The purpose of this study is to examine how the concept of democracy and education for democracy are formulated in school policy documents related to the four teacher’s description of their work with democracy in the civic subject. The study is based on the following questions:  What type of democracy is presented in the school curriculum as well as other school policy documents? How do the participant teachers understand democracy? How do the participant teachers describe and motivate their work with democracy? This study is made through a qualitative method based on a contextual analysis and interviews with four teachers working in grade 1-3. The study is based on two theoretical extensions and these are electoral-, participate-, deliberate democracy and the traditional- , liberal progressive-, social critical orientated views. Common to the four school policy documents that have been analysed, the most prominent conceptions of and approaches to democracy is participatory and deliberative democratic perspectives. The results show that the school documents and the teacher’s description of democracy rarely mention electoral democracy. However, it can be seen in the school policy documents that there is a notion that knowledge about democracy.  That is, knowledge of political ideologies and the selection process, is required to enable participatory and deliberative democracy.  Teachers understanding of democracy show mainly participatory democracy perspective. However, it has come to shown from the interviews that the teacher’s description of their work with democracy in the civic subject mainly shows deliberative perspectives. One conclusion of this study is that the documents and the teachers' descriptions of democracy and education for democracy are quite similar.

The thesis examines the final debate of wage-earner funds in Sweden when the issue was discussed in the parliament during the voting in 21-22 December 1983. Through a discourse analysis, discourses and different ideological views in the debate are being questioned based on economic and political aspects when it comes to democracy in working life, which use to be known as economic democracy. It was a historical long parliamentary debate with 88 different speakers and 125 speeches that lasted for two days when the issue of the wage-earner funds was voted through by the Social Democratic Party. The thesis highlights various ideological statements that constitute the struggle in the debate and deepened with theories of democracy and economic democracy.

Kommunikation med medborgarna är en viktig fråga inom EU. Under hösten 2005 och våren 2006 togs en ny kommunikationsstrategi fram av EU-kommissionen. Strategin ska långsiktigt stärka demokratin inom EU och verka för ett EU där medborgarna har tillgång till den information och de verktyg som är nödvändiga för ett aktivt deltagande i EU-politiken. Den nya kommunikationsstrategin bygger på samverkan med lokala aktörer och ett viktigt verktyg för strategins uppfyllelse är Internet. ”EU-kompassen”, Jönköpings läns webbportal för EU-frågor, har som syfte att skapa kunskap om, samt ett större intresse för och deltagande i EU-frågorna bland invånarna Jönköpings län och är således intressant i sammanhanget. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka EU-kompassens möjligheter att bidra till uppfyllelse av målen i EU:s nya kommunikationsstrategi, och dess potential som ett demokratiskt verktyg. Det studerade ämnesområdet är relativt nytt och outforskat. EU-kompassen är unik i sitt slag, och tidigare forskning inom området är överhuvudtaget bristfällig. För att kunna skapa en fördjupad kunskap inom området valdes därför att göra en kvalitativ fallstudie av portalen. Studien genomfördes enligt det hermeneutiska angreppssättet med deltagande observation som huvudsaklig datainsamlingsmetod. Resultatet av studien är att det finns en övergripande god överensstämmelse mellan EU-kompassen och målen i EU:s kommunikationsstrategi samt de krav som kan ställas på ett demokratiskt verktyg. Det största problemet är den bristande användningen av EUkompassen. Medborgarnas deltagande är inte bara ett viktigt mål i EU:s nya kommunikationsstrategi utan också väsentligt ur ett demokratiskt perspektiv. Det som EU-kompassen måste fokuseras på är att tillhandahålla möjligheter för alla att delta, att presentera ett innehåll som alla kan ta till sig samt att ta särskild hänsyn till användare med speciella behov. Dessutom är en förutsättning för användning av portalen att dess innehåll faller användarna i smaken. Det kan till och med vara aktuellt att tillhandahålla innehåll som går ifrån portalens egentliga syfte, så länge det lockar användare. Undersökningar har visat att medborgarna vill att EU ska göra mer för att engagera dem, så potentialen för EU-kompassen finns men för att lyckas krävs en del åtgärder. Först och främst är det väsentligt att ta reda på vad användarna verkligen är intresserade av för innehåll. Dessutom måste metoder för informationshantering och utveckling förbättras. I det fall syftet är att EU-kompassen ska ha en direkt påverkan på politiken kommer det också vara viktigt att skapa relationer mellan EU-kompassen och instanser som har ett reellt inflytande i EU-frågorna. / Communicating with the citizens is of crucial importance within the European Union. The European Commission has during the autumn 2005 and spring 2006 developed a new strategy for communicating with the citizens. The strategy aims to give the citizens access to the information and the tools that are necessary for their active participation in EUmatters. The long-term objective is to strengthen the democracy within the EU. The communication strategy should be implemented in a joint action between the EU and local actors, and the Internet is pointed out as an important tool for its fulfillment. “EUkompassen”, Jönköping County’s web portal for EU-information, has the purpose of creating knowledge of, and increased interest and participation in EU-matters among the citizens of the Jönköping County. Thus, the portal is of special interest in the context of EU’s strategy for communication. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how EU-kompassen can contribute to fulfilling the objectives in EU’s communication strategy and its potential as a tool for democracy. This field of study is relatively new and unexplored. As a web portal of this kind, EUkompassen is unique, and there is a lack of existing knowledge in the particular area in general. To be able to create deeper knowledge, a qualitative case study of EU-kompassen was chosen as method for the study. The study was carried out with a hermeneutic approach, with a participating observation as the main tool for collecting the empirical data. The result of the study indicates that there is an overall correspondence between EUkompassen and the objectives in EU’s communication strategy, including the requirements of a democratic tool. The most significant problem though, is the public’s lack of interest in the website. Participation is not only the key element in EU’s communication strategy, but also crucial from a democratic point of view. EU-kompassen needs to offer a possibility for everyone to participate, to present a content that everyone can take in and to pay extra attention to users with special needs. It is also important that the portal presents a content that is demanded by the users. It might even be necessary to present information and functions that are not directly related to the purpose of the portal to attract users. Opinion polls have shown that citizens have an interest in that EU makes more to engaging them in EU-matters. Hence, there is potential for EU-kompassen, but some actions will be necessary. Firstly it is crucial to investigate deeper into what the users real interests are. It is also of significant importance to improve the methods for information management and development. Furthermore, if the purpose of EU-kompassen is to be a tool for direct political influence it will also be necessary to engage in co-operation with relevant political actors.

This essay aims to examine how the democratization of Tunisia has taken place since the Arabic spring. It will also analyze how well the country qualifies as a consolidated democracy and what conflicts that have been the driving force of the democratization process. The essay is a qualitive case study and explores the years of 1987 to 2018. Moreover, it is supported by the democratization theory of Dankward A Rustow. The Arabic spring was a consequence of the high unemployment numbers, the poverty in the country and the discontent of the president’s approach of ruling. The road to the democracy has suffered from many difficulties due to influences of the previous authoritarian rule. The situation in Tunisia after the Arabic spring has been unstable and demonstrations in smaller scales has taken place. Today the country has free and fair elections regularly and 2014 a new constitution was introduced. However, people have not gained a better lifestyle from the democratization even though the democracy has flourished. Lastly, the Tunisian democracy is not yet consolidated and still needs to the implemented into the country’s laws and population.

No description available.

I den rådande läroplanen för gymnasieskolan står framskrivet att undervisningen skall ske genom demokratiska arbetsmetoder (Skolverket 2011a), det vill säga att undervisningen skall ske genom demokrati. Samtidigt står det framskrivet i ämnesplanen för samhällskunskap på gymnasiet att innehållet i undervisningen skall bestå av demokrati (Skolverket 2011b), det vill säga att undervisningen skall vara i demokrati. Det väcker frågan om det är möjligt att kombinera dessa två. Samtidigt som de demokratiska ambitionerna från Skolverket är fortsatt höga så sjunker de demokratiska värderingarna i Sverige (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010). Tidigare forskning visar på att demokratibegreppet är både brett och abstrakt vilket kan göra det svårt att omsätta i praktik. Detta är en kvalitativ intervjustudie baserad på målriktat, systematiskt urval. Målet med intervjuerna var att dels ta del av lärares tankar kopplat till styrdokumenten, dels samla in arbetsmetoder som används för att undervisa i och genom demokrati. Resultaten analyseras sedan utifrån Robert A. Dahls demokratimodell. Resultatet av denna studie ringar in delar av de konsekvenser som Skolverkets höga ambitioner har på den verkställande nivån, men lyfter även fram exempel på lärares lösningar på dessa problem.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine school librarians approach towards the democratic role of school libraries. Semi-structured interviews with five high school librarians’ were conducted to illuminate how school librarians work to fulfill this role and further examine any differences in their approach. The theoretical framework consists of a broad interpretation of democracy to highlight difficulties in a precise definition of this term. Deliberative democracy and enlightened understanding is included in this framework in an attempt to establish a more precise setting. With a thematic analysis of the interviews the results were divided and coupled with the research questions. The results show information literacy as the primary democratic work described by the school librarians and an overall general vagueness regarding the school libraries as well as their own democratic role and further pertaining work.

I detta examensarbete har potentiella maktrelationer samt elevers möjligheter till inflytande undersökts inom ramarna för ett demokratiprojekt på Enetorpsskolan (fiktivt namn). Demokratiprojektet är strukturerat på så vis att eleverna ena veckan skapar demokratiförslag, i form av aktiviteter, och veckan därpå verkställs det framröstade förslaget. I vår undersökning har vi använt en kvalitativ forskningsmetod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare och elevgrupper. Intervjuerna har transkriberats och för att analysera empirin har vi kodat och tematiserat innehållet. Det första huvudtemat, vi funnit relevant för vår studie, är Pedagogernas stödstrukturer och maktrelationer - här visas, genom en Foucault-inspirerad maktanalys, hur den pedagogiska påverkan, via stödstrukturerna, möjliggör för disciplinär och pastoral maktutövning. Det andra huvudtemat är Inflytandets gränser - här visar vi på hur en institutionaliserad verksamhet samt demokratiprojektets förutsättningar, i form av ramar och regler, sätter gränser för elevers inflytande. De faktorer vi här fokuserar på är att projektet är lärarinitierat -vilket leder till att eleverna blir delaktiga i något redan förutbestämt, praktiska förutsättningar -vilka sätter gränser för vilken typ av aktiviteter eleverna kan ge som demokratiförslag och slutligen att lärarna genom sitt veto får sista ordet kring vad som är att betrakta som realistiska förslag. Det som främst blir synligt i vår studie är hur fritidshemmets dubbla karaktär, att både vara en frivillig och målstyrd verksamhet, leder till en paradox kring att eleverna både subjektifieras som demokratiska individer samtidigt som de utsätts för pedagogisk påverkan (jmf. Holmberg 2017; Holmberg 2018).

Democracy in Urban Planning, by Christel Lundberg Much activist art take place outdoors, in public spaces, in street activities, etc. Of this reason we´re as activist artists often connected to the subject of planning processes and finds ourselves putting our noses deep down in comprehension plans etc. And since many activist art activities are reactions against exploition plans we´ll soon finds out the irritating fact tha urban planning isn´t a democratic process, despite it´s a process inside a democratic system. Especially this is the case in central planning, which ought to be translatable to ”the planning of central parts of cities, regions and nations”. But instead it´s a definition which means ”centralized planning”. It´s scary to realize that citizens have nothing to say, only used as cosmetic, when there´s need to pretend democracy.There´s a complex relationship between urban or regional planning and participatory democracy which demands research, but this is too often neglected in the every day urban planning processes.But how do we then, as artists apply critical analysis of democracy in our activist projects?As artists ”Public Globality Gardens” made an ”image” of this power-relation when creating an art-installation of a full-scale allotment garden at a central square in Malmö, Sweden. This research of democracy in real life, made four questions especially significant. ”How to rule the vision in relation to the people living in the area?”, ”How to take care of citizens knowledge of an area?” , ”Who´s the speaker of the citizens?” and at last ”Who has the code of entry and who hasn´t and how are we going to deal with that?”.How to rule the vision? Often we think about this relation as something we have to choose between, and the choice has serious implications. It is a strongly hierarchical view, where citizens may get the position in planning in the districts and allowed to participate in less important decisions.How to take care of citizens knowledge? Citizens are not stupid and ignorant but they are often treated as though. The issue is that there ”is no time and no money” to deal with deep knowledge of the citizens. It is not a question about more potted flowers, but an investigation which is in need of professionals with different methods of how to deal with people in this kind of process. How to make people telling what they are not expected to say. It is often better to provide for a situation which is not expected.When the artist group ”Public Globality Gardens” constructed an allotment garden at a central square in Malmö, it was not for the reason that the garden was the aestetical solution for this area, in the contrary, it was to stipulate that this area do have a problem and this art-installation was a position, a not expected one, for the citizens living i the neighbourhood, to fill with whatever they wanted to. ”The allotment garden at S:t Knuts square” was located in Malmö, during the cultivation period May-December in 2003. Since there isn´t much profit in market trade nowadays the square is not used as a market place any more and actually not used in any manner at all. It is a dead urban stone desert. Around the square lives many people, looking down on this empty square suffering from something to happen there. The closest neighbor is the two-laned through route. In this surroundings the allotment garden was built upon the paved market-place with a range of 120 square meters and a height of 1,5 meter. As a ecological remark recycled materials were used for the installation, and the garden rested on 300 loading pallets of different sizes. The installation of this garden really filled a ”black hole” in this district. The artists cultivated together with those living around. A senior and former boxer pre-cultivated leek and harvested potatoes named ”Birgitta”, a danish sort, which we got from the Nordic Gene Bank (a research centre which is preserving old local seeds) and a five year old boy who planted tomatoes and squash in the garden and helped us watering the garden.When developing a sustainable city-planning process it´s important to get a feeling for the area. This ”feeling” is not delivered or provided for you instantly, it takes time. One implication of participatory democracy is the need of more cooperators in this process. ”The Allotment Garden at S:t Knuts Square” was a cooperative project with different professions working together with NGOs and those living around in the districts.”The Allotment Garden at S:t Knuts Square” was a reminder that we need public spaces which are not commercial and invites all citizens. If we do not use them they will become storing places for the public administrations or worse, parking lots. This central allotment was used day and night the hot season of 2003. It was used for small concerts, social meetings, as a resting-place, for political meetings, for sports, sun bathing, lectures, cultivating, people harvested and planted, watered and cared about it. In the nights it was used by young people as a place to meet and talk in a more ”private atmosphere” than public spaces use to be.Does a collective urban garden work? Since the allotment was located at a central public space, the usually private characteristics of gardens had to work together with the fact that everybody were invited to this garden and could do whatever they wanted to do. A common question we had to answer was: Don´t everybody want to vandalize this garden? On the contrary, it was hard to teach people that they were allowed to use the allotment and to harvest herbs, vegetables and rhubarb. Urban life will step by step be improved if we consider urban spaces ”in between” as possibilities for environmental improvement. Who´s the speaker of the citizens?Well, it´s not traditionally the politicians and often not those who carry out the visions, e.g. planners, architects. The problem is often that the visions are missing and the belief in pragmatic rules the planning situation. And for that reason the planners, architects are themselves fighting for their situation. There are visions in the society, but they need more space. Public Globality Gardens has become a voice in Malmö. They are living in the area och participate themselves in the discussion with e.g., local organizations, multi-cultural citizens, individual actors. And it is a voice with visions. It is a habit not to listen to citizens because often they´re not a collective voice, but different people with private interests. This attitude,unfortunately, cause often no problem. But since artist groups are working with the aim to make a collective voice of citizens perspective and give the individual interests a larger perspective, it make demands on the politicians to listen. Who has the code of entry and who hasn´t and how are we going to deal with that?Since there are demands that citizens must get more participatory power in the planning processes the outcome has become a misunderstanding of democracy. It´s not only dangerous when small organizations or agents act on their un-democratic own egoistic interest and not for a good thing for the collective. These forces are the same which is in the frontiers blocking visions. It is not those only who have the correct code and language which we have to listen to, it is as many as possible. And this listening has little to do with democracy processes. It´s more like an understanding of a situation and a platform for the visionary agents in the planning processes to take care of. Un-expected spaces and contexts and with different medias gives a possibility to create new understandings which might be an invitation for former excluded groups to take part in the democratic planning processes. The society and region cannot be sustainable if some groups don´t want to join or feel excluded. We have to understand why they are not interested or why they feel excluded and we have to try to solve these problems. Everybody don´t have to participate, but it´s important that representants from different groups participate. If we only have seniors and middle-aged white citizens in the group we receive a senior-middleaged white answer.Cultivation is a good-working and concrete platform for political discussions, because it is a ambiguous act on nature. It is both anthropocentric and ecocentric; it is both means to control nature as it is a possibility for us to understand and be a part of nature. And politically, when we become landowners, is this in itself a transition from altruism to egoism; or when does the property of landowning become ethical and environmental troublesome. Well, we are not asking people to draw final conclusions of the market economies influence on society, but it is a demand for citizens, not only in Malmö, but all over the world, to react and act upon the increasing domination of financial capital that reaches all countries through globalization. ”The Allotment Garden at S:t Knuts square” was a non-violent contribution to this discussion. It is better to ask: ”What are the problems?” instead of: ”We know you have this or that problem, we have this solution, what do you think, and you have three weeks to make your opinion about this pre-fabricated solution?” The first positions creates political aware citizens, the latter creates non-political citizens. Since it is not only a local question if a green area in Malmö or Copenhagen is exploited or not, but in every sense has regional and global effects and implications. Globally it affects citizens in other areas because of the concrete situation that we´ll have less oxygen supply with the decrease of green areas, and in spite of that the loss of one individual green area doesn´t have huge affect on citizens, what is our reaction if we are summing-up all of the exploited green areas? Maybe we will panic. The global implication of the closing-down of one individual area in Malmö will be that if nobody have a larger view and reacts and acts on this the commercial interests will rule the planning situation and we as citizens become the audience of this tragedy. As artist working in this concrete milieu we are trying to provide a larger view of different local wishes or demands.

No description available.