This study has aimed to examine the actions of the European Union and its member states during the on-going refugee crisis. The EU is founded on a certain set of values and institutions that were clearly abandoned by more than one of the actors of the EU in the face of the overwhelming refugee crisis. The purpose is thus to investigate the cause behind these decisions by using two European integration theories. Neofunctionalism and Security Communities were chosen because of their founding role in the field of theories and because they constitute a so called hard case. The study concludes that the reason for these actions has its explanation in the lack of trust and common values between the member states. The crisis is also perceived by some actors as an outside threat due to the securitization of the European identity.

Militära samarbeten är stora säkerhetspolitiska frågor som kräver väl avvägda beslut.Uttrycket tillsammans med andra har genomsyrat svensk säkerhetspolitik de senaste tio åren. Säkerhetspolitiken är komplex och valet av partner inom försvarssamarbeten behöver studeras, förstås och förklaras. I denna uppsats studeras militära samarbeten genom hur uttrycket tillsammans med andra används politiskt och militärt. Syftet med studien är att söka förklaringar på de militära samarbeten som Sverige genomför. Detta görs genom en kvalitativ jämförande fallstudie av två utvalda fall. Studien visar att integrationsteoretiska förklaringsmodeller kan användas för att förklaramilitära samarbeten. I analysen har ett fall av militärt samarbete med Finland studerats jämte ett fall av militärt samarbete med Nederländerna. Samarbetet med Finland kan till huvuddel förklaras med mellanstatlig integrationsteori och samarbetet med Nederländerna förklaras till huvuddel med neofunktionalism. Slutsatserna kopplas också samman med de säkerhetsstrategiska begreppen vilket skapar djupare förståelse för den komplexa och dynamiska process som leder fram till ett militärt samarbete. Svenska säkerhetsstrategiska mål påverkade av vår omgivande strategiska miljö styr metod och medel på ett sätt som tillsammans med integrationsteorier förklarar valet av samarbetspartner inom säkerhetspolitiken. / Military collaborations with other countries are considerable security policy matters which require well balanced decisions. The expression in collaboration with others has permeated Swedish security policy through the last decade. Security policy are complex and the choice of a partner in military collaborations needs to be studied, understood and explained.  In this composition military collaborations are studied through how the expression in collaboration with others is used both in a military and in a political context. The purpose is to explain the military collaborations that Sweden carries out. This is done with a qualitative comparing case study with two selected cases.  The study shows that theories of integration can be used to explain military collaborations. In the analysis one case of collaboration with Finland has been studied beside one case of collaboration with the Netherlands. The collaboration with Finland is mainly explained with intergovernmentalism and the collaboration with the Netherlands is mainly explained with neofunctionalism.  The conclusions are also connected to strategic terms which creates a profound understanding for the complex and dynamic process that leads into a military collaboration. Sweden's strategic objectives influenced by our surrounding strategic context directs the methods and means in a way that together with theories of integration explains the chosen partner in security policy.

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.

Flyktingkrisen 2015 avslöjade stora brister inom EU:s och medlemsstaternas asylsystem. Belastningen på medlemsstaterna var ojämn och gemensamma regelverk ignorerades. Utifrån tidigare forskning kan faktorer som avsaknad av stark struktur inom EU, låg harmonisering bland medlemsstater, försvagat gemensamt europeiskt intresse utgöra orsaker till bristerna under flyktingkrisen. Sedan dess har man inte lyckats uppnå en överenskommelse om hur EU:s gemensamma asylstrategi ska utformas. Uppsatsen har för avsikt att undersöka hur svårigheterna att komma överens om en gemensam asylstrategi kan förstås i statsvetenskapligt perspektiv, genom att analysera den politiska debatten kring kommissionens förslag om en gemensam asylpakt, som ännu inte lett till en fullständig överenskommelse. Undersökningen genomförs i form av kvalitativ innehållsanalys och motivanalys i syfte att identifiera de olika aktörernas ståndpunkter och bakomliggande motiv. Utifrån de identifierade motiven skapas förståelse för den politiska debatten genom det teoretiska ramverket neofunktionalism och intergovernmentalism som söker förklaringar på europeisk integration. Det empiriska materialet för studien omfattas av textdokument och inspelade panelsamtal och analysen identifierar motiv utifrån tre fördefinierade kategorier som sedan genomlyses med det teoretiska ramverket. Slutsatsen är att intergovernmentalism bäst förklarar svårigheterna genom att lösningar som ger vinning för nationalstaterna saknas vilket inte möjliggör en fullständig överenskommelse med fördjupad integration. Neofunktionalismen kan ge vissa förklaringar, kommissionen som pådrivande aktör kan utgöra en faktor för fördjupad integration, men de beslutsfattande församlingarna präglas av nationella och ideologiska intressen som inte leder till fördjupat samarbete. Dessutom ger neofunktionalismen utrymme för bakslag i en pågående integrationsprocess vilket kan förklara en tillfälligt avstannad integration i och med svårigheterna att uppnå en fullständig överenskommelse om gemensam asylpakt.

The starting point of this study is theories of European integration, which are used to formulate different scenarios about the future of the European Union. This is made in regards to the eurocrisis which has intensified the discussion about how to change the construction of the euro to overcome the economic difficulties that has arisen. In this study, four different scenarios are presented: "An updated Europe", "A new Europe", "The death of the euro" and "Goodbye Greece". The first two scenarios takes its starting point in the neofunctionalist theory of European integration and describes how the EU might increase its level of integration in different ways. We can either see a development where the EU tries to improve the implementation of the rules that are meant to coordinate the member states’ economic policy, or we might encounter a more advanced integration where fiscal policy competences are transferred to the EU-level. The latter scenarios, however, takes another theory in to account, liberal intergovernmentalism, and describes how the eurozone might be fragmented in different ways due to conflicts of interest between lenders and countries that has to receive loan-packages. In the third scenario the euro stands in front of a collapse. This is connected to a situation where Spain, which is one of the largest economies in the EU, is starting to have similar problems as countries like Grecce, Ireland and Portugal. The fourth scenario describes a more ordered progress where Grecce, as part of a joint decision with the other EU-members, decides to abolish the euro as their currency. This is a way for the EU to reduce its economic burden, in the same time as Greece are given an opportunity to use an independent monetary policy to cope with their problematic situation.

This thesis treats the development of the European Union asylum- and migration politics and the EU member states transfer of authority to the European Union. The main purpose has been to look closer with the use of the application of theory of neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism on the European Union case. The focus will be to answer the following questions: How has the political development within EU asylum and migration policy developed through the period of The Single European Act to the ratification of the Stockholm program? And how can the chosen theory explain European countries transfer of national decision regarding asylum policy in favor of a supranational European asylum policy? Based on the available material of European Union programs and harmonization measures for this area I have attempted to understand to what extent the European Union’s development in the area of the asylum and migration politics can be explained through the theories of neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism. The result of my analysis is confirmation of the European Union development of the area of the asylum and migration policy and also a series of explanations according to the theories regarding the member states transfer of authority to the EU. The thesis has also led to an understanding of the methods of application.

Uppsatsens syfte är att förstå hur den Europeiska kommissionen och Europaparlamentet diskuterar differentierad integration. Metoden som används är en kvalitativ textanalys där teorier om europeisk integration från forskningsområdet internationella relationer används som analysverktyg. En slutsats som dras är att teorierna om neofunktionalism och liberal intergovernmentalism kan komplettera varandra för att ge en mer mångsidig förståelse av de något olika diskussionerna. Den Europeiska kommissionen och Europaparlamentet vill i de tolkade dokumenten främst bibehålla en enhetlig union, men de är villiga att ge frihet till ambitiösa medlemsstater inom särskilda policyområden genom inkluderande opt in-lösningar av differentierad integration. Den Europeiska kommissionen och Europaparlamentet är motståndare till exkluderande opt out-lösningar av differentierad integration, de menar att exkluderande former av differentiering exempelvis skulle kunna leda till polarisering, fragmentering och ett upplevt skapande av ett första- och andraklassens EU-medlemskap. Gradvist tillträde är därmed historiskt sett som en sämre lösning till problemet kring kandidatländers integration, om gradvist tillträde skulle implementeras i integrationsprocessen för framtida kandidatländer skulle det därmed innebära ett trendbrott inom utvidgningspolicyn från den Europeiska unionen. / The thesis’ purpose is to understand how the European Commission and the European Parliament discusses differentiated integration. The method applied is a qualitative text analysis in which theories of European integration from the research field of international relations is used as an analytical tool. One conclusion recognises the fact that both the theory of neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism are complementary tools in understanding the discussions from a multitude of perspectives. The European Commission and the European Parliament expressed in the analysed documents that uniform integration within the Union is preferred, but they are still open to giving freedom to Member States in specific policy areas through inclusionary opt-in measures of differentiated integration. The European Commission and European Parliament are opposed to exclusionary opt-out measures of differentiation, as they mean it could lead to polarisation, fragmentation, and the perceived notion of first- and second-class Member States. Staged accession is therefore historically seen as a poor solution to the problem of integrating the candidate countries, if staged accession would be implemented into the integration process for future candidate countries, it would therefore mark a change in trend within the enlargement policy of the European Union.