This thesis discusses how children's perspectives are implemented in the municipality's physical planning in Sweden in relation to the statutory UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The thesis seeks to answer how the planners express their views on the participation, as well as their views on the child and childhood. The study is based on three research questions. The aim is examined in relation to comprehensive planning and use the Norwegian context as a comparison since the country has progressed further in the implementation of the convention. The theoretical framework consists of a research overview regarding social sustainability, and the concepts of child and childhood. An historical review of children’s geography is also conducted. In addition, previous research regarding children’s participation in planning, as well as participation models lays ground for the theoretical framework. The small-scale case study of three municipalities is carried out by six qualitative interviews with physical and strategical planners, as well as professionals with experience in citizen dialogue. In addition, the empirical analysis includes a small document study of the municipal frameworks for citizen participation. Key findings are that children's perspectives are lacking in municipal planning processes, especially in relation to the comprehensive planning. In the three cases in this study, the efforts to incorporate children’s perspective into the planning process seems to be largely guided by the planners' own knowledge and interests. The implementation work with the Convention on the Right of the Child varies somewhat between the municipalities, where one of them stood out and had come further than the other two in connection with the physical planning. The planners view of the child shaped the opportunities for the children to participate in the planning process. The lack of formal guidelines is also described as a reason for the children's lack of participation. An ambivalent picture of children is found among planners and decision makers. These split images create a difficulty in creating a uniform picture of children's participation in the municipalities, as well as finding suitable methods for participation. However, many of the interviewees expressed a strong interest in involving children in planning to a greater extent, and to gain access to more knowledge in the subject.

The purpose of this study is to examine the seldom researched Swedish geopolitical interests inNorway in the first half of the 17th century, with the brief 1658 conquest of Trondheim as itscentral event of inquiry. Through the study of privy council protocols and chancellor AxelOxenstierna’s correspondence, the study builds a case for the confluence of security, commerce, andthe concepts of nations as the influencing factors that shaped Swedish imperial foreign policy in thedecades leading up to the dramatic war of 1658, yielding a theoretical construction of the Empire’sBaltic doctrine, or the Oxenstierna doctrine, as an explanatory model for Sweden’s early modernexpansion patterns. Subsequently through understanding of the Empire’s expansionist rationaleleading up to 1658, the conquest of the Norwegian province of Trondheim is put in a new light ashaving been an interruptive and complicated re-imagining of what the Swedish Empire should be.

This study is based on the fact that different groups have different historical frames of references, that are based on a group's unique historical cultural structure, within which the individual operates. Research shows, among other things, that people who are perceived to have had a positive significance for their own nation are sometimes highlighted for political reasons. Research also shows that students perceive their textbooks as the only historical truth, which contributes to internalization of a certain history culture. The purpose of the study is to compare different textbooks from Sweden and Norway and in the light of the countries' different experiences compare how the Second World War is presented. The method used is comparison of relative tendency based on two main themes. The theory in the study is based on Jörn Rüsen's description of history culture as divided into three dimensions, which has not been done in a similar way before. History culture has rather been a support concept for, for example, gender. The results show that there are aspects that are portrayed unanimously positive, such as Winston Churchill, while Sweden is described to varying degrees as submissive and weak, which is a contrast to Norway, that is described as fighting and steadfast. Finland is described both positively and negatively in the source material. Furthermore, the results show that analysis of textbooks based on the concept of history culture is feasible even if it has certain problems, and that an approach using history culture can be applied to remedy some problems that previous research has described in relation to history culture in schools. / Denna studie tar sin utgångspunkt i faktumet att olika grupper har olika historisk referensram, vilket grundar sig i en för gruppen unik historiekulturell struktur, inom vilken individen verkar. Forskning visar bland annat att personer som uppfattas ha haft en positiv betydelse för den egna nationen ibland lyfts fram av politiska orsaker. Forskning visar också att elever uppfattar sina läroböcker som den enda historiska sanningen, vilket leder till att de internaliserar en viss historiekultur. Syftet med studien är att jämföra olika läroböcker från Sverige och Norge och mot bakgrund av ländernas olika erfarenheter jämföra hur andra världskriget framställs. Metoden som använts är komparation av relativ tendens utifrån två huvudsakliga teman. Teorin i studien utgår från Jörn Rüsens beskrivning av historiekultur som delad i tre dimensioner vilket inte gjorts på liknade sätt tidigare, historiekultur har snarare varit stödbegrepp till exempelvis genus. Resultatet visar att det finns företeelser som lyfts från enhälligt positivt som exempelvis Winston Churchill, medan Sverige i olika grad beskrivs som undfallande och svagt vilket är en kontrast mot Norge som beskrivs som kämpande och ståndaktigt. Finland beskrivs både positivt och negativt i källmaterialet. Resultatet visar också på att en analys av läroböcker utifrån en teori om historiekultur är görbar även om den har vissa problem. Det visar också att en historiekulturell ansats kan tillämpas för att råda bot på problem som tidigare forskning beskrivit i förhållande till historiekulturen i skolan.

The Master thesis "The Immigration Policy of Norway after 2011" deals with Norwegian immigration policy, specifically with changes of immigration policy which took place after 2011. In July of this year, the attacks of Andres Breivik happened in the downtown of Oslo and on the island of Utøya. In the following years, the Norwegian immigration policy begin to change firstly gradually, than the changes occurred in faster pace, since the new coalition of Conservative Party and Progress Party began to rule after the General Election in autumn 2013. The goal of this Master thesis is to introduce changes in Norwegian immigration policy which took place after 2011, and find out what was behind these changes and thus was the cause of them. The thesis uses theoretical approaches explaining how policy change can happen, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Advocacy Coalition Framework. The first approach clarifies change of policy through period of disequilibrium which is caused by critical event. Second approach then illustrates that policy can change because the cooperation of political elite. Main research question of this Master thesis is how the Norwegian immigration policy has changed since 2011. Hypothesis then, that the Norwegian immigration policy has changed during the last for years, and not just...

The study then focuses on the Bernadotte candidacy as the practical expression of a Norwegian desire for a national monarchy. Reaction to the candidacy is analyzed and, although it proved unsuccessful, the strength of the idea is again evident when the government shifted its focus to the secondary candidacy of Denmark's Prince Carl. During the debate over the candidates for the throne, the underlying theme which developed was the question of Norway's form of government-- monarchy or republic.

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The purpose of this thesis is to examine the representation of the Sámi population as constructed in the official political discourses of the Swedish and Norwegian Governments and the Sámi Parliaments. As Sámi policies and Sámi political action have historically been limited by the dominating postcolonial conception of the Sámi by the nation-state, this thesis evaluates how the Governments of Sweden and Norway construct a representation of the Sámi in comparison to the representation offered by elected Sámi representatives to ascertain how the sociohistorical perspectives of the majority population reflect the conception of the Sámi population today. In addition, this comparison is made to draw inferences about the efficacy of ratifying ILO:169 for Sámi representation in political forums.Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was conducted on 370 official government documents through Hall´s framework of representation. The results indicated that the overarching representation of Sámi as presented by the Norwegian and Swedish Governments was of a static people that are vulnerable and inferior compared to the dominant group, with a specific representation of Sámi residing in Sweden portrayed as a minority group and the Sámi residing in Norway portrayed as a diverse population distinct from the state. The overarching representation as presented by the Sámi Parliaments in contrast portrayed a progressive and motivated people with customs and practices that aim to regain and create a Sami identity. These contrasting representations of the Sámi population indicate that both the Norwegian and Swedish Governments still operate with the sociohistorical perspective that formed prior conceptualization of Sámi and "Sáminess".

This project takes place in the north of Norway, on an Island called Senja. With its beautiful nature and reliable resource of fish it attracts tourists in the summer time and seasonal workers in the fishing industry during the winter.  How can communal housing for tourists and workers act as a hub in the local community? Around this question a cluster of different functions has been developed that serves the whole community as well as the communal housing with private living units.

The study focuses particularly on the effects digital tools may have on language learning for students with special needs. The qualitative empirical material was collected through interviews and observations in a Norwegian school. The observation involves four students from two school years (the first and the second students comes from year 8, and the third and fourth students comes from year 9). The data also comes from two different qualitative interviews with the headmaster of the same school. The main findings are that, digital tools are adapted for the majority of the students in the classroom by the school board. Students with disabilities, however, need more tools, and more support. Only the school board can change their own recommendations for the use of digital tools. A comparison between Norway’s and Sweden’s curriculum is also included, to contextualized the headmaster’s point of view upon the Norwegian curriculum when it comes to digital tools.

This case study explores a recent argument claiming improvements in refugees' healthcare encounters in Norway primarily occur due to the refugee's own effort of adjusting, rather than the healthcare system's efforts. While investigating the perceptions of three Middle eastern refugees in the municipality of Kvinnherad, the aim of the paper was to gain a deeper understanding of the gaps between refugee patients and the healthcare service. By discussing the refugees' perceptions of important factors for improvement in their healthcare encounters, and linking them to the theories of social and cultural capital, the research finds that despite legal right to services and healthcare systems principle of offering equal access for all, refugees can hold a disadvantage in accessing and recieving care. Additionally to being a contribution to the academic research field on refugees meeting with new healthcare systems, the case study brings a new layer of knowledge about refugees' familiarization process in the municipality of Kvinnherad.