The process of European Integration and creation of the single market revealed many questions and boundaries on the development and improvement of the European Social Policy. Pension?s sustainability has become the priority issue especially during the EU enlargement processes. Different policy instruments and institutions available to governments of Member States in realization of social objectives resulted in a growing diversity of pension polices which produced different combinations of public and private provisions - ?private-public hybrids? , with the state exercising different degrees of influence in their development.

The Oresund Region, consisting of the Swedish county of Scania and the Danish islands of Sealand, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, is widely recognised as a successful example of European cross-border co-operation. The purpose of this region building project is to form a cross-border fully integrated functional region in order to accomplish a high level of economic growth and employment.This thesis argues, by the means of discourse analysis, that the project can be viewed as a kind of post-politics, defined as a politics that under a neoliberal hegemonic consensus strives to manipulate citizens (and to redefine them as consumers and investors) into better economic performance.This manipulation is carried out by extensive discourse production aimed at convincing people that the Oresund Region exists, that it is a successful region, and that the people who inhabit it are also successful. The deliberate vagueness and contradictory character of the Oresund discourse is investigated and explained as a discursive strategy to incorporate as many views and desires as possible..

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the marketing in Swedish politics. To clarify and compare the Swedish politics to traditional and commercial marketing strategies is not always simple but at the same time we must understand that the practical work political institutes practice, fuse with many theories and marketing is one such theory. To understand this, I chose to investigate which marketing areas and how within service management, brands, segmentation, positioning/image and marketing channels, affect the politics in Sweden? This study is based on qualitative method in which I had five interviews with politicians. The conclusions can be found in the chapter five..

Directive 2006/54/EG from the European Union concerns the equal rights between men and woman and the principle of equal rights. The purpose of the directive is that the member states provide the equal rights between men and woman. Affirmative action is one exception from the principle of equal rights which is settled in directive 2006/54/EG, article 3. The purpose for the affirmative action must be to encourage the equal rights between men and women.EU has specific criteria to use affirmative action, which is created by praxis of the Court of Justice of the European Union. These criteria are that the affirmative action must involve an objective assessment, there must be equal qualifications between the person which is affirmative action and the person who is not, the positive action cannot be automatically decisive and this special treatment should be proportionate to the purpose.

This bachelor thesis aim to explore in what way the Euro crisis have affected the reciprocal relationship between European identity and the attitudes towards the euro, and how it differs between the members in the Eurozone and members that have not yet introduced the euro. This thesis is grounded in a theoretical view that the euro is a symbol through which European identity is created, but also that European identity is a factor for the attitudes towards the euro as a single currency. By statistical analysis of empirical data collected through the Eurobarometer, I discover that there is a difference between how the relationship between the European identity and the attitudes towards the euro changes during the Euro crisis. Members without the euro seems to be more affected than members with the euro, as the correlation between European identity and attitudes towards the euro weakens for members without the euro, which do not seem to be the case in member countries within the Eurozone..

This study discusses the European Union´s influence regarding the Cyprus Conflict since 1998, when the EU began the official membership negotioations with Cyprus. The first aim of the study is to investigate in what way the EU has tried to practice influence concerning the Greek- and Turk Cypriots, but also Turkey, since Turkey is seen as a relevant party in the conflict. The second aim of the study is to examine what effects the EU´s influence has led to for the parties involved. The theoretical approach in the study is the theory Normative power, the theory stresses that Europe and the EU practices non-military power, and is able to do so because of the fact that the EU is based on internationally acknowledged desirable norms, as democracy and human rights and liberties. The result of the study shows that the EU has been an active participant concerning the Cyprus Conflict by successfully influencing the Greek- Cypriot government and Turkey e.g.

In classic academic social studies of East Europe, terms as Communism and Post-Communism are commonly used to describe the main characteristics of this geographically imagined area. This paper makes a not so frequently seen attempt to apply Post Colonial Theory for the same field. With start point in Post Colonial theoretical writers, the author wants to find a East European Post Colonial version for the internal Europe which will supply tools for a discourse analysis of the European mind map divided into West and East. The material consists of interviews with three Swedish and three Czech officials, all working with European politics in their country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The analysis is carried out with inspiration of Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes Discourse theory.

?How does the Turkish debate appear concerning the EU-discourse in relation to political conditionality? Is Turkey accepting the demands that are being made?? These questions are answered in this thesis through a qualitative document analysis of the debate concerning EU as it is in Turkish newspapers and statements made by Turkish political representatives. The debate is used to describe the association?s process in a candidate country through investigating how the process and the relationship between EU and Turkey are discussed within the country. The national debate is then used to compare with the accession process for the Central and Eastern European countries based on conditionality to discover if Turkey is different from other candidate countries and if so explain why.

Today Europe is faced with an identity crisis concerning its borders. Turkey stands at the threshold for an EU-membership while the EU-Commission is trying to formulate what constitutes a European identity. This identity seeking process will determine the future not only for Turkey, but also for immigrants now living in Europe.In this thesis a discourse analysis, underpinned by socialconstructionist theory, is conducted to explore how the European identity has been constructed throughout history up until today. A starting point is that identity always is defined through a dialectical relationship to "otherness". Therefore the analysis is focused not only on what a European identity consists of but also what and who it excludes.

This study attempts to examine the existence and development of price differences in the car sector in Europe. The time period is between 1995, the year of the Swedish entrance in the European Union, and 2003. The study is based on data supplied by the European commission, on a bi-annual basis. Both price differences in general in the EU, and price differences between Sweden and other countries in the EU are examined. The theoretical law of one price is related to the economic integration of the EU and the car sector.

This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

The European identity plays an important role for the EU and especially within its will to further integrate its citizens, hence it is a way for individuals to not only identify with its nation, yet also with Europe. Previous research has already established that an individual can possess two territorial identities, such as a national and a European identity, above all it has established how the identities can equally interplay. Further it has been explained how territorial identities are composed of two aspects: civic and cultural. While the previous research has stated how the European identity possesses both aspects, though to varying degrees, little attention has been put to examine how individuals who possesses multiple territorial identification, defines its European identity. This study therefore aims to study which aspects, civic or cultural, individuals with a citizenship who possess multiple territorial identification, assign their European identity.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the level of democracy within the European Union (EU). To do so the following issues were examined: How the EU works and the efforts it has made to improve levels of democracy; and the degree to which the EU fulfils the criteria set by Robert Dahl in his theory of polyarchy.The study is based on a qualitative text analysis. The focus of the analysis is documents released by the EU that can be connected to democracy, and human and fundamental rights. The theory of polyarchy proposed by Robert Dahl and Joseph Schumpeter?s theory of democracy are the principal theories applied.

Abstract: Hightech EU/Japan ? a research about European hightech companies? interest in establishing business on the Japanese market with the help from a middleman. Subject: Marketing. Problem: The Japanese market is highly developed and therefore interesting for foreign companies. The Japanese culture is very different from the European and this together with the long distance creates problems for European hightech companies to compete on the Japanese market.

AbstractIII-essay in political science by Christoffer Harnell, autumn -08. Supervisor: Malin Stegman-McCallion. ?Nuclear Disarmament - USA and the Soviet Union 1960-2002? This essay is about USA and the former Soviet Union and their nuclear disarmament. The purpose is to explain why and when the two states begun their nuclear disarmament, as well as what caused the start of the process.