Since Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) several constitutional reforms has been taking place. During this time, Sweden has also changed its view on democracy,from a collective to an individual perspective of democracy in the politics. A reasonable hypothesis and the purpose of this essay is to investigate if the Swedish government has beendeveloped towards an Europeanization. The Swedish state audit changed in a pioneering way after the EU- entry, with the formation of Riksrevisionen. Another constitutional change is that the Swedish EU- membership is being instituted in the Swedish constitution. The role of Swedish courts has also changed since the EU- entry. The obvious incitement element for judicial review has been abolished. The question is if this constitutional change has resulted in an Europeanization of the Swedish government and public administration, or if there is sustained evidence in a traditional Swedish government in the constitutional changes that has occurred. To investigate this supposed Europeanization, a normative theory and a traditional European government has been used. The descriptions of a Swedish and European government consist primarily of public pressure. There is nothing that indicates a European change in the Swedish management tradition, with the formation of Riksrevisionen. Riksrevisionens constitutional structure reminds of a traditional Swedish democratic administration. However a broad political majority has agreed on the EU- cooperation and on strengthens of the judiciary. This is in line with the Europeanization.

Most of the sea areas within the European Union are overfished and the catches are estimated to be up to five times lager then the amount to achieve a sustainable fishery. In doing so, the management of EU's marine resources comes to be questioned. The purpose of this study was to analyze EU's administration of marine fisheries and to explore which steps that can be undertaken to counteract the negative trend. The questions of the study were: How does the EU administrate today’s marine fishery recourses? And: How can the problem whit overfishing be discouraged? To answer these questions a comparative analyses were used to compare and evaluate administrative systems. A content analysis were also used on official documents. The fundamental problem is that the sea is a common resource and contains many users, which can cause overfishing. There is a lack of property rights, which lead to the tragedy of the commons because everybody has the right to use the recourses of the sea. When there is many users the individual’s contribution is “a drop in the ocean” and there is no motive for individual action. The study concluded that there were major problems with the current administration and that there were a strong conflict between conservation and exploitation. The total catch quota are set too high and it creates a situation whit a “race to the fish” to catch as many fish as possible before the quota is reached. Problems also arise because the EU has an ineffective regulation of the fishery that gives fisherman little freedom to act on.   By creating property rights it sets a value on the resource that would provide a longer-term sustainable administration. Three management systems to create a rights-based management were analyzed which were the territorial use right in fisheries, local governance and individual transferable quotas. Of these, the individual transferable quotas were the most potential option. Though property rights can create an opportunity it does not solve the whole problem whit overfishing, some difficulties still remains such as the supply of public goods. If the current management is ongoing, the problem whit overfishing persists. Changing today’s administration to a rights-based management can lead to sustainability within the EU fisheries. Keywords: EU, Overfishing, property rights, Rights-based management.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the operation of membership criteria, which are applied against countries that wish to join the European Union (EU). More specifically, the importance of some criteria in comparison to others is considered. To answer this proposal, three questions are posed: What are the EU membership criteria? Are some criteria more important than other criteria? Does the EU treat candidate countries differently in applying the membership criteria? Three countries are used in this analysis, each country representing one recent enlargement round: Poland (2004), Romania (2007), and current candidate country Turkey. Both official documents, such as EU treaties, and unofficial documents such as statements from EU leaders are used to analyze the application of membership criteria. The method that is used in this thesis is idea analysis. The EU has both official criteria, which are found in the foundation treaties, and unofficial criteria, which are the public and political opinions among the candidate countries and current EU member states. It is suggested that none of the criteria are more important than others; a candidate country must fulfill virtually all the official and unofficial criteria in order to gain EU membership. Although all criteria must be met, the application of the criteria is uneven between candidate countries. The EU does not treat countries differently when it comes to the official criteria. However, when it comes to the unofficial criteria, Turkey is treated differently from Romania and Poland. There is greater resistance to Turkey’s future membership, making it much more difficult for Turkey to reach the stage of full EU membership.

This study examines whether the policy breadth and the alternatives in European politics affect variations in voter turnout between member states in elections to the European Union Parliament. The theoretical approach assumes that; a larger political polarization, an increase in EU-skeptical parties and a greater voting mobilization among groups with less means results in higher voter turnout figures. The study also consider four other variables; whether the election is held on weekends or weekdays, whether elections coincide with other national elections, whether a country has held the presidential of the EU during or the immediate term prior to the election and finally the turnout figures from national elections. The research design is based upon a quantitative analysis using data from EP elections, national elections and databases from the European Elections Studies (EES). Study unit is twelve member-state countries and their four latest EP elections (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). The selected member-states origin from the EU-15 excluding Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg due to their compulsory voting laws. The study found relationships between higher turnout figures in EP-elections and increase in EU-skeptical parties, greater mobilization among groups with less means, elections held on weekends, elections coinciding with other, national elections and an increase in voter figures in national elections.

<p>This thesis has investigated and analysed whether or not the Nord Stream Natural Gas Pipeline has affected or changed Europe's security situation. By analysing how the Nord Stream Natural Gas Pipeline has been described as a political or economic project by the EU, one can conclude whether the project has been securitized by the EU or not. This is done through the study of official EU documents. The documents have been analysed using framework for sector analysis  and securitization as theorised by the Copenhagen School of international relations. By distinguishing the different conceptions of threat, security and methods discussed in these documents it is possible to analyse whether arguments belong to either the economic or political sector of sector analysis, and how they can be seen as signs of securitization. This has been done by utilizing qualitative text analysis in a case study framework. The thesis concludes that the  Nord Stream Natural Gas Pipeline has not been securitized as a threat by the EU. On the contrary, the project is endorsed as a part of energy proliferation. The EU insist and encourages upon the project and several similar ones in order to ensure energy security for the EU in the future.</p>

<p>The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the operation of membership criteria, which are applied against countries that wish to join the European Union (EU). More specifically, the importance of some criteria in comparison to others is considered. To answer this proposal, three questions are posed: What are the EU membership criteria? Are some criteria more important than other criteria? Does the EU treat candidate countries differently in applying the membership criteria? Three countries are used in this analysis, each country representing one recent enlargement round: Poland (2004), Romania (2007), and current candidate country Turkey. Both official documents, such as EU treaties, and unofficial documents such as statements from EU leaders are used to analyze the application of membership criteria. The method that is used in this thesis is idea analysis. The EU has both official criteria, which are found in the foundation treaties, and unofficial criteria, which are the public and political opinions among the candidate countries and current EU member states. It is suggested that none of the criteria are more important than others; a candidate country must fulfill virtually all the official and unofficial criteria in order to gain EU membership. Although all criteria must be met, the application of the criteria is uneven between candidate countries. The EU does not treat countries differently when it comes to the official criteria. However, when it comes to the unofficial criteria, Turkey is treated differently from Romania and Poland. There is greater resistance to Turkey’s future membership, making it much more difficult for Turkey to reach the stage of full EU membership.</p>

<p>This study examines whether the policy breadth and the alternatives in European politics affect variations in voter turnout between member states in elections to the European Union Parliament.</p><p>The theoretical approach assumes that; a larger political polarization, an increase in EU-skeptical parties and a greater voting mobilization among groups with less means results in higher voter turnout figures. The study also consider four other variables; whether the election is held on weekends or weekdays, whether elections coincide with other national elections, whether a country has held the presidential of the EU during or the immediate term prior to the election and finally the turnout figures from national elections.</p><p>The research design is based upon a quantitative analysis using data from EP elections, national elections and databases from the European Elections Studies (EES). Study unit is twelve member-state countries and their four latest EP elections (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). The selected member-states origin from the EU-15 excluding Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg due to their compulsory voting laws.</p><p>The study found relationships between higher turnout figures in EP-elections and increase in EU-skeptical parties, greater mobilization among groups with less means, elections held on weekends, elections coinciding with other, national elections and an increase in voter figures in national elections.</p>

No description available.

<p>This thesis is about Turkish accession to the European Union and criteria to be fulfilled in order to become a member state. At Helsinki summit there were defined four main areas, that are the main obstacles of Turkish membership in the structures of EU – military influence in domestic politics, economy disproportions, the issues of minorities living in Turkey and problems with obeying human rights and fundamental freedoms. In addition the attitude among European countries and Turkish political elites has changed dramatically since 1999. There is a great discussion, whose main purpose is, to show if Turkey should or shouldn’t become a part of united Europe. With the help of created conceptual framework, which is empirically based on qualitative methods and with theoretical approach in form of analysis considering human rights, I have developed a set of three hypotheses, that are based on primary and secondary sources like EU, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International reports considering changes of Turkish attitude to the question of human rights. In the process of testing validity or invalidity of those hypotheses, I have tried to conclude, why the implication of reforms considering human is the main obstacle of Turkish membership in the EU.</p> / The paper may be used free, but it is forbidden to copy or use directly any parts of it without earlier contact with author.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to examine the approach of the EU towards the reform efforts of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the countries ambitions for EU memberships. The question formulation of the essay is whether there is differences in Turkey’s and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s qualifications for an EU-membership from an EU perspective. In order to better answer the question, we use two part questions. One is about the criterias and qualifications that need to be met in order to get a membership. The other one is about the approach of the EU towards the two countries concerning EU memberships. Primarily we use official EU documents from which we make a qualitative content analysis. As an advanced feature, we use a comparative analysis in which the countries are compared in relation to each other. The conclusion of our study is that the EU's approach to Turkey's qualification for EU membership is more positive than to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We also conclude that other circumstances may affect our conclusion, and therefore our findings cannot be considered definite.</p><p>Keywords: EU, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Copenhagen criteria, democracy, rule of law, human rights, protection of minorities, enlargement.</p>