This bachelor thesis is a study of the European Union as a role model in the world. Its main focus is to answer the question ?In what respects did the European Union (EU) work as a model at the establishment of the African Union (AU) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)?? By doing so it hopes to shed some light on how other unions in the world contemplate the EU. The method is partly theoretical and partly empirical. In the theoretical part, the thesis discusses in what respects the African Union and the Union of South American Nations might and might not be similar to the European Union.

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.

AbstractA European identityA study of Manuel Castells criteria?s to create a European identityC-Essay in Political Science, by Helena Saagpakk, August 2007Supervisor: Björn ÅkerbergPhilosophers and visionaries dreamt early on the idea about a united Europe. This dream was destroyed by the two world wars during the first half of the 20th century. The first community was established in 1950 after the Second World War. This was the beginning of a peaceful cooperation between the member states, and the community later developed into the European Union.

One of the big challenges for the European Union today lies in finding a common foreign policy for its 27 sovereign member states with their divided interests, experiences and traditions. New objectives set requirements on the Union to develop and intensify its military ability. The European Union´s view on when military force can be utilized sets concepts like sovereignty and intervention in focus. Can sovereignty be limited and if so can an intervention be justified? How did the Union argue regarding its participation in the intervention in Afghanistan, 2001? The Just War Theory gives the essay a normative framework against which to assess the Union´s view and guidelines for the use of military capabilities.

The Turkish accession to the European Union has been the most extended one that the Unionhas been dealing with so far. Turkey is now accepted as a candidate country but it is still in aproblematic situation. Most of the EU?s member states do not share the Union?s belief thatTurkey should become a full member of the Union, if they should even become a member atall. Europeanization constitutes a ground in this essay, and the ?top-down? perspective withinthis process can give an explanation to why most EU member states have such a hesitanceagainst Turkey..

Unaccompanied minors who are fleeing and being sent way from their countries of origin are nothing new. In 2011, 12 225 unaccompanied minors where registered in The European Union, none undocumented minors included. Most of the minors are coming from Afghanistan and Somalia. The aim of this essay is to investigate how The European Union?s migration policies are applied in reality and how United Nation?s Convention on the Right of Children are put in practice by the member states of The European Union and Norway.

The European union started as an area of economic cooperation, but has developed into an area of cooperation in many legal fields. There are these days even cooperation when it comes to dealing with criminals. There is a new procedure called the European arrest warrant which goal is to make the extradition of criminals between the different member states in the European union more efficient. Sometimes when a state receives a European arrest warrant they have to extradite the person in question without doing any investigation of their own. The procedure is based on the principle of mutual recognition.

In 1995 something happened that radically changed the European football. This was the arrival of the Bosman ruling, a decision made by the European Court of Justice which meant that players with an expired contract could change clubs for free and that the European Union's internal market including the free movement of labour was now a part of the European football. The effects of theBosman ruling are wildly discussed today. Many powerful people in the European football mean that football now is less competitive than before, that there are a small amount of teams that actually have the ability to win any trophies. This bachelor thesis is studying the effects of the competitive forces in football after the Bosman ruling as a case of the free movement in the European Union.

AbstractThe thesis investigates how the European Union promotes stability and security in the Mediterranean region. The aim is to analyse the European Union?s security ambitions with Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Barcelona Process. An analytical framework with five sectors (military, political, economic, environmental and societal), based on the Copenhagen School?s theories about security sectors and securitization, is used for the analysis.

A qualitative document analysis is used to answer the aim of this thesis that is to find out if the relation between the European Union and Belarus has changed from confrontational to reparational in between the two parliamentary elections that was held in the country in the years of 2004 and 2008. The study focuses on debates from the European parliament in association to the elections in Belarus to see if the rhetoric used in the debates have changed. It is found that the rhetoric used in the European parliament after the 2004 election in Belarus are extremely confrontational and the members of the debate expresses their thoughts of Belarus in a rather harsh way. It has also been found that the rhetoric used in the European parliament after the 2008 election in Belarus are more diplomatic and have the tendencies of a warmer relation to Belarus although there are still some confrontational views among the members..

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.

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze how the European union relates to the different dimensions of abortion. What kind of problem is abortion and whose right is it? Does difference framings of the problem enable different solutions?By analyzing debates from the European parliament through Carol Lee Bacchis method ?What?s the problem approach? I have come to see that different representations of a problem changes the problem it self. This emphasis that a problem is a problem in one context, but not in an other.Depending on the work of, among others, Barbara Hobson and Ailbhe Smyth I have focused upon the European union as a economical project, leaving social issues to national competence. This makes the EU a patriarchal project that fails to guarantee women?s rights.

The European Union is seen as democratic, and one of the criteria for a democratic decision process is that it must be fully transparent for the citizens. That is the only way for them to make their own decisions about political issues, and it is only possible as long as the citizens have access to relevant and reliable information. However, this is not always the case within the European Union, since it is often difficult to get a hold of different documents of the institutions, and since the civil servants to a great extent are forbidden to give away any information..

This paper examines whether membership in the European Union has contributed to democratic stability and integration in an ethnic diverse society. By studying the Latvian multicultural society, before and after membership in the EU, the author is looking for evidence of enhanced ethnic stability in the country brought through European integration. The author will analyze what the consequences have been, by adopting European regional policy, for a country that yet has to create a unified national identity. By analyzing different areas of the Latvian society, the author has concluded that the EU has played a small but yet not insignificant role for the Latvian domestic integration process..

This thesis deals with the supranational organization of European trade unions. The European trade union movement is, via its umbrella organization the ETUC, an institutionalized social partner within the European Union. The ETUC is a very diverse organization with great potential of conflicting interest among its members. This thesis therefore seeks to explore the dynamics and interest heterogeneity of the ETUC. Drawing on previous research and literature it formulates a number of hypothesises to test what variables that influence the member organizations policy preferences (i.e.