Peacebuilding has been in the spotlight since the Cold War and forwards. Peacebuilding received great attention after the 9/11 incident when the United States declared war on terrorism. One of the countries that have suffered from war and conflict ever since the invasion of the Soviet Union, is Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a country in central Asia that has been involved in much aging in the past 35 years. Several international organizations such as the UN, the Swedish Afghanistan Committee, NATO and international countries have shown interest in peacebuilding in Afghanistan. But the path to achieving a peaceful Afghan society is an extremely difficult challenge that affects both Afghan institutions and the people of afghan society. Rebuilding or creating peace in a country affected by conflict has proven to be difficult in Afghanistan. Due to the country's situation, there is a constant change. To create peace, peace builders should focus on what aspects should be rebuilt for peacebuilding to move towards a more peaceful society. Research's theory institutionalization before liberalization Roland Paris argues that to reach a peaceful society the organization should rebuild effective institutions before the introduction of economic and democratic reforms in society. To rebuild the rule of law, the military forces should be stabilized as an institution in the rule of law. The military forces should be fully developed to protect the country from threats, including terrorism that limits peacebuilding and has a major impact on the rule of law.

<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>

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. Keywords: EU, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Copenhagen criteria, democracy, rule of law, human rights, protection of minorities, enlargement.

The protection of the rule of law has been on the agenda in the EU during the last years because states like Poland, through legislative changes, have been dismantling the democracy and the rule of law. The legislation in Poland concerns for example, the appointment of judges, reduced retirement age for judges, and changes in the powers of the president and the minister of justice. These legislations have later on been assessed by The European Court of Justice as part of several infringement processes initiated by the EU-commission. The court has considered that these laws does not comply with the right to an independent and impartial tribunal set forth in article 19.1 TEU and article 47 in the EU-charter, which means that they are also contradictory to the values of the rule of law set up in article 2 in the TEU.  Even though the rule of law is frequently referred to in jurisprudence, there is no legal or official definition of the concept. By analyzing and examining different sources concerning the content of the rule of law, it is conceivable to find the core content of the concept. The core of the rule of law can be described by saying that it presumes that equality before the law shall be respected and decisions and judgements made by public authorities need support in legislation. Furthermore, it is of utmost importance that the right to an independent and impartial tribunal is respected and protected, which also assumes a certain degree of division of power. In order to respect the rule of law it is also important that the state respects human rights and that it is a stability of the legislation, which creates predictability. The fact that there is no legal definition of the rule of law is possibly a reason of why rule of law-issues are such complex issues to deal with. The no-definition creates space for the member states’ own interpretations, which do not always correspond with the interpretation made by the EU-institutions.  The EU-commission has been assigned the responsibility to monitor the application and interpretation of the EU-law, according to article 17.1 TEU. They have the responsibility to protect the rule of law set forth in article 2 TEU, which has been more important than ever during the last years. Besides the infringement processes, the EU-commission has several different possibilities for action against a member state that constitutes a threat to the rule of law. However, their possibilities for action are not powerful enough to contribute to the protection of the rule of law in a desirable manner, which is shown by the fact that the problem is not solved yet and that it is an ongoing dispute between the EU and the member states.

Despite the rule of law being one of the founding values and objectives of the European Union, some of the Member States have disrespected the rule of law. In response, the European Commission has invented new tools to reinforce the rule of law. The newest tool is the Rule of Law Report, and the purpose of this thesis is to study the Report’s significance in ensuring respect for the rule of law in the EU. To do so a combination of legal methods and a range of sources, such as EU primary law, case-law, EU documents and doctrine, have been used. The Report is issued annually, so far it has been published in three editions stretching from 2020 to 2022. The Report builds on a general part and 27 country chapters assessing the rule of law situation in each Member State. From the 2022 Report onwards, the Report is also accompanied with recommendations to each Member State. The Report is to be considered soft law. It is non-binding and can, hence, not be subject to judicial review by the European Court of Justice, but it imposes a moral obligation on the institutions addressed. Mainly on the Member States, but also on the Council, the European Parliament, and other bodies of the EU. It is descriptive, interpretative and has a connection to hard law but can only be enforced by soft enforcement. Furthermore, the Report does not explicitly mention a legal basis, but the Commission appears to have the conferred powers to adopt the act. Moreover, the Report have had practical effects at national and EU-level, and it has potential to have even more effects. It urges national rule of law reforms and causes debate in the institutions and national parliaments about the rule of law situation. It could be subject to interpretation in the ECJ and in national courts and it could serve as a source to activate other hard tools in the rule of law toolbox. Despite being criticised, the Report has significance in ensuring respect for the rule of law in the EU. It might have a low legal status, but it has legal relevance, and it has the potential to have even higher legal relevance in the future.

Den här examensuppsatsen behandlar i stort principerna om ömsesidigt förtroende och ömsesidigt erkännande på unionsrättens område för frihet, säkerhet och rättvisa. Uppsatsen identifierar och uppmärksammar ett växande problem i Europa, nämligen att skyddet av grundläggande rättigheter och rättsstatsprincipen inte är en självklarhet inom alla medlemsstaters rättsordningar. Det anförs att denna problematik bygger upp för att en användning av principerna i straffrättsliga samarbeten kan bli problematisk om det inte sker med försiktighet. Med hänsyn till aktuell rättspraxis redogörs för hur EUD ser på den saken. En användning av principerna som är alltför oförsiktig exemplifieras med den föreslagna E-bevisförordningen. Det hela resulterar i en diskussion om hur principerna inom ramen för E-bevisförordningen används respektive hur de borde användas för att uppställa ett tillräckligt skydd för grundläggande rättigheter och rättsstatsprincipen. Slutsatsen som nås i uppsatsen är att E-bevisförordningen borde förändra sin utformning och omformuleras i flera hänseenden inte bara med hänsyn till EUD:s rättspraxis, utan även för att minimera risken för att enskilda lider rättsförluster. / This thesis deals with the principles of mutual trust and mutual recognition within the EU’s area of ​​freedom, security and justice (ASJ). The thesis identifies a mounting problem in Europe: the protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law is no longer self-evident in all Member States’ legal systems. The thesis then assumes that this may become problematic if the use of the principles in EU criminal law co-operation is not applied in a sensitive and cautious manner. With regard to the current case-law of ECJ, an interpretation of the court’s view on this issue is put forward. The E-evidence regulation proposal is used as an example of a too risky use of the principles in a criminal law co-operation legislation. The thesis then focus on how the principles is used in the E-evidence regulation and how they should be used to include a sufficient protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law. The conclusion is reached that the E-evidence regulation must be amended and, in several respects, improved not only with regard to the case-law of ECJ, but also in order to minimize the risk of individuals suffering legal losses

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The essay examines how Polish representatives defend constitutional sovereignty over EU-law by analyzing, and comparing, the argumentation from the Polish prime minister Matteuz Morawiecki and the Polish constitutional court. The primary source material is Morawiecki’s letter to heads of governments as well as his statement in the European Parliament. After close qualitative content analysis the argumentation has been categorized and concrete analysis questions have been formulated from the theoretic framework’s three main headlines: democratic backsliding and illiberalism; the rule of law and the constitutions precedence and eurosceptic populism. The tribunal argues mainly from a legal standpoint while Morawiecki’s argumentation is based on EU-skepticism influenced by populism. The main result of the essay is that Morawiecki and the tribunal’s argumentation to defend Polish constitutional sovereignty is categorized as “soft” euroscepticism. Morawiecki furthermore argues that Poland is a strong supporter of the EU, while the tribunal does not take a definitive stance. Both argue that Poland is a liberal democracy that lives up to the Copenhagen criterias while questioning to what extent the EU does so in practice.

The purpose of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the five institutional factors: democracy, rule of law, freedom to trade, education and corruption, and how they affect income inequality. The analysis covers a total of 20 different countries, 10 OECD countries, and 10 low to medium income countries between the time period of 2000-2017. The study´s dependent variable is the Gini index and the independent variables are different types of measurements for corruption, democracy, rule of law, freedom to trade, and education. Results from the regression analysis have been made in order to get a better understanding in what way these variables affect income inequality. The result of the regression analysis was that four of these five variables had a negative relation with income inequality. With the independent variable “Freedom to trade” stood for the outlying result. Something that is however in line with previous research where the two categories of countries were split into two different regression analyses and showed different results depending on the type of country. We did the same thing and also then we found the same result as the previous research. Our conclusion from this study is that there seems to be a negative connection between income inequality and the five institutional factors. / Syftet med denna studie är att få en fördjupad förståelse av de fem institutionella faktorerna: demokrati, rättsstatsprincipen, handelsfrihet, utbildning och korruption och hur de påverkar inkomst ojämlikheten. Analysen omfattar totalt 20 olika länder, 10 OECD-länder och 10 låg till medelinkomstländer mellan perioden 2000–2017. Studiens beroende variabel är Gini koefficienten och de oberoende variablerna är olika former av mått på korruption, demokrati, rättsstatsprincipen, handelsfrihet och utbildning. Resultaten från regressionsanalysen har gjorts för att få en bättre förståelse för på vilket sätt dessa variabler påverkar inkomst ojämlikheten. Resultatet av regressionsanalysen var att fyra av dessa fem variabler hade ett negativt samband med inkomstojämlikhet. Där den oberoende variabeln “handelsfrihet” stod för det udda resultatet. Något som dock går i linje med tidigare forskning där man dessutom delade upp de två kategorierna av länder i olika regressionsanalyser och kom fram till olika resultat beroende på typen av land. Detta gjorde vi också och fick även då samma resultat som den tidigare forskningen. Vår slutsats av studien är att det till synes finns ett negativt samband mellan inkomstojämlikhet och de fem institutionella faktorerna.