In Jaunuary 1995 Sweden became part of the European Union. Consequently Sweden agreed upon beeing part of a greater integration project with influences of federalism. However, many argue that the discourse that has been been dominant in Sweden is the discourse where we focus on the national state instead of the EU. In my essay I question whether the discourse about ?nationalstatslogiken? is found in the daily press in Sweden.

What attribute affects salience on a political agenda? How come some reforms are implemented while others are not? These are essential and central questions for our society. Our society, our democracy and our everyday life are dependent of these factors; communication is the condition. In the 2011 budget from the Swedish conservative government, the question of lowering the VAT on restaurant- and catering services was the single most debated reform. This was occasioned from 2009 when the European Union allowed, for the first time since Swedish entry in 2005, a lower VAT on restaurant services.

Turkey has recieved recurring criticism on their disrespect of women and their rights and The European Union Commission and CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, are two examples of critics. However, during the last years Turkey has shown a number of improvments and positive developments. Two flagrant examples of the extended debate of the above mentioned scarcity is within the area of legislation and the large number of womenNGO´s.The aim of my thesis is to investigate which strategies womenorganizations in Turkey are using to affect the political agenda from a genderperspective; do they choose an international or a national strategi? The analysis is based on four womenNGO´s and their efforts of influence and effects on the political agenda and how they experience the link between themselves and the Turkish government. My findings suggest that a national strategy is chosen before an international strategy, but the choice seems to depend on specific goals of the organization and the national climate.

The study seeks knowledge about the Swedish euro-scepticism and about the work of the Swedish euro-sceptical Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). How do they work in an environment where the norm is to have a positive attitude towards a future federal state of Europe? How do they regard their own situation and possibilities to make a change?The study includes a debate on today's Swedish euro-scepticism as background. My finding about the MEPs? work is that their way of acting in the European Parliament does not distinguish from other MEPs? in large.

The importance of chemical use is enormous for areas such as agriculture, industry and medicine and hence a prerequisite for our modern society. In order to protect humans and the environment from the negative effects of chemical use, chemical regulations have been used at a relatively early stage in our history. The purpose of REACH, the new chemical regulation of the European Union, is to generate new knowledge of chemicals within the European market and to increase the responsibilities of the enterprises when it comes to risk management. Whether the enterprises will implement the regulations or not will be of vital importance for the realization of the law?s intentions.The purpose of this study was to identify possibilities and problems that can occur when a downstream-user SME is about to implement REACH.

Starting at the end of the Cold War, this publication assesses the impact of the upheavals in Eastern Europe and the atrophic Soviet Union on the Swedish doctrine of neutrality with its 200 year old tradition. Since the end of world war two the proximity of the Soviet Union had constituted the major impetus for upholding a position of neutrality and as this vanished a pressure for change was created. This essay works with a theoretical framework delineated by Kjell Goldmann and under this disposition, the Swedish tradition of neutrality, governmental positions, opposition and four major influential newspapers are studied. The standings of each variable are canvassed in an attempt to explain the development of Swedish security policy during the crucial years of 1988-1992..

The aim of this thesis is to study perceptions around the freedom of movement of workers within the EU before and after its enlargement in 2004, both on a Swedish and a European level. I have chosen to conduct my study using a discourse analysis as a structure for my theory and method. Theories based on previous research have also been used. My material consists of Communications from the European Commission, Swedish Command Papers as well as a research report. One of the main findings is that at a Swedish level, there is concern about how the free movement of workers will affect the labour market and welfare system.

Purpose: The purpose of the investigation is to give an insight to hot the EU legal environment in the field of vertical relationships influences the competitiveness of the 2nd tier of the automobile industry. Conclusion:It follows that European legislation has succeedded in raising the competitiveness by breaking down the powers of the predominantly more powerful companies that the 2nd tier players do business with and by giving companies sufficient leeway to act. The comment must be made here that serious problems due to a power misbalance might still exist yet are not uncovered. In the course of my research I have found a lack of issues in my subject field. These problems however would have a more structural and economical cause, dealing with these problems would fall outside the boundaries of the competence of European competition legislation.

An effective Integration policy is important in Sweden while our government has decided and committed to be a country where everybody will be given the same opportunities. There is a greater awareness in today?s society of integration policy goals such as equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for all. In a number of areas, however, the disparities between immigrants and Swedish-born citizens are still too large.The Swedish Riksdag decided on integration policy in 1997. The main task for this thesis will be to examine the motive behind the Government's decision to revoke immigrations policy and introduce integration policy.

The high debt levels experienced in European Countries have lead to academic interest in the deficit bias -the tendency for governments to run budget deficits and accumulate debt. In part one of this thesis a surveyof the economic literature on the origins and solutions to the deficit bias are conducted. The proposedinstitutional solution to the deficit bias in the form of Fiscal Policy Councils (FPC) are outlined and existingEuropean FPCs presented. Based on the works of Calmfors and Wren-Lewis (2011) the EuropeanCommission (EC) is defined as an FPC. Based on this survey, two hypothesis are formulated: (1) theforecasts of future macro-economic events and fiscal performance will differ between the national FPCs andthe national government.

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences of how the Swedishemployees union ?Unionen? communicates with its members, on one hand thosewho are members of local union clubs and on the other non-club members. Thenumber of non-club members has increased due to labour market changes implyingthat workplaces have been fragmented and hence affect the possibility to form localunion clubs.The questions posed in the study are: How does Unionen communicate with itsmembers? How does the communication differ between club members and non-clubmembers? What are the preferences of Unionen´s members as far as communicationwith the central organization? What kind of information do the members seek andhow do they find it? What values does Unionen represent? Are there differencesbetween the messages that Unionen is sends out and how members and non-clubmembers, respectively, perceive them?A case study method has been used applying both quantitative and qualitativeanalyses. Quantitative methods have been used in illustrating the number ofdiscussion subjects at Unionen´s website, the members needs for receivingcommunication and channel usage while qualitative methodologies have been usedin interviews with Unionen´s members, club chairmen and union representatives aswell as semiotic picture analyses and analyses based on methods of Uses andgratifications theory.One conclusion of the study is that two significant differences of communicationhave been found between members and non-club members.

AbstractEquality between donor and receiver, a study about equality in the Swedish aid politics 1960 ? 2000.Essay in political science, C-level, at Karlstads University, by Britt-Louise Orrmalm Karlsson. Spring 2006. Tutor: Hans Lödén.Sweden has a history as an official aid donor since 1950. The development cooperation has changed through the years in accordance to the Swedish policy and the politics.

The object of interest in this essay is the issue of reducing work hours and how that issue was handled in the Trade Union Confederation (LO). In previous research the struggle for shorter work hours has been viewed as a struggle between trade union and employers? organizations. The previous research has had difficulties in explaining LOs part in this struggle, their actions have not been the expected. LO had not played an active part in the struggle for shorter work hours and the previous research has not been able to given a satisfying explanation for this.

Uppsatsen syfte är att ta reda på ifall den Europeiska Unionens (EU) handelspolicy för den interna respektive den externa marknaden följer den liberala retoriken som förs av unionen. Det är en komparativ fallstudie som använder sig av idealtyper för att ge en nyanserad bild av unionens handelspolicy. Det teoretiska ramverket som används för att framställa dessa idealtyper är merkantilism samt liberalism. Idealtyperna appliceras sedan på de två fallen. Fokus för studien ligger på tiden mellan Lissabonfördraget och 2012 innan den senaste utvidgningen till 28 medlemsstater ägde rum.

There is an increase of financial integration, which can be seen in recent mergers of banks, financial institutions etc. in the European Union especially in the Nordic countries. However there are some weaknesses in providing consumers cross border services in the sector of banking, such as cross border bank account transfer of payments. The existing transaction costs do not encourage cross border services. Nevertheless a customer of a global or European bank can anticipate to be treated the same way in all of its branch offices inside the EU countries.