This essay seeks, by applying to theories of nationalism, to explain the reasoning behind the Russian annexation of Crimea and to understand the ideology and nationalistic influences in Russian foreign policy in the case of the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea. The argumental analysis exemplifies the nationalistic tendencies of Vladimir Vladimirovitj Putin and the Russian foreign actions and attempts to specify a nationalistic motif in the case of Crimea and in Russian foreign policy. The study seeks to illustrate tendencies in Russian foreign policy and to show what can be expected of Russia in the near future..

The subject of this study was to research whether or not the effect of job insecurity on self reported health differs between good and bad times in the economic climate. Two different years of a national health survey from the Swedish institute of health (FHI) served as data, with 2007 representing good economic climate and 2009 doing the opposite. Both years consisted of data from a national health survey distributed to 20 000 random individuals in Sweden, where 2007 had 5738 valid cases and 2009 had 10 373. A quantitative method was used to determine the difference, consisting of a three variable cross tabulation with chi2-analysis as well as a model of binary logistic regression for each of the two years.The cross tabulation found a significant difference between the two years, with those reporting job insecurity having less of a chance to report bad health during the year representing bad economic climate. While the logistic regression showed the same tendency, the two years could not be significantly differed from each other in that part of the analyzes.With this in mind, the conclusion from the whole test was that no significant difference could be found between the years regarding the health effect of job insecurity..

Officially, the EU gender policy since 2000 has been guided by the strategy of Gender Mainstreaming. This strategy aims to promote gender equality and is informed by a feminist ontology which stipulates that women are structurally subordinated.In this essay, I examine whether the European Commission has adequately adhered to this gender policy in its free trade negotiations with the ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific) countries as part of the Cotonou Agreement. As a result of my text analysis of documents related to the negotiations, opinion pieces by interested actors and policy papers of the EU, I find that the Commission does not act in accordance to its stated gender policy.To explain this discrepancy between policy intent and actions, I employ postliberal feminist theory and Robert Putnam's Two-Level Game Theory Model. By analyzing statistics and published research, I explore how gender issues are being represented politically on a domestic and international level.My findings show that a key cause of this discrepancy lies in the low levels of female participation in the political institutions of the EU and ACP; a lack of participation that is especially pronounced in the area of international economics. In explaining the constraints on female participation and the prospects of full implementation of the EU's gender policy in the international political economy, I emphasize the role of culturally and historically gendered institutions..

The swedish national environmental goals have different policies and developments connected to them in order to achieve the goals on time, but the implementation of the different policies differ and is hard to evaluate compared to the theoretical background. With this thesis I have chosen to investigate the climate investment programmes results in Östersund compared to its goals with a case study. The different projects within the climate investment programme have reduced the emissions of CO2, but not in the amount that was anticipated and a lot of the projects were within projects that the municipality already was developing or doing. .

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between feelings and visualizations of climate change. A case study was done on visualizations of climate change from a web page concerning climate change published by the Swedish newspaper Expressen and from the American photographer Gary Braasch?s web page ?World view of global warming?. The thesis is based on the article ?Emotional anchoring and objectification in the media reporting on climate change? by Birgitta Höijer.

The purpose of this study is to get an understanding about how municipalities in Sweden integrate climate-change into the social planning; especially the risk of flooding. To get a good picture of the planning process, background about the following are given; flooding, social planning and protective measures that can be taken against flooding. Three municipalities in the south of Sweden is studied; Halmstad, Vellinge and Kristianstad. They have in their work progressed differently and Kristianstad is the municipality that already has taken measures to protect themselves against flooding. The other two have only started to plan for the future threat.

This paper discuss the possibilities to transfer the Danish labour market policy, called flexicurity, to Sweden. There are two main purposes of this essay. The first purpose is to discuss the reasons why the Danish labour market policy could be interesting for Sweden. The second purpose is to investigate which obstacles that might occur during the transfer. For guidance I have used two startingpoints which highlights the Danish flexicurity's pros and cons.

This master?s paper first presents some of the principal theories and concepts developed by the poverty researchers Rowntree, Titmuss, Townsend, Sen and Lister. These theoretical frameworks are then related to two documents from the EU and Sweden concerning combating poverty and social exclusion, bearing on the establishment of the ?Year 2010 against Poverty?. Finally, I discuss the value in practice of these theories and policy documents, as regards reducing poverty in Europe.It has become clear in this investigation that the theories and concepts from earlier research are still relevant to the formulation of contemporary policy programmes, and that earlier research helps us to avoid old traps in fighting poverty.

Sustainable development has become the ideology of the twentieth first century. As an important concept and as a framework of political action, sustainable development can at this point be considered as the very symbol of a paradigm in the international debate over environmental issues and the threats of climate change. But what does the concept of sustainability actually suggest? This thesis uses discourse analysis in order to examine the Swedish learning for sustainable development as to three different discourses on the national arena: the government and the municipals of Piteå and Växjö respectively. When the study foremost concerns official policy documents that contain associations with the study area, the methodology used takes into consideration both language, signs, metaphors and so called story lines.

Sustainable development has become the ideology of the twentieth first century. As an important concept and as a framework of political action, sustainable development can at this point be considered as the very symbol of a paradigm in the international debate over environmental issues and the threats of climate change. But what does the concept of sustainability actually suggest? This thesis uses discourse analysis in order to examine the Swedish learning for sustainable development as to three different discourses on the national arena: the government and the municipals of Piteå and Växjö respectively. When the study foremost concerns official policy documents that contain associations with the study area, the methodology used takes into consideration both language, signs, metaphors and so called story lines.

This thesis aims to develop a theory in the under researched field of international comparative cultural policy studies. lt does so by combining theories from the fields of political scienceand cultural studies, researching how and to what extent the concepts of culture of different states have an impact on the way cultural policies are constructed.The thesis uses this theoretical development in order to research a specific problem, namely the perceived possibility that Swedish and German cultural structures are slowly converging. Two recent official policy documents from each country are the objects of study. Through comparative idea analysis and with Michiel S. D Vries theories on decentralization, the thesis explains the convergence between the countries by differing cultural views between them.

The aim of this study is to analyze the process of an agenda setting and see how a specific issue came to materialize on the security policy agenda. The empirical goal of the study is to see why Sweden chose to participate in the EU-led operation to Chad, and how that process came to be? The analysis is based upon Kingdon's multiple streams theory (2003) where he distinguishes the process into three streams. Central for his theory is the coupling of these streams and the importance of a policy entrepreneur. I complement Kingdon's theory of policy entrepreneurs by taking inspiration from Hinnfors (1995), Gustavsson (1999) and especially Eriksson (2000) and their analysis of policy change and agenda setting.

High-performance equine athletes have an energy requirement that often reaches twice the maintenance requirement. Horses are grazers and adapted to a grass diet, and diets high in grains and concentrates are associated with digestive upsets and behavioural disorders. It could therefore be of interest if the energy requirement of a high-performing horse could be met by forage. It is important that the forage have a high concentration of energy so that the horse is able to consume the whole amount of energy needed from the forage without exceeding the maximum voluntary intake. The purpose of this literature study was to investigate if the energy demand of a high-performance horse can be covered by forage produced under Northern Swedish climate conditions.

Climate change has become an increasingly topical subject. Recently debate on how our food affects the environment has flared. It has been shown that how the food we eat is grown and transported could be one the bigger contributors to the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The aim of this study is to see how consumer?s choices of vegetables affect release of carbon dioxide. The results show that emissions of carbon dioxide can be lowered by consuming vegetables that have been grown on open land. Vegetables that have to be grown in heated greenhouses in Sweden should perhaps be exchanged for such that have been grown in unheated greenhouses in southern Europe, even though the transport distance is significant. .

The crucial factor for successful municipal climate work is that there are driving forces. Most importantly is that the senior officials and politicians in the municipality are dedicated to the cause considering that they have the power to influence and make a change. Besides proactive and committed individuals, it is necessary that the work is organized and anchored by clear and concrete documents and control systems. It is also important that the work is continuously monitored and evaluated. To collaborate with other municipalities, authorities or participate in various networks is another factor contributing to the improved climate work in the form of exchange of information, knowledge and experience.A major driving force for municipalities to improve themselves is the distribution of state aid and grants.