The European Union's long-term budget negotiations during the summer of 2005 were obstructed from being successful due to a quite fierceful debate about the future guidelines of the Common Agricultural Policy. A quarrel about money and who gets what, was the common answer as to why it took the European leaders six months to accept the budget, and quite rightfully. This essay, however, goes beneath those explanations and tries to see what other reasons there might be for such a phenomena.With a new institutionalistic approach this study seeks to see what underlying reasons for why an institution such as CAP is so resistant to change. With special attention to the new historical institutionalism and the rational choice institutionalism the study successfully shows that though the front laying reasons to the problems with the budget might have been economical, several other factors also affected the outcome of the budget negotiations.Structures, national identity and decisions taken when outlining the Common Agricultural Policy in the 1960's still affect the European union, its members and foremost of all, the Policy/institution itself..

De senaste årens demokratidebatt har ofta handlat om passiva ungdomar som inte längre väljer att använda sig av de traditionella politiska och demokratiska uttrycksformerna. Hur framställs denna bild i forskningen? Det finns en tydlig motsättning i hur man inom forskarkåren återger ungdomsgruppens politiska deltagande och hur detta har förändrats över tid. Det politiska deltagandet påstås både ha ökat och minskat, alltihop på samma gång. Genom att redogöra för statliga demokratiutredningar och doktorsavhandlingar vill vi ge en översikt av de övergripande aspekterna utav ungas politiska deltagande.

Studien har till syfte att undersöka hur globaliseringsdebatten ser ut i svensk media och hur den har förändrats under de senaste 10 åren. Fokus ligger på begreppets skilda betydelse som media skapar. Metoden består av en diskursanalys som bygger på Laclou & Mouffes teorier, med fokus kring flytande signifikanter, vilket betyder att begreppet är öppen för olika betydelser och förändlig över tid. Även en innehållsanalys som undersöker mängden artiklar och vilka ämnen som tas upp kring begreppet. Materialet består av fyra svenska tidningar, 95-97 jämfört med 2006.Resultatet visade att det finns konkurrerande diskurser i globaliseringsdebatten bland förespråkare och kritiker, de använder olika begrepp kring fenomenet.

This thesis examines the process of securitization of the environmental issue in the United States. By using the theories of sectoral security and securitization by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, commonly known as the Copenhagen school we go beyond the traditional security frames and examine where the environmental issue in the United States stand today within the securitization spectrum. The securitizing spectrum includes three levels in which an issue can be place: non-politicised, politicised and securitized.The problem, which we wish to address, is if there is a movement of the environmental issue in the United States towards becoming a securitized issue. In the light of these circumstances we also wish to explore who is behind the movement and also find out where the issue stand today. We do believe that Al Gore is a securitizing actor and examine his role in the movement of the environmental issueWe have come to the conclusion that there is an ongoing process of securitization in which the environmental issue have moved from being politicised to becoming securitized..

Arktis är en region som har en mångfacetterad historia. Idag, när isen sakteliga smälter undan, och tidigare gömda naturresurser blir åtkomliga, blir tidigare obetydliga gränsdragningsdispyter nu konflikter, som kan komma att handla om mångmiljardbelopp. Detta sker samtidigt som multilaterala samarbeten blir allt vanligare och ämnesområdena de berör, allt fler. Vi visar att de båda teorierna neoliberal institutionalism och neorealism ger två olika förklaringar till situationen i Arktis, och att man beroende på vilket teoribildning man tillhör, har skilda synsätt gällande hur man ser på regimer i regionen. I studien har vi främst analyserat FN: s havsrättskonvention och Arktiska Rådet, vilka båda kan sägas ha haft stor inverkan på Arktis, men på helt olika sätt..

The thesis Den ?fria? rörligheten aims to give deeper knowledge to the notion of social sustainable mobility. My previous knowledge within the subject is focused around mobility being biased and therefore gaining particular groups of actors within society and leaving others worse off. Therefore I chose to do a critical analysis of social sustainable mobility and more precisely show which problems that exist and why.To start with, I have created a framework for social sustainable mobility, from which I have looked at the empirical material. The general empirical material is mostly based on mobility in Sweden also a more specific study is made of the Öresundregion.

USA:s president George W. Bushs planer på ett krig i Irak mottogs med blandade känslor av Europas ledare. Frankrike och Tyskland var två av de länder som tog täten för en stark opposition mot detta krig och deras beslut kom att orsaka en kris i de transatlantiska relationerna.Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera vilka faktorer som låg bakom Frankrikes och Tysklands ställningstagande, och klarlägga hur olika faktorer kan resultera i ett liknande beslut. Studien är av komparativ art och genomförs på de tre utrikespolitiska analysnivåerna internationell systemnivå, statsnivå och individnivå. Vår uppsats är en teorikonsumerande studie, vilket innebär att fallen står i centrum.

Abstract  This paper examines the Copenhagen Climate Conference held in the Bella Center in Copenhagen, December 2009. The aim of this paper was to analyse the highly anticipated conference, and why it did not result in a binding protocol between the world?s states. The focus of this paper was to examine two key actors in the Copenhagen negotiations: the people?s republic of China and the European Union.

The aim of this thesis has been to analyze and interpret several different discourses in Japan and from the findings see how the Ainu people and their existence in Japan have been defined in today's Japan and in who's interest it is to keep it this way. My findings was that the Japanese nation in all channels of society are reinforcing and perpetuating the belief that it constitutes an ethnically homogenous nation and that there exists no ethnic problems in the country. I found that schoolbooks don?t give adequate information about the Ainu people and its history, and the Japanese press is reinforcing the status quo by their selective silence and limited coverage on issues concerning the Ainu. The government has defined and legitimized the problem of Ainu within the framework of culture and tradition.

I Sverige råder fortfarande boplikt för landshövdingar, vilken avskaffats i alla andra nordiska länder. Den innebär att landshövdingar är tvungna att bo i de fastigheter som anvisas dem av regeringen, vilket i 20 fall av 21 är länsresidens. En förmån på pappret som kan bli kostsam i praktiken. Svenska länsstyrelser lägger sammanlagt nästan 28 miljoner kronor varje år på hyra för residensen.Regeringen står bakom de villkor som finns gällande landshövdingars tjänstebostäder och har inga planer på att förändra dem för närvarande. Det ansvariga statsrådet Stefan Attefall tycker att landshövdingarnas boplikt i residens fyller en viktig funktion ur ett representativt perspektiv, medan Hans Mildenberger på Enheten för statlig förvaltning, hänvisar till symbolvärdet i att ha landshövdingar boende i länsresidens.Men alla är inte lika övertygade om relevansen i landshövdingarnas residensboende.

Turkey has taken part in regular negotiations to gain membership in the EU since 2005. At the same time is Turkey a candidate that stands out from those of earlier rounds of enlargement, and its possible membership got both supporters and critics amongst the Unions member countries. The aim of this thesis is to, trough a textual analysis, investigate the prospects and obstacles Turkeys candidature faces. The material consists of documents from a number of think tanks connected to the European Commission, as well as the Commissions own documents regarding Turkeys negotiations.A recurring picture is that Turkey is treated differently then earlier candidates, and that the Commission has a hard time keeping an unambiguous line in its negotiation frame. The material of the think tanks attributes the public opinions distrust of the member countries of EU as a hindrance, and Turkeys meddling in the conflict on Cyprus is problemized.

Sustainable development is often pictured as containing of three interlinked dimensions- namely environmental, economic and social. ?Social sustainability? is a vague concept that is often thought of as highly context-dependent. This thesis sets out to investigate the meaning of ?social sustainability? in a given context.

According to the theory of elitist democracy civic political participation should be reduced to participation in the democratic elections. This essay examines whether a high rate of institutionalized political participation beyond the elections leads to: (a) that those who are included gets a more favourable treatment at the expense of the common interest, in other words that their self interest threatens the political equality, (b) reduced freedom of action for the politicians and the headmasters, (c) the emergence of vague conditions of responsibility. These hypotheses are examined in an empirical study of user-boards at four schools on three locations in southern Sweden. In these user-boards the parents are in majority and have the right of decision, which has been delegated to them from the local government and the headmaster. The main conclusion is that, based on this empirical investigation, there is no support in any of the hypotheses.

In this thesis we have examined Västra Götalandsregionens ways to lobby and network in the European Union. Our aim was to examine which kind of methods the region uses to lobby in a successful way in Brussels. We found that the region uses both formal and informal methods of lobbying to gain advantages in Brussels. We also wanted to locate various networks which the region is involved in to more easily have their interests satisfied. We found that they had a lot of different alliances and that it is necessary to be involved in different networks to have a chance to lobby the EU institutions.

How should a fair income tax system be designed? Since Estonia became the first country to introduce a flat tax on incomes in 1994, this question has been in focus of public debate. The aim of is this thesis is to show that a flat income tax system, combining a proportional tax rate on all incomes with an allowance exempt from tax, is consistent with the demands of justice. In order to achieve this I construct a two level argument using normative method. The first part consists in the justification of a specific ethical theory which is derived from to notion of human dignity.