What kind of international actor is the European Union and how shall we define it? These are questions that many have tried to answer often by addressing the apparent uniqueness of the EU itself. One of these theories is Normative power Europe. A theory whose main argument is that the EU is best perceived as a changer of norms. My aim with this thesis is to test this claim and to see if the Union should be regarded as a normative power.

In 1989 the United States choose, after years of conflict, to carry out a military intervention in Panama, to remove Manuel Noriega, convicted for drug dealing and for threatening the lives of the Americans living in Panama. The aim of this study is to examine whether George H. W Bush?s arguments for the military intervention comply with the principles of the just war.The method chosen for this study is a qualitative literature study, based primarily on secondary data. It is a case study with two complementing theories, the theory of the just war and the world system theory.The result showed that the American intervention both can be justified and unjustified following the principles of the Just War Theory.

In order to drive innovation and growth in a nation is it important to have innovative companies. Many of those innovative companies are smaller companies, which are in need of capital injections for expansion of its operations or to be able to produce a commercial product. In many cases the banks will not lend because they believe there is too great a risk that they will not get their money back. It is in this situation venture capital becomes interesting. Venture capitalists? see the potential the product and/or entrepreneur possesses and are therefore more willing to take the risk in investing in these companies.

Syfte: Denna studies syfte är att beskriva förtroendets roll i långsiktiga affärsrelationer mellan företag inom automationsindustribranschen. Betydelsen av ett starkare/svagare förtroende beskrivs och detta görs utifrån automationsföretagens perspektiv.Metod: Teorin grundar sig främst på Morgan och Hunts (1994) trust & commitment theory, där förtroende och relationsåtagande beskrivs som förutsättningar för långsiktiga b2b relationer. För att kunna testa hypoteserna, samt besvara syftet genomfördes en kvantitativ undersökning i form av en enkätundersökning med 251 deltagande företagskontakter.Resultat: Förtroende och relationsåtagande är förutsättningar för långsiktiga B2B relationer, vilket är en fördel för automationsföretag. En viss nivå av osäkerhet behövs för att förtroende ska kunna existera i långsiktiga affärsrelationer mellan automationsföretag.Nyckelord: Förtroende, Relationsåtagande, Osäkerhet, Långsiktiga affärsrelationer, Business-to-business..

Tobaksanvändning är ett av de största hoten mot vår hälsa. Det finns mycket att vinna på att sluta röka cigaretter och det är aldrig för sent för att sluta. På arbetsplatsen är det viktigt att fokusera på arbetsmiljön då denna påverkar individens välbefinnande och hälsa. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att kartlägga vilka åtgärder som satts in inom rökavvänjning med inriktning på arbetsplatsen som arena. Metod: För att besvara syftet har en systematisk litteraturstudie gjorts.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the development of profitability and capital structure in Swedish quoted companies during the period of 1990 to 2004. Further, the aim is to determine the relationship between profitability and leverage in order to conclude whether the choice of capital structure supports the pecking order theory or the trade-off theory of capital structure. The findings show that return on assets fluctuates between 3 and 11 percent and that return on equity fluctuates between 3 and 22 percent during the period. Further, the leverage and the cost of debt have decreased. This indicates lowered financial risk in Swedish quoted companies in the period between 1990 and 2004.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a difference between the respondent groups preparers and non-preparers position in IASBs question if a reversal of previously impaired goodwill should be prohibited. The background is an exposure draft sent out by the IASB and we examine the answers, in form of comment letters, sent in by the respondents to reach our purpose. Our method is positivistic in the sense that we study already existing theories when we create our hypothesis which gives our assumption about how the result of the respondent?s answers will be. Our data, which we have collected from the comment letters, is qualitative secondary data.

Over the last years there has been a considerable change in Swedish municipals. The number of municipals run by a rainbow coalition, a coalition made up of parties from different political blocks, has increased dramatically. Despite this clear pattern little research has tried to explain this increase. My thesis? aim is to try and clear the water around this subject by answering three questions about this type of coalitions.

The Arctic region has not been a topic of discussion or a reason for a conflict in the past, but with the development of environmental issues which has resulted in melting of the ice, so has the interest for the region developed. This has resulted in a conflict over the area, with five countries as main actors. This paper investigates the five main actors? goals with increased influence in the area, using the thoughts of Rational Actor Model, with states as utility-maximizing actors and foreign policy as the expression of national interest. Furthermore the paper investigates the means of getting to the goal, what kind of tools they use.The paper shows that all of the countries are interested in the economically benefits that are buried under the melting ice and the short cuts in sea routes that will be a possibility to use ones the ice melt more.

Många ekonomiskt intresserade människor tror fortfarande att de finansiella marknaderna är effektiva såsom Fama:s (1970) hypotes om effektiva marknader förutspår. Insikten om att insatta nationalekonomer idag har en helt annan uppfattning och att forskningen mer och mer visar på en annan bild, har dock svårt att spridas.I denna uppsats ges en grundlig beskrivning av var forskningen står idag. Dessutom görs en empirisk momentumstudie på den svenska aktiemarknaden, vilket visar sig bli ännu ett bevis på att marknaderna inte alltid är så effektiva som det påstås. Resultatet bekräftar att man genom att köpa tidigare vinnare kan tjäna riskjusterad överavkastning på de finansiella marknaderna..

The aim of this thesis is to examine the Swedish model with attention to core values over time, as well as, explain recent changes. It examines changes of the social insurance system, with focus on political reforms in the unemployment insurance, health insurance and family policy, during the last two decades. The thesis is empirical but although a discourse amount political theories and normative conceptions.Conclusions are that the normative basis in the Swedish model contains general equally and uni-versally designed rights and consensus on growth and development as well as a strict focus on an employment oriented society. Important values have also been dialogue between actors as well as accountability, even if these facts appear to have declined in recent years.Relating to three leading theories in political philosophy - utilitarianism, Rawlsian communitarian-ism - explores the directions in later year political reforms. The results show that later years changes seem to go in relative strongly utilitarian direction.

Background: In the current labor and business policy debate in Sweden there is a major focus on the need for it to become easier to set up small firms, and that it needs to become easier for small firms to hire staff. In order to set up and run a business, funding is required. Firms can choose to work more or less actively with this issue, but they all need to relate to it. There are basically two ways to fund a business, either through equity or through debt. The ratio between these two sources is called the firm?s capital structure.Purpose: To chart the capital structure of small firms in Sweden.

This report explains the need to develop a configuration manager that handles transmission equipment which exists in the Swedish Defence telecommunications network. The configuration module will display the configurations and compatibility among the equipment and their software which are all part of the network.Also included in this report are tools, methods and results for the development of a prototype for the configuration manager. The prototype consists fundamentally of a database assisted by a user friendly website.The transmission equipment handles a lot of important transmission of information and is in the hands of a department of SAAB, OFGCA, by orders from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV). Within the work included in this order exists a continuous update of both software and hardware which the equipment consists of. Therefore it?s highly important that there is a monitoring of which of the software and hardware is compatible with one another, ensuring that the functions of the system work properly.The consistent updating has resulted in compatibility issues between components and because of this, a need for a configuration manager has arisen..

An ongoing concern within the Intellectual Technological world is the issue of security. There are severe consequences if someone without permission searches a computer for secret information that was left unlocked. In order to prevent this situation from occurring, rules about password lengths or employees bringing personal flash drives into the company should be created and followed.As Internet become a worldwide phenomenon, the use of information technology is growing more than ever. With more use and accessibility to Internet, new threats against companies have also emerged. This report brings up the main issues that a company needs to regulate today.The standard for regulations and proposals for IT-security comes in a document called ISO 17799 and very complicated for those who are not experts in the field.

Abstract This essay discusses whether or not the technical assistance given by The WTO will effect the reduction of poverty in LDCs. The liberalization of trade is considered to be one of the main forces behind economic growth and the reduction of poverty. Can trade reduce poverty?The WTO formed The Integrated Framework pro to the Doha Round in 2001 to assist the LDCs in aiding them implement the WTO's framework. Has this implementation been effective?The WTO also created The EPRP program to the Doha Round in order to create poverty reducing projects amongst developing countries.