This thesis aims at studying the European Union’s actions against applicant states. In this case Turkey has been chosen as a variable, because of its unique applying accession. Turkey is a country which has been applying for a membership of the European Union since 1989 and Turkey is the only state which has been searching for membership for more than twenty years. Turkey has been given a lot of critic of not fulfilling the political criteria of the Copenhagen criteria’s. There has also been a political debate however Turkey is a European state and if its culture and religion belongs to the EU- principals.   This thesis contains an interesting analyze of the EU´s acting towards Turkey´s accession versus the criteria’s of Copenhagen. The concrete and précised questions are; in which way arguments the European parliament about turkey´s accession? What kind of opinions and announcements has the commission and the council of ministers about the accession? Can Turkey´s accession to the EU be explained by the Copenhagen criteria’s, or are there other reasons beyond which can give another explanation?  The research methods being used is an argumentation analysis which has been made on the empirical material, such as the documentation from the European parliament, Commission and the council of ministers.

This paper addresses the issue of why Turkey has failed to develop and consolidate democracy in the regime. The aim of this paper was to analyze Turkey’s movement towards an authoritarian regime by examining institutions, the military, civil society and other contextual factors from 2004 to 2016. The method that was applied to this study was a case study were theories about democracy and transition were used to analyze Turkey’s declining development of democracy. The results show that several cases of corruption and the lack of political neutrality within important institutions have had a negative impact on the regime. The military’s influence on the political power has decreased although the military still has a significant role within the regime. The right to express your word of opinion by taking part in demonstrations is strictly constrained due to reforms by the government. Conflicts between the PKK movement and the Turkish government has contributed to the unstable political situation in the country. One can draw the conclusion that all of these factors have had an impact on Turkey’s development towards an authoritarian regime, but unprecedented behavior within the institutions, an authoritarian leadership by the president and increasing religious influence have had the greatest impact on Turkey’s way towards an undemocratic governance.

Turkiet är, givet dess geografiska position samt storleken på sin militärmakt (TAF), en central Nato-medlem. Landet har dock under stora delar av dess historia haft problem med att få civil kontroll över TAF. Detta har resulterat i återkommande militära interventioner med perioder av direkt eller indirekt militärt styre. När Rättvise och utvecklingspartiet (AKP) år 2002 kom till makten spåddes Turkiet gå en mer demokratisk framtid till mötes. Detta då ett närmande till EU, med målet om ett turkiskt EU-medlemskap, stod högst på agendan.  Men hur kom de turkiska civil-militära relationerna egentligen att utvecklas och vad är statusen på dessa idag? Har den civil-militära utvecklingen gjort att risken för en militär intervention nedgått? Med dessa frågor som fond syftar denna studie till att utöka förståelsen för hur AKP:s första 18-år vid makten har påverkat de turkiska civil-militära relationerna för att därigenom, med fokus på TAF:s organisatoriska och sociala struktur, bedöma hur detta i sin tur påverkat risken för en militär intervention i den inhemska politiken.  Studien, vilken nyttjar Janowitz teori om nya nationer, kommer fram till att Turkiets civil-militära relationer successivt utvecklats från att ha haft många likheter med idealtypen demokratiskt konkurrerande till att gradvis närma sig auktoritär en-partikontroll, vilket är den idealtyp som dominerar vid studiens tidsmässiga slutpunkt, år 2020. I takt med den civil-militära utvecklingen har den civila kontrollen över TAF stärkts avsevärt. Detta har inneburit att TAF:s organisatoriska och sociala struktur förändrats i grunden vilket gjort att risken för en militär intervention gått från att inledningsvis varit hög till att vid tiden för studiens slutskede bedömas som låg.

Iraq, Turkey and Iran have all historically opposed an independent Kurdistan. This is because the Kurdish quest for an independent Kurdistan is a threat to Arab, Turkish and Persian nationalism and their national security. I have therefore formulated the following question to gain a deeper understanding of the subject: How can the realist perspective and the balance of threat theory explain the opposition of Iraq, Turkey and Iran for an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq? The goal of this essay has been to answer the above question using the realist perspective and the balance of threat theory. This has been done using a case study design to study each of the countries' opposition to an independent Kurdistan. The results show that realism and the balance of threat theory can explain the opposition of Iraq, Turkey and Iran for an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Kurdistan's aggregate power, geographic proximity, offensive capabilities and perceived intentions are factors that worry the three countries if Kurdistan were to declare independence today. This can be explained by the fact that these factors can be seen as a threat to the countries' security and their position of power in the region.

Countries with proportional representation are increasingly introducing an electoral threshold to stop smaller parties from entering their parliaments. In this paper, I’m focusing on the  proportional electoral system and mainly why some countries choose to impose a barrier to their parliaments and others do not. First I did a survey to see which countries that are using it and after that I decided to do three case studies including: Sweden, The Netherlands and Turkey. I used Carles Boix theory on proportional electoral systems. The main variable in his theory is that the “threat” from the social democratic parties has an affect on the enforcement of a PRsystem. I wanted to examine whether it was possible to apply this theory on the implementation of thresholds. Finally, it is possible to conclude that Boix theory can be used even when studying the emergence of electoral barriers. Boix theory suggests that any "threat" from new parties makes the old, larger and established parties or other government organizations want to impose a threshold to secure their positions. This was the case in Sweden and in Turkey. In countries where this situation does not exist, it seems to be no need for an electoral barrier, as shown in the Netherlands.

The purpose of this paper has been to describe the change of governance in Turkey from 2005 until 2018. The method that has been applied is a comparative study as well as a case study where a theory of democracy was used to describe and compare the changes of governance in Turkey between 2005 and 2018. Robert Dahls theory of democracy was used for this paper to determine the change in governance between the relevant years. The analysis of each institution for each year was than compared to finally determine any change in governance. The study showed that the governance of Turkey has taken further backsliding steps of democracy compared to the situation in 2005. The changes consist of a centralization and increase of power within the presidency and further limitations within some rights and freedoms. The possibility for citizens to engage in politics in different ways, to express the opinions whether good or bad, to search for alternative information and to have the right to vote in free and fair elections have all worsened in 2018 compared to 2005.

<p>The purpose of this study is to examine whether religious behavior or religious identity changes when a person with Muslim background moves to a Christian country and also very secular such as Sweden. </p><p>I have interviewed five people with Muslim background that have moved from Turkey to Sweden. In this study I have applied Anthony Giddens and Thomas Ziehe's theories about building up an identity but also Nader Ahmadis theory of migration and identity.</p><p>The results of this study show that there is a change in the practice of religion but also that this differs between these five people who came from the same country. Nevertheless, a change in the practice of religion can on one hand be as a result of modernity and on the other hand, exclusion of family. It also proves that it is not possible to draw general conclusions on this issue instead it should be looked at from an individual perspective.</p>

The purpose of this study is to examine whether religious behavior or religious identity changes when a person with Muslim background moves to a Christian country and also very secular such as Sweden.  I have interviewed five people with Muslim background that have moved from Turkey to Sweden. In this study I have applied Anthony Giddens and Thomas Ziehe's theories about building up an identity but also Nader Ahmadis theory of migration and identity. The results of this study show that there is a change in the practice of religion but also that this differs between these five people who came from the same country. Nevertheless, a change in the practice of religion can on one hand be as a result of modernity and on the other hand, exclusion of family. It also proves that it is not possible to draw general conclusions on this issue instead it should be looked at from an individual perspective.

<p><strong> </strong></p><p>In this essay the aim was to investigate how the EU is trying to function as a democracy promoter in three particular countries, the so called candidate-countries Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey. The aim was also to analyze if there exist any differences in how the EU functions in these countries as a democracy promoter with a focus on how acts of democracy promotion is taken place. In order to fulfil the purpose of the essay two questions were addressed, how does the EU perform in promoting democracy in the three candidate-countries Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey? And also, is it possible to identify any differences in how the EU functions as a democracy promoter in those three countries?</p><p>The method used to fulfil purpose and answering research-questions was qualitative text-analysis.  The results of the study were that the EU does perform in a number of ways to promote democracy in the three countries. The main differences are that the EU is using primarily political tools in Croatia and Macedonia which are channelized top-down and economic tools in Turkey channelized mainly top-down to promote democracy. The extent between the tools used differs.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Turkey has often been described as a cultural and geographical bridge between West and East. When the Islamic AKP came to power in Turkey 2002 many critics feared that the country was going to abandon its former Western allies and strengthen their relations with the Arab world instead. The criticism was intensified when the AKP increased Turkey’s bilateral relations with the Middle East and moved closer to former foe’s like Iran and Syria, at the same time as their long-time friendship with Israel experienced serious crisis. The aim and purpose of this thesis is to describe and explain the change in AKP’s foreign policy towards Israel. The research method is a combination of a qualitative text analysis of Turkey’s speeches in the UN General debate and Jakob Gustavsson’s model for explaining foreign policy change. The results show that the Turkish-Israeli relations have deteriorated after the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010, particularly regarding diplomatic relations and military agreements. Based on Gustavsson’s model, possible explanations to AKP’s foreign policy change towards Israel, is structural changes such as a growing economy, a strong Turkish public opinion and new partners, with the Gaza war and the attack on the Freedom Flotilla functioning as catalysts for the deterioration.