With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the 9/11 attacks, the landscape of the freedom of religion has changed. The issues now facing freedom of religion varies greatly from the issues that the drafters of the universal declaration of human rights faced after World War II.In the light of the new issues that States face in the intersection of religion and societal interest, scholars have criticized the European Court of Human Rights to give too much leeway to the States in determining how the human rights should be implemented, by using the doctrine of margin of appreciation. Critics of the margin of appreciation claim that it is based on culture relativism and that the doctrine undermines the universality of the human rights. In order to decide if the margin of appreciation has indeed led to a relativization of the human rights I compared it to the jurisprudence of the UN Human Rights Committee and its use of the Syracusa principles. My conclusion is that the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights cannot be considered to be based on culture relativism.

What is the European Union (EU) and which countries should be part of it in the future? These questions became topical during the first part of the 21st century when political and geographical changes hasten the need to decide the nature of the European cooperation. In the European Constitution, that never come into force, the European values that a key role but was taken away in the succeeding Lisbon Treaty. Nevertheless EU continues to expand, recently to the East and non-European countries asTurkey are now on the ?waiting-list?.

This article seeks to re-imagine the Alandish hembygdsrätt to a regional citizenship. Hembygdsrätt is a judicial tool that regulates acquisition of property and voting rights. Its a central part of the autonomy as it constitutes a social-border between Finns and Alanders.However as Åland and Finland became members of the European Union questions arouse concerning the legitimacy of the current statues. The community argued that it could be considered as a breach of the anti-discrimination principle. Therefore Alandish autonomy was recognized as an exception in the joint-accession treaty of Finland and Åland.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect the Nazi threat had on the swedish labour movement between 1932 and 1939 and to enrich what kind of pre-understanding they had about the fall of the Weimar Republic and the upcoming and effects of the Third Reich.Brought by the development in Germany, a debate and struggle took place in the Social Democratic journal Tiden over the meaning of concepts and there ability, in the hands of demagogs, to overthrow democratic structures. The concept of socialism and its concepts attribute play a major part in this investigation. By establishing fields of tension such as - nation vs internationalism, socialism in theory and in practice, political democracy vs evolved democracy and the diverse principles of neutrality, the first principle meaning the defending of national boarders, the other meaning not only defending your own country but taking an active part in defending democracy in the world - I was able to observe the movement and change of concepts within this fields. The result showing that the concept of socialism and near related attributes, in the hands of national socialists had undertaken a wast change of meaning, which applied in the Swedish debate threatened to undermine the power and force of the Social Democrats applied in the political discourse in Sweden. To defend itself and strengthening the Social Democratic hegemony as well as maintaining the goal of evolved democratic expansion, they were forced to win the confidence and votes of the middle class.

Enligt Allied Command Operations (ACO) Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD) utgör direktivet en gemensam stomme för planering av North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bidrag till operationer inom ramen för ett Comprehensive approach. Direktivet är avsiktligen detaljrikt för att kunna nyttjas för utbildning. Samtidigt ska det utgöra ett verktyg för erfarna planerare att kunna värdera alla faktorer i komplexa operationer och därigenom ge högkvalitativa operationsplaner på både strategisk och operativ nivå. Framtagandet av ett koncept för ledning är en central del i framtagande av operationens plan. Men för att kunna ta fram ett koncept måste operationens ledningsbehov tas fram.

Direkt skatt faller utanför EU:s kompetensområde men trots det har EU ett indirekt stort inflytande på medlemsländernas skatteregler. Medlemsstaterna får sluta skatteavtal mellan sig utan inverkan av EU, men bestämmelserna i skatteavtalen får inte strida mot EU-rätten, däribland bestämmelserna om fri rörlighet för varor, personer, tjänster och kapital. Sverige och de flesta övriga EU-länder är även medlemmar i OECD. De skatteavtal som är slutna mellan EU:s medlemsländer är därför i stor utsträckning utformade enligt OECD:s modellavtal. Enligt OECD:s modellavtal beskattas inkomster från rörelse och tjänst, enligt huvudregeln i artikel 7 och 15, i hemviststaten.

Trade was assigned as a Community responsibility at the founding of the European Community in 1957. It was then recognized that Europe would achieve a greater international influence if it were to negotiate trade deals with one voice. Since then, the basic rule has been that the European Commission negotiates agreements on behalf of the EC, and presents the agreements negotiated for approval in the European Council. Today, the 25-member European Union is the largest trading power in the world, and most member states have decades of experience of coordinating their national trade interests into a common position. However, partly as a result of the complex nature of the trade decision-making processes it is sometimes problematic to identify who or what really influences EU trade policy.

This is a tale about energy and power. It describes the geographer Halford Mackinder?s geopolitical theories and compares them with current views outlined by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Michael T Klare, among others. With a critical approach it also provides a historical account of a Europe that stands in front of an energy struggle so severe that the current world order seems destined to fall. Oil and natural gas, has since the beginning of the 20th century, been used as a geopolitical tool in order to create dependence, control and even sometimes overthrow empires.

BEPS-projektet startades år 2012 för att förhindra att skattesubjekt använder kryphål i skatteavtalen och staternas nationella lagstiftningar för att erhålla skatteförmåner. År 2013 utgav OECD en handlingsplan som identifierar 15 åtgärder som ämnas vidtas. Åtgärdspunkt 6 reglerar problematiken kring hur skatteavtal missbrukas genom att skattesubjekt ?shoppar? efter jurisdiktionen med det skatteavtal som leder till den förmånligaste beskattningen. Åtgärdspunkt 6 föreslår att en specifik LOB-regel eller en generalklausul, PPT-regeln, införs i OECDs modellavtal för att motverka det aktuella förfarandet.

The globalization and the realization of a European common insurance market have increased the importance of cross border insurance contracts. Despite that, a gathered set of rules regulating cross border insurance contracts does not exist. The sets of rules within Private International Law which arises today when determining the applicable law regarding cross border insurance contracts are the law of 1993 on applicable law to certain insurance contracts (the law of 1993) and the law of 1998 on applicable law to contractual obligations (Rome Convention). Since the Rome Convention is the only Community instrument which still is in the form of a treaty, work has been done in order to convert it into a regulation, called the Rome-I-regulation. Therefore, the future Rome I-regulation is of importance for the thesis as well since it most likely will replace the Rome Convention.Swedish law is based on the principle of party autonomy, which means that the contracting parties have the right to freely agree on the content of the contract, including the choice of law.

The characteristics of free movement is the elimination of obstacles to trade between Member States and thus by such, create free movement within the entire union. Therefore art 34 in the Treaty of Lisabon (FEUF) states that all quantative restrictions on imports and measures of equivalent effect are prohibited. The legal approach to measures having equivalent effect is still unclear and the purpose of this paper is therefore to propose a solution to that particular problem. What can be said when it comes to this rule is that the EU-Court has gone from applying a discrimination test to a market access doctrine.According to the Court´s case law, measures having equivalent effects to quantative restrictions are ?All trading rules enacted by Member States which are capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-community trade?.  The question of how to apply the test when it comes to a potential hinder to intra-community trade is still unclear.

Over the last decade, the private insurance market has undergone a stable growth in turnover and growing demand for insurance products in all Member States of the European Union. Therefore, the creation of a single market in insurance will enable consumers to have access to wider choice of insurance products, and insurance companies to gain access to markets in various Member States and compete effectively. The EU legal framework for the insurance industry embraces the Treaty freedoms of services, establishment and capital, the EC Directives and the ECJ case-law. The present thesis identifies numerous factors that hinder the Community insurance market integration and offers possible remedies. The summary of the market obstacles is all-inclusive and reflects the responses to the questionnaires and the Commission surveys.

Over the last decade, the private insurance market has undergone a stable growth in turnover and growing demand for insurance products in all Member States of the European Union. Therefore, the creation of a single market in insurance will enable consumers to have access to wider choice of insurance products, and insurance companies to gain access to markets in various Member States and compete effectively. The EU legal framework for the insurance industry embraces the Treaty freedoms of services, establishment and capital, the EC Directives and the ECJ case-law. The present thesis identifies numerous factors that hinder the Community insurance market integration and offers possible remedies. The summary of the market obstacles is all-inclusive and reflects the responses to the questionnaires and the Commission surveys.

Sammanfattning Selektiva distributionsavtal används inom många branscher som ett sätt att reglera handeln med produkter och som ett verktyg för att selektera återförsäljarna. Det senaste året har dessa avtal kommit att nyttjas även inom klockbranschen. Det är en speciell bransch där varumärkena får allt större betydelse och det bidrar till en starkare position för de företag som äger och levererar produkter av de specifika varumärkena. Syftet med detta arbete är att utreda huruvida de selektiva distributionsavtalen medför en begränsning av konkurrensen och om så sker, vilka faktorer det är som skapar begränsningarna. Vidare har en diskussion förts om de villkor som nyttjas verkligen är förenliga med lagstiftningen.

Summary Title: Taxes and Human Capital as Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in EU: The role of Most Favoured Nation treatmentAuthor: Andreas HelmerssonSupervisors: Cecilé Brokelind and Rikard LarssonProblem discussion and problem Formulation: The recent year?s rapid increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) is a clear indication of increasing globalisation. In order to stay competitive companies must take advantage of talented people, new technology and new markets around the world. Not only companies but also countries and regions, such as EU, need to take advantage of globalisation and the advantages that come with the increase in FDI around the world. Studies have shown that FDI does not only make companies more competitive but it also stimulates the economic growth of the region where the FDI takes place.