Most of the European citizen can today live their lives in relative security. At the same time our communities are faced with more and greater security threats than ever. Terrorism has risen to become one of the greatest security threats to the European union and its citizens and one can therefore ask the question; has the European Union view of terrorism changed over time or has the interpretation of the threat been constant?                       The purpose of this essay is thus to analyse how the European Union describe and see the threat of terrorism before and after the attack on the United States 2001. The analytical instrument of the essay consist of Buzan et al. (1998) Securitization Theory that enables extraordinary measures to be used in the name of security. Furthermore, the essay is a systematic study and the material consist of documents from the European Union.

There's no doubt today that mankind has contributed to the changing climate by her use of fossil fuels. This must change in the nearby future. The European leaders are expressing concern that renewable energy sources are not being used to their full potential. The 2001/77/EC Directive on Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources was accepted in 2001 to encourage the development of energy production from renewable sources, which is considered a step towards the fulfillment of the goal of the Union, that 12% of the gross energy consumption should come from renewable energy sources by the year 2010. The objective of this thesis is to illuminate the common legislation of the EU regarding renewable energy with regard to goal fulfillment, judicial quality, conflicts with other goals of the EU and other faults. The objective is reached by a hermeneutic study in which interpretation of written text is the main method. To analyze whether the EU stimulates the usage of renewable energy within the union I have applied a method used in audits. I have analyzed an empirical material and drawn conclusions using an inductive method. It is difficult to make specific demands on the legislation of member states because the circumstances vary heavily depending on external factors and other laws. The laws of the European Union must conform to a large number of criteria to be considered rational and legitimate. They must be in line with the basic goals of the union, serve the purpose of the legislator, not violate any human rights and be coherent with other legislation. Directive 2001/77/EC complies with the fundamental goals of the union. It also complies fully with basic human rights, particularly the right to a good environment, which is included in the third generation human rights. The directive does not however meet all the political rationalities because it does not serve all intended political purposes. The directive was accepted as an important step for the union to reach the goals of the Kyoto protocol. It is, however, clear that the goals for the year 2010, as presented in the directive and the Kyoto protocol, will not be reached unless the use of renewable energy sources sees a drastic increase.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Gothenburg city maintains democracy, more specifically through a citizen perspective of the international work in the European Union. To examine democracy the essay will use Lundquists theory about democracy values and efficiency values, this to discern whether or not there are such values in their document about policy and guidelines for international cooperation in Gothenburg city. The paper will also discuss the results in relation to Dahl’s discussion about democracy vs efficiency. To fulfill the purpose, the paper uses a theory-consuming method. This due to the fact that the method places the case as the main object for the research, and not the theory. Furthermore, the method does not have the purpose to generalize the results. To be able to ascertain if there is such values in the policy document, the method contains a schedule with democracy values and efficiency values. The intent of the schedule is to find different ”sentences/keywords” in the document that fits under these different values. After the audit of the policy document, and after sorting out the sentences and the keywords under the schedule, the conclusion is that there are democracy and efficiency values in the policy document. Due to the fact that the purpose was not to measure the quantity of these values in the document, you cannot draw a conclusion of how ”many” it contains. Furthermore, the paper comes to the conclusion that there are some differences in the theoretical definition and the policy document. In relation to Dahl’s discussion, the conclusion is that the policy document maintains democracy values, but you cannot assert exactly to what extent. Keywords: European Union, Gothenburg city, democracy, efficiency.

This paper explains the position of the principle of transparency in the EU up to the year 2010. (Including the changes made by the Lisbon treaty.) The question to answer is: how could transparency develop into a general principle without being mentioned explicitly in the legislation? It was also out to try to see what the future of transparency might look like. In the conclusion it was found that openness and transparency was not something fixed, but an evolving concept. If it was encoded into a single written principle, it could hamper the institutions‟ adaptation to the developing case-law. In the end I concluded that with will and trust, transparency could continue to grow in the future.

The process of building the identity of the European union in the world is constantly ongoing. The common foreign and security policy of the union conveys the purpose of the external actions of the EU, led by the foreign policy chief. Hence, the role that the union is ascribed by the foreign policy chief is of great interest to foreign policy analysis. The purpose of the study is to investigate the differences in role conception of the EU between two EU foreign policy chiefs: Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini. The study applies Holsti’s theory of national role conception, which was developed to suit leaders of countries. The study is an exploratory, comparative case study applying qualitative content analysis on official speeches. The quotes expressing different role conceptions were sorted into different role categories, followed by a comparison within each role category between the foreign policy chiefs. The result of the study indicates Ashton standing out by perceiving EU’s role to be an active actor in neighbourhood of the union, as well as the importance of economic aspects in EU’s external role. Mogherini is distinctive by emphasizing the importance of the EU ensuring the security of the union. The signification of this study’s result is proving Holsti’s theory being applicable beyond countries - this time on the EU. Demonstrating differences in role conception of the two foreign policy chiefs, also shows that the role that the union is ascribed by the foreign policy chief differs depending on who is holding the position in question. One out of many hypotheses that can be formulated in order to explain the demonstrated differences in role conception, is the leader’s background in countries with differing views of the EU. To test this hypothesis as well as formulating others, further research is welcome.

Ukraine is a state that has been characterized by authoritarian trends for a long time. This is due to political division. The political regime in Ukraine has consequently been influenced by pro-Russian and pro-European actors. A minority of Ukrainan population has a desire to join Russia, while the majority of the Ukrainan population wants to join the EU. Therefore, this study will examine the influence of the European Neighborhood Policy on Ukraine’s democratic development between the period of 2009 - 2020. By using the theoretical framework of Daniel Silanders thesis “Democracy From the Outside-In? The Conceptualization and Significance of Democracy Promotion” this study has implemented the six democracy-promoting aspects - actors, interets, methods, channels, relations and impact of the ENP in Ukraine. The main result of this study shows that the European Neighborhood Policy has left a major impact in Ukraine with the different instruments that the EU has provided. For instance, the Association Agreement (AA) and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). However, Russia’s involvement tends to slow down the democratization process in Ukraine, the geopolitical interests of the EU tend to consider cooperation and the lack of down-top strategies has prevented the civil society from becoming involved in the development of democracy.

The purpose of this paper is to answer how/if Swedish school literature in social studies have changed their content and presentation of the European Union since before the Swedish entrance in the union 1995; and if that change has followed the discourse regarding the European Union in Sweden. Earlier studies have shown how Sweden’s stance on European Union changed since its creation after the second world war and how the entrance of the European Union in curriculum affected the school system in Sweden. However, no study has been made to see if the literature which is used in Swedish schools has changed in its presentation and content of the European union since the entrance 1995. Few studies have also focused if the literature follows the discourse and attitudes that Sweden have had regarding the European union during these years. The study has been done by analyzing 6 different social studies books form different years starting in 1986 and ending 2017. What the study shows is that a clear change in the socials studies literature about the European union has happened since 1986 and that the change follows three clear stages, resistance stage, approachment stage, collaboration stage, and is affected by the discourse which runs in Sweden.

The aim of this essay is to use Linz and Stepan’s theory on their five interactive arenas (Civil Society, Political Society, Rule of Law, State Bureaucracy and Economic Society) of a consolidated democracy, to examine whether the Republic of Poland can be considered a consolidated democracy. I will base my research on facts from the year 2015 to 2021, since I want to see how the political changes that have been implemented since the party Law of Justice (PiS) entered into government, and how that has affected Poland as a consolidated democracy. This research is a case study, and the main results of it is that Poland can no longer be considered a consolidated democracy, since it has deficiencies in all five arenas, but they are strongest within the Rule of Law.

The European Union (EU) began as a prevention of future wars. Thereafter the work of the EU has been further integrated, partly linked with ongoing crises in order to follow common goals for the Union. The EU is a central actor affecting freedom and the future of the inhabitants within the member states, and therefore its development needs to be researched. This essay looks at the development of health politics within the EU. Has the pandemic crisis of Covid-19 fostered further integration of health politics within the EU (a political area that has historically been handled by the member states themselves)? This essay assesses the degree of integration and centralization of health politics, based on qualitative research on the conclusions of the European Council during the end of 2019 and 2020. The results of this research indicate further integration of health politics based on its conclusion documents of the European Council during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since I argue that the European Council is a central institution for the EU’s overall development and direction this results indicates a further integration in health politics during the pandemic. However the result needs to be supplemented by research of other institutions such as the Commission and the Council of the European Union (the council of ministers) in order to have wider implications on the overall integration within the European Union.

Europeiska kommissionen har inom ramen för klimatmålen 2030 inrättat två politiska styrmedel, handelssystemet (EU ETS) och förnybarhetsdirektivet (2009/28/EC), för att reducera koldioxidutsläpp. Tidigare studier inom ämnet riktar dock viss kritik mot denna form av kombination och menar att införandet av förnybarhetsdirektivet har en motverkande effekt för priset på utsläppsrätter. Studien ämnar därmed att undersöka om handelssystemet och förnybarhetsdirektivet utgör en målkonflikt. Till följd av att studien inkluderar en interaktionsvariabel i en panelregression med fixa effekter, kan ytterligare belägg för det negativa förhållandet mellan 2009/28/EC och EU ETS adderas. Undersökningen baseras på paneldata över tidsperioden 1990–2018 från 35 OECD länder, och finner att interaktionsvariabeln antar ett positivt och signifikant värde. Resultatet tyder därmed på att 2009/28/EC har en motverkande effekt på handelssystemet. Vidare visar även resultatet att 2009/28/EC har en större negativ påverkan för länder som understiger det nationella förnybarhetsmålet, än för länder som överstiger målet. Studien tillför således vidare insikter om att en målkonflikt kan föreligga.