33 referendum has taken place in european states regarding the European Union since the fall of the Berlin wall. This thesis aims to initialy identify potential patterns in this group of referenda to launch and test a theory/hypothesis anchored in this pattern.The european states are differing in nature and the standard of living is chosen as the factor that can potentially have affected the outcome of the referenda held. The carrying thought here being that the voters in states with considerably lower standard of living than the european average would have a more positive attitude towards a deepened cooperation among european states.To try this connection between standard of living and how european citizens have placed their votes a main and principal quantitative test is undertaken. It is followed by discussion and arguments about the result of the test.The argumentation goes from being hopefull of the strenght of the hypothesis, to a more ciritical view of its' strength. The thesis is wrapped up in some argumentation about how and why it fails to explain what it was initially intended to do.

The aim of this master thesis was to examine the European Commission's information resources from a user perspective in order to clarify the needs and circumstances of the search of EU-information among students at Örebro University. 41 students participated in a survey, and four of them was interviewed. On the basis of Pendelton- and Chatmans theories of information behaviour in small worlds, it were assumed that the students' education and citizenship in the European Union affected their needs and the search of EU information.The study showed that the students needs for EU-related information has increased, with the current education, but also been linked to earlier educations. The students Citizens need were mainly associated with elections such as the EMU-election, but also in some cases to a need of the general knowledge.A review of the European Commission's information resources were made with an emphasis on European Documentation Centre, EDC. The survey showed that most students used the EDC and the EU-databases that was made available by the European Commission through the EDC and the university library but were not aware that they used EDC.The survey also showed that students made use of familiar sources and resources when they searched the EU-information, such as the library's regular database list, the library catalogue and search engine on the internet are not requested of other resources.

The Motor Group of the European Council was commissioned in the autumn of 1997 to prepare a proposal for a new European Bus and Coach Directive. In the beginning, most of the Member States did not have the accessibility requirements as their main concern; still a smaller network with actors from the National delegations from Britain, Germany and Sweden would influence the other National delegations in the Council group to finally agree to retain the requirement of accessibility of the Directive. Within the EU decision process, the European Disability movement acted as a strong player during the whole negotiation process using the proposal to a new Bus and Coach Directive as a tool to influence key actors to go towards a Directive with a strong approach for accessibility.Policy Transfer and Policy Transfer Network are used as analytical tools to understand and structure the transfer of the question of accessibility during the negotiation process. Actors understanding how the bureaucratic process works within the EU decision system have a chance to contributing for the changes in the directions they wishes for within a range of policy areas. The principal aim of the Directive was to guarantee the safety of passengers and to provide technical prescription in particular to wheelchair users.

This essay intends to provide an understanding of the developments in the right of public access and recreational activities in the forests of Sweden, and which factors and prerequisites that have affected this development. The forest and its history, along with recreational development has in many ways shaped today?s rights of public access, but there is also an age-old tradition of public access that has affected how we have used the forest, and that also has enabled the development of outdoor recreation. Many are unaware of this, which causes misunderstanding to appear around the rights of public access and how it is supposed to be used.The essay opens with historical descriptions of public access, the Swedish forest and outdoor recreation, to thereby provide a picture of how these three fields have influenced each other over the centuries. This is followed by a description of the current access rights and the problems associated with those, and a description of other countries' equivalent of the right of public access.

Uppsatsen behandlar olika definitioner av korruption utifrån internationella regelverk. The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) ger en mer specifik definition till korruption än the African Convention on Combating and Preventing Corruption and Related Offences (AUCPCC). Då det finns flera olika definitioner av korruption kan diskuteras huruvida en enhetlig definition är nödvändig. Korruption påverkar även rätten till att bli prövad av en självständig och oberoende domstol. De internationella regelverk som behandlar denna rättighet är the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), the African Charter on Human and Peoples? Rights (ACHPR) och the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The main aim of this study is to investigate which structural ideas that lies behind the European Union?s marine operation Atalanta that has been put into motion to counteract piracy and robbery outside the coast of Somalia. In order to do this, we have with the use of the theory of weak states, intervention as well as sovereignty, investigated EU?s document in the question with the use of the idea centered analytical method. The questions that has guided this study, lies both on an empirical and theoretical level.

Written declarations in the European Parliament have not been given muchattention in the field of political science. The scope of this Master's thesis is toexamine whether symbolic politics are present in written declarations and howthis may show. In this study, the aspects of symbolic politics of writtendeclarations of the sixth parliamentary term are examined using a taxonomy foridentifying symbolic politics developed by Peter Santesson-Wilson. Thetaxonomy is applied on 15 written declarations, all adopted by the EuropeanParliament, dealing with a variety of EU-related issues, ranging from July 2004 toJuly 2008.The main findings of the study show that symbolic politics is a presentphenomenon in nearly all written declarations (13 out of 15 cases) subject to thisstudy.In the final chapter of this study inter alia symbolic politics as a deliberateaction is discussed in the view of written declarations. Irrespective of this, onecould say that symbolic politics are institutionalised in the European Parliament,at least when it comes to written declarations..

This thesis aims at studying the European Union?s actions against applicant states. In this case Turkey has been chosen as a variable, because of its unique applying accession.Turkey is a country which has been applying for a membership of the European Union since 1989 and Turkey is the only state which has been searching for membership for more than twenty years. Turkey has been given a lot of critic of not fulfilling the political criteria of the Copenhagen criteria?s.

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.

Due to the forest industry downsizing, many communities in rural forest regions in Canada and Sweden are facing problems to survive. In order to create community sustainability, resilience and well-being in remote forest regions, the view on the forest resources has shifted towards multiple use, through the concept of sustainable forest management (SFM). Beside the economic and ecological elements of sustainability, the social forest values are needed, contributing to the human well-being, local participation, stakeholder collaboration, human rights and cultural connection. In this thesis the embodiment of the social component of SFM within Prince Albert Model Forest (Canada), and Vilhelmina Model Forest (Sweden) will be examined. Being partners and facing similar challenges as rural boreal forest regions, the two model forests are compared through analysis of projects and activities, conducted interviews and organization documents. Looking at projects mentioned as successful by the interviewees, they all have elements from the social values of SFM. The direction can be explained by the introduction of the Forest Communities Program in Canada, demanding the Model Forests to work towards community stability and resilience, the Model Forest organization concept itself and the way global focus are increasing around social forest values. In the future, it may be important that the role of the MFs enable some kind of political authorization and legitimacy in order to improve conflict solving and indigenous rights equality.

This paper discusses the issue of trade dress imitation in the grocery sector. Our study has its starting point in the conflict that may arise between a brand owner and an imitator following an imitator?s marketing actions. In this study we look at the Market Court?s precedents in which this question has been addressed.

The OMX-case entailed considerable uncertainty about the relationship between tax treaties and Swedish domestic law. Previous approaches to handle rule conflict between them was put out of action for the first time when an internal rule took precedence over tax treaties. The Greece-case came a few years later where there were hopes that it would be decided in plenary session to return to the view that prevailed before the OMX-case, which did not happen. Instead the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the tax treaties shall in principle be given preference, but that in exceptional situations tax treaties can be infringed to an internal rule's benefit, so called tax treaty override. Such procedure is acceptable if the legislature gives "clear expression" of the intention of a certain type of income is to be taxed in Sweden, or that a particular new rule applies regardless of the provisions in tax treaties.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the supreme administrative courts management of rule collision between domestic law and tax treaties in the Greece-case.

Transfer pricing including internal loans have increased in recent years, making it easier for companies to minimize their taxable income. After the Swedish court case Diligentia, there have been discussions regarding the influence of a parent company's transparency and control of the subsidiary with regards to the interest rates on internal loans. In court cases that followed Diligentia, the Swedish Tax Agency argued that a parent company always could be assumed to have sufficient transparency and control of the operations in the subsidiary, and therefore reduce the risk on their debt obligations. This thesis seeks to analyze the effects of the transparency and control a parent company has with regards to interest rates on internal loans. The analysis is conducted by analyzing court cases similar to Diligentia.

Mounds of fire-cracked stones is a typical Bronze Age monument for the region around lake Mälaren. They are usually, because of their content, interpreted as piles of rubbish. But as they often have kerbs, are situated on cemeteries and sometimes contain human bones, the traditional interpretation is not fully satisfactory.The main focus of this essay is on the mounds of fire-cracked stones which contain human bones in the region north of lake Mälaren. With a detailed study of these, and a comparison with those without human bones, my aim is to get closer to an explanation why the human bones were deposited. The essay consist of a comp­ilation  of 98 excavated mounds and a database with various information gathered from excavation reports and archive documents.With different kinds of osteological aspects taken in consideration, the study shows that human bones have been found in about a third of the mounds.

This study investigates the judicial process against Erik Molin, a clerk and former theology student at the University of Uppsala 1734-1739. The main purpose has been twofold; first to investigate the legal process through the various judicial bodies and secondly to analyze the ideas and conceptions about man and society expressed by the authorities and Erik Molin. The theoretical approach has been inspired by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas? theories concerning the emergence of the bourgeois society and the changing concepts of private and public spheres. The study shows that the diocese of Uppsala regarded Molin's theology as heretic and found that he knowingly had tried to spread his views.