ABSTRACT “Crisis Management– New York Citys management of the terroristattack against World Trade Center” Essey in political science, C-level, at Karlstad University, by Sara Kringsberg. Spring 2006. Tutor: Susan Marton The purpose of this essay is to study New York Citys management of a larger crisis and to see how states are coping with stress. It is important to study how states manage stress so that states can learn to cope with larger crisis. That is important for the survival of the state and the protection of its citizens. David Easton is a political science author that write about this. There are four authorities under study in this essey and the following question will be poised for all of them : did the FDNY, the NYPD, the EMS and the PAPD manage the terroristattack against World Trade Center according to relevant crisis management? This essay will be in the form of a case study and to be able to answer the specific questions I have studied three kinds of crisis management theories. I have taken some of the most central points from these theorys and used them to study the response of the different departements of New York City. The result of my study is that the different authorities did not act according to relevant crisis management. The biggest flaws where the lack of cooperation, the break down in almost all communications systems and the lack of preperation for large terroristattacks.

Abstract “Political participation” - A qualitative study of citizens in Hong Kong Thesis in Political Science, D-level Author: Liza Bergström Tutor: Michele Micheletti On July 1, 1997 China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong. Ever since long before the handover until today scholars ask whether and how the changes in Hong Kong’s political status are affecting politics in Hong Kong. This paper is situated in this on-going academic debate. Its purpose is to investigate whether system changes are affecting the participation of citizens in politics in Hong Kong.” It asks: What, if anything, has the new political situation meant for the political participation in Hong Kong? Two perspectives have been used to answer the purpose, a structural approach and an actor-oriented approach. Five research questions have served as the starting point for my analysis and I have answered the general question on the basis of them. 1. Do the citizens in Hong Kong believe they have the ability to participate in politics, that the political system facilitates their participation in politics? 2. Do the citizens in Hong Kong believe that China tries to repress Hong Hong’s political rights? 3. How do the citizens of Hong Kong participate in politics? 4. How do the citizens of Hong Kong view their own political participation? 5. Do the citizens of Hong Kong object to the political situation in Hong Kong? Empirical materials for this study have been collected in qualitative interviews with six citizens of Hong Kong, that is people who are Hong Kong Chinese. The conclusion is that the new political situation has not meant a lot for the political participation in Hong Kong. The answer of the general question from a structural approach is that the political system to a certain extent prevents the respondents from participating politically. On the basis of the actor-oriented approach the answer to the general question is that the new political situation has not meant anything for the political participation in Hong Kong.

Active environmental activity?– a comparative study of the municipalities environmental activity Thesis in Political Science D-Level at Karlstad University by Jenny Ljung Spring 2008 Tutor: Michelle Michelleti The threat against our climate is one of our biggest challenges today. The awareness of the problem has grown rapidly for the last years in governments on international, national and regional level. The Swedish government is recognized as one of the leading countries in the climate and environmental work internationally. The Swedish municipalities play a big role in this successful work. The Swedish non-governmental organisation Naturskyddsföreningen has done a project called Klimatindex 2007, where they examine the work for the environment in all of Sweden’s municipalities. In their survey the municipalities has been asked to answer questions about transports, purchases, climate goals, information to the citizens etc. This has than been compiled and given scores on how well they been doing. Out of all Sweden’s municipalities I have chosen six that is of the size categorised as “bigger cities” that I will examine in this thesis. These are Trollhättan, Karlstad, Södertälje, Norrköping, Luleå and Halmstad. Trollhättan was classified as the best one and Halmstad was the worst one in Naturskyddsföreningens klimatindex 2007. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the importance of factors as political composition, administration, public media, non governmental organisations and geographic situation in regard to the the municipalities activity in the policy area. The activity is based on the results from Naturskyddsföreningens klimatindex 2007. The main research question that I intend to answer is: • Have the factors been important for how active the municipalities have been in the environmental policy? To be able to answer the main question I also have six precise research questions that I intend to answer. The material that I have chosen to study is documents about the political composition, interviews with civil servants about the administration regarding the climate and environment, local newspapers, NGO:s local work and membership statistics and SOU:s report about the affects of the climate change in Sweden. After analyzing the material I present an answer to my main research question: I have found that all the factors except the factor geographic situation are important for the activity.

Abstract Essay in political science, C-level, by Samanta Pudic´, spring semester 2008. Tutor: Susan Marton. “The relationship between national government and local municipality when a refugee centre shall be located.” The purpose of this essay is to examine the relationship between government and municipality with the help from the interdependens theory when a refugee centre is located. To be able to say something about the relationship between those two actors I have been using two municipalities as examples. I have interviewed two politicians who work in two municipalities and two head employees who work at the Swedish Migration Board. I have, on the basis of the interdependency theories four identified factors which affect the relationship between the government and the municipalities and I have designed seven assumptions which shall help me implement the interviews, the analysis and the conclusion. The examination is thereby a case study, so that I can examine the relationship deeper between national government and local municipality with help from my two examples and the elite interviews. My purpose is not to generalise my conclusions for the whole of Sweden, but rather from the historical examples, examine how a relationship between government and municipalities can look like when a refugee centre shall be located. The answer to my research question is that the relationship between the government and the two municipalities are symmetrical with low dignity. By this it means that both the state and the municipalities are mutual dependent on each other and it isn’t so difficult for them to have a mutually beneficial relationship.

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Abstract C-essay in political science by Anna Bryntesson Supervisor: Michele Micheletti Spring 2006 “Young municipality politicians - Why some young people become municipality politicians, how they think it is and what they think should be done to engage more young people in politics?” The Swedish municipalities have problem with that they doesen´t have many politicians under 30 years. Many of the young people who become politicians drop out after a short while. The conclusion of this is that the Swedish municipalities have problems to engage young people in politics. The purpose of this essay is to study and try to find out what young people think about politics? This is done with personally interviews with 7 young municipality politicians from the municipality of Eda. The specific research questions are: • Who are they which became young municipality politicians? • What was the reason that they became politicians? • How do they look at municipality politics? • Which roll and function does the young people have as a municipality politician? • What do they think should be done to get more young people to engaged in politics and become a municipality politician? The young Eda politician is a girl living in a house in the country and she has middle education. Many of the young politicians in Eda has become politicians because their parents has asked them if the want to be a politician. They think that politics is hard but fun. Their roll is to look at think in a new way. Politicians need to go to schools and tell the kids in school what they do a a politician to try to make young people more intrested in politics. The teory that is more usually that men is engaged in politics than womans isn´t right in Eda. Because there among the young peolpe more womans than men are engaged.

Essay in political science, D-level by Lisa Kringsberg, spring semester 2008. Tutor: Michele Micheletti. “Civil Society in Singapore – can it make democratization possible” The third wave of democratization and the end of the cold war has together increased the interest of the civil society as an impact on democratization. Singapore is a country which is higly-developt in both the socie-economic and economic field. Dispate this Singapore has not yet achieved to become a democratic state. The purpose of this essay is to study how the civil society can affect democracy in a country. My main research question is to test how civil society in Singapore can figure as a force to introduce democracy. The methodological approach is a qualatative case study. To come to any conlusions about my main research question I’ve used an analyse chart which focuses on three variables; freedom of speech, liberty of press and freedom of association. The theoretical approach that my thesis takes its aim from is based on research done about civil society. The conclusion of this thesis is that the possibilities for the civil society to figure as a force to introduce democracy in Singapore is limited.

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This thesis is foremost dealing with the process and the consequences of the restoration of the Latvian republic after 1991. It was examined what liberal and ethnic democracy can tell about the assessment of citizenship in general and about the restoration of Latvia in particular. Further, it was analysed how the Latvian legislation defines the citizenry and if preference to a certain ethnic group is given. The change over time of the relevant legal documents was subject to this study as well. It was evaluated, which impact the exclusive approach to citizenship (initially purely based on state-continuity) that in 1991 disfranchised 30% of the population, had for the rights of these people. The method of ideational analysis was used to scrutinise the law texts. In order to gain information on the effects for the population in question, the method of effect analysis was used. This was enriched with interviews conducted by the author on two occasions with governmental representatives, researchers and members of NGO´s in Riga 2008. The legal documents here, encompass the Latvian Constitution (1922), the Resolution on Restoration (1991), the Law on Citizenship (1994, 1995, 1998) and the Law of the Republic of Latvia on the status of former USSR citizens who have neither the Latvian nor another state’s citizenship (1995). The literature read for the purpose of this study spans generally from 1992 to 2006. The conclusion drawn here is that the strict application of the state-continuity thesis and the denying of state responsibility for the changes of population in 50 years time are inconsistent with liberal democracy. Rather this citizenship policy resembles features of an ethnic democracy. The changes in the Law on Citizenship of 1995, where ethnic Latvians and Livs were given the possibility to come to Latvia and receive citizenship automatically (even if they were not citizens of interwar Latvia), while children born to non-citizen (all of them non-ethnic Latvians) after 1991, were not automatically conferred citizenship, made the preferential treatment for one ethnic group obvious. Due to the fact that large parts of the minority population were disenfranchised, they were not able to contest important governmental decisions. As a result, laws directed against the interest of the minority population were introduction. As a whole, a marginalisation of the minority population took place.

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