<p>The legitimacy of the European Union is being questioned, and this has put focus on the democratic deficit, as the main reason for the negative outcome of the referendum about implementing the last initiated treaties of the union. In this essay the credibility of the problem solving strategy through the communication policy of the commission is being put under the scope. The objective is to treat the credibility of the solution to the main problems of the EU as an important part of how the democratic, political system works and how it deals with taking care of its’ supporting and demanding channels of communication. The importance of a citizen platform to form common interests and a strictly European dialogue using media, common debates and several other possible ways to advocate this solution throughout the whole union is stressed here.</p>

”African Solutions to African Problems” är en av Afrikanska Unionens nya ledord. Denna vilja om att ta mer ansvar för den afrikanska kontinenten och kunna agera som en säkerhetsaktör har resulterat i en ny säkerhetsdoktrin. För att kunna agera som aktör på den internationella arenan krävs att vissa förutsättningar existerar enligt en modell framtagen av Gunnar Sjöstedt. Dessa strukturella och institutionella förutsättningar kommer i denna studie att undersökas för att analysera huruvida AU kan agera som säkerhetsaktör. För att se hur AU de facto har agerat som säkerhetsaktör kommer organisationens agerande i Somalia år 2007-2010 samt i Libyen år 2011 att undersökas.  Den teoretiska anknytning som antas i studien är regimteori vilken fokuserar på att studera och förklara uppkomst och fortlevnad av samarbete inom internationella institutioner. Den empiriska analysen visar att AU saknar vissa strukturella och institutionella förutsättningar som anses nödvändiga för aktörskapaciteten. Den visar även att de målsättningar som har legat till grund för skapandet av dessa institutioner inte har förverkligats samt att regler och principer inte efterlevs.Vidare demonstrerar AU:s agerande i Somalia och Libyen att begreppet ”African Solutions to African Problems” är långt ifrån operationaliserat då AU inte kunnat enas om en respons samt agera samstämmigt i de kriser som undersöks.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2004.

Diss. Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2007.

Migrationen inom Europeiska Unionen har ökat de senaste åren vilket även har påverkat migrationen till Sverige, hemlösa EU-migranter som ofta är socialt utsatta är idag ett förekommande inslag i stadsbilden. Hälsa kan upplevas på olika sätt och det är viktigt att studera denna grupps upplevelser av hälsa då det finns sparsamt med forskning på området. Studiens syfte var att utforska hur EU-migranter upplever hälsa. En kvalitativ metod har använts där data bestod av semistrukturerade intervjuer och kvalitativ innehållsanalys resulterade i tre kategorier; Upplevelser av hälsa, Upplevelser av ohälsa samt Upplevelser av social och ekonomisk utsatthet. Studiedeltagarna upplevde god hälsa främst som avsaknad av sjukdom och som förmåga att arbeta, ohälsa upplevdes främst som känsla av sjukdom, orkeslöshet och smärta. Att lida av psykisk ohälsa upplevdes som värre att drabbas av än fysisk ohälsa. Avsaknad av sjukförsäkring beskrevs av deltagare som att vara utestängd från sjukvården och upplevdes som svårt. Studiens resultat är användbart för hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal i bemötandet av hemlösa EU-migranter. / Migration within the European Union has increased in recent years, this has also affected the migration to Sweden, homeless EU-migrants who are often socially vulnerable are now an occurring sight in the city. Health can be experienced in different ways and it is important to study this group's experiences of health since few previous studies have focused on this topic. The study's aim was to explore how EU-migrants experience health. A qualitative method has been used where data consisted of semi-structured interviews and content analysis resulted in three categories: Experiences of health, Experiences of illness, and Experiences of social and economic vulnerability. Study participants experienced good health mainly as the absence of disease and the ability to work, illness was perceived primarily as a feeling of disease, fatigue and pain. Suffering from mental illness was perceived as worse than suffering from physical illness. Lack of medical insurance was described by participants as being excluded from healthcare and was perceived as difficult. The study results are useful for health professionals in the caring for homeless EU migrants.

Denna studie undersöker europeiseringen av svenska politiska partier från 1998 till 2016. Syftet har konkretiserats i frågeställningen ”På vilka sätt har svenska politiska partiers skrivande om samt inställning till EU-medlemskapet och unionen generellt utvecklats över tid?” och dess underfråga ”Har en europeisering av dessa partier skett?”. Det empiriska materialet har erhållits med hjälp av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ ansats i form av text- och innehållsanalys, och har innefattat Vänsterpartiets, Centerpartiets och Liberalernas partiprogram och valmanifest. De mätpunkter som har varit i fokus är omfång, inställning och policy vs. polity. För att analysera materialet användes europeiseringsteorin. Studieresultaten visade att samtliga partier har europeiserats inom åtminstone en av mätpunkterna. I Vänsterpartiet syns en svag europeisering vad gäller omfånget av vilket de nämner EU eller ord kopplade till unionen, i Centerpartiet syns en europeisering vad gäller inställningen till EU och det svenska medlemskapet och i Liberalerna syns en svag europeisering vad gäller inställningen till EU och det svenska medlemskapet såväl som vad gäller indelningen av olika politikområden kontra unionen i sig. Slutsatserna som dragits är att Europeiska unionen alltså har påverkat de svenska politiska partierna, men att denna europeisering tar tid och är väldigt varierande beroende på parti, mätpunkt och årtal. / This study examines the Europeanisation of Swedish political parties from 1998 to 2016. The purpose has been concretised in the research question “In what ways have the Swedish political parties’ writing of and attitude towards the EU-membership and the Union in general developed over time?” and its sub question “Has a Europeanisation of these parties occurred?”. The empirical material has been obtained by both a qualitative and a quantitative approach in the form of text and content analyses, and has included the Left Party’s, the Centre Party’s and the Liberals’ party platforms and manifestos. The measurement points that have been in focus are range, attitude and policy vs. polity. To analyse the material the Europeanisation theory was used. The study results showed that all parties have been Europeanised in at least one of the measurement points. In the Left Party a weak Europeanisation regarding the range of which they mention the EU or words linked to the Union was visible, in the Centre Party a Europeanisation regarding the attitude towards EU and the Swedish membership was visible and in the Liberals a weak Europeanisation regarding the attitude towards EU and the Swedish membership as well as regarding the dividing of different political areas contra the Union itself was visible. The conclusions that have been drawn are that the European Union thus have affected the Swedish political parties, but that this Europeanisation takes time and is very varying depending on party, measurement point and year.

Most of the European citizen can today live their lives in relative security. At the same time our communities are faced with more and greater security threats than ever. Terrorism has risen to become one of the greatest security threats to the European union and its citizens and one can therefore ask the question; has the European Union view of terrorism changed over time or has the interpretation of the threat been constant?                       The purpose of this essay is thus to analyse how the European Union describe and see the threat of terrorism before and after the attack on the United States 2001. The analytical instrument of the essay consist of Buzan et al. (1998) Securitization Theory that enables extraordinary measures to be used in the name of security. Furthermore, the essay is a systematic study and the material consist of documents from the European Union.

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

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Gothenburg city maintains democracy, more specifically through a citizen perspective of the international work in the European Union. To examine democracy the essay will use Lundquists theory about democracy values and efficiency values, this to discern whether or not there are such values in their document about policy and guidelines for international cooperation in Gothenburg city. The paper will also discuss the results in relation to Dahl’s discussion about democracy vs efficiency. To fulfill the purpose, the paper uses a theory-consuming method. This due to the fact that the method places the case as the main object for the research, and not the theory. Furthermore, the method does not have the purpose to generalize the results. To be able to ascertain if there is such values in the policy document, the method contains a schedule with democracy values and efficiency values. The intent of the schedule is to find different ”sentences/keywords” in the document that fits under these different values. After the audit of the policy document, and after sorting out the sentences and the keywords under the schedule, the conclusion is that there are democracy and efficiency values in the policy document. Due to the fact that the purpose was not to measure the quantity of these values in the document, you cannot draw a conclusion of how ”many” it contains. Furthermore, the paper comes to the conclusion that there are some differences in the theoretical definition and the policy document. In relation to Dahl’s discussion, the conclusion is that the policy document maintains democracy values, but you cannot assert exactly to what extent. Keywords: European Union, Gothenburg city, democracy, efficiency.

This paper explains the position of the principle of transparency in the EU up to the year 2010. (Including the changes made by the Lisbon treaty.) The question to answer is: how could transparency develop into a general principle without being mentioned explicitly in the legislation? It was also out to try to see what the future of transparency might look like. In the conclusion it was found that openness and transparency was not something fixed, but an evolving concept. If it was encoded into a single written principle, it could hamper the institutions‟ adaptation to the developing case-law. In the end I concluded that with will and trust, transparency could continue to grow in the future.