This paper is an assessment of whether the Nordic countries constitute an optimum currency area (OCA) or not. Hodrick Prescott-­?filtered data of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and rate of employment are used to investigate the similarity of business cycles between the target countries through a series of correlation analysis with Sweden as the base reference country and also by using a linear regression model. Additionally there is an evaluation of trade volume and labour mobility between the countries. Our results indicate that Iceland had the least similar business cycles within the Nordic countries and that the area should therefore possibly comprise Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. .

Participating in peace support operations has been and remains a significant part of the Swedish defense and security politics. Since the end of the Cold War, the Swedish national defence has been more and more dismantled, in favor of international peace support operations which have become an increasingly important task for the Swedish defence. Why then, is Sweden so engaged in conflicts so far from home? Using two classic theories of international politics, realism and liberalism, this study aims to shed light on arguments from the Swedish parliament on why it is important for Sweden to participate in international peace support operations. After analyzing arguments of the Social Democrat Party, the Moderate Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party concerning three different peace support operations which Sweden has participated in, the result shows that although both realism and liberalism are influencing the parties? argumentation, liberalism is the theory which is used more often.

In a globalized world, competitiveness is based on the high IP (intellectual property) of our export products and innovations are therefore important for new companies to establish and develop. It´s not enough to just have big international companies but it is also necessary to invest in new companies that can be competitive in the future. By helping entrepreneurs with innovation support in the early stages, new technology-based businesses are established and developed. The purpose of this paper was to examine how innovation support in the early stages affects the establishment and development of new technology-based companies. Furthermore, we investigated how this will affect Sweden's international competitiveness.

This security study attempts to explain the dynamics of international conflict management of an intrastate conflict, through a combination of three theoretical frameworks. The conflict in Syria is shown to be managed mainly through strategies using coercive diplomacy, and some main contributions within the research field relating to strategies of coercion are used for guidance, to important factors which could affect coercive international conflict management, as well as to additional theories which could enhance the study?s explanatory power through a combined theoretical framework. The two added theoretical frameworks are Power Balancing and a Multidimensional concept of Power. With the aid of analytical tools derived from this combined framework the conflict management is analysed within both a multilateral and unilateral setting, offering some explanation as to why international conflict management (practiced by UNSC multilaterally and USA unilaterally) has shown so little progress in regard to the conflict, as well as why one significant, though limited, result could be achieved regarding the destruction of the Syrian regime?s chemical weapons arsenal..

Medieval glasses have for long been a neglected object group in archeological research in Sweden. With that in mind I choose to write about those in my essay. The aim of this paper is to bring the medieval glasses into the archaeological research. I intend to show where you can find medieval glass in Sweden and what kind of glasses have been made. I will also discuss why the archeological research is so limited when it comes to the medieval drinking glasses.

The aim of this paper is to clarify the up till now somewhat shady definition of legitimacy, and to investigate what happens to this concept when it is transferred from the boundaries of the nation state to the realms of the international arena. By creating a model of legitimacy from which an institution can be evaluated, the purpose of this paper is to investigate what legitimacy is and how important it is for the actors within the international society. The next step involves evaluating what makes the UN a legitimate institution and how its foundation is affected by the blatant disregard of its authority by one of its? most influential members.The theoretical framework consists of a summary of what contemporary analysts? views of legitimacy are, which I have incorporated into my own institutional model of legitimacy. The role of institutions is central to all aspects of this study.

The purpose of this composition was to examine which international and Swedish laws exist to govern the protection of asylum seekers claiming persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation. Additionally I wanted to look at what the need for such a right to refuge would be based upon, i.e. why asylum seekers ought to be granted such protection. In order to fulfil my objectives I based my material on international and Swedish laws, comparing these to studies of what negative impact growing up and living as homosexual in an oppressed environment can have on the individual, psychologically and socially. To highlight and exemplify my material I used Iran as a case-study to reflect my facts upon.I found that there has been, and still seems to be a lack of interest in and commitment to the persecution of homosexuals around the world.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur två verklighetsbaserade Hollywoodfilmer, Pearl Harbor och World Trade Center, framställer det amerikanska folket samt dess fiender när landet blir attackerat.Vår studie är baserad på en kvalitativ kritisk diskursanalys förankrad i hermeneutiken, Vi väljer ut två filmer som vi sedan granskar och analyserar.Analysen visar att trots filmerna skiljer sig i handling och när de utspelar sig, så har de många gemensamma faktorer. Det framstår som att USA blir oskyldigt attackerat eftersom det inte redogjorts i filmerna några bakomliggande faktorer till vad som hänt. Genom symboler, handlingar, musik och tal speglas en påtaglig amerikansk patriotism i båda filmerna, det amerikanska folket framställs som hjältar, både uniformsbeklädda och privatpersoner. Fienden är en anonym makt som publiken aldrig får chans att identifiera sig med och framställs som hjärtlös och kall genom musik, färger och bildberättande..

 The intention of this paper is to explore the contacts between the Swedish province of Scania and Southeastern Europe in the Migration Period. This has been done through comparative studies of four object categories. Parallels to glass, horse trappings, jewellery with inlays and sword decorations found in Scania have been studied in southeastern and centralEurope, as well as the cultures of peoples involved in the Migration processes. The conclusion is that contacts were upheld in several ways: through trade, exchange, alliances and gifts. Old trade routes along the Vistula were used in the south-easterly direction to the Pontic area but were changed to the Moravian Gatein the latter half of the period, while westerly routes probably worked most of the time.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur omsättning och rörelseresultat har samband med företagets kapitalstruktur. Resultaten jämförs med befintlig teori för att verifiera de teoretiska ansatserna. Regressionsanalys av tidsserier för 32 svenska börsnoterade företag med mer än 20 miljarder svenska kronor i omsättning 2010 har använts vid den här undersökningen. Data från åren 2004 till 2010 till varje företag är tagen från databasen ?Affärsdata? och undersöks genom regressionsanalys. Först undersöks varje år och företag för sig.

Our aim with this Master thesis is to show how some selected actors react on the decrease in reading amongst people within the LO group the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. The methods used are interviews and literary studies. The theoretical background of our discussion is based on the theories and definitions of Bourdieu. The actors we investigate are the public libraries, some various trade unions, the adult education Organization ABF, the cultural affairs committee. We discuss from what view on their own role/obligations respective the society they act and what barriers that prevents reading, the actors consider exists within the group of adults less familiar with reading.

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.

The United Nations has a responsibility to combat acts of international terrorism, as they constitute a threat to international peace and security. In spite of this, there exists no generally accepted definition of the phenomenom within the UN. By examining resolutions on terrorism, this thesis aims to evaluate the UN?s policy on terrorism since the end of the cold war until 2003. The results show that the UN?s attitude towards terrorism eversince the end of the cold war has been condemning, but that the the events of September 11th 2001 has contributed to an even more firm approach to the problem.

The society has strongly developed and changed the condition of the trades. The retail trade is no exception; it has changed and developed in the same pace as society. The retail trade is a very broad and extensive trade as all people come in contact with frequently. In the past people shopped locally but nowadays people have the entire world as their marketplace because of the development of Internet. Globalisation gives customers wider opportunities, which demands new and different sales concepts.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible reasons Sweden might have had to motivate the start and end of its nuclear program during the Cold war. This investigation will be conducted using a qualitative research method and making a comparison between the theories realism and liberalism?s ability to explain the decisions. The question this paper is based upon is as follows: Can Sweden?s creating and shutting down of a nuclear weapons program during the Cold war be explained by the international events and actions that were taking place during this time period? The result consists of liberalism pointing out several failures on the international level that might explain the cynical decision from Sweden to create the nuclear weapons. Realism considers the decision to make perfect sense at this point in time, to protect Sweden on the anarchy that was going on at that time according to this theory.The ending of the nuclear weapons program is being explained largely by the rise of the MAD-concept which renders the acute need of nuclear weapons in Sweden void.  Liberalism on the other hand considers this a logic step due to the better established UN that is playing a larger role now than in the 1940s. In conclusion, realism does a better job explaining the start of the nuclear weapons program, while liberalism explains the end of it more efficiently. The contribution this thesis has to the research of political science can be seen mainly in three areas.