Mass media is of great importance for the public conversation as it makes it possible to spread information to the citizens of the nation. In order to influence citizens perceptions of the world, it is of great value for journalists to discuss particular subjects in newspapers. Analyses of daily newspapers therefore proves they are of relevance as they provide us with knowledge about how opinions are created as well as how the politics shapes the public conversation. In order to increase our knowledge of how the debate regarding European membership appeared in Swedish newspapers, this essay has studied Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet. Three newspapers with different political orientation. The essay describes how the different newspapers, with different opinions appeared as well as how the newspapers articles were written by reason of their political views. The essay shows that the bourgeois newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, wrote positive articles regarding the membership and negative regarding the government whereas the social democratic newspaper Aftonbladet was skeptical about the membership as well as the opposition. This essay further explains how a newspaper study can be used in educating high school students in history where they increase their knowledge of source criticism and examine and interpret newspapers in order to understand how coverage of politically charged subjects can differentiate, depending on which newspaper they read.

SWEDISH DEFENCE POLICY AFTER THE COLD WAR This essay is about Sweden's shift from strong territorial defense to disarmament with the defense decisions of 1996, 2000 and 2004. During the Cold War, Sweden had pursued a policy of neutrality aimed at staying out of the conflicts between the great powers. The country's defenses were focused on facing a possible invasion and preventing occupation. The Swedish Armed Forces were built up with a strong domestic defence industry which also benefited Sweden as an industrial nation. The strategy was based on the marginal doctrine where the intended aggressor was the Soviet Union.   However, the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s dramatically changed the conditions for Sweden's security policy. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 significantly reduced the threat of a military confrontation between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and this led to a renewed discussion within both the political and military spheres. The defence decisions around the turn of the millennium represent a turning point in Sweden's modern history when it comes to security policy and defence. The purpose of this essay is to study the process behind the decisions and specifically look at the motives of some of the decision-makers, both military and political. The essay takes its methodological basis in oral history in the form of protocols from a witness seminar. The result of the study is that the combination of the geopolitical changes in the world around us and the new stricter economic budget frameworks together seem to have led to decisions that in the end were more extensive than what possibly was intended when they were made. / SVENSK FÖRSVARSPOLITIK EFTER KALLA KRIGET Den här uppsatsen handlar om Sveriges omsvängning från starkt territoriellt försvar till nedrustning i och med försvarsbesluten 1996, 2000 och 2004.  Under det kalla kriget hade Sverige fört en neutralitetspolitik som syftade till att hålla sig utanför stormakternas konflikter. Landets försvar var inriktat på att möta en eventuell invasion och förhindra ockupation. Det svenska försvaret byggdes upp med en stark inhemsk försvarsindustri vilket också gagnade Sverige som industrination. Strategin byggde på marginaldoktrinen där den tänkta angriparen var Sovjetunionen.  Det kalla krigets slut i början av 1990-talet förändrade emellertid förutsättningarna för Sveriges säkerhetspolitik dramatiskt. Berlinmurens fall 1989 och Sovjetunionens upplösning 1991 innebar att hotet om en militär konfrontation mellan de två supermakterna, USA och Sovjetunionen, minskade väsentligt och detta ledde till en förnyad diskussion inom såväl den politiska som militära ledningen rörande vilken linje som var rätt för Sverige fortsättningsvis. Försvarsbesluten kring millennieskiftet utgör en vändpunkt i Sveriges moderna historia när det kommer till säkerhetspolitik och försvar. Uppsatsens syfte är att studera processen bakom besluten och specifikt titta på vad några av beslutsfattarna, både militära och politiska, hade för bevekelsegrunder för besluten som togs. Uppsatsen tar sin metodologiska grund i muntlig historia i form av protokoll från ett vittnesseminarium. Resultatet av studien är att samverkan av de geopolitiska förändringarna i omvärlden och de samtidiga striktare ekonomiska budgetramarna verkar ha lett till beslut som i slutändan blev mer omfattande än vad som verkar varit avsikten när de fattades.