This study examines whether the policy breadth and the alternatives in European politics affect variations in voter turnout between member states in elections to the European Union Parliament. The theoretical approach assumes that; a larger political polarization, an increase in EU-skeptical parties and a greater voting mobilization among groups with less means results in higher voter turnout figures. The study also consider four other variables; whether the election is held on weekends or weekdays, whether elections coincide with other national elections, whether a country has held the presidential of the EU during or the immediate term prior to the election and finally the turnout figures from national elections. The research design is based upon a quantitative analysis using data from EP elections, national elections and databases from the European Elections Studies (EES). Study unit is twelve member-state countries and their four latest EP elections (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). The selected member-states origin from the EU-15 excluding Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg due to their compulsory voting laws. The study found relationships between higher turnout figures in EP-elections and increase in EU-skeptical parties, greater mobilization among groups with less means, elections held on weekends, elections coinciding with other, national elections and an increase in voter figures in national elections.

The overarching aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate what role the accessibility of EU documents plays for the democracy in the EU. A three-pillar approach was adopted, consisting of a text analysis of the Regulation 1049/2001, which promotes transparency, and an analytical induction analysis of the cases where access to EU documents was denied despite the European Ombudsman’s recommendation to the contrary. The third pillar refers to the interplay between the two first; a contested field with ideals on the one side and the political reality on the other. The main findings are that the positive picture of openness presented in the Regulation does not correspond with the cases. Although openness is used as a rhetorical tool in the Regulation, the case material shows that the EU has tried to restrain the development towards openness. The study suggests that although the EU officially promotes accountability through openness, its unofficial attitudes rather reminds of the concept of responsibility (Lewin 2007) that enables a more restrictive approach to transparency. Thus, both the legal frameworks and the informal factors play a role in determining the accessibility of the EU archives and its role for European democracy. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum Studies with special focus on Archival Science. / Den här masteruppsatsen behandlar tillgänglighetsfrågor i samband med EU:s arkiv- och dokumenthantering och dess roll och betydelse för demokratin inom EU. Först undersöktes förordning 1049/2001 med hjälp av en textanalys för att ta reda på hur EU värderar öppenhet. Därefter vändes fokus till de fall där tillgång till dokument nekats, trots Europeiska Ombudsmannens råd. Slutligen sammanfördes dessa komponenter för att skapa en bild av spänningsfältet mellan ideal och realitet. Studien visar att öppenhet framställs mycket positivt i förordningen. Emellertid stämmer den bilden inte överens med fallmaterialet. Detta visar hur EU i de enskilda fallen försökt motverka utvecklingen mot ökad öppenhet. En trolig slutsats vore att EU stödjer koncepten öppenhet och ansvarsskyldighet i teorin, men att attityden i praktiken snarare ligger nära begreppet ”responsibility” (Lewin 2007), som möjliggör en mer restriktiv inställning till öppenhet. Det lagliga ramverket är därmed inte den enda faktorn som påverkar hur tillgängliga EU:s handlingar verkligen är och vilken roll de spelar för demokratin inom unionen. Denna masteruppsats är skriven inom mastersprogrammet i ABM (arkiv, bibliotek, museum), inriktning arkivvetenskap.

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate differences of how the Swedishemployees union “Unionen” communicates with its members, on one hand thosewho are members of local union clubs and on the other non-club members. Thenumber of non-club members has increased due to labour market changes implyingthat workplaces have been fragmented and hence affect the possibility to form localunion clubs.The questions posed in the study are: How does Unionen communicate with itsmembers? How does the communication differ between club members and non-clubmembers? What are the preferences of Unionen´s members as far as communicationwith the central organization? What kind of information do the members seek andhow do they find it? What values does Unionen represent? Are there differencesbetween the messages that Unionen is sends out and how members and non-clubmembers, respectively, perceive them?A case study method has been used applying both quantitative and qualitativeanalyses. Quantitative methods have been used in illustrating the number ofdiscussion subjects at Unionen´s website, the members needs for receivingcommunication and channel usage while qualitative methodologies have been usedin interviews with Unionen´s members, club chairmen and union representatives aswell as semiotic picture analyses and analyses based on methods of Uses andgratifications theory.One conclusion of the study is that two significant differences of communicationhave been found between members and non-club members. The club chairmen saythat they have less communication with non-club members and the non-clubmembers’ claim that Unionen´s messages are more biased. A second conclusion isthat there is a difference in the preferred choice of communication channels. Themembers suggest that e-mail, the member magazine and verbal communication workbest while “Unionen” put a lot of its faith in electronic channels, such as web-sites.A third conclusion is that members request more locally relevant information andthat they see the Unionen´s communication as too general, creating muchuncertainty of the objectives of “Unionen´s” communication</p>

<p>This study examines whether the policy breadth and the alternatives in European politics affect variations in voter turnout between member states in elections to the European Union Parliament.</p><p>The theoretical approach assumes that; a larger political polarization, an increase in EU-skeptical parties and a greater voting mobilization among groups with less means results in higher voter turnout figures. The study also consider four other variables; whether the election is held on weekends or weekdays, whether elections coincide with other national elections, whether a country has held the presidential of the EU during or the immediate term prior to the election and finally the turnout figures from national elections.</p><p>The research design is based upon a quantitative analysis using data from EP elections, national elections and databases from the European Elections Studies (EES). Study unit is twelve member-state countries and their four latest EP elections (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). The selected member-states origin from the EU-15 excluding Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg due to their compulsory voting laws.</p><p>The study found relationships between higher turnout figures in EP-elections and increase in EU-skeptical parties, greater mobilization among groups with less means, elections held on weekends, elections coinciding with other, national elections and an increase in voter figures in national elections.</p>

Europeiska Unionens arbete är mångsidigt, och innefattar även normativa delar. Principer om demokrati, rättssäkerhet och mänskliga rättigheter finns exempelvis fördragsstadgade i Artikel 2 i Lissabonfördraget. Trots EU:s normativa värderingar har vi de senaste åren sett hur situationer utvecklats i ett flertal medlemsländer där dessa värderingar på olika sätt kränkts, exempelvis i Ungern, Rumänien och Polen. Utvecklingen kan få stora konsekvenser dels inom unionen men också för EU:s legitimitet som en normativ internationell aktör. Det är oklart hur dessa situationer kan hanteras av EU, och problemet som uppkommit har kommit att kallas Köpenhamnsdilemmat. Syftet med denna uppsats är att belysa den debatt som pågår kring Köpenhamnsdilemmat, genom att urskilja, beskriva och analysera debattens huvudståndpunkter och de argument som först fram.  Uppsatsen urskiljer 4 huvudståndpunkter i debatten: EU bör ej ingripa, EU bör ingripa genom juridiska institutioner, EU bör ingripa genom politiska institutioner, och EU bör ingripa genom oberoende institutioner. Ståndpunkterna och deras argument utkristalliseras och beskrivs genom en beskrivande idéanalys samt undersökts närmare i en jämförande analys.  Undersökningen har funnit att de tre ståndpunkter som anser att EU bör ingripa har en liknande problembeskrivning. EU anses först och främst ha en normativ sida, där principer om rättsäkerhet, demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter bör upprätthållas i samtliga medlemsländer. Aktörerna pekar dessutom ut en bristande efterlevnad av dessa principer, vilket anses vara ett problem för både EU och unionens medlemsländer. EU bör således ingripa när medlemsländer bryter mot principerna, men saknar idag effektiva mekanismer för att göra så. Aktörerna föreslår därför en rad olika lösningar, som utgör grunden för indelningen av de tre ståndpunkterna. Bland de aktörer som anser att EU inte bör ingripa återfanns ett flertal argument: att EU inte har mandat att intervenera, att ingripanden kränker medlemsländernas suveränitet, och att EU har hanterat processerna felaktigt då deras kritik är politiskt motiverad, debatten elitistisk eller anklagelserna orättvisa och felaktiga. Dessa aktörers lösningsförslag blir följaktligen att EU inte bör ingripa, antingen gällande samtliga eller enbart specifika situationer, när medlemsländer anses bryta mot principerna om rättsäkerhet, demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter. Den jämförande analysen fann att aktörernas lösningsförslag väl följer deras problembeskrivning. En bild av problemet som övergripande följs exempelvis av ett lösningsförslag bestående av en bred mekanism, medan en mer specifik bild av problemet återföljs av en snävare fokuserad mekanism. Analysen fann även att debattens aktörer vanligtvis har en antingen pragmatisk eller idealistisk utgångspunkt, och att deras problembeskrivning, argumentation och därmed även lösningsförslag påverkas av denna utgångspunkt.

Sverigedemokraterna har på kort tid lyckats etablera sig i Sveriges riksdag och är därför i högsta grad delaktig i den samtida politikens utformning. Precis som Sverigedemokraterna har likasinnade partier fått ökat stöd i större delen av Europa och har numera större möjligheter att kunna påverka EU:s utformning. Mot bakgrund av den ökade framgången för nationalistiska och främlingsfientliga partier syftar denna studie till att undersöka Sverigedemokraternas framställning av EU mellan Europaparlamentsvalet 2014 och Europaparlamentsvalet 2019.   Studien har utförts genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av texter som Sverigedemokraterna och dess företrädare har publicerat. Genom studien kan det konstateras att Sverigedemokraternas framställning av EU utgörs av i stort sett samma kritik genom det aktuella tidsspannet, men att det har skett en förändring i form av att partiet inte längre kräver en folkomröstning för Sveriges medlemskap i EU utan numera anser att det finns en möjlighet att reformera EU inifrån tillsammans med likasinnade partier i Europa.Studien knyter an till en teoretisk referensram som tar avstamp i Margaret Canovans samt Paulina Ochoa Espejo teoretiska redogörelser om populism. Genom dessa presenteras populism som oundvikligt i en demokrati vilket gör det viktigt att förstå hur dessa rörelser uppstår.

Every year tens of thousands of children and adolescents come in contact with different parts of the justice system in Sweden, as witnesses, victims and suspects. This essay aims at critically examine children’s rights in legal proceedings based on European union legislation and the United nations convention on the rights of the child.   Political problems are increasingly being defined at the European level of cooperation and decisions regarding Sweden’s future are more often being made by the EU. In June of 2018, Sweden’s parliament voted for the convention on the rights of the child to become law. This analysis will use systematic literature searches to collect the material and two theories about children’s participation and their possibility to act independently will be applied. The study concludes that Sweden’s work with children in legal proceedings fall short in certain regards while they follow EU: s and UN: s laws and opinions in others.  What seems to be largely lacking is commitment and knowledge regarding children’s needs.

The study aims to empirically study the Early warning system and how national parliaments in the EU vary regarding the issuing of reasoned opinions. In recent years the subject of subsidiarity within the EU has become an increasingly debated and controversial topic. The Early warning system aims to alleviate the democratic deficiency of the EU, but the scientific community is divided on how efficient it is. Using data from the European parliament this study examines reasoned opinions and factors that influences why national parliaments issue them and why there is such a variation amongst the national parliaments issuing them. The study finds that being a member of the Eurozone and the EU15 has important implications for parliaments issuing reasoned opinions.

<p>There's no doubt today that mankind has contributed to the changing climate by</p><p>her use of fossil fuels. This must change in the nearby future. The European</p><p>leaders are expressing concern that renewable energy sources are not being</p><p>used to their full potential. The 2001/77/EC Directive on Electricity Production</p><p>from Renewable Energy Sources was accepted in 2001 to encourage the</p><p>development of energy production from renewable sources, which is</p><p>considered a step towards the fulfillment of the goal of the Union, that 12% of</p><p>the gross energy consumption should come from renewable energy sources by</p><p>the year 2010.</p><p>The objective of this thesis is to illuminate the common legislation of the EU</p><p>regarding renewable energy with regard to goal fulfillment, judicial quality,</p><p>conflicts with other goals of the EU and other faults. The objective is reached</p><p>by a hermeneutic study in which interpretation of written text is the main</p><p>method. To analyze whether the EU stimulates the usage of renewable energy</p><p>within the union I have applied a method used in audits. I have analyzed an</p><p>empirical material and drawn conclusions using an inductive method.</p><p>It is difficult to make specific demands on the legislation of member states</p><p>because the circumstances vary heavily depending on external factors and other</p><p>laws. The laws of the European Union must conform to a large number of</p><p>criteria to be considered rational and legitimate. They must be in line with the</p><p>basic goals of the union, serve the purpose of the legislator, not violate any</p><p>human rights and be coherent with other legislation.</p><p>Directive 2001/77/EC complies with the fundamental goals of the union. It also</p><p>complies fully with basic human rights, particularly the right to a good</p><p>environment, which is included in the third generation human rights. The</p><p>directive does not however meet all the political rationalities because it does not</p><p>serve all intended political purposes. The directive was accepted as an important</p><p>step for the union to reach the goals of the Kyoto protocol. It is, however, clear</p><p>that the goals for the year 2010, as presented in the directive and the Kyoto</p><p>protocol, will not be reached unless the use of renewable energy sources sees a</p><p>drastic increase.</p>

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