What kind of international actor is the European Union and how shall we define it? These are questions that many have tried to answer often by addressing the apparent uniqueness of the EU itself. One of these theories is Normative power Europe. A theory whose main argument is that the EU is best perceived as a changer of norms. My aim with this thesis is to test this claim and to see if the Union should be regarded as a normative power.

This thesis revolves around my work Desirable Objects, an installation in glass and other materials, which deals with objectification based on female and animal trophies. The topics included are those that have been crucial to my working process; craft, post-colonial studies and European hierarchical dualism, where woman and nature are seen as connected, but inferior. My motivation has been to get a better understanding of underlying power structures, and put this knowledge in relation to my own work. This process has led me to make a full body casting of my own body as a method of self-exploitation, in an attempt to expose myself to a similar power perspective. By making the dualistic connection between woman and nature, I am commenting a phenomenon that in my view has resulted in a similar exploitation of both..

In a global context the traditional democratic process is facing new challenges. Scholars are talking about a transition from government to governance, where local and regional networks as well as international collaboration are an important part in how regional policy is produced and implemented. In this paper the processes in regional projects funded by the European Union are considered, and related to the traditional democratic process. The study has been fulfilled through informant interviews with representatives from four EU-projects. The interviews are supplemented by a qualitative text analysis of current statutes.

This degree project was made in cooperation with AssiDomän Frövi and Charlotte Andersson and the main objectivehas been to create to ice cream pacbges from 250 gsm Frövi Light board. The paekages are intended to be easilyresealable while decreasing in size together with the ice cream. The project also describes the food packaging labelsand symbols currently present in the European common market.Both capsules utilize a separate lid for resealing. One of the paekages (Capsuie A) is indended to be cut along withthe ice cream and thereby decrease in size. The other one (Capsuie B) uses a series of flaps for contracting and expandingwhich enab1es adjusting of the size without cutting the package up.The design for Capsuie A is created both as a series of flavours with a super-hero theme intended for children andwith a colfee flavour for a maturer audience.

Europe has, since the economic crisis of 2007, gained increasing social segregation. The gap between rich and poor has increased and the large number of hidden statistics regarding people excluded from the labor market is greater than in many years. Social exclusion has thus taken a toll on community groups that already before the crisis had a hard time getting included. Groups such as young, elderly, immigrants and people with mental of physical disabilities. To curb this development, the European Commission have, since the 2004 directives, enabled public sector clients to, through procurement of goods, services and contracts, include measures that promote social consideration.Social consideration is a term that have been a part of Swedish procurement legislation since 2007, and was updated in 2010.

Intimate partner violence is the most common health issue for women between the ages of fifteen to sixty-four in Sweden as well as the majority of European countries according to the United Nations. Aim ? The aim of the study was to illuminate nurses? experiences when caring for women exposed to intimate partner violence. Method ? This thesis was a literature review based on both qualitative and quantitative articles to give as comprehensive a view as possible.

This is a thesis on the Intranet use in the European Parliament. We investigated the use from a multilingual point of view, but also from a communication perspective. What we wanted to know was how a multilingual group, with presumably different computer skills, in the organisation handle the Intranet information. What are the positive and negative effects of a multilingual information exchange over an Intranet? To find out, we sent a questionnaire as an e-mail attachment to all members of a chosen committee and their assistants.

The purpose of this paper is to study Uno von Troil's book Bref rörande en resa til Island MDCCLXXII as part of the transfer of knowledge about Iceland to Sweden and Europe during the late 1700s. On the basis of discussions on travel books and the image of 'the other', 'I will argue that von Troil, using the skills he already had access to, as well as the skills he acquired after his trip, provides a multifaceted picture of Iceland. At the same time, I will examine how von Troil conveys information about Iceland both to a Swedish and a European audience and illustrate his network relationships and career aspirations..

AbstractThis essay begins with a presentation of the complex set of problems which relate to the interaction between freedom of speech and the ban against discrimination based on a person's race, the colour of their skin or ethnic origin, confession of faith or sexual preference (BrB 16:8, incitement to racial hatred). Can conflicts arise between freedom of speech and the ban against discrimination? To shed light on this question, we have chosen to look at the issue from a new perspective. This perspective is based on the new challenges faced by Swedish society as a result of the changed composition of our population, our membership in the EU and our acknowledgment of certain international conventions concerning human rights.Fifty years ago our population almost solely comprised of ?native Swedes?.

The terror attack in New York year 2001 was a turning point in international politics. New policies were reformed in both USA and EU to secure their citizens from terrorism. The power of the institutions has developed and the question is; how does the new security policy affect people?s freedom? Is it the agencies new policies that are restricting the freedom or the actions of a terrorist? The purpose of this study is to examine if the security policies in USA and EU are protecting their citizen?s freedom. Many individuals are not aware of how much the security policies are affecting their lives.

The purpose of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of our contemporary description of digital literacy using the perspective on knowledge from the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. I have chosen to deal with the problem using a hermeneutic approach. The method of inquiry is based on close reading of the selected literature. The selection itself has been made after a strategic selection regarding perspective on knowledge and digital literacy. It appears in the thesis that there are substantial differences but also similarities between our contemporary description of digital literacy from Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning and the perspective on knowledge from the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.Still, the result has been possible to use for the purpose of the thesis since the problem has an answer and a deepened impression of the understandings of digital literacy..

This thesis examines the Swedish labour market with a focus on the immigrant part off the population. There are big differences between the immigrant and particular non-European immigrant part off the population and native Swedes. In the first part off this thesis I will show that immigrants in Sweden have a higher rate of unemployment, lower rate off employment, lower wage incomes, higher risk off unemployment and are overrepresented in low skilled, low status jobs. Even when controlling for different factors such as education level, knowledge in the Swedish language, age etc. a big gap remains.

In this essay a conclusion about the way female characters are portrayed in fantasy novels will be attempted through an analysis of one selected female character from each selected novel. The works that have been chosen are; J.R.R. Tolkien?s The Lord of the Rings, Robert Jordan?s The Eye of the World and A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.The analysis will be done with the help of examples and theories from both feministic criticism and gender studies.

In this thesis I examine the development and expansion of judicial power in Sweden. The concept of judicial review is defined and related to democratic theory, and the various forms of judicial review in use in Sweden are explained. The main focus is on the political and scientific discussion concerning judicial review since the mid 1970s. It is shown that judicial review so far has been used only to a limited extent and that the number of court cases has remained quite stable over time. The main cause of judicialization seems to be the supremacy of EU law following the Swedish EU membership in 1995 and the inclusion of the European Convention on Human Rights into Swedish law.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to analyse and interpret artist Hans Hedberg?s monumental, ceramic reliefs in Sweden and France. Hedberg is internationally famous for his ceramic fruits and eggs in different glaces and formats. A mostly unknown side of his artistic production is that he produced about 50 ceramic reliefs during the 1950s and up to the 1970s in public buildings. Hedberg was one of very few foreign artists in France, who, during a long period of time, produced monumental, public reliefs for the French state.