This thesis aims to explain the emergence of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, and its institutional shaping, by using elements of Neofunctionalism and Liberal Intergovernmentalism.Using Neofunctionalism, the Common Foreign and Security Policy can be explained both as a side-effect of Europe's economic integration, and as a way to maintain the former and the European Union's position as an economic superpower. The institutional shaping is a result of lack of convergence between important national interests. Therefore it rests on a firm intergovernmental base, with rigorously limited use of supranational decision-making.For Liberal Intergovernmentalism, geopolitics and ideology, and to a certain level log-rolling, have played important roles. The reunification of Germany convinced France to form an alliance between the two countries. France, determined to achieve an economic and monetary union, thus offered Germany a political union, including a Common Foreign and Security Policy on intergovernmental terms.

Förhållandet mellan handel och miljö är kontroversiellt inom The World Trade Organization (WTO) och arbetet på området präglas av motsättningar. WTO-kritiker har pekat på ett antal tvister inom WTO där WTO:s tvistlösningsorgan beslutat till nackdel för det land som har infört handelshindrande åtgärder för att skydda miljön. Utfallet kan tolkas som att miljöintresset förlorade mot handelsintresset. Det är dock tveksamt om man kan dra några slutsatser enbart genom att se till utfallet. Denna uppsats syftar till att bringa mera klarhet i hur WTO-reglerna balanserar frihandelsintresset mot miljöintresset.

Denna fallstudie behandlar USA:s negativa ställningstagande till Kyoto-protokollet. Syftet är att utreda och analysera vilka olika faktorer som kan tänkas ha legat till grund för den ändrade inställning som landet intog efter att George W. Bush hade tillträtt som president 2001. Både systemfaktorer och inrikespolitiska faktorer tas i beaktande och hela studien tar George W. Bushs person som utgångspunkt.

This thesis consists of three parts: one normative, one empirical and one constructive, with the intention to explore the enforcement of accountability in megaprojects.The thesis aims to evaluate the level of accountability in the policy process of the European Spallation Source, ESS between 1990 and 2008. In order to make a comparison possible, a norm is created concerning how a policy process should be designed, with primary focus on openness and participation, to make enforcement of accountability possible. The policy process of the ESS is compared with this norm with the purpose of discovering whether the process contains elements that assure enforcement of accountability. After the comparison is done, it is possible to formulate constructive proposals about how the enforcement of accountability can be improved.The thesis also explores how networks, consisting of actors with particular resources, surrounding the ESS-project affects the form of the policy process, e.g. in shaping the social construction of the aim and purpose of the project.

Since a decade back in time, Sweden is officially recognised as a multicultural society. Different cultures exist side by side and the city of Malmo is one of the clearest examples of this setting. In multicultural societies, the dichotomy of ?us? versus ?them? is common, which leads to segregation and asymmetrical relations of power. The concept of intercultural education is in theory known to be able to create a position of ?us? where every culture is equally recognized and reinterpreted and thus become an alternative to the dichotomy.

Medborgarsammanslutningar har funnits i Sverige sedan 1800-talet och delas upp i folkrörelser, som är av mer ideell karaktär, och intresseorganisationer som sätter de egna medlemmarnas bästa i första rummet. Medborgerligt deltagande i det politiska systemet motiveras med att demokratin ökar då medborgarna tillåts uttrycka sina åsikter. Det svenska systemet har länge präglats av en hög grad av korporatism där medborgarsammanslutningar i hög grad har inkorporerats inom kommunalt och statligt beslutsfattande. Idag talas det dock allt oftare om att det svenska systemet håller på att förändras, att det pågår en avkorporatisering. Enligt många forskare håller det svenska samhället på att ersättas av en växande pluralism där medborgarsammanslutningarnas starka band till staten löses upp.

This thesis is a comparative analysis of language policy in the Post-Soviet states Ukraine and Kazakhstan, wherein the states are seen as rational actors using language as an instrument in the nation-building process. With a take-off point in an underframe of theories on the nation, national identity, instrumentalism, power and the particular role of language in the nation-building process, this thesis shows that language is a key instrument used by the two states.The Ukrainian and Kazakhian language policies create and put across a certain image of the nation, by emphasising the titular languages as symbols of the new states. The line of argument in the language policy is a balance act between large-scale promotion of titular languages and a careful and inclusive attitude towards the Russian language. The biggest differences are that Ukraine, compared to Kazakhstan, has a more comprehensive and consequent language policy with a deeply rooted historic rhetoric. The most obvious instruments of the states in language policy is censuses, corpus-planning and the state choosing one official language..

Argentina var först i världen med att införa lagstadgad kvotering av kvinnor till parlamentet. Målet med kvoteringen var att öka jämställdheten, detta genom att ge kvinnorna mer inflytande. Det har dock visat sig att kvinnornas inflytande över politiken inte ökat i samma takt som deras antal och vi försöker i vår uppsats förklara detta. Vi gör det med hjälp av teori om vikten av kvinnors organisering i politiska sammanhang, och det motstånd denna organisering ofta möter. Uppsatsen är en fallstudie baserad på feministisk teori, forskning om kvinnor i politiken samt material om främst Argentina och Latinamerika.

AbstractUSA:s biståndspolitik har främst använts strategiskt för att främja nationella intressen. Bi-stånd kan vara ett effektivs sätt för en stat att utöva ekonomisk makt över en annan. USA har gett bistånd till Israel sedan början av 50-talet då USA:s stora population av judar har skapat ett närmast inrikespolitiskt intresse i landet.Egypten har efter att fredsföredrag skrevs med Israel 1979 erhållit stora summor i militärt och ekonomiskt bistånd från USA. Det har varit viktigt för USA att se till att Egypten håller freden med Israel samt att ha en av arabstaterna som allierad i Mellanöstern. Egypten har varit det land som, efter Israel, fått mest bistånd från USA.Pakistans geografiska läge har under perioder varit ytterst viktig för USA, framför allt på grund av hotet från Sovjetunionen under Kalla kriget.USA:s strategiska biståndspolitik förklarar vi utifrån realistisk teori inom internationell politik..

Social policy has now received an increased attention in the European Union. The European welfare states experience a high level of unemployment, which the EU now tries to handle through the European Employment Strategy (EES). The core of this essay is whether the welfare institutions of the European member states are integrating through an institutionalization process or not. Within the EU four different types of welfare models can be identified: the Scandinavian, the Continental, the Southern and the Anglo-Saxon. The welfare models differ in the institutional settings e.g.

At the EU summit in Cologne in 1999, a consensus was reached concerning the common foreign and security policy within the European Union. It was decided at the summit that the WEU (Western European Union) should be incorporated into the EU - whom would then be given military capability to act autonomously without the necessity of Nato involvement. This essay investigates the factors that made this agreement possible from a rational choice perspective, but also from the perspective of the power and influence on negotiations on behalf of various types of leadership present at the meeting. Many nations at the summit of Cologne where for the creation of a military force in the form of ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) within the Union, and many where against such a decision. However a consensus was reached and that is what this essay shall try to explain.

The purpose of this essay was to analyze the collapse of democracy in the Weimar Republic. This was done by analyzing some of the most turbulent crises in its history like the communists attempt to take power in 1919, the kapp-putsch of 1920, hyperinflation 1923 and the economic depression 1929-1933. The method that I used in this essay is called methodological individualism. It was an analytical framework which helped to understand the citizens view on democracy and legitimacy. The theoretical framework was based on Juan J.Linz and Seymour Martin Lipsets ideas on legitimacy and efficacy.

Och nu blir det reklamfilm - En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av de sju svenska politiska reklamfilmerna inför EU-valet 2009Seminar date: 2010-01-14Department: Media- and Communication scienceReport category: Degree project undergraduate levelAuthors: Johan Heikensten and Elin LarssonAdvisor: Kristoffer HoltPurpose: When TV4 for the first time offered advertising time to the Swedish political parties for the upcoming election of the European Parliament in 2009, a huge debate broke loose in the media. Regardless of opinions on the matter, we find it safe to say that political television commercials will have a great influence on future election campaigns in Sweden. Hence, we find it of great interest and importance to examine these seven commercials in order to look for tendencies, strategies and trends within the material. Theories: The theory chapter includes Communication, Political communication, Videostyle, Commercial strategies, Rhetoric and Semiotics. Methodology: The survey is based upon two qualitative analyses, a rhetorical analysis and a semiotic analysis.

The purpose of this essay has been to compare different constitutions, and their outlook on citizenship, rights, obligations and natural duty. This has been done in the light of the political philosophy, in order to give the answer to four questions. These questions are: Which rights and obligations can be seen in the constitutions, and how can it be interpreted. Can there be signs of any political philosophy in the constitutions?  Are there any differences between the constitutions regarding citizenship, rights, obligations and natural duty? If so, what are the differences? Can the rights be seen in a further extent than the obligations in the constitutions?I have conducted a qualitative comparision study and analyzed the political philosophers and made a classification scheme of their views.

The following thesis is examining compliance with EU-law from a member state perspective. The variation in the compliance level between the member states from 1995 to 2005 is analyzed to prove the fact that the Nordic member countries during the measured time period experienced a low number of infringements. The infringements that did occur were resolved faster and more efficient in the Nordic countries then in the other member states. The theory used to explain the Nordic compliance rate is divided between external and internal pressure in a pull and push model. The external pressure is illustrated with argumentative persuasion from the EU-commission to the individual member states; how the state responds to the persuasion in order to act compliant.