<p>Idén med den svenska tvåkammarriksdagen var att Andra kammaren skulle vara den politiskt berättigade befolkningens direkta röst, medan den likaberättigade Första kammaren skulle frånhålla sig från kortsiktiga politiska schatteringar. Detta skulle genomföras genom de indirekta valen, genom nioåriga och successivt förnyade mandat, och genom ledamöternas ekonomiska oberoende, för vilket den främsta garanten var arvodeslösheten, som kvarstod fram till 1909.</p><p>Medan Första kammaren studerats ur olika synvinklar har just omsättningen i praktiken av dessa valprinciper tilldragit sig relativt liten uppmärksamhet. Var valen präglade av konflikt eller konsensus? Interagerade valkorporationerna, landstingen, på något sätt med offentligheten och den allmänna opinionen? Här studeras dessa frågor när det gäller det värmländska landstinget under åren 1866–1894. Källmaterialet utgörs av protokoll, privat korrespondens och dagstidningsartiklar.</p><p>Svaret på den första frågan är att valen successivt övergick från en konfliktsituation till en konsensussituation. De tidigaste konflikterna gällde personliga kvalifikationer eller lokalpolitiska hänsyn, till exempel i järnvägsfrågan. När partiväsendet började växa fram på 1870- och 1880-talen började vissa delar av landstinget, samt inte minst Karlstadstidningen, försöka skapa klassgemenskap bland landstingets bönder, som utgjorde nära hälften av ledamöterna. Detta misslyckades dock, delvis på grund av att majoriteten såg till att hålla samman mot denna nya situation. Tullfrågan ledde till ett stort utbyte av ledamöter, då många frihandlare tidigare suttit på Värmlandsbänken medan landstingets hade en mycket stark protektionistisk majoritet. Detta faktum, tillsammans med att det inte var frågan om någon proportionell representation och att man börjat se till att ena sig om kandidater redan vid gemensamma valmöten med provval, ledde till att valen under det tidiga 1890-talet saknade all spänning.</p><p>Angående offentligheten var tidningarna under denna tid den viktigaste kommunikationskanalen. Dessa började först i samband med partiväsendets framväxt kommentera eller försöka påverka valens utgång. Detsamma gäller insändarna från enskilda landstingsmän, som dock aldrig blir särskilt vanligt förekommande. Både Nya Wermlandstidningen och Karlstadstidningen försökte framhålla sig själva som folkets representanter och motståndarsidan som intrigant och konspirativ. Inga försök, vare sig genom ledarartiklar eller insändare, att påverka valen tycks dock ha lyckats, och efter den inledande tullstriden insåg båda tidningarna att det nuvarande systemet inte gjorde den typen av externa påtryckningar möjliga. KT började då i stället kritisera själva systemet som "barockt" och "allt utom vist". Övergången från konflikt till konsensus tycks alltså ha genomförts helt utanför den borgerliga offentlighetens sfär.</p> / <p>From 1867 until 1970, the Swedish people was represented by a bicameral parliament. The idea of this structure was to have the Lower House (Andra kammaren) as a direct voice of the population, or rather the part of it that possessed suffrage, while the equally powerful Upper House (Första kammaren) should ideally be a corporation void of short-term political partisanship. This was to be achieved by three measures: first, by indirect elections through the County Councils (Landsting); second, by nine-year, successively renewed mandates; and third, by the economical independence of the members, which was guaranteed by high financial demands for eligibility and by the lack of remuneration. This semi-democratic idea was mostly abandoned during the first few decades of the 20th century, but was highly active during the period studied here, 1866–1894.</p><p>There have been few studies on the realization of these principles. Were the elections marked by conflicts or by consensus? Were the preparations carried out within the semi-private sphere of the County Council, or did they involve interaction with the public sphere and the public opinion? By studying the tradition of one specific county, Värmland in western Sweden, we are able to give these questions partial answers. The study includes, apart from the officially produced material, private cor-respondence and newspaper articles.</p><p>The answer to the first question is, briefly summarized, that the elections started out marked by conflicts but gradually grew into consensus. The earliest conflicts were often local or personal in nature, and there seems to have been few successful efforts to remove these. When the emergence of a national party system during the 1870s and 1880s led to radical forces attempting to invoke class consciousness in certain groups of the Council, the majority reacted by keeping stronger together. In the largest political struggle of the late 19th century, the customs debate, the Council was more unified than ever in replacing old candidates with new ones, sharing the views of the majority. The minority interests were not allowed to gain representation due to the majority block vote system, and much weight was put in the Council's unity behind the nominees of the informal pre-election meetings.</p><p>Regarding the public sphere, its most important instances were the local newspapers. Studies of the moderately liberal Nya Wermlandstidningen (NWT) and the more radical Karlstadstidningen (KT) have shown that the newspapers did not participate in, or at all comment on, the earliest conflicts. Only with the aforementioned changes in the 1870s did KT begin attempts to influence the Council, claiming, not entirely without cause, to represent the public opinion. NWT followed suit to counter the efforts. The same timeline is valid for letters to the editors, which were sometimes sent in from indi-vidual members of the Council, but seem to have had little effect on the elections. KT soon realized that the Council was uninclined to listen to external suggestions, and that the outcome of the elections could not realistically be altered without a radical change in the representation system. In other words, the metamorphosis from conflicts to consensus took place almost entirely outside the public sphere.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>During the last five years there has been a considerable immigration from the Netherlands to Värmland in Sweden. INVA, Invest in Värmland, wanted to highlight this phenomenon and therefore contacted Karlstad University to make a survey about how extensive the immigration is and what consequences it brings for the business life and municipalities in Värmland. We were luckily chosen to perform this research and the main focus in this study has been the following questions:</p><p>• Why do the Dutchmen choose to buy their house in Värmland?</p><p>• What are the main reasons for leaving the Netherlands?</p><p>• What consequences does the immigration cause for the business life in Värmland?</p><p>• How do the Dutchmen experience the contact with Swedish authorities?</p><p>To answer the questions we designed a questionnaire that was sent to 200 Dutch house purchasers. The ambition was to survey all the Dutch house purchasers in Värmland, but with the time constrains and the municipalities having problem to find complete data, we limited the survey to 200 households. To sample more information eleven interviews were made with Dutch families, brokers and local authorities.</p><p>The most important factor behind the Dutchmen moving to Värmland is the nature and the calmness. Other factors that were mentioned in the survey are the mentality of the people who live in Värmland, a good place to raise your children and house prices. The main reasons for leaving the Netherlands are lack of space, social aspects, work and economic motives.</p><p>The first big investment that is done by the Dutchmen is buying a house, the consequences of this act is higher house prices. The consuming of items on the local market is another indirect investment that is positive for the local businessmen. 60 % of the Dutchmen that moves to Värmland for permanent living starts their own business or bring their company from the Netherlands.</p><p>One of the most common problems when buying the house was the poor language skills among the local brokers. Some of the respondent requested the brokers to speak Dutch and some required that the brokers should speak better English. In the future this problem might disappear because during the last year there are some Dutchmen who has started to work together with the local brokers. The contact with Swedish authorities was considered positive in general but some of the Dutchmen had problems to get a social security number and some had problems finding information about the Swedish tax system.</p>

<p>The Corncrake <em>Crex crex</em> is classified as vulnerable in Sweden according to the Red List of Swedish species. The number of Corncrakes is generally declining and this has been observed in few countries for more than 100 years. In the province of Värmland in Midwestern Sweden, the Corncrake is seldom seen, but more often heard. A national inventory of the Corncrake was made during 2008 and many volunteer ornithologists in the province of Värmland were involved in the work. Observations of singing Corncrakes were done during nights in the agricultural landscape. Totally 64 singing male Corncrakes have been observed during May, June and July. The results of this study show that the Corncrakes in the province of Värmland do not choose a certain habitat type to establish on. Neither do they choose a certain part of the province geographically. The size of the field seems important when choosing a suitable field and in average a Corncrake had an area of 450 ha to utilize. Different habitat elements have been investigated near the observation locations of the Corncrakes. Roads nearby the fields do not prevent the Corncrakes from settling and singing. The distribution of days when different individuals were singing or silent revealed six possible matings in three different individuals (twice each) and also one probable move from one location to another. There is more than one way to promote the Corncrakes existence in the province of Värmland, and one of them is to delay the mowing of the field or to mow in a different manner.</p> / <p>Kornknarren <em>Crex crex</em> är klassificerad som sårbar i Sverige enligt Rödlistan. Antalet kornknarrar håller på att minska i Sverige och liknande tendens är noterat i andra länder sedan mer än 100 år tillbaka i tiden. I landskapet Värmland är kornknarren en sällan sedd, men något oftare hörd besökare. Riksinventering av kornknarren utfördes i hela landet år 2008 och många volontärornitologer i Värmland deltog i inventeringen. Observationer av sjungande kornknarrar gjordes under nattetid på landsbygden. Totalt observerades 64 hanar från maj till juli. Studien visar att kornknarrar inte väljer någon specifik typ av habitat för att sjunga i. Individerna tycks fördela sig i relation till habitattillgång. Kornknarrar verkar inte heller föredra en viss geografisk del av landskapet. Storleken på fält verkar relevant för deras val av lokal och i genomsnitt har en hane 450 ha som sin potentiella användningsyta. Olika habitatelement karterades och det visade sig att vägar inte är ett förhinder för en kornknarr att välja ett fält att etablera sig på. Dagar när kornknarrar spelade och var tysta noterades och detta visade på sex möjliga parningar för tre individer (två vardera) samt en möjlig flytt från ett fält till ett annat. Det finns fler än ett sätt att gynna kornknarren i landskapet Värmland och några av dem är att inte slå vissa fält, att slå vissa fält senare eller att slå inifrån och ut istället för tvärtom.</p>

<p>The aim of this dissertation is to examine why smaller municipalities[1] in Sweden experience difficulties when implementing the 16 environmental objectives that are designed to solve Sweden's environmental problems.</p><p>The theoretical framework used for this dissertation is implementation theory which provides three conditions that need to be met in order to have a successful implementation.  These three conditions have shaped the research questions that examine if Torsby municipality has the "understanding," "ability" and "will" needed to implement the decision correctly.  </p><p>The dissertation employs a case study method to examine why Torsby municipality has experienced difficulties implementating the target: <em>programmes and strategies</em> <em>for planning,</em> which is an interim target to environmental objective number 15: A good built environment.  Qualitative text analysis and interviews with politicians and civil servants from Torsby municipality and the county administration board of Värmland have been conducted in order to answer the research questions.   </p><p>The material used for this dissertation is mostly from the government bills that are the foundation of the Swedish environmental policy and the documents and reports about the environmental objectives that the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket), the Swedish Environmental protection agency (Naturvårdsverket), and the Environmental objectives council (Miljörådet) have released.</p><p>The result of this dissertation supports previous research which has shown that smaller municipalities have problems implementating the environmental objectives due to a lack of financial resources. This dissertation also shows that the problems can be due to a lack of understanding the purpose of the objectives.  This leads to a lack of political will to implement the objectives.  Since the municipalities do not have the political will to implement the objectives the appropriate resources needed for a successful implementation are not appointed and therefore the municipalities are not able to fully implement the environmental objectives.</p><p> </p><p>[1] Municipalities with less than 20 000 inhabitants.</p>

<p>The aim of this study is to try to explain the process using both an actor driven perspective as well as a structural perspective examining the reasons why the County Council of Värmland wants to merge with Region Västra Götaland. The answers to the following research questions are sought to shed light on the problem: What constrained the discretion of  the political actors in the choice of region to merge with? Which role did  different political actors play? Does the study provide Game Theory, from Rational Choice theory,  and Path Dependency, from Historic Institutionalism, a new perspective and strength especially  when bringing them together? The study is limited to two policy areas, health care and regional development policy. The structural background is drawn upon the Annual Report 2008 of the County Council Värmland, the Regional Development Program and Regional Transport Infrastructure Plan 2010-2021 by Region Värmland. The chronological order of decisions and events is drawn upon protocols from various regional political organs all linked to the municipal of Värmland and the correspondence between the officials of Värmland’s municipal and the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency of the State. Both the Game Theory of Rational Choice and the structural perspective of Historic Institutionalism are applied to the research work give new insights into the problem and give the theories further strength. In relation to the negotiations has the lack of information been significant and can in part explain why the municipal of Värmland wants to merge with Region Västra Götaland. In short, the answer to the research question is that they did not have any other choice.</p>

Karlsson, S. 2007: Att äga rum. En undersökning av skogsägande och lokal utveckling i tre värmländska församlingar. (Ruling Spaces. An Investigation of Forest Ownership and Local Development in Three Parishes in Värmland) This thesis explores the present ownership structure of forest estates in the province of Värmland, and in particular three parishes in Värmland and attempts to explain how the ownership structure has evolved to its present state. The purpose is to reveal the importance of this ownership structure for the development potential, expressed as the local population’s prospects of earning a living in forest regions. The empirical material is based on registers/databases from the tax authorities, Swedish Forest Agency and the County Administration Board. The thesis includes a survey among forest owners (landowners) in the region in focus for the thesis as well as living outside this region. Finally, interviews have been the basis for the work. The survey and the interviews were based on theories of property rights and institutional economy. The primary theoretical framework was based on local development theories. The ownership structure of forest estates in the province of Värmland is characterized by variation within the region. In the Western parts, small scale private ownership is dominant, where a majority of owners live near the estate/property, while in the Eastern parts, that historically has been a base for significant industrialized processing of natural resources, a very large share of the forest land is owned by a single corporation, Bergvik Skog AB. The Northern parts of Värmland are a mosaic of different owners where a large portion of the owners live in cities or regions far away. Another noteworthy actor is the Svenska Kyrkan (Church of Sweden) that locally has a dominant position in Värmland. The evolution of the ownership structure to its present state can be explained in terms of market economy that has nurtured rationalization acquisitions with the purpose of reducing the number of estates to instead arrive at a small number of larges estates. It is concluded that the number of forest owners that does not live near the estate/property has increased in the post-war era. This relationship relates to the urbanization caused by, among other factors, well developed rationalization within the agricultural and forestry sectors in the region. It is also pointed out that the legislation around acquisition of land has influenced the development. The survey together with the interviews conclude that the ownership structure does not have a significant impact on the local population’s development strategies. Nor does the locally high share of owners not living near the estate seem to be an important factor. The thesis is concluded by raising questions around the aspect of obligations when forests are owned by others than the local population. KEY WORDS: Forest owners, property rights, rural development, the province of Värmland, Sweden

Abstract This is a study of peoples interpretations of what they consider are unexplainable experiences, the geographical effects of it and the connection between the interpretations and effects. The phenomenon itself is not studied. The study is conducted in Sweden in the county of Värmland by a student, in Human Geography at Karlstads University. An inductive way to work, a behaviour ideology and qualitative method have been used to answer the questions. Data have been collected by a “structured open ended” interview technique. Seven people have been interviewed. No general conclusions are drawn because the low amount interviews. Similarities and differences on the other hand are showed.

The Corncrake Crex crex is classified as vulnerable in Sweden according to the Red List of Swedish species. The number of Corncrakes is generally declining and this has been observed in few countries for more than 100 years. In the province of Värmland in Midwestern Sweden, the Corncrake is seldom seen, but more often heard. A national inventory of the Corncrake was made during 2008 and many volunteer ornithologists in the province of Värmland were involved in the work. Observations of singing Corncrakes were done during nights in the agricultural landscape. Totally 64 singing male Corncrakes have been observed during May, June and July. The results of this study show that the Corncrakes in the province of Värmland do not choose a certain habitat type to establish on. Neither do they choose a certain part of the province geographically. The size of the field seems important when choosing a suitable field and in average a Corncrake had an area of 450 ha to utilize. Different habitat elements have been investigated near the observation locations of the Corncrakes. Roads nearby the fields do not prevent the Corncrakes from settling and singing. The distribution of days when different individuals were singing or silent revealed six possible matings in three different individuals (twice each) and also one probable move from one location to another. There is more than one way to promote the Corncrakes existence in the province of Värmland, and one of them is to delay the mowing of the field or to mow in a different manner. / Kornknarren Crex crex är klassificerad som sårbar i Sverige enligt Rödlistan. Antalet kornknarrar håller på att minska i Sverige och liknande tendens är noterat i andra länder sedan mer än 100 år tillbaka i tiden. I landskapet Värmland är kornknarren en sällan sedd, men något oftare hörd besökare. Riksinventering av kornknarren utfördes i hela landet år 2008 och många volontärornitologer i Värmland deltog i inventeringen. Observationer av sjungande kornknarrar gjordes under nattetid på landsbygden. Totalt observerades 64 hanar från maj till juli. Studien visar att kornknarrar inte väljer någon specifik typ av habitat för att sjunga i. Individerna tycks fördela sig i relation till habitattillgång. Kornknarrar verkar inte heller föredra en viss geografisk del av landskapet. Storleken på fält verkar relevant för deras val av lokal och i genomsnitt har en hane 450 ha som sin potentiella användningsyta. Olika habitatelement karterades och det visade sig att vägar inte är ett förhinder för en kornknarr att välja ett fält att etablera sig på. Dagar när kornknarrar spelade och var tysta noterades och detta visade på sex möjliga parningar för tre individer (två vardera) samt en möjlig flytt från ett fält till ett annat. Det finns fler än ett sätt att gynna kornknarren i landskapet Värmland och några av dem är att inte slå vissa fält, att slå vissa fält senare eller att slå inifrån och ut istället för tvärtom.

Studien synliggör berättelser från Ullebergs sinnesslöanstalt i Karlstad. Materialet består till största del av tidningsartiklar och arkivmaterial så som brev, utredningsdokument och journalanteckningar. I enlighet med Foucaults maktanalys undersöks hur makt och motstånd utövades innanför och utanför anstaltens väggar. Det förekom både fysiskt, verbalt och skriftligt motstånd och detta motstånd utövades av intagna, föräldrar, personal, med flera. Människors handlingsutrymme påverkades av vilken samhällsklass de ansågs tillhöra, och klassificeringen av vissa människor som sinnesslöa baserades till viss del på vilken familjebakgrund de hade. Uppsatsen tar sin utgångspunkt under 1950-talet, vilket var en brytningstid då det som verkade självklart i samhället började att ifrågasättas. Genom makt och motståndsutövningar förändrades den överordnade diskursen, vilket också förändrade livsvillkoren för de människor som hade klassificerats som sinnesslöa. Ullebergs sinnesslöanstalt är idag inte ett institutionaliserat kulturarv, men i studien undersöks anstalten som ett potentiellt svårt kulturarv. En svårighet med att eventuellt tilldela anstalten och dess berättelser kulturarvsstatus kan vara att de före detta intagna kanske inte önskar att deras svåra berättelser ställs ut som offentliga kulturarv. En fördel med att ge anstalten en kulturarvsutnämning kan vara att berättelserna synliggör hur det moderna samhället drog gränser kring vad som ansågs vara normalt och vad som ansågs vara avvikande, samt att de visar hur människor påverkades av de rådande normerna.

Abstract During the last five years there has been a considerable immigration from the Netherlands to Värmland in Sweden. INVA, Invest in Värmland, wanted to highlight this phenomenon and therefore contacted Karlstad University to make a survey about how extensive the immigration is and what consequences it brings for the business life and municipalities in Värmland. We were luckily chosen to perform this research and the main focus in this study has been the following questions: • Why do the Dutchmen choose to buy their house in Värmland? • What are the main reasons for leaving the Netherlands? • What consequences does the immigration cause for the business life in Värmland? • How do the Dutchmen experience the contact with Swedish authorities? To answer the questions we designed a questionnaire that was sent to 200 Dutch house purchasers. The ambition was to survey all the Dutch house purchasers in Värmland, but with the time constrains and the municipalities having problem to find complete data, we limited the survey to 200 households. To sample more information eleven interviews were made with Dutch families, brokers and local authorities. The most important factor behind the Dutchmen moving to Värmland is the nature and the calmness. Other factors that were mentioned in the survey are the mentality of the people who live in Värmland, a good place to raise your children and house prices. The main reasons for leaving the Netherlands are lack of space, social aspects, work and economic motives. The first big investment that is done by the Dutchmen is buying a house, the consequences of this act is higher house prices. The consuming of items on the local market is another indirect investment that is positive for the local businessmen. 60 % of the Dutchmen that moves to Värmland for permanent living starts their own business or bring their company from the Netherlands. One of the most common problems when buying the house was the poor language skills among the local brokers. Some of the respondent requested the brokers to speak Dutch and some required that the brokers should speak better English. In the future this problem might disappear because during the last year there are some Dutchmen who has started to work together with the local brokers. The contact with Swedish authorities was considered positive in general but some of the Dutchmen had problems to get a social security number and some had problems finding information about the Swedish tax system.