<p>In today’s school in Sweden the assignment of community encompasses mediated values and education of democracy as well of single subject matters. What does it mean then, that teachers have a certain kind of idea of democracy, and what implications may biology have for the assignment of community? In upper secondary school there are quite many courses in biology with a national curriculum, and findings show that students of teaching perceive or think of biology as helping to promote the dual-purpose of teaching. In this study, the author of the paper has interviewed four future teachers of upper secondary school with biology as one of their main subjects. The purpose has been to identify their perceptions of democracy as well as their conceptions of the relationship between biology and democracy in education. The result is that the interviewees perceive of democracy as consistent with representative, participative and deliberative concepts of democracy. They conceive of the relationship between biology and democracy in education as to a great extent consistent with the deliberative concept of democracy. The implications are that the idea of democracy becomes more radical and consistent with the deliberative concept of democracy when subject matters of biology are part of the education. In this manner, subject matters of biology are of educational importance for the teachers´ conceptions of democracy as well for the assignment of community.</p> / <p>Samhällsuppdraget i skolan innebär förmedlade värden och kunskaper om både demokrati och enskilda ämnesstoff. Vad innebär det då att lärare har en viss sorts demokratiuppfattning, och vad har biologiskt ämnesstoff för betydelse för samhällsuppdraget? Biologi i gymnasieskolan har relativt många kurser med nationell kursplan och rön visar att lärarstudenter uppfattar biologiskt ämnesstoff som didaktiskt främjande för att läraruppdragets dubbla syfte. I den här studien har uppsatsförfattaren intervjuat fyra blivande gymnasielärare med biologi som inriktning för att försöka identifiera deras uppfattningar om demokrati och relationen mellan biologiskt ämnesstoff och demokrati i undervisningens praktik. Resultatet visar att intervjupersonerna uppfattar demokrati i allmänhet som överensstämmande med både representativ, participativ och deliberativ demokrati, och relationen mellan biologiskt ämnesstoff och demokrati i undervisningens praktik som i hög grad överensstämmande med den deliberativa demokratiformen. Implikationerna av detta är att demokratiuppfattningen blir radikalare och alltmer lik en deliberativ demokratiform med biologiskt ämnesstoff i undervisningens praktik. Sålunda har biologiskt ämnesstoff en didaktisk betydelse för såväl lärares demokratiuppfattning som samhällsuppdrag.</p>

Möjligheten till politiskt ansvarsutkrävande är något som är centralt för legitimiteten för den representativa demokratin. Inom den svenska statsvetenskapliga forskningen har på senare tid allt mer uppmärksamhet riktats mot en grupp aktörer med politisk makt som är anställda snarare än valda för att bedriva politik, de politiska tjänstemännen. Väljares bristande möjligheter till ansvarsutkrävande mot dessa har i tidigare forskning ansetts utgöra ett hot mot legitimiteten för den representativa demokratin. Genom att undersöka politiska tjänstemäns inflytande inom politiken i Sveriges kommuner, samt hur ansvarsutkrävandet mot dessa förhåller sig till ansvarsutkrävandet mot politiker strävar denna uppsats efter att besvara frågan om huruvida politiska tjänstemäns politiska inflytande på kommunal nivå verkligen utgör ett demokratiskt problem. Detta har undersökts genom en kvantitativ analys av Kommun- och landstingsfullmäktigeundersökningen 2012. Studien visar att politiska tjänstemän i relation till politiker har litet inflytande inom den kommunala politiken. Vidare visar studien att den enda faktor som är unik för ansvarsutkrävandet mot politiker i förhållande till politiska tjänstemän, direkt ansvarsutkrävande genom personröster, även är en av de faktorer som är av minst avgörande för vilken politiker som blir vald. Ansvarsutkrävandet sker därmed i realiteten indirekt genom partiet för både politiker och politiska tjänstemän. Då problemet snarare ligger i bristande möjligheter till direkt ansvarsutkrävande mot politiker anses politiska tjänstemäns inflytande i den kommunala politiken i sig inte utgöra något demokratiskt problem.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to study how political agents construct and give meaning to the concepts of democracy, representative democracy and referendums. The starting point of the thesis is the pressing issue whether or not Sweden should hold a referendum on the new EU constitution. To analyze this question my choice of method is critical discourse analysis and the topical theories revolve around democracy and responsibility. My study shows that there are three different discourses in this debate: “the democratic process”, “the representative democracy” and “the concept of democracy”. However, the meaning of the concepts in these discourses varies depending on which side the political agents are on. It is obvious that the concepts are not fixated and that they are used as catchphrases to define ideological motives. In addition, the concepts are used differently to enhance certain values in a democracy. The result of this study shows the paradox and conflicting values that are associated with the concepts. This means that the notion of democracy changes depending on what the agents want to perceive. The political agents who do not support a referendum often refer to what a representative democracy symbolizes. Agents who support a referendum consider the democratic process as an incentive for a democratic ideal. In this context, the discourse of democracy does not arise from a primary level but rather a secondary. This implies that the criteria for a liberal democracy are fulfilled and the debate revolves around abstract values.

Abstract In the beginning of 2007 the Swedish municipality Örebro decided to have a democratic experiment, which ought to go under the name, “Dialouge for the citizens”. The representative elected politicians in Örebro tried to find ways to involve the people in the process of ruling. Why they choose to try this experiment on this very delicate matter, the closure of several schools in the municipal, is one of the questions this essay is trying to answer. The purpose of this essay is to find out whether the process was an attempt for the politicians of the representative democracy to implement deliberative democracy in the structure of the local governance. The result of this study is that the politicians didn’t manage to reach to the citizens the way they formerly had planned.

In recent years, the number of local referendums in Sweden has increased. Referendumsallow citizens to influence specific political issues directly, and the instrument is advisory todecision-makers. At the same time, referendums have become a complex issue in manySwedish municipalities. They pose a fundamental challenge to local democracy - to deal withtwo legitimate popular wills representing two different ideals of democracy. However, there is little empirical evidence on how municipal politicians deal with thischallenge in local decision-making. This study aims to examine how we can understand therole of referendums in this context. In order to do so, the study focuses on referendums in thefield of infrastructure in two municipalities, the sale of the municipally-owned energycompany Öresundskraft in Helsingborg and decommissioning of Västerås airport in Västerås.Empirical evidence was compiled from mainly public documents in order to perform aqualitative content analysis; interviews were also conducted with a total of ten municipalpoliticians to reinforce the findings of the processes. The study utilizes a general frameworkwith theoretical ideas on governance, policy analysis and direct democracy to deepen ourunderstanding of these processes. The results of the study show that in both cases, the respective referendum has been given adecisive role. The municipal politicians seem to have chosen to stop the politicalproposal/decision after the referendum's result based on turnout and the clear result that thecitizens did not want to sell/decommission. Furthermore, the results also illustrate that allmunicipal politicians, in general, think it is important to involve citizens but in differentways. Some politicians had a more positive view of the instrument and some much less so inthe two cases. They underline that a referendum may be more or less appropriate in certainissues or circumstances. At the same time, the majority maintain the idea of referendums as acomplement to representative democracy. The study also shows how different interests fromdifferent societal actors can come into play in a referendum on infrastructure that does notonly relate to the local and municipal sphere. The study was delimited to referendums oninfrastructure in two large municipalities; therefore, it cannot bridge the much-neededresearch gaps that further research can address.

Most researchers and democracy theorists who define what democracy is or should be, agree that civic participation is the core of a democracy. Without citizen participation, there would be no democracy. The broad participation in political processes symbolizes the idea of political equality. A high level of political participation among citizens is usually seen as a sign that democracy is functioning satisfactorily. Unfortunately, today's political reality, on the other hand, shows that actual democracy does not reflect the democratic ideal models. The economic and social gaps in society largely explain how participatory activity is distributed among the citizens. The purpose of this master's thesis, which is a case study, has been to study the political equality in the e-proposal process within Linköping municipality. This means that the socio- economic representativeness among the proposers has been studied between the years 2016 and 2021. Furthermore, the geographical spread of the proposals has been studied between the years 2016 and 2018, together with the political priority areas of the proposers.  A web survey was conducted to gather information on the proposers’ socio-economic conditions. In total, the survey was answered by 207 respondents. This survey has contributed to either verifying or falsifying the research hypothesis. The hypothesis states that it is mainly socio-economically resourceful individuals who submit Linköping proposals. In summary, the study shows that it has been particularly resourceful individuals who have submitted Linköping proposals. Furthermore, the proposals are intended to be implemented in areas where the socio- economic standard is relatively high. The study has also shown that the proponents to a large extent (80.9 percent) have requested initiatives that relate to urban planning issues and culture and leisure. Finally, the results of the study illustrate that the approvals mainly refer to socio- economically strong areas. In conclusion, the empirical results of the study have contributed to the hypothesis being verifiable, as it has mainly been socio-economically resourceful individuals who have submitted Linköping proposals.