<p>The Swedish armed forces has for many years educated squad leaders by letting them start their training two and a half months before the soldiers start their training. 2007, this system was used for the last time. I went trough this system myself in 2005 and had a positive experience and when I did my internship I experienced a slight difference in the attitude of the squad leader. I talked with my colleges at the company and they had felt the same. This essay will try to analyse if the squad leaders has lost any of there ability and if so, what could be the cause? To analyze the ability of the squad leader in this essay it will first analyze their ability through the <em>Direct leadership</em> theory, which is the theory that is presently used in the Swedish armed forces. The method used is hypothesis. The hypothesis is as follows; Squad leaders have lowered their ability since the cancellation of advance training. Then the organization was analysed to see if the organization changed the conditions for the squad leader. What was realized was that the ambition of the organization has been lowered and this can be a reason why squad leaders are experienced as if they lowered their ability. Then the squad leaders was analysed to see if they even lowered their ability at all by analyzing what their ability was before they started their education. Finally six officers were interviewed about their experience with the squad leaders both before having the advance education and after. The conclusions are that there hasn’t been a significant decrease in the squad leaders’ capacity that can be measured but that the loss of advance education has decreased their confidence and it’s more difficult for them become natural leaders of their groups. Another conclusion is that the actual training for the squad leaders’ has decreased considerably.</p> / <p>Försvarsmakten har under ett flertal år använt sig av förstegsutbildning vid utbildandet av gruppchefer. Inför utbildningsåret 2008 avskaffades detta system och en generell uppfattning bland officerare är att gruppcheferna inte har haft möjlighet att nå samma färdighet i deras befattning efter denna förändring.</p><p>Denna uppsats avser att utreda om det har blivit en förändring av förmågan hos gruppchefen samt identifiera eventuella faktorer som kan ha påverkat gruppchefens utbildning. Uppsatsen beskriver först de grundläggande ledarskapsteorierna för att använda dessa som ett mätinstrument för gruppchefens förmåga. Därefter jämförs olika resultat från utbildningsåren 03-04, 04-05 och 08 för att se om gruppchefens förmåga har förändrats dessutom intervjuas officerare om deras uppfattning av gruppchefen efter förstegsutbildningens avskaffande. Slutsatserna som dras är att avskaffandet av förstegsutbildningens avskaffande inte har påverkat förmåga mätbart men att gruppchefens självförtroende har sänkts. Gruppchefen har också fått kortare utbildning vilket innebär att deras utbildningsståndpunkt blir lägre än gruppchefer med förstegsutbildningen.</p>

Die Studie beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen der von Deutschland geschlossenen bilateralen Investitionsschutzverträge (Bilateral Investment Treaties, BITs) auf die wirtschaftliche, soziale und ökologische Regulierung von ausländischen Investitionen. Die Analyse der 137 deutschen BITs sowie die Auswertung relevanter Schiedsgerichtsentscheidungen hat folgende zentrale Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der Einschränkung staatlicher Regulierungsmöglichkeiten ergeben: <br><br> Aufgrund eines breiten Enteignungsbegriffs kann eine umweltpolitische Regulierung, die wirtschaftliche Auswirkungen auf ausländische Investoren hat, eine Verpflichtung zur Entschädigung nach sich ziehen, denn den deutschen BITs ist nicht klar zu entnehmen, dass staatliche Regulierung im Regelfall nicht als Enteignung gelten sollte. <br><br> Empirisch kann weder eine Verbindung zwischen dem Abschluss von BITs und einem Anstieg des Investitionsvolumens noch ein Automatismus zwischen dem Zufluss von privatem Kapital und wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung hergestellt werden. Im Gegenteil sind sogar staatliche Maßnahmen, die für kapitalimportierende Länder eine Möglichkeit wären, den wirtschaftlichen Nutzen von ausländischen Investitionen zu erhöhen, durch Regelungen in den BITs untersagt. Problematisch im Bereich geistiges Eigentum ist, dass Rechtsinhaber vor einem internationalen Schiedsgericht Entschädigung einklagen können, wenn staatliche Regulierung im öffentlichen Interesse zu einem enteignungsgleichen Eingriff führt. <br><br> Dienstleistungen unterliegen aufgrund ihrer Eigenschaften besonders stark der staatlichen Regulierung, so dass auch hier Konflikte bezüglich des Enteignungsschutzes und des Grundsatzes der gerechten und billigen Behandlung entstehen. Bei der Beteiligung privater Unternehmen in der Daseinsvorsorge ist problematisch, dass jede Verletzung vertraglicher Zusicherungen durch den Gaststaat aufgrund der Abschirmungsklausel als Verstoß gegen die deutschen BITs gilt. Damit erschweren die Verträge, die häufig über lange Zeiträume geschlossen sind, Reaktionen staatlicher Stellen auf neu auftretende Regulierungsbedürfnisse. <br><br> Im Bereich des Arbeitnehmerschutzes und der Sozialpolitik kann in bestimmten Konstellationen die Verschärfung von Arbeitsstandards gegen die Abschirmungsklausel verstoßen oder die Umverteilung von Land ohne volle Entschädigung mit dem Enteignungsschutz in Konflikt geraten. Bei der Besteuerung ausländischer Investoren können insbesondere Widersprüchlichkeiten im Steuerrecht, die sich zuungunsten ausländischer Investoren auswirken, als Verstoß gegen den Grundsatz der Inländerbehandlung interpretiert werden, selbst wenn ihnen keine protektionistische Intention zugrunde liegt. <br><br> Auch das Investor-to-State Verfahren trägt dazu bei, dass der Ausgleich zwischen Investitionsschutz und legitimen staatlichen Regulierungsinteressen teilweise nur unzureichend gelingt. Das liegt unter anderem an seiner Nichtöffentlichkeit, der fragmentarischen Natur der Entscheidungen und der fehlenden Nähe der Schiedsgerichte zu den tatsächlichen und rechtlichen Hintergründen der Streitigkeiten. <br><br> Als Konsequenz aus den genannten Problembereichen werden Reformvorschläge für deutsche bilaterale Investitionsabkommen als ein erster Schritt zur Schaffung eines Gleichgewichts zwischen Investorenrechten und Investorenpflichten entwickelt. Durch eine Reform sollten den Gaststaaten größere Handlungsspielräume eröffnet und ihre Flexibilität erhöht werden, um den ökonomischen Nutzen ausländischer Investitionen für Entwicklungsländer zu steigern und allen Ländern eine Regulierung von Investitionen im öffentlichen Interesse zu ermöglichen.

Background: A large part of the daily political and economic debate in Sweden concerns the EU. One question that has been debated since the beginning of European integration is whether trade is created as a consequence of integration and, ifso, how great are the gains related to the increased trade. An equally important but maybe less debated question is whether countries outside the union are affected by the increased European integration. Is increased European integration made at the cost of countries outside the EU? Purpose: The purpose of this study is, by calculating trade creation and trade diversion, to evaluate if a number of developing countries’ trade with Sweden has decreased after Sweden’s membership in the European Union. Limitations: The study is limited to the years 1990-1999, and not all developing countries are included in the study. All developed countries are also omitted from the study. Method: The empirical material consists of calculations of consumption shares for Sweden, partner countries and third countries. The method is called residual imputation, meaning that the actual evolution of the trade is compared with a hypothetical, calculated one. These calculations where made for three groups of countries, divided after GDP/capita. Conclusions: On the aggregated level, and for the two least poor groups of countries, there is no evidence that these countries have seen their shares decreased as a consequence of Sweden entering the EU. The poorest group of countries has, however, not been able to maintain the same level of exports to Sweden after the membership.

<p>This research paper aims to understand and analyse the CISG, its history, scope and structure, and to evaluate its impact on SADC.The main ideas that this paper will consider are: what is the CISG / &nbsp / Its history, scope and structure / &nbsp / Its impact on developing countries / &nbsp / Its relevance to developing countries within SADC / and How the implementation of the CISG improved these developing countries within SADC.</p>

Problem: The problem under consideration is the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) agreement called Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and its impact on equal access to essential drugs in the least developed countries. Especially the countries of sub-Saharan Africa lack such access. Moreover, these countries are the ones where severe diseases like AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are widely spread over the population. The authors focus also on patents and their obligatory length imposed through the articles of TRIPS agreement. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to describe and analyse the impact of global trade regulations (TRIPS in particular) on the accessibility of essential drugs in developing countries, and to come up with a possible solution as the way of coping with the problem is concerned. The investigation includes detailed description of solutions accomplished by Brazil and India, and their importance for the least developed countries, in terms of importing generic pharmaceuticals from these. Method: Qualitative method was used in order to obtain data from interviews with citizens of Botswana, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa for better understanding of the situation in these countries. Furthermore, the theories included in the theoretical background of this paper were gathered through deep research in the field of studies regarding Intellectual Property protection and World Trade Organization’s agreements and other legal acts. Results: The result of the analysis is a model developed from the Game-Theoretic Model, and called Developed Game-Theoretic Model. It is a tool which the least developed countries can use while negotiating prices of medicines with pharmaceutical companies, having the possibility of importing the pharmaceuticals from other countries manufacturing the patented product under compulsory licensing.

In the international climate change negotiations it has been hard to find a sustainable agreement about how to address the anthropogenic impacts on the climate. This is because the issue is very complicated and comprises many social and economic aspects. Because of the struggling in the international negotiations is it necessary to analyze how the climate change issue is understood in different regions and countries of the world. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how actors within the climate policy sphere in China frame the climate change issue. In the near future, China will become the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide and with a population of 1.3 billion people; China is one of the key countries in the international climate negations. The thesis analyses how two key actor groups - decision makers and scientists connected to the Chinese climate change administration - frame the climate change issue in semi-structured interviews. The respondents frame the climate change issue as a large obstacle for a future Chinese development, both economically and socially. To address climate change in China the respondents think that technology innovations and transfer of technology from the developed countries will be very important. Therefore the respondents think it is vitally important to continue with the international climate negotiations in the future.

This thesis examines Swedish corruption culture and analyzes if Swedish export companies have a different attitude towards corrupt behavior when exporting to high and low income countries. A regression of Swedish export is run for all the world’s countries with available data, a total of 165 countries. Out of those 165 countries, 98 are classified by the United Nations as low or low-middle income countries and 67 are classified as high or high-middle income countries. The regression applies to the gravity model approach that comprises variables explaining the size of Swedish exports to each importing country. To examine Swedish corruption culture a theoretical background to the structure of corruption in Swedish companies is presented along with some corruption scandals involving Swedish companies. The findings show that a lower level of corruption in developed countries has a positive influence on Swedish export to those countries. However, in the case of developing countries the level of corruption does not have any impact on Swedish export flows. In other words, if a poor country increases or decreases its level of corruption it would not affect the decision of a Swedish company in deciding whether to export to this country or not. The conclusion drawn is that Swedish companies are more willing to bribe developing countries as opposed to developed countries.

Uppsatsen är en jämförande studie av kvinnors livsvillkor och förmåga att undkomma fattigdom i de två indiska delstaterna Kerala och Punjab. Båda delstaterna har höjt den allmänna levnadsstandarden i befolkningen men haft olika framgång i att få dessa att tillkomma kvinnor. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka dels kvinnors livsvillkor och dels vilka faktorer som påverkar dessa i delstaterna. Metoden har bestått av kvalitativ textanalys. Vidare har statistik från UNDP använts. Studiens teoretiska referensram består av teorier om fattigdom och mänsklig utveckling av Amartya Sen och Martha Nussbaum, samt postkolonial feministisk teori av Chandra Mohanty. Uppsatsens slutsatser är att kvinnors livssituation i de två delstaterna beror till stor del på faktorer som distrikt, ort, klass, kast, stam, religiös tillhörighet, ordning i syskonskaran, samt position i familjen. Men det finns även regionala skillnader som påverkar kvinnors livsvillkor. I Punjab finns bl.a. en stark sonpreferens och flera patriarkala traditioner medan Kerala har tidigare matrilinjära traditioner samt ett starkt socialt skyddsnät. Vidare har delstaterna något olika politiskt fokus, olika traditioner och inställning till utbildning, olika traditioner kring kvinnors politiska organisering samt olika traditioner och sedvänjor gällande kvinnors position och frihet inom familjen som kan sägas gynna kvinnor i Kerala. Sammantaget kan sägas att kvinnors förmåga att undkomma fattigdom är något större i Kerala än i Punjab.

This thesis consists of four individual essays and an introductory chapter. While independent from each other, these essays share some common properties. They are all empirical and focus on the interaction between inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and host country characteristics. The primary focus of the thesis lies in how inflows of FDI affect developing and transition economies. Macro-level data are used in all essays. The first essay analyses the FDI inflows that the transition economies of Eastern Europe have attracted and tries to find determinants of these inflows. The following two essays compare the effect of FDI between developing and developed economies. The second essay studies the relationship between corruption in the host country and the volume of FDI inflows. The third essay explores the effect of FDI inflows on host country economic growth. The fourth and final essay analyses the relationship between FDI and trade, focusing on the link between FDI flows and host country exports in eight East Asian economies.

This study investigated the role of demographic factors, English proficiency level, personal and affective factors in predicting language preparatory school students&rsquo / academic success. Participants of the study were 415 Department of Basic English students (158 pre-intermediate level, 158 intermediate level and 99 upper-intermediate level students) from a state university in Turkey. As data collection instrument, demographic information form, College Learning Effectiveness Inventory and Affective Characteristics Questionnaire were used. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to find the significant predictors. The results indicated that 53 % of the total variance was explained with the model. Among the predictor variables, English proficiency level, classroom communication, stress and time press and English self concept were found to be significant predictors of language achievement. The findings showed that students who had high proficiency level, better communication skills within the class, high English self concept and felt more stressful through the studies achieved higher scores in English Proficiency Exam.