions administration. Successful e-government needs a critical mass of users that is central to ensuring its sustainable and successful utilisation. If a critical mass of users is not ensured then e-government initiatives will not be successful. Attempts by the Government Employees Pension Fund to develop a customer relationship management approach are assessed. Sustainable and successful e-service delivery is about providing multi-nodal access to clients. An interactive web site, amongst others, will allow clients to access services remotely. Seamless government is developed around customers’ needs and is outward looking since it provides a single access point for all services offered by government. Gaining access to information and communications technologies is a challenge that many face, hence the digital divide is a stymieing factor in providing seamless, successful e-government services. Not all e-government initiatives are successful. Information and communications technology initiatives are not always implemented according to planned timelines and budgets. The case of the Government Employees Pension Fund proved to be no different given that not all the e-government initiatives embarked upon were successful. / Thesis (PhD (Public Affairs))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / unrestricted

The aim of this essay is to examine three textbooks in ”samhällskunskap 1a1” for students in upper secondary education by looking at how they deal with source criticism and thereby see how the students are formed to become democratic citizens based on Robert Dahls (2002) criteria for democracy. The method used is a content analysis. The result reveals that the students learn basic knowledge about source criticism in relation to a wide variety of sources. To learn source criticism the students read texts and work with different kinds of assignments. The students’ influence varies. The main purpose with source criticism is to be able to handle sources’ lack of credibility. The textbooks are mostly addressed to individuals, someone who is unknown or everyone. There are differences between the textbooks, but they are not of great importance. The textbooks work with source criticism in a way that forms democratic citizens. In some of the textbooks’ questions, the students’ thoughts are requested. The textbooks also give students the opportunity to get sufficient and equal knowledge about source criticism so they can process information in the new media landscape. All students are included in the textbooks. The textbooks can develop their work with the formation of democratic citizens by giving the students more influence than they have now.

Dombrovská, M. Informační vzdělávání v České republice (Information Education in the Czech Republic). Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická fakulta, Ústav informačních studií a knihovnictví, 2017. Disertační práce. Vedoucí disertační práce doc. PhDr. Rudolf Vlasák. Abstract This doctoral thesis investigates information science, public policy, and law, via established system theory, to uncover how information education, and particularly information literacy, can be better developed in the Czech Republic. The theoretical focus is on concepts of information literacy, information education, and information competencies. This is complemented with case studies, investigating existing policies through grounded theory. The novel contributions to knowledge arising from this research are: (1) a new three-wave staged model of the evolution of literacies; (2) a promising methodology for creating and implementing effective literacy policies respecting these three waves; (3) three specific proposals, grounded in constitutional rights and obligations, for overcoming the lack of political and public interest in further developing information literacy at a national level. Keywords: literacy, information literacy, information education, access to information, human rights, citizens' rights and duties

(in English): The work deals with issue of social worker's role in hospital from point of view of medical social workers working with senior citizens. In theoretical part is presented profession of medical social worker and its specifics in Czech Republic: history, legislation, education, competences and a role of medical social worker in multidisciplinary team. It is focused also on health care and social services provided to the target group of senior citizens in our country. Practical part is focused on presentation and interpretation of data gained from qualitative research which was realized by semi-structural interviews with medical social workers in chosen faculty hospitals in Prague. Keywords (in English): social work in health care, medical social worker, senior citizens, social services, health care services

This diploma thesis deals with the process of the formation of the Latvian Citizenship Law in the context of European integration. The main aim of the thesis is to analyze the influence of European organization (primarily the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) on the law creation and the approval of its amendments. The aim of the study is also to analyze how the representatives of the Russian Federation influenced the process of law creation and its changes. Latvia was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, it remained its part until 1991. During the Soviet period, many Russian-speaking people moved to the territory of Latvia. Latvian citizenship law from 1994 was highly restrictive, it was based on the principle of legal continuity between interwar Latvia and restored Latvia after 1991. Therefore, the law only restored citizenship, which meant that only people who had been citizens before 1940 were granted automatic citizenship. Many inhabitants of restored Latvia, especially Russian speaking inhabitants, remained without citizenship. There was a possibility to acquire citizenship through the naturalization process, but the pace of the naturalization was too slow due to the system of so-called "naturalization windows". The system...

By studying a place or a phenomena research contributes to the creation of the image of the thing that he or she studies. Also, planning is seen as a democratic tool, a way to ”make” democracy. In order to see what democratic ideals that is being express it becomes important to study the research about democracy in Botkyrka. It is from this thinking this study about democracy and research has been formed. The study is a mapping of the research about democracy work in Botkyrka between the years 1997-2014. Through explorative approach, the research has been identified and thematized. The method used is mapping with influences from qualitative content analysis and narrative approach. The research is analyzed by the theoretical concept of democracy and theories about representative-, participatory- and deliberative democracy are used. In this way the research’s story about Botkyrkas democracy work is captured. A total of 22 pieces of research projects has been identified and thematized. The thematization were based on the study's research questions and theoretical perspectives. The themes can be understood from two aspects, the first is about the research methodology and premises and the other about the content of the research. Ten themes were identified, analysed and discussed. Based on thematization the general research question about what democratic ideals the research expresses is being answered. The story of the research about the democracy work in Botkyrka contains a variety of expressions. Everything from classical democracy problems to stimulating research perspective is being processed and shifts between democratic ideals can be seen. Some research uses innovative methods and different theoretical approaches which indicates that the researchers want to explore new aspects of the concept of democracy. / Forskning bidrar till skapandet av bilden av platser och fenomen, forskaren är således medskapare av den verklighet han eller hon studerar. Samtidigt kan planering ses som ett sätt att göra demokrati, ett demokratiskt instrument. Att studera forskningen kring demokrati i Botkyrka blir därmed viktigt för att kunna se vilka demokratiska ideal denna ger uttryck för, då den påverkar hur samhället formas. Utifrån resonemanget växte denna studie om demokrati och forskning fram. Studien är en kartläggning över forskning kring Botkyrkas arbete med demokrati och delaktighet. Genom explorativ metod har forskningen identifierats och tematiserats. De metodologiska utgångspunkterna har varit i den kvalitativa innehållsanalysen, också element av narrativ metod har använts. Materialinsamlingen har genomgående präglats av det studerade objektet. Syftet med studien har varit att kartlägga forskning i Botkyrka inom ämnet demokrati och delaktighet mellan åren 1997-2014. Materialet har sedan analyserats utifrån begreppet demokrati med en fördjupning i de tre demokratiskolorna valdemokrati, deltagardemokrati och samtalsdemokrati. På så sätt fångas forskningens berättelse om Botkyrkas demokratiarbete. Sammanlagt har 22 forskningsalster identifierats och tematiserats. Tematiseringarna gjordes med utgångspunkt i studiens frågeställningar och teoretiska perspektiv. Temana kan förstås utifrån två olika aspekter, där den första handlar om forskningens metod och utgångspunkter och den andra om innehållet i forskningen. Totalt har tio teman skapats. Utifrån temana besvaras den övergripande frågeställningen om vilka demokratiska ideal forskningen ger uttryck för. Berättelsen om Botkyrkas demokratiarbete innehåller en variation av uttryck. Alltifrån klassiska demokratiproblem till utvecklande forskningsperspektiv behandlas och glidningar mellan olika demokratiska ideal kan ses. Några forskningsprojekt använder sig av nytänkande metoder och annorlunda teoretiska utgångspunkter vilket kan ses som ett tecken på att forskarna vill utforska nya aspekter av demokratin.