Central Asia is a region strategically located at the crossroads of the two continents: Asia and Europe. The region is represented by five states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) with different level of economic development and with the population amounting to over 60 million people. The region is rich in energy resources represented by oil, gas, coal and water resources. The thesis analyses, assesses and scrutinises one of the topical issues of the contemporary international relations - cooperation between the European Union and Central Asian states before and after adoption in June 2007 of the ‘European Union and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership’,  an important political document in the history of relations between the two parties. The new stage of cooperation is analysed more comprehensively accentuating priorities set in the Strategy. Analysis of the current state of affairs is conducted concerning some important issues of the Strategy related to regional cooperation between Central Asian states, such as integrated water management and development of hydro-energy system, issues of diversification of hydrocarbons supply routes from the region to Europe and provision of energy security, etc. Issues of cooperation between the European Union and Tajikistan are analysed as a case study. State of affairs between the Central Asian states and the European Union Member States actively cooperating with these countries is characterised. The thesis also scrutinises other regional/international actors engaged in cooperation with Central Asia (such as China, Russia, the US, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, etc.) and their potential for interaction with the European Union for more effective joint solution of the problems existing in the region is assessed. In the conclusion, development of cooperation between the European Union and Central Asian states is scrutinised, the problems and their possible solutions in this regard are analysed, and the recommendations for increasing effectiveness of cooperation between the two parties are presented. The European Union’s policy in Central Asia is interpreted from perspective of the theories of international relations namely neorealism, neoliberalism and constructivism in the research.

Forestry stands for 12% of the global greenhouse emissions which makes forestry an important policy area for sustainable development. On the 16th of July 2021, the EU’s new forest strategy was released. Since 2018 Sweden has its own forest program. Due to the new EU forest strategy receiving a lot of criticism, it is clear that the forest policy in EU and Sweden have different understandings on the forests' role for sustainable development. This thesis aims to explore how different understandings of a policy problem are expressed in a case of multi-level governance, which in this case is forest policy. To investigate this, we use the method of discourse analysis where the analytical tool applied is Carol Bacchi's “What’s the problem represented to be?”- framework. Our approach consists of four interrelated questions that are asked to the policy documents, which lead to an understanding of how problems are represented as well as which discursive effects these problematizations create. The study shows that the EU and Sweden's forest policies have different understandings on how the forest best should contribute to climate change. These differences create certain discursive effects where the Swedish forest policies to a larger extent benefit the forest industry and the EU forest policy to a larger extent sees the intrinsic value of nature as well as incorporates the indigenous perspective.

Syftet med denna undersökning var att belysa tre aktörsperspektiv på den kommande renoveringsvågen av GotlandsHems byggnadsbestånd: fastighetsägar-, kulturvård- och brukarperspektivet. Utifrån dessa perspektiv ville undersökningen identifiera målkonflikter samt nyansera och problematisera den rådande diskussionen kring kulturvärden i GotlandsHems bebyggelse från 1930–1975 samt sätta in renoveringsvågen av GotlandsHems bostadsbestånd i en större nationell och internationell kontext. Frågeställningarna inkluderade huruvida kulturvärden tar någon plats i diskussionen kring den kommande renoveringsvågen av GotlandsHems bostadsbestånd och vilka målkonflikter, mellan vilka aspekter, som gick att identifiera. Renoveringsvågen place- rades i en större kontext genom sitt ursprung i EU:s gröna giv och Sveriges nationella strategier. En fallstudie med tre kvalitativa intervjuer och en innehållsanalys genomfördes. Analysen identifierade fem teman: oro för hyreshöjningar, kommunikation, för- delar med energieffektivisering, återbruk och varsam renovering. I diskussionen identifierades fem målkonflikter mellan aspekterna hyresgäster, affärsmål, energieffektivisering och kulturvärden. Slutsatsen var att kulturvärden har diskuterats rikligt med flera olika infallsvinklar av alla aktörsperspektiv i denna undersökning. Diskussionen har däremot inte riktigt fått den plats som GotlandsHem borde ha gett den i förarbetet inför renoveringsvågen. En tidig utredning i renoveringsvågens projekteringsprocess av kulturvärden i GotlandsHems bostadsbestånd kommer göra avvägningar och konflikthantering mellan affärsmål, energieffektivisering, hyresgäster och kulturvärden enklare. / The purpose of this study was to highlight three perspectives on the upcoming renovation wave of GotlandsHem's building stock: the property owner, integrated conservation and user perspectives. The study wanted to identify goal conflicts as well as nuance and problematize the current discussion on cultural values in GotlandsHem's building stock from 1930-1975. From these perspectives it also aimed to place the renovation wave in a broader national and international context. The research questions included whether cultural values are considered in the discussions about GotlandsHem's upcoming renovations and which goal conflicts, between which aspects, that could be identified. The renovation wave was contextualized with a walkthrough of EU's Green Deal and Sweden's national strategies. A case study with three qualitative interviews and a content analysis was carried out. The analysis identified five themes: concerns about rent increases, communication, benefits of energy efficiency, reuse, and careful renovation. The discussion identified five goal conflicts between the aspect’s tenants, business goals, energy efficiency, and cultural values. The conclusion was that cultural values has been discussed abundantly with several different angles from all perspectives in this survey. However, the discussion has not really been given the place that Gotland- sHem should have given it in the preparatory work for the renovation wave. An early investigation in the renovation wave's planning process of cultural values in GotlandsHem's housing stock will make trade-offs and conflict management between business goals, energy efficiency, tenants and cultural values easier.