Sports in Sweden has become increasingly commercialized in order to compete with other associations and are thereby in need of capital. Companies often have the capital that the sport clubs are in need of and can through using the sports as a platform reach out to new or broader target groups. The purpose of this study is to see what the companies main interests are in sponsorship cooperation and whether there are tensions that lead to conflicts of interest. Our empirical material was collected using semi-structured interviews with six different respondents. We interviewed three different sports clubs and three corporations that are sponsoring these sports clubs. We have also used two descriptive theories, new institutional theory and the actor perspectivethat will help us understand what interest and tensions may possibly arise in a sponsorship collaboration between a company and sports clubs. The result we found showed that the sport clubs youth section was a major motivational factor for companies to sponsor sport clubs. Through them, they can reach a large target group of people and in this way strengthened their brand. The level of commitment regarding the sport clubs societal involvement are crucial for companies when considering sponsorship, it creates legitimacy for the companies and a better platform to strengthen their brand. The greatest interest of the sport clubs is to increase the quality of youth activities. The conclusions drawn are that the sport clubs must develop their knowledge about how they can communicate with the companies in order to strengthen their position in negotiations. If they can connect their business to the sustainability goals many companies need to achieve, they have come a long way. Those tensions that exist in contractnegotiations, managing of where the capital is being placed and how negative publicity amongst the companies or the sport club are handled to avoid leading to conflict, they should communicate and follow the agreement that has been written. However, the position of power can easily shift during critical times, which in turn affects the actors position in negotiations.

This thesis considers the extent to which decentralisation in the Republic of Macedonia between 2005 and 2012 has been effective in reducing ethnic inequalities that exacerbate social divisions and can lead to conflict. Guided by the concept of horizontal inequalities, it identifies the factors which influenced the decision to devolve responsibilities to the municipalities after 2001. It examines the particular institutional design that Macedonian decentralisation took, and demonstrates how its use of local power-sharing mechanisms was intended to address the concerns of the Albanian and Macedonian communities simultaneously. This thesis takes an integrative approach to studying the political, administrative, and fiscal dimensions of decentralisation's implementation, and considers whether the reform has indeed contributed to the reduction of inequalities between Macedonia's ethnic groups. Where decentralisation's potential has not been reached, obstacles to its successful implementation are identified. While decentralisation alone may be unable to address all of the grievances raised by the Albanian community prior to 2001, this thesis argues that the reform has the potential to address many of the horizontal inequalities that were responsible for raising inter-ethnic tensions during the 1990s. However, decentralisation in Macedonia between 2005 and 2012 has only been partial, and advances in the administrative and political aspects of the reform have been undermined by limited progress in its fiscal dimension. Attempts to solve self-determination conflicts through decentralisation will fail if local self-governance exists only in form but not in substance.

A critical re-examination of the liberal peace is conducted to explore the ways in which certain ideas around peace have come to dominate and to be regarded as “common sense”. The foundation of my critique comes in the personalisation of peacebuilding through the stories of people who are the intended beneficiaries of its actions. This thesis seeks to open up and challenge the current measures of success and the location of power by introducing voices and experiences of Mende people located in the Southern and Eastern provinces of Sierra Leone. I have attempted to open up a reflexive space where simple questions can be re-examined and the location of recovery can be seen as a space influenced, shaped and performed in the context of diverse influences. I draw on my personal experience living in Bo, Sierra Leone for two months in 2014 and local level actors' subjective reflections on individual and communal notions of recovery, post-conflict. My findings are reflected in “building blocks” that uncover a partial story of personal perspectives on recovery. The story suggests a de-centred and complex “local” within the existing context and realigns the understanding of subject and agency within peacebuilding. This collection of experiences, stories and encounters reshapes the notion of peace as an everyday activity with the aim of improving well-being on a personal level. It is also a part of the peacebuilding process that exists outside of the traditional organisational lens. My main contribution has been in allowing alternative space(s) of peacebuilding and peace-shaping to have a platform that is not restricted by the confined epistemic “expert” community toward an understanding of “progress” as an experiential and subjective process of recovery. This approach sought to challenge the current site of legitimacy, power and knowledge, and in order to achieve this aim I drew on a new methodological toolkit and the absorption of key concepts from other disciplines such as managerialism and the sociological concept of the “stranger”. My research offers an opportunity to observe and utilise information sourced from the creativity and spontaneity of the everyday lived experiences of Sierra Leoneans and ordinary phenomena connected with this.