This essay focus on the European Union and its democracy both from a national perspec­tive and from an international perspective. Furthermore, the essay center on the con­cept of democratic deficit, this in order to study the European Union´s status regarding the democratic legitimacy. This study intends to nuance the problems that previous research and previous researchers have de­fined as democratic deficits in the European Union and ends up in conducting a textual anal­ysis of the latest European Union treaty, the Lisbon Treaty. The aim is that by using previous research on the democratic deficit in the European Union examine whether the Lisbon Treaty has enhanced the EU's position regarding democratic legitimacy. In other words, my study aims to identify what the deficit is and if it exists. The results show that the Lisbon Treaty has been trying to improve the democratic legitimacy and that some practical adjustments have been made, but it also show that there is much that still can be improved before citizens have full democratic rights.

What is the European Union (EU) and which countries should be part of it in the future? These questions became topical during the first part of the 21st century when political and geographical changes hasten the need to decide the nature of the European cooperation. In the European Constitution, that never come into force, the European values that a key role but was taken away in the succeeding Lisbon Treaty. Nevertheless EU continues to expand, recently to the East and non-European countries asTurkey are now on the “waiting-list”. What is then the European Identity in the changedEurope of today?   The President of the Commission has during the years had great influence on EU's view upon the European identity. For example, Jacques Delors was prominent in urging for European togetherness over national borders. Still, the current president, José Manuel Barroso, has new political and geographical situations to consider. That raises the question whether this new era might have an impact upon the president’s view of the European identity.   How to relate to the European identity is something that the sociologist Gerard Delanty investigates. Foremost is his focus upon the historical rise of “Europe” and in addition the European identity effect European immigrants. Delanty has also created four models for European identity of “thick” and “thin” categories. The models systematize different views upon the European identity.   This essay investigates how these models can be used as an instrument to categorize the different views upon the European identity that has been used by official sources within EU in the past, and compare these to the view which is expressed by Barroso today. The result is that Barroso’s view upon the European identity correlates to a great extent with the view of the 1950’s and 1960’s. That is, that the European identity should be based upon moral values as democracy and human rights. In contrast, the view in the 1980’s and beginning and 1990’s was a greater focus upon similarities in ancient history and multi-cultureEurope. In this way, Barroso’s view is similar to the early EU, however, not to the more recent opinions about European culture.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to study how political agents construct and give meaning to the concepts of democracy, representative democracy and referendums. The starting point of the thesis is the pressing issue whether or not Sweden should hold a referendum on the new EU constitution. To analyze this question my choice of method is critical discourse analysis and the topical theories revolve around democracy and responsibility. My study shows that there are three different discourses in this debate: “the democratic process”, “the representative democracy” and “the concept of democracy”. However, the meaning of the concepts in these discourses varies depending on which side the political agents are on. It is obvious that the concepts are not fixated and that they are used as catchphrases to define ideological motives. In addition, the concepts are used differently to enhance certain values in a democracy. The result of this study shows the paradox and conflicting values that are associated with the concepts. This means that the notion of democracy changes depending on what the agents want to perceive. The political agents who do not support a referendum often refer to what a representative democracy symbolizes. Agents who support a referendum consider the democratic process as an incentive for a democratic ideal. In this context, the discourse of democracy does not arise from a primary level but rather a secondary. This implies that the criteria for a liberal democracy are fulfilled and the debate revolves around abstract values.

Uppsatsen syfte är att ta reda på ifall den Europeiska Unionens (EU) handelspolicy för den interna respektive den externa marknaden följer den liberala retoriken som förs av unionen. Det är en komparativ fallstudie som använder sig av idealtyper för att ge en nyanserad bild av unionens handelspolicy. Det teoretiska ramverket som används för att framställa dessa idealtyper är merkantilism samt liberalism. Idealtyperna appliceras sedan på de två fallen. Fokus för studien ligger på tiden mellan Lissabonfördraget och 2012 innan den senaste utvidgningen till 28 medlemsstater ägde rum. I analysen kan man se delar av båda teorierna i varierande grad. Avslutningsvis diskuteras i vilken grad de båda teorierna influerar EU:s handelspolicy för den inre samt yttre marknaden. I resultatet kan man se att liberalismen genomsyrar stora delar av EU:s handelspolicy, men att det finns merkantilistiska undertoner i ett flertal olika områden. / The aim with this thesis is to find out whether the European Union (EU) trade policy for the internal and the external market comply with the liberal rhetoric that is conducted by the Union. It is a comparative case study based on ideal types to give the reader a nuanced view of EU:s trade policy. The theoretical framework that is being used to produce the ideal types is mercantilism and liberalism. Consequently, the ideal types are being applied on the two cases. The focus of the study is the time between the Lisbon Treaty and 2012, before the recent enlargement to 28 member states took place. In the analysis, one can see portions of both theories in varying degrees. Finally, the extent of how liberalism and mercantilism influences EU:s trade policy for the internal and the external market is being discussed. The result of the thesis show that liberalism influence most parts of the trade policy, but there are also some mercantilist undertones in several areas.

Visa-liberalisation agreements are commonly used as an incentive by the EU to encourage cooperation within the realm of border and migration management with its neighbouring countries. The ultimate aim of these agreements is to reduce irregular migration to Schengen territory, something that has been percieved as an increasingly urgent issue for European policy makers in the wake of the 2015 'migration crisis'. However, the use of visa liberalisation agreements in such a fashion appears contradictory considering that most irregular migrants in the EU most likely are visa-overstayers. This essay takes of in this apparent puzzle and argues that securitisation theory might help us better understand this discrepancy. While the construction of the migrant as a security threat in Europe has been thoroughly examined, differences in securitisation between grups of irregular migrants are often left out of the discussion or only implicitly mentioned. By examining the discourse and practices of a central EU agency in regard to border and migration management, FRONTEX, this thesis shows that visa-overstayers are routinely left out of the securitised discussion on irregular migration, thus rendering EU policies asymmetrically occupied with irregular migration by means of 'illegal entry'. However, the thesis also uncovers a more conplex set of ideas that show that although visa-overstayers are not conceptulised as threats to security in discourse on par with other categories of irregular migrants, visa-goers and other travellers are, too, incresingly subjected to a rationale of survaillance and risk.

Global energy transitions and rises in demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) are predicted to reshape global politics in yet uncertain but profound ways. With CRMs being vital for Europe’s decarbonization process, the present study sets out to examine the EU’s geopolitical discourse by taking an inquisitive yet critical stance focusing particularly on the new “geopolitical” Commission’s geopolitical reasoning on CRMs. Building upon critical geopolitics, a discourse analysis was conducted on 9 European Commission communications (2019–2020). Three key observations were made: first, a ‘geopolitical’ and ‘assertive’ EU is crucial in an increasingly ‘fragile’, ‘polarized’ and ‘competitive’ world. Second, securing CRMs is a ‘security question’, requiring ‘strategic approaches and partnerships’, notably with ‘resource–rich regions’ and particularly with Africa. Third, the EU’s narrative is ambiguous. While classical geopolitical assumptions are distinguishable, it remains questionable whether the EU will depart from its familiar path of liberal cooperation, multilateralism and trade when scouting for CRMs, although its role as a “benign ally” can be questioned. Further studies on the EU’s geopolitical reasoning, along with its actual practice in the area of CRMs, are warranted. Likewise, a critical reading of reports and foresight preceding EU policymaking is encouraged, to better comprehend how the EU’s dominating geopolitical discourse on CRMs and subsequent practice is produced in the first place.

Disinformation is a growing problem in a fast changing world, where technology today contributes to the spread of false and sometimes directly harmful information. Within the field of international security studies there is an ongoing theoretical conflict over whether or not security ought to be expanded to include issues that otherwise do not concern the traditional state and military-centric approach. One such issue is the multifaceted phenomenon disinformation, which some claim has little or no meaning and relevancy within the international arena. This is because it mainly influences individuals. Nevertheless, the EU has still initiated security work to combat disinformation. The main purpose of this study is to describe and illustrate how disinformation is defined within the EU’s security framework. Applying David. A Baldwins conceptual dimensions and ideal types and anchoring them in the prominent theories realism, liberalism and constructivism, the study aims to describe and illustrate how EU views disinformation in its pursuit for security. The study later shows that disinformation needs to be affirmed and taken more seriously by the international community.

This study examines the European council and its connection to CFSP and the European identity. It will give a perspective of the change in common foreign-security policy from the Maastricht Treaty to the Lissabon treaty. The study will reproduce a perspective through time and describe the main ideas in CFSP and make a connection to how it created a European identity. The empirical material will conclude the European council results. To give more perspective, an idea analysis will be operating to capture the ideas of the various materials describing European identity and the CFSP. Henceforth using the empirical material to conclude a result for the analysis. For the analysis to be complete subjects such as normative power and actorness will have a part in the work in CFSP. Social constructivism as a theory will help to understand the power that European identity has in international cooperation. To conclude this, abstract the study will structure a difference in the work of the CFSP and its strategy to promoted democracy, and peace.

The purpose of this study was to examine if the criticism aimed at the Swedish media was justified or not. The Swedish media’s coverage of the EU is a heavily debated subject between scientists and politicians alike. The coverage has come under fire for being irregular and for only focusing on the national part of the European union. The study has it stand point in the following research questions: “How frequent is the coverage of the EU”, “what differs in the reporting from an election year and a regular year”, “How much space is the EU given in the newspapers”, “Who is behind the information” and “What subjects is the coverage about and who gets to talk”. The study aimed itself at Swedish local newspapers from three different regions of Sweden.    The study used a quantitative content analysis to identify the difference in the reporting during week 22 through the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. By doing this the study found that there was a major difference in the reporting from the election year, 2014, and the other two years where there were no elections. It also found that politics and economics where popular subjects to cover and that Swedish EU-politicians were the most popular persons in the articles. The study also aimed to see if the criticism the media got for only covering the national part of news in from the EU. This the study found was mostly true when it came to local newspapers and also that the EU news mostly took up a large piece of space in the papers because of all the information that had to be in the articles to explain the complexity of the European union. The conclusion of this study is that the Swedish local news media’s coverage of the EU is underwhelming but also hard to improve because the EU also has problems in its information flow and that the Swedish local media tends to use the national angle to sell the news.

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