This thesis examined the influence of Western paternalism on the adoption of gay rights by Nigeria and the Republic of Niger. It seeks to provide an answer to the research question: How has Western paternalism determined Nigeria and the Republic of Niger's positions on the adoption of gay rights? The opposition of gay rights is widespread among African countries, and existing research is yet to provide an encompassing explanation for the trend. This study used the Linkage and leverage theory of Levitsky and Way (2010) to expand on research gaps found in previous literature. This thesis argues that the position of African nations on gay rights depended on their Western Linkage and Leverage from Western and non-Western external powers. A comparative, qualitative analysis of Nigeria and the Republic of Niger showed that both countries have strong Western Linkage and Leverage from Western countries. However, Nigeria has been able to resist the pressure to adopt gay rights because of its alternative leverage with non-Western countries like China and its vast oil reserve. The findings also provide further theoretical insights into the linkage and leverage concept, and it makes recommendations for further studies.

This thesis is a study of Parties as an outflow of societal changes where the aim has been to find out how parties are affected by societal changes and how they justify to new party formation. This is done by using a theory called Parties as an outflow of societal changes which is a theory developed by Swedish researchers in Political Science. To confirm the theory it is necessary to do an argumentation analysis of one external developed party’s electoral program. In this case the party selected is Feminist Initiative which brings a different view on how the society of Sweden should look like. Selected parts of the argumentative analysis will be examined with the purpose to give a perspective on how Feminist Initiative values the changes in society and how they describe their role as a new party. The main question of this study is; Are new parties an outflow of societal changes? The basic arguments includes that along with societal changes in Western Europe also changes the view of a representative democracy in which political parties play a central role. It is clear that societies have changed in different ways with the rampage of the globalization. Media’s role in the political realm has also increased and influences more in society. In the case of Sweden political parties have raised with different ideals, goals and visions of how Swedish society should look like. The result should confirm the thesis that changes in society contributes to party formation.

This dissertation is an analysis of the relations between reindeer herding Sami and settled non-Sami in Gällivare parish, Swedish Lapland, 1898-1940. The focus of the dissertation is on the system of skötesrenar, the practice of reindeer belonging to non-Sami being herded by Sami and the subsequent contacts between the two groups. The results presented demonstrate the transformation of the relations between the two groups from mutuai interdependence to mutuai self-sufficiency, and the swiftness with which this change took place. In order to analyse the transformation, reciprocity theory is used. Reciprocity theory concerns the Constitution of relations between different groups, and the basis for such relations. In the early 1900's, the practice of skötesrenar was a well-developed system contributing to the good relations between Sami and non-Sami, as well as to the improvement of the material conditions of those involved. The skötesrenar were important both socially and economically for the persons participating in the system. The huge societal changes that took place during the 20th Century resulted in painful consequences for the relations between the groups. Industrialisation multiplied the number and types of jobs available for the settled non-Sami, while the Sami to a large extent were prevented from partaking of the new opportunities. Industrialisation also caused the decline of the subsistence economy and made the market economy dominant in the locai community. The foundation of the system with skötesrenar had been the mutuai need to meet and exchange goods and services not available within each group; the growth of the market economy altered that. The laws concerning skötesrenar were also changed repeatedly - in 1898, 1917, and 1928 - without regard for the fears by the local community concerning the negative consequences for inter-group relations. Significant changes also took place within Sami society affecting the skötesrenar; the transformation of herding from the intensive to extensive type decreased the participation of women and children in herding, and subsequent erection of permanent residences for Sami families, as well as large annual fluctuations in herd sizes. The present dissertation demonstrates from reciprocity theory that a mutual concern - in this case the skötesrenar - can contribute to the maintenance of a low level of conflict between two ethnically and culturally different parties. Mutual interdependence is a significant factor in upholding a feeling of solidarity. The parties were eager to preserve good mutual relations as conflicts could severely hurt their material conditions. The societal changes taking place meant that by the 1930's the old institutionalised interdependency had ceased to exist. Older people continued the exchanges across group boundaries, but for the rising generation mutuai interaction was replaced by alienation. / digitalisering@umu

Militära organisationer påverkas ständigt av samhällets förändring och dess trender. En allt snabbare social och teknisk utveckling kan vara utmanande för en hierarkisk och byråkratisk institution vilket är grundläggande karaktärsdrag för militära organisationer. Den svenska Försvarsmakten har efter decennier av nedskärningar nu gått in i en omfattande tillväxtfas vilket också innebär stora förändringar för organisationens personal. Denna fallstudie har syftat till att uppnå en djupare förståelse för hur sjöofficerare, som första linjens chefer utövar sitt ledarskap för att hantera underställd personal och organisationens krav kopplat till Försvarsmaktens nuvarande tillväxtfas och normativa förändringar i samhället. Studien, som undersökt hur nästa generations officerare hanterar förändringar, söker tillföra ytterligare kunskap till de senaste årens forskning, om ledarskap och organisatoriska karaktärsdrag, som hittills riktat sig mot officerare på strategisk och operativ nivå. Under april 2021 genomfördes semi-strukturerade intervjuer med totalt 9 sjöofficerare som utbildat sig genom det nya utbildningssystemet och som efter 7–12 års yrkeserfarenhet tjänstgör som chefer inom ett sjöstridsförband. Det insamlande underlaget har genomgått en kvalitativ innehållsanalys som presenterats i två olika teman. Studien resultat visar att det är en utmaning på flera nivåer att få en anorektisk organisation att övergå i tillväxt. Första linjens chefer inom sjöstridsförband påverkas och upplever flera obalanser som kan ses som ett resultat av både social och teknisk acceleration i samhället. Detta hanteras genom fokus på ställda uppgifter och ett engagerat samt modernt ledarskap fokuserat på att skapa en samhörighet. Ledarskapet ses som det främsta verktyget för att bibehålla och rekrytera personal. Det råder en obalans mellan organisationens planering och individens synsätt på karriärsutveckling. Detta kan påverka både organisationens och individens möjlighet till utveckling. Tjänstgörande i Försvarsmakten ställer högre krav på arbetsgivaren än vad tidigare generationer har gjort avseende stimulerande arbetsuppgifter, transparens i beslut och att bli sedd av organisationen vid karriärplanering. Här upplever första linjens chefer begränsade möjligheter att påverka från sin nivå. Skiljelinjen mellan arbete och fritid är viktigare idag än tidigare, samtidigt är personalen beredd att göra uppoffringar. Lojalitet och engagemang finns men är inte villkorslös. Första linjens chefer försöker skapa balans för underställd personal genom ett ge och ta förhållande. / Military organizations are constantly affected by changes in society and social trends. Increasing social and technological development can be challenging for a hierarchical and bureaucratic institution, which are fundamental characteristics of military organizations. After decades of cuts, the Swedish Armed Forces has now entered an extensive rearmament phase, which also means major changes for all personnel within the organization. This case study has aimed to achieve a deeper understanding of how naval officers, as managers on tactical level, exercise their leadership to manage subordinate personnel and the organization's requirements linked to the Armed Forces' current rearmament phase and normative changes in society. The study, which examined how next-generation officers handle change, seeks to add additional knowledge to recent years' research on leadership and organizational characteristics, which has so far focused on officers at the strategic and operational levels. During April 2021, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 9 naval officers, who has all been educated through the new officer education system at the Swedish Defence University. After 7–12 years of professional experience, they serve as commanders within a naval warfare flotilla. A qualitative content analysis has resulted in the collected data being presented in two different themes. The study results show that there is a challenge on several levels to get an anorexic organization to grow. Managers on tactical level are affected and experience several imbalances that can be seen because of both social and technical acceleration in society. This is handled through a focus on given tasks. Managers show a committed and modern leadership focused on creating solidarity and coherence. Leadership is seen as the main tool for retaining and recruiting staff. There is an imbalance between organizational planning and the individual view of career development. This challenge both the organization and the individual possibility to develop experience. Personnel taking service in the Armed Forces places higher demands on the organization than previous generations have done regarding stimulating activities, transparency in decisions and being seen by the organization in career planning. Here, managers experience limited opportunities to influence from their level. Work life balance is more important today than before, at the same time the staff is prepared to make sacrifices. Loyalty and commitment exist but are not unconditional. Managers on tactical level aim to create balance for subordinate staff through a give and take relationship.

Since 1960s, preschools have been important parts both of Swedish welfare and of labour market policies. The preschool thus constitutes a very important site for rearing and educating young children. Reforms of the Swedish preschool in the 1990s concerning both accessibility and quality were introduced at a time when the economy of the municipalities dramatically deteriorated because of reductions in State subsidies. The strained economy of the State and the municipalities, has resulted, among other things, in a growing number of children in preschool groups and pressure to change organization and pedagogical content. These changes took place in a time of decentralization where the responsibility for organization of preschools was given to the municipalities. Changes in economy, organization and curriculum form the background for this study. The purpose of the study is to examine and understand how preschool working teams shape and realize the pedagogical practice and how working conditions affect this process. The approach of the study is interpretative, where the interpretative perspective is mainly represented by activity theory and theories of cultural reproduction. Three aspects of the actions are observed: the object of the actions, the instruments mediating the actions and the content of mediating actions. Bernstein’s concepts classification and framing are used as tools in analysing the empirical data. The interpretative, empirical study is based on qualitative data collected mainly by observations and interviews. Three preschools are chosen for the study. The preschools in the study are located in two municipalities in the north of Sweden, representing three different environments. All preschools receive children one to five years old. The personnel consist of preschool teachers and childminders working in teams. Eleven of them where interviewed. The study shows that daily routines both shape and restrict practices in preschools. The work is mainly focused on care giving, where the children are supposed to adapt to and subordinate themselves to the norms and to the existing routines. The children’s influence varies between organized activities, where they have little influence, and play time, where they can choose what to do. It also varies between the preschools, where the preschool with children from more affluent families have more freedom than children from the multicultural, lower-income environment do. The work is collectively oriented toward training adaptation, but also, to a certain extent, training for autonomy and responsibility taking. Organization of learning activities often takes the form of transmitting information. The informants regard themselves as caregivers with the main purpose to mediate security and create conditions for the children to develop socially. The changes in conditions emanating from political decisions have brought new working tasks to the preschools and have reduced the level of resources at the same time as the demands made are experienced as being harder. This creates frustration and tends to result in lower levels of ambition.

There is a revolutionary change in the world of work that impacts on the individual, work and society. The future of work suggests flexibility, boundary less communities and change in work, as we know it today. As the world of work changes from a worker intensive industrial society towards an automated information society, the retention of technological advantages e.g., human, intellect and knowledge capital is no longer assured. Employers struggle to retain their valuable high technology employees due to a general shortage of experienced candidates and aggressive recruitment tactics by others in the high technology arena. The purpose of this study is to investigate specific retention factors that induce organisational commitment and can thus increase the retention of high technology employees. High technology industries operate in volatile market and experience accelerating growth and rates of change. High technology employees are educated, have a strong preference for independence and hold a large portion of the organisation's intellectual capital. A core belief in human resources is to retain and develop employees to obtain a competitive advantage. In order to retain these valuable employees it has become necessary for organisations to transform from using an employee controlling to a more employee commitment driven strategy. To gain employees' commitment to the organisation and increase retention, the employer needs to identify which retention factors induce organisational commitment. Compensation, job characteristics, training and development opportunities, supervisor support, career opportunities and work/life policies were identified as the top six retention factors in the content analysis done on high technology literature. Organisational commitment has been defined as a mindset, which ties the individual to the organisation. Different forms and foci of organisational commitment are discussed with the approach developed by Meyer and Allen's three component model (1991). The consequences of organisational commitment benefit the organisation in terms of increased job performance, intention to stay, increase in attendance, loyalty, decrease in turnover, greater creativity, more co-operation (particularly across discipline specialities), more volunteerism and more time devoted to productive work on behalf of the organisation. This study focused on a 100% South African owned telecommunications company based in the Gauteng province. A questionnaire was developed and a population of 94 telecommunications professionals, technicians and associated professionals were selected to investigate the influence of various identified retention factors on organisational commitment. The statistical analysis of the data culminated in a regression analysis that measured the significance and the strength of the relationship between the identified retention factors and organisational commitment. The main conclusions were that compensation, job characteristics, supervisor support and work/life policies were significantly related to organisational commitment. On the other hand, in this study training, development and career opportunities were not related. High technology organisations are not just interested in the retention of employees but also creating a mutually beneficial interdependence with employees. The identified retention factors might serve as a means to demonstrate the organisation's support for, or commitment to, their employees and in turn cultivate a reciprocal attachment by employees. Employees' organisational commitment is related to their belief that the identified retention factors are motivated by the desire to retain good employees and to be fair in the treatment of employees. Future research needs are discussed. / Dissertation (MCom (Human Resources Management))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Diploma thesis "Sects, new religious movements and identity in Russia in the nineties of 20th century in the context of overall societal changes" deals with the problem of minority religions in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Terminological part explains the difference between the termin "sect" and "new religious movement", introductory historical overview outlines the role of sects in the history of Russia. The hub of the study lays in three large chapters. The first deals with the dynamics of the religious situation in relation to sects in the first half of the 90s, classifies them and names the main representants. The second part deals with concrete manifestations of changes in the middle of the decade, for example the process Yakunin versus Dvorkin or the change of legislation in 1997. The third part seeks answer to the question what was the underlying cause of changes in social and legal position of sects and finds the anspher in the sphere of national identity.