The European Union has long established itself as the world's most powerful regional supranational formation, which is achieved thanks to its economic results, geopolitical influence, and military might. European integration offers countries with an opportunity to boost their development and have greater impact in the international arena. However, the EU accession criteria are quite hard to meet, and many countries face significant difficulties in this respect, which is the case of Turkey. Since 1987, when Turkey officially applied for membership in the EU, the country hasn't completed its integration in the European community yet. This thesis investigates the main economic advantages and disadvantages in the context of Turkey's prospective accession to the European Union as a full-fledged member state.

International cybersecurity is arguably one of the most serious, complex and recent security-issues of our time. The connectivity between EU member states regarding cybersecurity due to the borderless nature of cyber, together with increasing threat-levels, has made the need for a common response widely acknowledged in the EU for several years. Even so, a common EU cybersecurity response involves problems such as reluctance of member states to share information, that cybersecurity management is linked to national security and therefore touches upon sovereignty, and different levels of cybersecurity development between member states. Despite this, the Network and Information Security Directive was adopted by the European Council in May 2016, involving EU-wide binding rules on cybersecurity. This thesis examines and explains, through a neo-functionalistic approach, how and why this development towards supranational management of cybersecurity in the EU has happened. The author finds that cybersecurity management seems to have institutionalized from a nascent phase during 2013, moving towards an ascendant phase during the end of 2013 and 2014, to end up between an ascendant and a mature phase during 2015 and 2016 – which makes the adoption of the NIS-directive logical. The neo-functionalistic explanation to the development of supranational cybersecurity management in the EU highlights the role of the Commission as a ‘policy entrepreneur’ and the publication of the EU cybersecurity strategy, accompanied by the proposal for the NISdirective in 2013. These regulatory outputs sparked further institutionalization by providing many opportunities and venues for member states to interact and build networks on cybersecurity issues, by initiatives with normative impact to foster an EU ‘cybersecurity community’, by the continuous strengthening of supranational cybersecurity actors such as ENISA, and by supranational cybersecurity cooperation platforms, such as the NIS-platform and the European Private Public Partnership on cybersecurity. Between 2013 and 2016, 21 EU Member States published national cybersecurity strategies, almost all referring clearly to their commitment to EU cybersecurity initiatives. This provides an indicator of a high level of legitimacy of supranational cybersecurity management. However, the thesis also finds that the strongest supporters of EU cybersecurity management are not the most powerful member states but rather the smaller ones. While not expressing a strong commitment to EU initiatives in cyber policy documents, the most powerful member states still agreed to the NIS-directive. This supports the neo-functionalist notion about the “stickiness” of an institutionalization-process, and the possibility that powerful states might have double paths, committing to EU regulation and institutionalization while still continuing their own way.

This study will examine the European Union and its politics towards terrorism between the years of 2015-2017. To help with this, this study uses the theory realism to investigate to what extent the European Union and its politics match with realism. This study shows that the politics from the EU towards terrorism has some realistic elements and, in some areas, it is very clear that the politics from the EU towards terrorism is realistic. However, in some areas the politics do not match with realism and one example of this is the European unions will to prevent and cooperate rather than using military means. To get result this study looked at the politics that was made by the European Union between the years of 2015-2017 and was then able to compare this to the theory of realism. The time period was chosen because of the number of terrorist attacks and because the bigger threats. It is then interesting to examine how the EU:s politics towards terrorism changed because of the threats and attacks.

The role of the European Union (EU) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was strengthened in 2011, when the mandate of the EU Special Representative was transferred from the High Representative of the International Community, to the Head of the EU Delegation in BiH. The EU thus assumed a leading role within the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a state-builder and as democratiser. The EU’s growing prominence puts on it even more responsibility for the future of democratisation in BiH, but it continues to suffer from inconsistencies between its principles and actions, weak legitimacy, and a lack of credibility. Although I subscribe to Ian Manners’ concept of the EU normative power, I argue that the EU does not act as normative power in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This thesis argues that the EU is a normative power in principle, but not in practice, and provides a critique of the EU’s role in promoting and strengthening democracy in BiH. I attribute the exceptionalism of BiH to a restrictive context that is saturated with ethnic nationalism, which permeates all aspects of political life, including constitutional structures, institutions, decision-making, political parties, their policies and rhetoric. I argue that in this post-conflict society in which democracy has not consolidated, the promotion of EU norms is hampered by elite agency, an unfavourable context, and the exiting norms and values that are incompatible with EU norms. Based on my findings about the quality of democracy in BiH, I label it an eclectically unconsolidated democracy, which contains many features of different types of unsuccessful democracies. I argue that the legitimacy, identity, and effectiveness of the EU normative power have been compromised and weakened in the context of an unconsolidated democracy. The case of BiH is exceptional, which the EU fails to recognise, and it falsely applies a ‘cookie-cutter approach’ that treats it as any other aspiring democracy and potential member state. Rather than having a distinct international identity (Manners & Whitman, 1998), the EU suffers from a ‘confused international identity’, which is a consequence of many discrepancies in the way in which various EU actors see their own role in BiH, and how they see the role of the EU. My intention is not to dismiss some aspects of EU normative power, but rather to enrich a debate by providing an alternative perspective. For that purpose, I apply a tailor-made framework of analysis which assesses the level of normative transformation under EU democratisation in the case of two dimensions of democratic quality: equality and trust.

Práce se zabývá vývojem a zhodnocením dosavadních forem podpory podnikání a dotací ze strukturálních fondů. Cílem práce je komplexně zmapovat systém implementace strukturálních fondů v ČR, především se zaměřením na následující finanční perspektivu v období 2007-2013, a přispět tak k lepší orientaci subjektů ČR ve velice složitém systému předkládání žádostí a projektových záměrů a umožnit jim získat obecné povědomí o fungování dotační politiky EU. Dalším cílem práce je přispět i v oblasti metodiky zpracování projektových žádostí a řízení projektů spolufinancovaných ze strukturálních fondů EU.

Hlavním cílem diplomové práce je postihnout úlohu malého a středního podnikání v rozvojových programech mikroregionu Kroměřížsko. Diplomová práce je zaměřena na možnosti podpory malého a středního podnikání z prostředků státního rozpočtu České republiky a z prostředků Evropské unie. V teoretické části práce se zabývám vymezením základních pojmů o malém a středním podniku, charakterizuji podnikatelské prostředí v České republice a uvádím jeho silné a slabé stránky. Uvádím problematiku regionálního uspořádání a struktury České republiky, základy regionální politiky, formy podpory malého a středního podnikání, ekonomické a sociální přínosy malých a středních podniků. Jednotlivé kapitoly jsem doplnila aktuálními informacemi v průběhu zpracování diplomové práce. V praktické části analyzuji prostředí mikroregionu. Zaměřila jsem se na analýzu demografické struktury mikroregionu, jeho vybavenost vybranými druhy zařízení a na analýzu podnikatelského prostředí v mikroregionu. Pozornost jsem zaměřila na programy a projekty v souvislosti s Evropskou unií.

Zemědělství představovalo v minulosti jednu z nejdůležitějších sfér lidské činnosti a i dnes uspokojuje jako producent potravin nejdůležitější základní lidskou potřebu. Zemědělský patří k často kritizovaným oblastem v EU. V práci jsem porovnával vývoj, kterým prošlo zemědělství za posledních 45 let a zhodnotit jeho význam na celkovou hospodářskou činnost a konkurenceschopnost vůči okolnímu světu.

<p>Kvinnor börjar i allt större grad slå sig in på den internationella politiska arenan. En arena som traditionellt endast haft plats för män i svarta kostymer. Att kvinnor tar plats på den internationella politiska arenan har också påverkat utrikesjournalistiken. Fler kvinnor syns i dag på dagspressens utrikessidor än vad det gjordes för 20 år sedan. Men hur framställs de kvinnliga politikerna i medierna när de framträder på en traditionell manlig arena? Genom att undersöka hur två EU-ordföranden, Angela Merkel och Matti Vanhanen, framställdes i textform under tre månader på Dagens Nyheters och Svenska Dagbladets utrikessidor försöker denna uppsats finna svaret på den frågan.</p><p>Med en kvantitativ innehållsanalys och en kritisk diskursanalys har artiklar analyserats utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Det är svårt att hitta ett tydligt mönster i resultaten.</p><p>Den kvantitativa delen av studien visar att Merkel får väsentligt mycket mer uppmärksamhet som EU-ordförande än Vanhanen. Den kvalitativa studien visar emellertid att en typ av ifrågasättande omgärdar framställningen av Merkel. Merkel fick även stå till svars för sina uttalanden själv. Motsvarande tendens gäller inte för Vanhanen.</p><p>Även om det kan vara svårt att dra några säkra slutsatser av undersökningen så har jag funnit att det finns en skillnad utifrån ett genusperspektiv i hur Merkel och Vanhanen framställdes på de två undersökta tidningarnas utrikessidor. Denna skillnad kan dock bero på andra orsaker, som till exempel maktförhållanden mellan små och stora länder inom EU.</p>

Die Grenze - historisches Auslaufmodell? Moralische Zumutung? Unabdingbare Tatsache? Meist ist sie eine Art Limes: Durchlässig für den Austausch bestimmter Waren und Personen, zugleich Schutz gegen das Eindringen unerwünschter Fremder. Vielfach erklärtes Ziel ist ein "grenzenloses Europa". Im Innern der EU sind Schlagbäume verschwunden, an den Rändern wird vielerorts abgeschottet. Die Grenzsortierungen der EU sind Thema der aktuellen WeltTrends. Afghanistan und kein Ende? Die Londoner Konferenz verspricht trotz "neuer Strategie" keinen erfolgreichen Neuanfang. "Es wird zunächst schlimmer", so ein hoher deutscher Militär. Alternativen müssen diskutiert werden: WeltTrends bietet den Raum.

Europeiska unionen har en lång historisk bakgrund. Syftet med ett integrationssträvande var till stor del att säkerställa att en upprepning av de stora krigen inte skulle ske. Ändringar av EU fördragen har tidigare skett genom Maastricht-, Amsterdam- och Nice-fördragen. Lissabonfördraget ratificerades den 1 december 2009 av samtliga 27 medlemsstater inom EU för ett enat överstatligt samarbete. Därmed antogs en serie ändringar i Europeiska unionens fördrag. Avsikten med reformen är att göra EU mer demokratiskt, effektivt och öppen för insyn. Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva om ratificeringen av Lissabonfördraget medför en effektivisering i EU:s institutioner samt huruvida de ändrade beslutsprocesserna effektiviserar EU:s institutionella arbete. Blir EU en mer välfungerande organisation? Ratificeringen av Lissabonfördraget medför att Europeiska unionen innehar en uttrycklig status som juridisk person vilket ersätter den tidigare pelarstrukturen.