Våren 2014 uppvisade Ryssland ett öppet aggressivt beteende när de, med militära medel, annekterade Krim och satte den säkerhetspolitiska balansen i Europa och världen i gungning. Sverige och Finland fann sig helt plötsligt geografiskt nära ett potentiellt hot, och samtidigt utanför Nato. Denna studie undersöker orsaker i nationella och internationella variabler för varför staterna inte har ansökt om medlemskap i Nato efter den ryska annekteringen. Genom att använda en teori mer precis än realismen – neoklassisk realism – analyseras tre variabler för formandet av foreign policy; militär förmåga, hotuppfattning och nationell struktur. Enligt method of agreement undersöks vilken variabel som är lika mellan staterna. Resultatet kan förklara deras säkerhetspolitiska val att inte ansöka om medlemskap i Nato även efter den ryska annekteringen av Krim. Den variabel som studien visar är lika mellan dem är hotuppfattning hos statens ledare. Detta aktualiserar vidare forskning i vilken av de neoklassiska variablerna som driver stater till förändring i foreign policy.

In this essay i argue that there are three different variables that may be able to control the outcome of certain foreign policy choices. These three variables are External Threats, government division and public opinion. The Essay also tries to identify former president Bush motives behind the 2003 Iraqi War. It is partly argued that the three variables had a certain amount of influence on Bush decision making process. But the main focus lies on the motives behind the attack. There are several official motives identifies through different types of statements from different members of the elite group, the main motives being the threat that the Bush administration felt the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was responsible for and of course weapons of mass destruction, as you will notice while you read this essay there are more but in some way smaller motives that doesn't take as much place as the threat and WMD aspects.

This study examines the debates that were held in the LIBE committee between 2018 - 2020 in relation to Polands judicial reforms. EU claims that the reforms are incompliant with the treaty of the european union but Poland have so far not backed down. The situation have exposed problems in how the EU should act when a member state won’t act according to the treaty. And also exposed problems with the practical implementation of article 7. The study utilizes an inductive argumentation analysis and seeks to weigh the evidence, sustainability and relevence of the arguments made by the participants in those debates. The results from this initial analysis will then be analysed from two theoretical standpoints. On Arguments put forward from the EU:s standpoint the theory of normative power will be used. The theory has its focus on EU as a normative power who spreads their values by other means than force or threat of military force. Rather through trade and legally binding agreements that often include human rights commitments. The arguments from Polands standpoint will be analysed using the theory of neoclassical realism. Which goes beyond traditional realism by seeking to explain irrational behavior that don’t correlate with simple utility maximizing theories. The analysis shows that both standpoints of the debate corralates to a large degree with the theories used to analyse them. In doing so it pinpoints a growing problem inside the EU when the big bang expansion of 2004 together with the growing presence of populist opinion makes for a more diversified union compared to the earlier more homogenous one deeply roted in liberal values.

This study uses a neoclassical framework aiming to explain why different changes in foreign policy towards Cuba has occurred under the Trump-era. The main research question of the study is therefore: To what extent can neo-classical realism explain US policy changes towards Cuba during Trump's 2017-2021 term? The study identified three major changes that occured during the set time period that has been analysed through a neoclassical realist perspective. The material consists of a wide range from government documentation, reports, remarks, newspaper articles, academic work, tweets and more, to get a complete picture as possible. Three intervening variables grounded in neoclassical theory has been set up to analyse and find the material. The analysis concluded that domestic politics can have broad effect on foreign policy, which the neoclassical realism theory can identify.