This essay explores the Swedish state?s geopolitical view and creation, of the spatial spaces in and of the Arctic. With a critical geopolitical framework, a discourse analysis is conducted on the Swedish strategy for the Arctic region, with the ambition to unfold the underlining spatial spaces, actors and dramas that this discourse creates. The result of this analysis shows that Sweden creates three different Arctic spaces within its geopolitical discourse; a Swedish Arctic, a Nearby Arctic and a Regional Arctic. This has major political consequences, which will be illuminated in the essay.

The global climate change affects the Arctic region the most. The decrease in arcticsea ice is one of the reasons why, it accelerates the warm-up of the region.To understand the changes in the Arctic climate, knowledge about what affects thechanges in the sea ice is necessary. One of these processes could be the relationbetween the extent of the sea ice and the concentration of sea salt aerosols in thearea.This work studies how a variation in the arctic sea ice extent affects theconcentration of sea salt aerosols at Barrow, Alaska. To do this aerosoldata, icedataand winddata has been analyzed over the years 1998-2007. The results shows that aseasonally variation in the sea ice extent affects large aerosols (1-10 ?m) whilesmaller aerosols (<1 ?m) doesn?t seem to be affected as much..

The Arctic region is rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, minerals and fish. Climate change causes the Arctic ice melt, making resource extraction possible as well as opening up new transport routes through the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage. This has led to competition and cross-border strife among the Arctic States. The two largest states in the Arctic are Russia and Canada, which are also members of the Arctic Council. Russia and Canada are at the moment involved in several disputes regarding the Arctic territory where the ownership of the North Pole is one example.

The Arctic region has not been a topic of discussion or a reason for a conflict in the past, but with the development of environmental issues which has resulted in melting of the ice, so has the interest for the region developed. This has resulted in a conflict over the area, with five countries as main actors. This paper investigates the five main actors? goals with increased influence in the area, using the thoughts of Rational Actor Model, with states as utility-maximizing actors and foreign policy as the expression of national interest. Furthermore the paper investigates the means of getting to the goal, what kind of tools they use.The paper shows that all of the countries are interested in the economically benefits that are buried under the melting ice and the short cuts in sea routes that will be a possibility to use ones the ice melt more.

Tourism in the Arctic and Antarctic is increasing rapidly. In both Polar Regions, the cruise tourism is predominant. Several of the tour operators arrange trips under the banner of ecotourism, meaning that the trips should be ecologically sustainable. To ensure ecotourism standards there are different types of certifications; for cruise travels in the Arctic there is AECO (the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators) certification, and for travels to the Antarctic IAATO (the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators). Promoters of ecotourism argue that these trips are important because they create support for conservation work among tourists making them ?polar ambassadors?.

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are ubiquitous in the environment today and they have been detected even in remote areas such as the Arctic. PFASs can be transported by the atmosphere and ocean currents but the transport mechanism is not fully understood. PFASs may be harmful to organisms due to their persistence in the environment, bio-accumulation potential and toxicity. Studies have shown that PFASs can cause adverse effects on the metabolism as well as the endocrine- and reproduction systems in organisms. In this study, PFASs were investigated in glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) (n=5) and black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) (n=4) from Svalbard.

This study is called When the ice of the Arctic melts is the world defrosting? and written by Rebecca Fröling.The purpose of the study is to investigate how the concept ?security? is used in the Swedish arctic strategy and why the concept is described in that way. The debate of the concept ?security? has been going on for years, but the debate is still present today. What we put in to the concept is operative for how we regard and discuss security and security politics.To analyze the strategy I used two theories, one with a traditional approach and one with a critical approach to security: Realism and Copenhagen School.The method that has been applied to the study is qualitative content analysis, to be able to analyze the text on the depth.

I fokus för denna uppsats står samverkansorganet och kommunalförbundet Region Hallandeller mer exakt den form av indirekt demokrati som organisationen styrs genom. Studienssyfte är att ur ett demokrati och legitimitetsteoretiskt perspektiv undersöka Region Hallandmed fokus på just den indirekta demokratin. Studiens frågeställning är tvådelad ochundersöker dels hur förankringen av politik inom Region Hallands ram förankras ikommunerna och hos medborgarna. Dessutom undersöks vilka demokratipolitiska ambitionersom Region Halland har. I uppsatsen används en form av kvalitativ metod nämligensamtalsintervjun och intervjuerna genomförs med politiker verksamma i kommunerna ochRegion Halland samt med tjänstemän på Region Halland.

This project is a literature study with the hypothesis that Arctic climate has a positive effect on the accumulation of metabolites in berries. Plant metabolites are often divided into primary and secondary metabolites. Primary metabolites such as proteins and nucleic acids are essential for cell function, while secondary metabolites are often non-essential, but have important functions regarding reproduction and survival. The berries mentioned in this project are from the families Ericaceae, Rosaceae, Elaeagnaceae och Grossulariaceae.The conclusion drawn from this literature study is that it is not obvious what favours accumulation of metabolites in berries. Other factors aside from climate affect the production of secondary metabolites, such as time of harvest, cultivars and ripeness.

This study is concerned with the region of Öresund and the aspects of work commuting in particular. The purpose is to investigate attitudes and opinions towards the region among work commuters and then apply them to various theories relevant for the questioning, such as globalization, regionalization, ethnicity, nationalism, culture and identity. To investigate the attitudes towards the region we have done a number of interviews with commuters, using qualitative and semi-structured questions. The analysis is divided into three different parts; In Body and in Mind, Us and Them, the Future; and consists of a discussion of our informants? answers related to the theoretical aspects of the earlier mentioned theories.

The Swedish regions are new phenomena, from the start from the new regionalism which started in the 1980´s. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze Region Skåne and Västra Götalandsregionen to come to a conclusion which model of region they are and want to be by using theories of regional identity and identity of politics and see similarities and differences. My research question is: Which of cultural, administrative and functional region are Region Skåne and Västra Götaland striving to construct?   The methods I have used are qualitative text- and content analysis to analyze the regions, by using theories about regional identity and identity of politics. Furthermore, I am using some statistic from SOM-institutet to analyze the regional identity in the regions.   The result show that Region Skåne is constructing a cultural region, because of their strong regional identity and that the politicians are using identity of politics to combine the citizens.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems of building a new region in the Southeast part of Sweden. The idea of a big south Swedish region is brand new; no former studies in this area have been done before. The main analytical focus of this study is legitimacy, identity and democratic credentials. The study has been carried out by interviews with several leaders in organizations working with the collaborations of the smaller regions in to the big region. The method of this study has been a single-case study and dialogue interviews.

We have through our theoretical framework been able to create a simplified measuring tool for a KIZ; the S-TKL. We have found that the S-TKL is possible to implement on the Öresund Region but with some flaws. Even though the Öresund Region has implemented the mindset of a KIZ, accurate statistics are in some areas hard to find. We can also through our empirical findings say that it is difficult to use the S-TKL on Shenzhen. The data we have found gives a good indication of both of the regions.

In this thesis we have examined Västra Götalandsregionens ways to lobby and network in the European Union. Our aim was to examine which kind of methods the region uses to lobby in a successful way in Brussels. We found that the region uses both formal and informal methods of lobbying to gain advantages in Brussels. We also wanted to locate various networks which the region is involved in to more easily have their interests satisfied. We found that they had a lot of different alliances and that it is necessary to be involved in different networks to have a chance to lobby the EU institutions.

The aim of this study was to examine consumers and producers view on beverages and it?s meaning for Skåne (a region in southern Sweden) and how to create a strong culinary region using beverages. It gets more common to connect food and tourism, where food and beverages can be used to attract visitors. The research methods used were qualitative and quantitative and the data was collected by survey and semi-structured interviews. The respondents weren?t aware of current beverage projects in the region.