This work analyzes the political instrumentalization of culture. Specifically, it studies how this is done through cultural policy within Western democracies. The analysis takes, as an example, official Nordic cultural cooperation in the post-war period. During this time, cultural exchange among Nordic countries became the subject of political attention establishing itself as part of the Nordic inter-governmental cooperation framework. This work focuses on three key moments in the history of official Nordic cultural cooperation: (i) the failure of the NORDEK plan (a plan which envisaged extensive economic cooperation between the Nordic countries) and the establishment of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1971; (ii) the collapse of the Soviet system at the end of the 1980s - beginning of the 1990s; and (iii) the movement towards promoting the Nordic region on the global market in the first decade of the 2000s. The analysis traces the lack of convergence between the official arm’s length principle in cultural policy and how cultural cooperation actually worked. The results of the research both demonstrate the various ways culture was instrumentalized and also prove that the politically defined concept of culture can receive different interpretations in the official discourse depending on current political goals.

After opening of China‟s borders to foreign trade and investment, over the last decades, a growing number of foreign company‟s attention has been drawn to China due to the immense market potential, and a huge source of cheap labor. Swedish industry, however, is not an exception from this tremendous trend in the world, as their recent acquisitions have given access to production facilities in China. This transfer of product/production from Sweden to China has emerged two major concerns including Design and Manufacturing (DM) interaction between geographically distant settings, in conjunction with inter-cultural considerations. Lately, the concept of interaction between DM has been growing in the scholar thoughts. Typically, different challenges such as different personalities and cultural differences exist towards having an enhanced collaboration during the development process. This study uses a framework for integration mechanisms which comprises number of approaches such as DfX, CE, cross-functional teams, and modern quality management. Second, this study by carrying out 6 interviews within the Chinese plants in four Swedish-Chinese based companies identifies the main challenges of interaction of design in Sweden and manufacturing in China (2 pilot companies and 2 target companies). The most frequent challenges are spotted as cultural clashes, ineffective collaboration, frustrating verification process, inadequate management system, and lack of technical knowledge. By including cultural attributes, a literature based classification is adopted to classify the determined challenges. Eventually, this study comes up with suggestions for managing challenges associated with geographical distance. More face-to-face interactions instead of electronic communications in order to have a better insight to the cultural differences (such as trust, lose face, and direct/indirect confrontation), cross-functional integrations, localizing the verification process, facilitating the early involvement of suppliers, rotation of the expertise across projects, use of DfA index, and function-wise motivation system, are stated in our recommendations to cope with these challenges. Besides, the influence of reward system on challenges of dispersed settings, is proposed to be investigated for further studies.

The aim of this thesis is to examine, analyse and discuss the ways in which the European Union is structuring its relations with its neighbours in the Mediterranean region, in regards of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, its Third Basket which is dealing with the socio-cultural cooperation and human affairs, and the initiative of the intercultural dialogue. In this thesis, it is shown that the human dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership has experienced an increase in related debates, activities and initiatives within the post-9/11 world order. To organise the intercultural relations and the civil society input in the process, the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures was established in 2005. It is observed that within the framework of this renewed significance of the Third Basket and the notion of intercultural dialogue, there exist clear problems regarding the issues of the politicisation and securitisation of the process, the representation of cultural entities and the participation of civil society organisations. To conclude, it is suggested that the independence of the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation regarding the issues of funding and civil society participation need to be enhanced extensively as within the current situation the political actors and the governments of the partner countries have strict control over the functioning of the intercultural dialogue which is initiated as a solely non-governmental institution that would regulate the cultural relations in the region.

In der Stadtbibliothek Naunhof wird seit 1984 die Verbindung von Literatur und Kunst intensiv gepflegt. Zum damaligen Zeitpunkt war die Naunhofer Künstlerin Monika Krause zugleich Mitarbeiterin der Stadtbibliothek und gründete eine Kunstgalerie unter bibliothekarischer Leitung. Verschiedene Lesungen und Bibliotheksveranstaltungen locken Galeriebesucher in die Bibliothek und Leser in die Ausstellungen.

Internationally, universities are undergoing renewal because of technological and social changes that both increases the importance of open and flexible learning, as well as makes it practicable. Net-based education makes it possible to create courses where students can collaborate and share knowledge globally. Collaborative Learning in Virtual Communities, with the working title Sesame, is a cooperative project between Blekinge Institute of Technology, BTH, and University of Pretoria, UP that has intention to provide a course like this. The aim of this collaboration is to initiate research in, as well as to test, and evaluate methods for net-based collaborative learning to see how this can provide new perspectives for students and lecturers in both countries. One key concept in the project is ?internationalisation at home? and this means interaction and knowledge sharing between people from different countries, and cultures, without them having to physically leave their country. In this thesis we describe the phase of constituting Sesame focusing on the cooperation between the involved parties from the two countries. / Sesame är ett projekt mellan Blekinge Tekniska Högskola och Universitet i Pretoria som syftar till att skapa kurser där studenter från de båda universiteten ska samarbeta och därigenom utbyta kunskaper och erfarenheter. Målet med projektet är att initiera forskning, såväl som att testa och utvärdera metoder för kollaborativt lärande. Ett nyckelbegrepp inom Sesame är ? internationalisation at home?, vilket betyder möjlighet till interaktion och kunskapsutbyte mellan människor i olika länder och kulturer, utan att de fysiskt måste lämna sina länder. I den här rapporten beskriver vi planeringsfasen av Sesame där vi fokuserar på samarbetet mellan deltagarna i Sverige och Sydafrika.

In der Stadtbibliothek Naunhof wird seit 1984 die Verbindung von Literatur und Kunst intensiv gepflegt. Zum damaligen Zeitpunkt war die Naunhofer Künstlerin Monika Krause zugleich Mitarbeiterin der Stadtbibliothek und gründete eine Kunstgalerie unter bibliothekarischer Leitung. Verschiedene Lesungen und Bibliotheksveranstaltungen locken Galeriebesucher in die Bibliothek und Leser in die Ausstellungen.

This diploma thesis focuses on the co-production of films in Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1970. This neglected institute is described and partially analysed on the principle of the three levels of the legal regulation. The first stage are interstate cultural agreements and agreements of cultural cooperation. The most important is the co-production agreement and agreement of cooperation in the area of cinematography with France and Italy concluded in 1968. The second stage consists of the implementation plans and the framework conventions, which extend the provisions of interstate agreements. It is very difficult to trace these plans and conventions in unprocessed archive funds. So the enlisted information are rather fragmentary. The next stage is created by the specific co-production agreements. These agreements are basis for the co-production projects. The last section of the thesis contains several unrealised co-production projects that have not been created because of some political, economic and other disputes.

Im August 2008 kam Katherine Brucker nach Leipzig, um ihre neue Aufgabe als Generalkonsulin des Leipziger US-Generalkonsulats in der Wilhelm-Seyfferth-Straße zu übernehmen. Von Beginn an hat Katherine Brucker das Engagement des Konsulats für Bibliotheken vielfältig unterstützt. Sie ist selber schon von Kindesbeinen an eine leidenschaftliche Leserin, deshalb ist ihr die Bedeutung von früher Lese- und Lernförderung sehr bewusst. Bibliotheken sind für sie Zentren für Bildung und Forschung und mit ihren historischen Beständen auch für die Archivierung. Gleichzeitig haben sie eine wichtige kommunale Funktion.

Am 16. Januar 2009 besuchte die Generalkonsulin der USA in Leipzig, Katherine Brucker zum ersten Mal in ihrer Amtszeit die Stadt Glauchau. Anlass war eine Veranstaltung in der Stadt- und Kreisbibliothek, zu welcher am Vormittag ca. 70 Schüler der 11. und 12. Klassen des Leistungskurses Englisch des Georgius-Agricola- Gymnasiums Glauchau in den Konzertsaal des Schlosses Forderglauchau eingeladen waren.

Im August 2008 kam Katherine Brucker nach Leipzig, um ihre neue Aufgabe als Generalkonsulin des Leipziger US-Generalkonsulats in der Wilhelm-Seyfferth-Straße zu übernehmen. Von Beginn an hat Katherine Brucker das Engagement des Konsulats für Bibliotheken vielfältig unterstützt. Sie ist selber schon von Kindesbeinen an eine leidenschaftliche Leserin, deshalb ist ihr die Bedeutung von früher Lese- und Lernförderung sehr bewusst. Bibliotheken sind für sie Zentren für Bildung und Forschung und mit ihren historischen Beständen auch für die Archivierung. Gleichzeitig haben sie eine wichtige kommunale Funktion.