Brysselkonventionen, Luganokonventionen och Bryssel-I-förordningen syftar till att skapa ett ömsesidigt erkännande av undertecknande länders domstolar och domar i civila och kommersiella mål, för att därigenom effektivisera domstolsprocesserna, öka rättssäkerheten och förenkla den europeiska processföringen över medlemsstaternas gränser. Således är det idag möjligt för en svensk medborgare att, under vissa omständigheter, starta en process mot en tysk medborgare, i exempelvis Italien.Medlemsländernas domstolsförfarande kan dock skilja sig avsevärt från varandra, inte minst när det kommer till tiden det tar för en process att handläggas. Italien och Belgien har utpekats som två länder där handläggningstiden är avsevärt mycket längre än i andra medlemsländer. Den långa handläggningstiden kan tillsammans med reglerna om litispendens missbrukas för att bromsa upp alternativt förhindra att en sanktion meddelas. Problemet har speciellt uppmärksammats på det patenträttsliga området.Torpedstrategin, som den kallas, syftar till att förhindra alternativt fördröja patenthavarens möjligheter att föra process mot intrångsmakaren.

The aim for this thesis is to study the international gender equality work from a perspective of the concept of universalism and particularism, with the United Nation?s Declaration of Human Rights, and especially -?The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women?, in focus. The shadowreports of Namibia and Sweden are used as examples of how countries with different historical, political and social contexts are working with gender equality.A theroetical framework is constitued by theories as postmodernism, postcolonialism and feminism with basis from social constructionism. The thesis is methodological influenced by Critical Discourse Analysis. Notions from former studies were also used as tools in the analysis.

Symbols in the hands of politicians can be a powerful tool of manipulation. The usage of symbols in speeches or texts can change a person?s will, without him or her ever knowing it.We have compared the usage of symbols in the articles surrounding the ratification of the constitution in 18th century America with that of today?s European Union, to see if any similarities between these two cases exists, and what implications this could have for the future of the EU. We have divided the symbols in both cases into different categories so as to enable us to compare the cases to each other. With the help of Masters Theory and the writings of Benedict Anderson and Murray Edelman we have concluded that there indeed exist some similarities between 18th century America and the EU.

This essay examines migration paths through Sweden. There has been a debate in August 2010 that Sweden is regarded as a backdoor for non European immigrants to come over Denmark. It has been discovered through Denmark?s statistics and is regarded as negative by the Danish government. Denmark and Sweden are two countries that are socio- , economically- and culturally similar, but went in two different directions, especially with immigration policy.

With a base in Ian Manners? theory about Normative Power Europe ? that the European Union is to be seen as a normative power instead of a civilian or military ? this paper seeks to contribute to the discussion about identity by examine the normative elements of the union?s policies towards Russia between 1997 and 2013. Which norms are most important and how does the diffusion look? The findings show that democracy, rule of law and respect of human rights are among the most diffused norms, and this is more than often done by using the Russian interest in economic progress. Over time the European Union has taken on a more critical approach against Russia, while still appreciating their prosperous relation when it comes to trade and energy.

Efter nästan 50 års förhandlingar beslutade rådet år 2009 att införa ett enhetligt patentskydd inom EU. Överenskommelsen om ett fördjupat samarbete resulterade i Europaparlamentets och rådets förordning nr 1257/2012 (patentförordningen) och rådets förordning nr 1260/2012 (översättningsförordningen) samt beslutet om att inrätta en gemensam patentdomstol för att kunna skapa en enhetlig praxis för den europeiska patenträtten.I uppsatsen utreds hur ett mindre företag kommer att påverkas av införandet av EUpatentet. Inledningsvis ges en introduktion till patenträtten och dess utveckling. Vidare beskrivs de olika tillvägagångssätten som finns för patentansökningar inom Europa samt de kostnader som förknippas med dessa. I uppsatsen granskas även det enhetliga patentsystemet och dess innebörd, frågan om översättningar och införandet av den enhetliga patentdomstolen.

Under slutet av 1800-talet kom Pariskonventionen att förändra synen på patentoch en era av multilateralt samarbete kom att inledas.Med anledning av utvecklingen på den europeiska patentmarknaden har sedanmitten av 1900-talet betydande harmoniserande förändringar genomförts. Ettgemensamt patentsystem inom EU har dock ännu inte blivit verklighet.Svensk patenträtt har över tiden kommit att närma sig den europeiska, vilket är ettexempel på det arbete som pågår inom Europa. Inom den svenska rätten är Patentlagenav stor betydelse då internationella avtalsbestämmelser kommit att inkorporerasi denna lag.Även om ett nordiskt samarbete funnits sedan länge är det den europeiska patentkonventionentillsammans med det europeiska patentkontoret som utgjort det mestbetydelsefulla resultatet av samarbetet inom den europeiska patenträtten. I slutetav år 2009 nåddes en politisk överenskommelse gällande ett gemenskapspatentoch en gemensam patentdomstol inom EU. Huruvida denna överenskommelsekommer att utmynna i något nytt patent eller någon ny patentdomstol är dockännu oklart.

This thesis analyses how the European Unions institutions deal with the issue of illegal and harmful content on the Internet in key documents presented during the period 19961999. Particular attention is attached to content where the legal status is determined in relation to the user and to content that is legal, but characterized as harmful and entailing a need for special protective measures. The theoretical and methodological approach draws on discourse theory as formulated by Laclau and Mouffe. The thesis studies how the problem is represented in key documents from the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, with particular regard to the discourse on harmfulness, the child and Europe. The findings are that the overall discourse has shifted focus over time, from an emphasis on the protection of minors toward a more market-oriented discourse stressing the importance of protecting the competitiveness of the European economy.

The main aim of this study is to examine the development policies of Sweden and the European Union from a postcolonial perspective. Sweden and the European Union are increasingly coming to be viewed as normative powers rather than military powers. So how does the colonial past of the western societies affect the policies of today? Are there any signs of the power structures of the past, and if so, how are these power structures manifested in the development policies of today? Since both Sweden and the European Union have come to be viewed as normative powers they are compared with each other to highlight their similarities and differences. The results of the study shows that both Sweden and the European Union can be seen as carriers of western values and interests.

When young people are placed in residential care, the staff have a responsibility to ensure that the youth have a safe environment where they can thrive and develop. Residential staff also have responsibilities to ensure the rights of youth during the residential care. This study aims to examine how staff consider themselves to treat the youth in residential care. Furthermore the study aims to examine how the staff consider themselves to ensure youth their right to be heard and have an impact on their own lives, in agreement with Article 12 of the UN convention on the rights of the child (CRC). A qualitative method has been used in order to answer the study's purpose and issues.

Since Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) several constitutional reforms has been taking place. During this time, Sweden has also changed its view on democracy,from a collective to an individual perspective of democracy in the politics. A reasonable hypothesis and the purpose of this essay is to investigate if the Swedish government has beendeveloped towards an Europeanization.The Swedish state audit changed in a pioneering way after the EU- entry, with the formation of Riksrevisionen. Another constitutional change is that the Swedish EU- membership is being instituted in the Swedish constitution. The role of Swedish courts has also changed since the EU- entry.

This thesis focuses on the perception of immigration and refugees in the commonEuropean refugee and immigration policy. It identifies different discourses andstudies their development and interrelated power structures.Using the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, documents from theEuropean Council, the Commission, the Justice and Home Affairs Council andParliament debates are analysed. The study is defined in the time span of 1999-2006, i.e. from the European Council's first agreement on developing a commonEuropean asylum system, following the period up till today.Four discourses are distinguished, focusing respectively on rights, security,European Union's needs, and cultural identity. I use Sandra Lavenex theory ofrealism and idealism to analyse one of the main points in the thesis: There is afundamental schism between the one rights-based discourse, focusing on universalhuman rights, and the three sharing a particularistic focus on immigration as asecurity concern.

This study aims to create an understanding of how employees relate to directives that come from a level above them in the hierarchy and is to be implemented in their working activities. This is studied by examining a case where a work group has tried to implement orders, given to them by the government and through a work group in the level above them in the organizations, concerning how employees working with child health care is to educate parents regarding the child convention. The method that have been use in this study is group interviews with 19 child health care nurses and the two main questions that are asked is why has it been difficult to implement the orders and how have the child health care nurses expressed their resistance to the changes, this since only five of the nurses had begun working with the child convention. The theories that have been used focus on how resistance towards change is expressed, organizational incapability and reluctance towards change, as well as how grass root bureaucrats relates to change. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that it is important to let the concerned parties participate from the beginning of the process, to minimize their reluctance to the changing process.

The European Union is struggling to maintain democracy and tries to increase the participation among the citizens in Europe. The European Citizens? Initiative, ECI, is a platform established by the European Commission to allow citizens to propose new legislation. ?Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!? is the first ECI that has met the requirements.

In Rio De Janeiro, 1992, was the first document signed that meant a responsibility for industrial countries to decrease their emissions, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Thirteen years later was the first legal binding document signed, the Kyoto protocol, and for the first time industrial countries all over the world was bound to decrease their emissions on greenhouse gases. Within the framework of this commitment, three flexible mechanisms (Clean Development mechanism, Joint Implementation and Emission trading) were introduced with the function to reduce the economical costs of the commitment. The flexible mechanisms Emission Trading (ET) is what this report is about.The report starts with a description of carbon dioxide and it?s effect on the environment, thereafter comes a background review of the national agreements who lies as a ground to the implementation of emission trading as a management control measure in Sweden and the rest of the world.Keywords: United Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto protocol, Flexible mechanisms, Emission trading, carbon dioxide .