Sweden currently has no legislated regulation of lobbying, but the professional lobbyist can voluntarily subscribe to, among others, the professional code of standars created by the trade association of Public Relations, Precis. There is an ongoing discussion in Sweden to regulate lobbying, both in mass media and in politics. This study examines this debate and focus on which arguments there are for and against lobbying regulation in Sweden. It also attempts to identify the differences, if there are any, between left and rights parties with regards to their views on regulation of lobbying. Tha main method used was document analysis of parliamentary bills which have been raised concerning a lobbying regulation in Sweden. In the theory section, I include four different types of requirements placed on democratic lobbying (se for example Jaatinen 1998, Kitchen 1999, Larsson 2005, Möller 2009 and Naurin 2001). The research showed the need for transparency to be the most prominent, followed by requirement of equal acces to diffrent social groups to lobby. The document analysis focus on the arguments that are given to regulate lobbying in Sweden. The arguments for regulating lobbying presented of the parliamentary bills include measures taken to prevent covert lobbying, to create more equal opportunities to lobby, to that the kind of self-regulation practiced by the proffesional lobbyists by Precis proffesional standars has shortcomings, to that the PR industry will expand and that lobbying is at least commom in Sweden as in other parlaments. Therefore, there is a need to review how other countries have regulated lobbying. The study shows that among the parliamentary bills, The European Parliament regulatory system is the largest role model of other parliaments regulating lobbying. Furtheremore it shows that a registration system is the type of regulation advocated by the most of the politicians behind the researched parliamentary bills. The counter-arguments to a lobbyng regulation in Sweden, identified trough the document analysis and interviews in this study, are that ethics and morality of the individual are more important than rules and laws and a skepticism that a registration system can record people's lifes, which from a democratic point of view is not desirable. Other counter-arguments are that the community allready has so many rules and laws and that a regulatory system can discriminate less economically affluent groups in society. The study has shown that one can devise some differences between left- and right-wing views concerning policies for regulating lobbying in Sweden. This because no parliamentary bills has brought on a lobbying regulation by any of the so- called red parties and the majority of the bills are raised by politicians from the right-wing Moderate Party. One can also see diffrences in the arguments of regulating lobbying by politicians. The bourgeous side seems tho think that the most important requirement of lobbying from a democratic perspective is transparency while the Swedish Green Party is focusing on the lack of equal access between different social groups to lobby.

Hållbar utveckling som begrepp används frekvent i dagens samhälle och är också det övergripande målet för svensk nationell strategi. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning hållbar utveckling och/eller ekologisk modernisering beskriver miljöpolicyn hos de två största politiska partierna i Sverige. Dessa två partier, Socialdemokraterna och Moderaterna, tillhör varsitt partipolitiskt block med olika ideologier. Resultaten i uppsatsen visar att det finns väsentliga skillnader mellan de båda partiernas miljöpolicys som är grundade i olika politiska ideologier. Socialdemokraterna har sina rötter i frågor som demokrati, social rättvisa och välfärdsfrågor, och deras miljöpolicy överensstämmer till stor del med hållbar utveckling. Moderaterna utgår från liberalkonservativa idéer med utgångspunkt i individualism och marknadsbaserade ekonomier och deras miljöpolicy harmoniserar överlag med ekologisk modernisering. Att dessa skillnader existerar kan uppfattas som något överraskande eftersom båda partierna stödjer den nationella strategin för hållbar utveckling tillsammans med att senaste ordförandeskapet för kommissionen för hållbar utveckling innehades av Moderaternas partiledare. / Sustainable development as a concept is frequently utilized nowadays in our society and is additionally used as a comprehensive goal of Swedish national strategy. The purpose of this essay is approach this issue and to examine whether sustainable development and/or ecological modernization best describes the environmental policy of the two major political parties in Sweden. Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna belong to opposite ideological parties, one on the left wing and the other one on the right wing. The result of this essay concludes that there are essential differences between the environmental policies of the two parties that are related to the underlying political ideology. Socialdemokraterna, on the one hand, has its root in democracy, social justice and welfare issues and the environmental policy mostly agrees with sustainable development. Moderaterna, on the other hand, takes its starting point in liberal-conservative thoughts with individualism and market-based economies and their environmental policy is in almost every aspect in accordance with ecological modernization. Yet, the differences in environmental policies are to some extent unexpected since both parties support the national strategy of sustainable development. Besides, the latest chairman of the Commission on Sustainable Development was the party leader of Moderaterna.

The intention of this study is to find out how the female celebrity is portrayed in women’s magazines directed at women of different age groups. The magazines that I have chosen to analyse are Frida, Veckorevyn and Damernas Värld. My aim is to find out what kind of celebrity appears in the magazines in terms of occupation and topics in the articles. Furthermore, the aim is also to determine whether the celebrity is portrayed in a different or similar way depending on the target group. This thesis is done from a gender perspective in order to elucidate what distinguishes the celebrity in the context of the celebrity being female. The frameworks of theories are the following: culture theory, ideology, stereotypes, homo-sociality and connotation and denotation. The methods used to analyse the texts were content analysis and qualitative discourse analysis. Since images of the female celebrities have also been of importance, I have used the method of semiotics for picture analysis. I discovered that there are both differences and similarities in how the female celebrity is portrayed, in relation to different age categories. It appears there are more types of women celebrities in Damernas Värld in-comparison to Frida and Veckorevyn, as not only do the celebrities in Damernas Värld have more varied occupations, they also engage in more topics in their interviews. I found that the celebrity woman is not always portrayed in exactly the same light. However, I could identify the average woman which appears most frequently in all the magazines. The portrayal of the celebrity woman is usually built on contrasts and stereotypes. The occupation is typically an actress or a singer; she is usually white, heterosexual and rich. Her traits are typically being tough and independent, yet in conjunction considerate and friendly. She is also glamorous but ordinary, sexy but sweet. The underlying preconceptions of femininity are never challenged by the journalist’s way of portraying the celebrities.

Departing from the statement of the Swedish member of the European Parliament Eva-Britt Svensson that the EU could threat the Swedish development in gender politics this essay aims to investigate if this is possible and probable. In order to acquire a view of the actual differences between European and Swedish gender politics in the domain of family- and employment policies and how they affect one another I have conducted interviews with Swedish members of the European Parliament, civil servants and a lobbyist. By subjecting the answers to critical feminist theory the essay tries to explain the difference in the view of women and gender between the EU and Sweden and what it implicates. It seems that the basic ambition of equality between women and men is to be found at both the European level and at Swedish level. But the view of the family and the role of the women as responsible for care work differ. Swedish gender politics don’t seem to have been affected in any negative way by EU rulings so far. The risk of Sweden to compare itself with other European countries could, however, lead to stagnation in the struggle for equality between women and men as an effect of Sweden considering itself to be far ahead.

Adopting historical perspectives, this thesis explores domestic, aesthetic, and cultural conflicts in modern Japan surrounding Masuji Ono, the protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro¡¦s An Artist of the Floating World, as he looks back on his past. His memory narrative reveals his transformation from an iconoclastic young artist to a militarist propagandist in pre-war time, and finally to an old man who comes to terms with the loss of his prestige through none too reliable remembrances. Reading Ono¡¦s narrative in cross reference to historical texts, I argue that his transformation is in step with Japan¡¦s shift from a thriving nation to a militarist empire, and ultimately to a defeated nation subject to the Occupation after World War II and subsequent social changes. These changes are induced by democratization and disarmament engineered by the American army, which drastically undermine Japanese values, including the apotheosis of the Emperor, patriarchy, and social hierarchy. Forced to redefine themselves in the midst of the drastic social transformation, the Japanese harbor mixed feelings toward the emperor, regarding him as a guardian of the nation and a traitor. This ambivalence is profoundly felt by Ono, whose fall parallels the emperor¡¦s, since his authority as a father and a painting master is interrogated by the younger generation, most notably his daughter. In particular, his interaction with his grandson, who is brought up with American values, registers the Japanese attitudes toward the American, considering the occupier as both a welcomed authority and an alien monster. By examining three prominent authority figures in the novel¡Xfather, master, and monster¡Xthis thesis uncovers Ishiguro¡¦s agenda for negotiating an interface between history and personal memory.

Although it is accepted that Phoenician colonization occurred on Sardinia by the 9th century B.C., it is possible that contact between Sardinia‟s indigenous population and the Levantine region occurred in the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Eastern LBA goods found on the island are copper oxhide ingots and Aegean pottery. Previously, it has been suggested that Mycenaeans were responsible for bringing the eastern goods to Sardinia, but the presence of Aegean pottery shards does not confirm the presence of Mycenaean tradesmen. Also, scholars of LBA trade have explained the paucity of evidence for a Mycenaean merchant fleet. Interpretations of two LBA shipwrecks, Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun, indicate that eastern Mediterranean merchants of Cypriot or Syro-Canaanite origin, transported large quantities of oxhide ingots from the Levant towards the west. It remains possible that similar itinerant merchants conducted ventures bringing eastern goods to Sardinia while exploring the western Mediterranean. Trade in eastern goods may have stimulated the advancement that occurred in Nuragic culture in the LBA, resulting in the emergence of an elite social stratum in the Nuragic society. Archaeological evidence, such as elitist burials and increasingly complex architecture, supports the idea of cultural change due to internal competition. This „peer-polity‟ effect may have been incited because of limited accessibility to the exotic eastern goods and the „ownership‟ to the rights of this exchange.

Abstract A government free from corruption is the foundation of a country¡¦s competitiveness, and therefore the degree of incorruption is a major criterion to use when the effectiveness and efficiency of a country¡¦s governmental administration are to be judged. In fact, corruption prevention has long been a universal issue. For decades, our country has invested much in corruption prevention with certain advancements achieved, and yet the achievements still fall far behind people¡¦s expectations. The codes of ethics for government officials have been moving from hollow moral appeals towards concrete, detailed behavioral norms, and some have even become laws. However, we are still quite a distance from corruption prevention law completion and full-scale practice. Since the promulgation of the codes of ethics for government officials by the Administrative Yuan in 1994, there have been codes for government officials to follow when it comes to lobbying, banqueting, and bribery, but disappointingly, corruption has not been suppressed by much. So far, quite a number of studies can be referred to that are focused on common individual¡¦s ethical behavioral decision-making, and a variety of factors have been identified that affect the decisions. However, hardly any integrity-related behavioral decision-making models have been established especially for government officials. In this thesis, on the basis of L. K. Trevino¡¦s Person-Situation Interactionist Model, the author aims to explore the correlations among different factors that affect government official ethical behaviors so as to thereby offer more practical corruption prevention suggestions. This thesis analyzes personal factors, environmental factors, and the developmental stages of ethical awareness. In addition, indicators to these factors have been extracted from the literature concerned and put together into a questionnaire, which was filled out by Penghu County government officials. As a result, 424 valid questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed, revealing the following facts: 1. Government official attributes: including individual attributes and group attributes. Sex, age, seniority, education, and rank of position are the five individual-

This thesis aims to analyse the architectural production in Turkey during the Second World War period with reference to its socio-political contexts, by examining and scrutinizing an architectural periodical published in this period: Yapi. The conceptual framework of this study about the practical and ideological aspects of the discipline are drawn by considering the developments and dynamics of the early Republican Period. In the first chapter of the study after the introduction, the functions of periodical publications for the cultural atmosphere and the architectural periodicals for the discipline of architecture in particular, are examined in the direction of clarifying the reason of choosing a periodical for an architectural analysis of a specific period. In the following part of this chapter, the early Republican architectural periodicals are introduced together with their reasons of establishment and the architectural conditions of the period. Lastly, the focus of this study, Yapi, is introduced with its identity as a periodical by examining its founders, content and publication quality. In the second chapter, firstly architecture of the country throughout the early Republican period is examined by focusing on the significance and effects of the Second World War on Turkey so as to reveal the existing medium that compelled the architects and intellectuals to reconsider their points of view. The second part of this chapter attempts to make a comparative architectural analysis of the period based on the approaches and articles of Yapi by determining the characteristics and objectives of the periodical and demonstrating the main arguments of the editors and authors on contemporary architectural practice and ideology. In the conclusion part, the outcomes of the analysis of Yapi and its arguments on the architecture and contextual developments of the Second World War period are evaluated in correlation with the meaning and place of these struggles in the contemporary medium of architecture.

This thesis analyzes the main ideological transformation that the Muslim Brotherhood has undergone in Egypt. The recurring theme issued throughout this thesis is &lsquo / transformation&rsquo / that stands in an evolutionary interaction with the local, regional and external environment. Within the scope of this leading theme, the study examines the historical overview of the Movement and analyzes the central periods and turning points of this transformation at two basic levels: Domestic and international. The study argues that, the 1980s came as the first pivotal turning-point where the Muslim Brotherhood began to enter the political system with a greater freedom. With the beginning of the change in the 1980s, this thesis argues, the Muslim Brotherhood began to transform itself in a way that opposed the dominant discussion in the literature over Islamists - state relations: &lsquo / Cooperation brings moderation and repression brings radicalization.&rsquo / (Repression - repression, cooperation - cooperation pattern). The study investigates how the Muslim Brotherhood broke this single-track rotation by standing consistently moderate during the periods of repression as well, after the 1980s. In particular after the 1990s, the study extends the domestic-oriented scope of the observation to take into consideration the influence of regional and international variations that have begun to be increasingly influential over the transformation of the Movement. The study argues that, the 2000s came up as the second and the most important landmark that opened a new momentum with the rise of the &lsquo / democracy&rsquo / discourse in the Movement&rsquo / s ideological change. The study provides a wide-ranging analysis over the democracy discourse of the Muslim Brotherhood after the 2000s and brings the challenges of this newfound ideological process into focus. It is argued that, the Muslim Brotherhood&rsquo / s ambiguous stance on &lsquo / democracy&rsquo / reinforces the discussions on the validity of the Movement&rsquo / s moderate political actor role. In conclusion, some conclusive remarks are introduced by making an overall assessment over the Muslim Brotherhood&rsquo / s political participation crisis and the future of the Egyptian political liberalization experiment.

This dissertation examines the gendered discourses in the novels of the writers of different sexes/genders, Robert Heinlein&rsquo / s Stranger in a Strange Land, Ursula Le Guin&rsquo / s The Left Hand of Darkness, Joanna Russ&rsquo / The Female Man and Samuel Delany`s Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia. This study investigates how writers linguistically construct their characters as gendered/sexed beings as an effect of certain identity politics, ideologies and power structures. In order to do so, critical discourse analysis is applied to the passages chosen from different parts of the novels under consideration. Moreover, Butler&rsquo / s performativity theory of gender and Foucault&rsquo / s theory of discourse/power/knowledge and his conceptualization of subjectivity are employed in the discursive analyses of the novels. The argument of the study is that there is a close relationship between discourse, ideology and the constitution/representation of gender/sex as contingent on a particular socio-cultural and historical context. This study is based on Butler`s assertion that gender is a doing, a performance, and it is a cultural and ideological construct. Thus, the study shows that writers&rsquo / linguistic choices for the constructions and descriptions of their characters are not ideologically or politically innocent but imbued with socio-cultural and ideological meanings.