This empirical study identifies and analyses what conceptualisations of citizenship emerge in policy thinking around naturalisation and how these conceptualisations have been articulated in citizenship policy and by policy-makers in the two specific cases of the United Kingdom and Sweden. Understanding citizenship as a bounded membership status the research is grounded in a view of citizenship as having content: rights and duties, ideas of identity, perceived virtues or political values. Employing an interpretive methodology the study closely analyses the central policy documents from the period 1994-2007. It also extensively draws on material from over thirty in-depth elite interviews with policy-makers. These include David Blunkett and Ulrica Messing, the ministers responsible during the development of the key changes to citizenship legislation in the respective countries. In the Swedish case the thesis argues that five conceptualisations form the ideational context in which policy articulations of citizenship take place. Interplaying ideas of integration, equality and belonging are reinforced by conceptualisations of citizenship as about a „welcoming‟ symbolism and as „responding to a global, internationalising context‟. In the UK case five conceptualisations also emerge. A strong interlocking of thinking about integration and belonging provides citizenship policy‟s ideational foundation. Adding depth and complexity to this are ideas about diversity, „common values‟, and the presentation of citizenship acquisition as a „journey‟. The final section of the study analyses and compares the findings from the two specific cases. In considering the policy tone around naturalisation it contrasts the attention given to individual effort in the UK with the accentuation of entitlement in Sweden. It also highlights different conceptual approaches to belonging and its relationship with citizenship; with belonging strongly connected to identity in the UK but to the idea of emotional certainty and security in Sweden. This is argued to reflect distinct beliefs about where evolving ideas about citizenship create demands for change. In Sweden, legislative opening to dual citizenship was conceptualised as a necessary response expected of the state. In the UK, the introduction of citizenship tests was conceptualised as the establishment of a legitimate demand on individuals. Approaches in the two cases are also shown to differ in where emphasis lies in ideas about diversity‟s relationship with citizenship. The UK downplays notions of ethnicity while the Swedish conceptualisation accepts pluralism as the reality of contemporary globalisation.

This research builds upon Islamic feminism as an alternative mean to the typical Western way of perceiving feminism, when looking into the situation of Muslim women in Sweden through a qualitative field study. Moreover, this is linked to the discussion of gender equality and diversity which is on the agenda in the West due to contemporary migration flows. Semi-structured interviews are conducted for the purpose of highlighting Muslim women's own religious and cultural experiences concerning identity, freedom and gender roles, which are later connected to the academic debate regarding women in Islam and Islamic feminism. Additionally, interpretations of often discussed verses from the Qur'an on this topic are made during the interviews, also connected to the core of this research which is to explore the possibility of an identity formation with feminism and Islam coexisting among the interviewed women in Sweden, constituting the research gap. Hayward's theory of de-facing power is further applied to the findings and examples illustrate a tension between the different value systems when comparing the women's earlier experiences to current ones in Sweden, but that feminist understandings are visible and practiced to some extent. Summarized remarks include that further research is necessary and particularly with more interviewees which would enable more of a generalization, yet underlining that the situation among and for Muslim women differs. Nevertheless, it is through facilitating to meet each other and involve women in the society it is possible to achieve progress of a mutual understanding.

The interrelation between gender and the asylum-seeking process has received increasing attention within academic as well as political discussions in the past decade. Looking specifically at the case of Sweden, this paper hopes to add to existing knowledge through the consideration of how tensions and contradictions regarding migrants and asylum-seekers affect women’s experiences of the asylum-seeking process. The analysis builds on the idea that the European Union Member States, Sweden included, have cultivated a “securitized” migration discourse which considers refugees and asylum-seekers as a threat to national security and stability. This has resulted in reinvigorated internal and external controls on migration and asylum, with particular structural and gendered implications for those seeking asylum in the EU. The aim of the study is to explore how these implications affect women’s experiences of seeking asylum in Sweden. It finds that women, and especially women belonging to ethic minority groups in their home-countries, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of securitization due to lack of social and economic resources, increased exposure to gender based violence (GBV) during the migratory journey, insecurities related to male-dominated and overcrowded asylum accommodation centers, and insecurities related to family fragmentation.

The current situation in the world has forced many states to have a look at their security policy in a more demanding way. The instability around the world has become harder to prevent and for the states to protect their citizens, which requires efficient work from the states. Therefore, this paper is going to have a look at the security policy that Finland and Sweden are performing currently, to give us understanding of their current situation. To do that, it is necessary to have a look at their backgrounds as well. The aim of this paper is to understand security policies of these countries, and how that have effected to their choices that are done today. After that, new future possible choices will be analysed based on the given information. Since the instability has also reached these two countries, we shall have look what could be their choices in improving their current policies.   Theories that will be used in this paper, are playing important role in achieving the selected aim of this paper. Throughout this paper, theories are tools for us, guiding us to focus on the arguments that are supported by these theories. These different points of views will be collected from arguments that are presented about the security policy of these countries and are supporting theories Liberalism and/or Realism. Theories are also allowing us to use our method, argument analyse, by working as a great instrument in finding arguments that are relevant for the paper. Since this paper will not aim to give any specific idea of good security policy, the focus is to look the things where Finland and Sweden could improve their policies, and/or to have a look into new possibilities. Since the world is changing rapidly, also the security policies of countries have to keep up with the new challenges.

Background: Patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia experienced a reduced life expectancy of up to 25 years as compared to people in general. Health promotion interventions concern behavior affecting interventions intended to improve the living habits of patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia. In this work, the psychiatric nurse had an important role in taking into consideration the resources of the patient. The literature indicated a difference between men and women what regarded nursing. Aim: To investigate health promotion interventions between genders for patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia. In addition, to identify predicting factors for the achievement of health promotion interventions. Method: The study design was retrospective cross-sectional. Data registered 2014 and 2015 in the national quality registry for psychosis care were analyzed statistically. The sample had a size of 5554 individuals. Results: Logistic regression analysis indicated that to be a man, have systolic hypertension and lack occupation were statistically significant variables that together affected whether or not patients had received health promotion interventions during the last twelve months, chi-squared test indicated no difference between men and women. However, chisquared test indicated that to be below 55 years of age, to have high school education and occupation were predicting factors for health promotion interventions. Conclusion: Being a man seemed to predict health promotion interventions, however systolic hypertension and lack of occupation were predicting factors together with being a man. Gender specific advice could be of help to the psychiatric nurse in the initial valuation of the needs of the patient.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of teachers' turnover intentions in selected Swedish schools. Research methodology – This research took the form of a qualitative research. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the causes of teachers' turnover intentions within the schools selected for this study. The sample was composed by 9 teachers that work in Säter. In order to provide a different yet meaningful perspective, a further interview with the Säter school department has been conducted. Results – Several of the results were coherent with the literature: elements such as motivations to teach, administrative support, workload, class size and collaboration were found to be related to teachers’ turnover intentions and therefore confirmed the previous studies. However, factors like salary, mentoring, autonomy, physical conditions and orderly environment were not found to have a connection with the respondents’ turnover intentions, hence constituting a result that did not confirm the literature. Originality – This thesis extended the previous research related to the causes of teachers’ turnover intentions by focusing on Sweden, which had not been investigated yet to that matter. The Swedish context appears particularly worth researching because of both the particularity of its decentralized educational system and the widespread turnover intentions of teachers.

Aim: To investigate the impact of national culture on the process of managing change and innovation in the sector of higher education and identify what kind of environmental factors could produce a moderating effect on the cultural impact. Method: Inductive method and qualitative approach were used. With the purpose of collecting qualitative data, 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees of Faculty of Education and Business Studies in University of Gävle, Sweden. Results & Conclusions: The study suggests that any innovation is a change, while change is always a process and, thus, should be managed as such. Authors draw attention from the process of management of innovation itself towards managing through manipulating by such an influencer as national culture. At the same time authors point out that not everything can be explained on the basis of culture providing a range of potential factors that can strongly moderate the impact of culture. Suggestions for future research: Current research is limited by the choice of country, sector of economy, number of studied cases, etc. Investigation of cultural impact on change and innovation management in universities of other countries or the choice of another economic sector would open opportunities for further research. Contribution of the thesis: During the study the authors verified a part of the suggested hypotheses demonstrating the strength of the impact that national culture produces on management of change and innovation. Moderating effect of different environmental factors such as employee’s age and position within organizational structure, governmental policies in the sphere of higher education, type of organizational structure and type of leadership, was demonstrated. Authors come up with implications of managing the process of change and innovation through manipulation of cultural impact.

Collection of short stories set in Stockhol, Sweden. Themes are alienation, bi-culturalism, third culture kids nomadism, fitting in a differnet culture.

This thesis aims to describe how the attitude of the Swedish Riksdag towards Russia has changed during the post-Cold War era. Describing the change in attitude is done by using Alexander Wentd's Social theory of international relations, and the constructivist idea of external shocks influencing state behaviour. More specifically, the thesis examines, (1) what external shocks/events that can be found during the post-Cold-War-era? and (2) In what way and/or direction have these events caused a shift in culture? This study uses a qualitative approach to conduct a single case study in order to explain the Sweden-Russia relationship. By looking at protocols from the Swedish Riksdag, the opinions of the politicians can be established, which ultimately is where the attitude of Russia is formed. The study shows that the relationship has, indeed, changed. Through events like the Chechnya, Georgian and Syrian war, the appointment of president Vladimir Putin, the 9/11 attacks and the Ukraine crisis, the Swedish attitude towards Russia has has experienced a change for the worse. The relationship has shifted from being based on friendship, to be based on rivalry.

In the first half of the 20th century, the researchers in the medical sciences in Sweden were dependent on funding from private foundations. Earlier research has shown that the foundation Stiftelsen Therese och Johan Anderssons Minne was a financier of great importance especially for the 1920s until the 1950s. This paper is written with the purpose of examining how the financing has changed over time, by analyzing the foundations yearly accounts from 1931 until 1963. I will show that physiologists and chemists took a dominant position in the fight for funds. In conclusion, it seems that the fact that the colleague of teachers at Karolinska had the power to decide who to fund were an important factor for the foundations activity. The characteristics of the medical research exercised by the researchers applying for funds were not the sole factor which affected the outcome.