How does the recent wave of preferential trading arrangements affect, the incentives for further trade liberalization of member states, and the possibility of obtaining global free trade? And are there any differences in this aspect between custom unions and other forms of preferential trading arrangements? These questions are well debated and have divided international trade researchers into two camps, one in favour for preferential trading arrangements and the other side against them. I have used well acknowledged researchers in the area of international trade theory to make a literature study of the above mentioned key elements in the debate. When comparing the two sides I have focused mainly on their differences, assumptions and results. I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing to be alarmed by of the wave of regionalism that?s occurring in the world today, but caution should be applied and more research in this area is necessary before any certain conclusions can be drawn.

Uppsatsen syftar till att med hjälp av de begrepp, vilka kretsar kring företagsansvar, utforska den nya typen av socialt ansvarstagande, benämnt GCC. Författarna lyfter fram tre svenska multinationella företag och undersöker hur de tar ett socialt ansvar i förhållande till GCC. Företag kan genom att tillämpa GCC, adressera makroproblem och i samband med detta generera vinst. Samarbete och driven ledare är nyckelord i dessa sammanhang..

Fokus på hållbarhet i företag ökat kraftigt på senare år. Ett resultat av denna hållbarhetsutveckling är GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), en organisation som utvecklar ramverk och ger vägledning för innehållet i företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar. Svenska Regeringen på initiativ av Maud Olofsson var först i världen med att kräva att alla svenska statliga företag, från och med räkenskapsåret 2008, ska upprätta en externt granskad hållbarhetsredovisning i enighet med GRI:s riktlinjer G3.  Den här studien syftar till att undersöka hur de svenska statliga företagen har påverkats av regeringens nya krav. Studien innefattar en undersökning av sju statliga företag som idag redovisar hållbarhet i enighet med GRI:s riktlinjer. En kvalitativ fallstudie har använts för undersökningen. Efter intervjuer med företagen kan det fastslås att det nya regeringskravet till viss del är en kostsam process.

I?ve chosen primary to analyze commercial form of advertising by world leading companies; McDonald?s, Coca-Cola and HP due to their implementation of global advertising. The fourth campaign that?s being analyzed is not of commercial type instead it?s characterized as an informative campaign that the ideal organization Amnesty is carring out.  The study has been successful in gathering data that could be presented in correlation with already established theories and then comparing the results. The goal of the research is to create an understanding regarding global advertising as well as the scientific debate that?s going on within the subject.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa likheter och skillnader i nyhetsrapporteringen om den globala uppvärmingen mellan Sverige och USA. Vi har inriktat oss på New York Times och Dagens Nyheter. Hypotesen är att den amerikanska tidningen visar sig mer skeptisk till att miljöförändringarna är mänskligt skapade än den svenska tidningen. Tidsspannet vi valt är januari till och med december år 2006 då filmen An Inconvenient Truth hade premiär och skapade debatt i frågan. Undersökningen är av kvantitativ natur.

Over the past twenty years, the cooperation within the European Union (EU) has strengthened and expanded with both more number of Member States and stronger influence on international politics. The unique character of the Union and its ability to enforce peace and humanitarian intervention has attracted attention in political science. This prominent position of the Union is perceived by many scholars who often hold this derived from the Union's influence in international relations. Various terms have been used to define the powers of the Union. The British researcher Ian Manners states that the unique identity of the Union in the international arena is formed by its normative power.  An important policy area within the Union is the environmental cooperation.

In this thesis I analyse and discuss what impact the 2003 U.S lead intervention in Iraq, had for the cooperation against global terrorism between the European Union and the United States. Six years have passed since the Bush administration decided to go on with the intervention, even though they did not have the necessary UN mandate. Due to unsuccessful argumentation in favour of the intervention by the Bush administration, the world got divided. George W. Bush reference to a ?war on terror?, which passed almost unnoticed by Americans, rang alarm bells in many European countries.

Uppsala universitet The aim of this master?s thesis is to investigate, through text analysis, the role of copyright in development, with particular interest of how the concepts knowledge and access to knowledge are used in Access to Knowledge Draft Treaty and WIPO Development Agenda. The definition of the concept knowledge, as it is used in copyright, is based in a Western historical and philosophical context and therefore excludes knowledge created in another type of society. The consequences of this exclusion have effects on development. Further it is stated that knowledge according to the global copyright scheme will be reduced to a commodity, which will have consequences not only in societies in the global South.

Environmental objective 17: Sustainable consumption - An attempt to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption with the environmental objectives system The aim of this report was to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption withthe environmental objectives system through presenting a suggestion for a seventeenth environmental objective ? Sustainable consumption. How the Swedish consumption pressures the global environment and methods to measure the affects was investigated. The pressure was divided into five main fields: climate, air, water, land and chemicals. The impacton humans and the biodiversity was also discussed, as well as differences between how men and women affect the environment and get affected when the environment changes.

Increased trade and eased policy restrictions have brought markets closer together. Prices at different locations are much likely to affect each other to a certain extent. Since the adaption of Common Agricultural Policy in 1995 the Swedish wheat market has been exposed to the world market and Swedish farmers are facing new challenges. A broader knowledge about market integration and price transmission will facilitate Swedish farmers, banks and politicians in making rational decisions. Therefore the aim of this research is to explain how global wheat prices are transmitted on Swedish wheat prices.

Introduction and background: The 1990s crisis and the global financial crisis year 2008 shows the same indications that the property market was affected negative. The Swedish Property companies had a difficult time on the market when the crisis led to decreased property trade and financing problems for the Property companies. The Swedish property companies became less attractive on the market and contributed to a drop in prices on investment property.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to examine if there is any relation between the Swedish Property companies impairments on their investment property and the global financial crisis year 2008.Method: The essay is based on a quantitative study where we examined Swedish Property companies? annual reports. We answered our questions and our purpose from the empirical data that we collected from the annual reports.Conclusions: The study resulted in that we found a correlation between the Swedish Property companies? impairments on their investment properties and the global financial crisis year 2008.

Sedan de borgerliga partierna varit i opposition har man efterlyst förändringar inom den svenska utvecklingspolitiken. Utvecklingspolitiken är samlad i skrivelsen Politik för global utveckling(PGU). Arbetets syfte är att undersöka om det skett några förändringar inom PGU sedan de borgerliga partierna intagit regeringsställning år 2006. Frågorna som är ämnade att besvaras är dels om det går att urskilja några väsentliga skillnader mellan den föregående socialdemokratiska regeringens politik för global utveckling och den nuvarande borgerliga regeringens och dels om den politik för global utveckling som den borgerliga regeringen för, är en del av lösningen på en internationellt ickefungerande utvecklingspolitik. Genom en kvalitativ textanalys är avsikten att utföra en komparation mellan de två regeringarnas PGU för att på så sätt uppvisa eventuella skillnader.

De snabba förändringarna på den globala arbetsmarknaden har medfört att mycket fokus har riktats mot studie- och yrkesvägledningens roll. Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att undersöka hur en mindre grupp studie- och yrkesvägledare kompetensutvecklar sig för att vara ett stöd i skolans arbete att förbereda elever i grundskola och gymnasieskola för en globaliserad arbetsmarknad. Vi vill samtidigt undersöka några elevers förståelse av och framtida tankar om en global arbetsmarknad. Vid genomförandet av denna undersökning har vi använt oss av enskilda, kvalitativa intervjuer med sex studie- och yrkesvägledare, verksamma på olika skolor i Skåne. Dessutom har vi gjort en fokusgruppintervju med fem elever på grundskolor och gymnasieskolor i Skåne.

 In the global society of today it takes more and more to become a successful purchaser. One part of this is to understand distinctions between different countries. The first and the biggest thing that you think about are the languages. Of course this is a big obstacle but there are also big cultural differences to be considered. According to Van Weele (2002) this is something that not, until these days, have been prioritized but today it is becoming more common in the industries.The biggest question we asked ourselves before the work started was how cultural and verbal differences affected the global procurement on Husqvarna.

New Zealand is currently the third largest global producer of kiwifruit and thus plays an important role in the international market. Exports of kiwifruit are also of significant horticultural value for New Zealand and in 2007 the kiwifruit industry accounted for export values of NZ$790 million. The global kiwifruit market has experienced substantial changes in recent years and is likely to change significantly in the near future due to developments in production sources, adjustments to trade policy settings and shifts in consumer preferences. The New Zealand kiwifruit industry needs to consider what the impacts of these changes might be so that future strategies can be constructed effectively. Little quantitative modelling has been done in New Zealand to consider the impacts of changes to the global kiwifruit industry. The major contribution of this research was the development and calibration of a kiwifruit industry-specific partial equilibrium trade model. The model was then used to examine the impacts on New Zealand producers of these trade-related changes in the global kiwifruit market.