Graduation Ceremony in European Studies 2023
On October 13, the annual graduation ceremony for European Studies students took place. Prizes were also awarded to those who wrote the best essays. Congratulations on your graduation, and we all wish you the best of luck in the future!
Winners of The Rutger Lindahl Award
Lena Debanck
The master's student Lena Debanck received 5,000 Swedish kronor as a prize for her essay Arctic Exceptionalism under Scrutiny: A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Increasing Securitization in the European Arctic.
The jury's motivation:
"This thesis, which is a qualitative content analysis of the increasing securitization in the European Arctic, is an excellent study of the present-day geopolitical situation in the most northern parts of Europe. The European Arctic, as defined by the European Environment Agency, is a border region that was considered an iron curtain between West and East during the Cold War. Perestroika changed it into a zone of peace and a region governed by consensus through international collaboration, focusing on environmental cooperation, “Arctic exceptionalism”. In 2023 the geopolitical situation in Europe has challenged the conditions, the collaborations, such as the Arctic Council, are paused.
The overall aim is to critically study the effects of the Russian war on Ukraine regarding the conception of “Arctic exceptionalism”. The results show that securitisation questions have become more important, not least for the Nordic countries. The idea of the Arctic as an exceptional space for global cooperation has been called into question. The analysis of official policies on the Arctic 2020-2022 highlights with clarity that the tendency towards securitization differs a little between the policies of Nordic states (Finland – lack of cooperation; Sweden – threatened political stability; Denmark – threatened sovereignty; Norway and Island – NATO’s role). The thesis is very well founded in research and theory. The analysis is carried through in a clear, reflectively, and convincing way."
Imke Pohl
The master's student Imke Pohl received 5,000 Swedish kronor as a prize for her essay FORGED IN CRISIS? Assessing the EU’s Evolving Actorness in Energy Security in Light of Energy Supply Crises.
The jury's motivation:
"Imke Pohl’s master thesis deals EU's evolving actorness in energy security considering geopolitical tensions between Europe and its neighbouring countries. The thesis topic has both theoretical and societal/political relevance. The author provides a thorough and well-reflected review of the literature on actorness in the context of the European Union and energy security. The author navigates safely through this highly complex literature and manages to distill and present the most relevant arguments in an elegant way.
Research questions are clearly formulated and justified. The thesis applies process-tracing, a qualitative research method that examines the sequence of events that lead to a particular phenomenon, which is well suited for the purpose of the thesis. The analysis is structured according to different crises in the European energy supply (the 2009 gas disruption, the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine). The results are clearly presented. The analysis discusses various steps taken by the EU in dealing with energy security and how different crises (the 2009 gas disruption, the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine) have impacted EU actors. It reveals that crises led the EU to increase its decision-making power and energy security capabilities.
The findings are discussed with constant recurrence to theory. The result section provides a thorough and in-depth exploration of and clear answers to the research questions. Overall, the thesis covers a highly relevant and current topic, is well written and structured, and is carried out in an academically thorough way. The findings are interesting for scholars in European Studies and related disciplines, who are interested in EU energy and security policy. Overall, this is an excellent thesis which does not leave much room for improvement."
More information about The Rutger Lindahl Award
Henrik och Karolina von Mentzers uppsatspris
Cecilia Axelsson
Cecilia Axelsson is awarded 2,500 Swedish kronor for her bachelor's thesis KÄNSLOR SOM ENGAGERAR. En statistisk analys av sambandet mellan affektiv polarisering och valdeltagande i det svenska Europaparlamentsvalet 2019.
The jury's motivation:
"Cecilia Axelsson’s BA thesis departs from the well-known notion that the low voter turnout in European parliament elections is bad for the EU’s democratic legitimacy. At the same time, the rising levels of affective polarization in society, usually associated with less political trust and less respect for democratic decision-making, have been shown to increase voters’ motivation to turnout. Cecilia builds on this research and is the first to test the association between affective polarization and voter turnout in a European Parliament election. The results, based on statistical analyses of the Swedish European Parliament Election Survey, show a positive association between individuals’ degree of affective polarization and propensity to vote, but the association is not stronger among partisan voters. The overall quality of Cecilia’s thesis is very good, in many respects even excellent.
The thesis is very well-written and systematic, and the original research contribution is highly relevant from a societal perspective. Her literature review efficiently synthesizes the different strands of research on affective polarization and voter turnout respectively, from which she derives relevant hypotheses. Cecilia shows awareness in her discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of her method, operationalization, and case. She also brings up the highly relevant and thought-provoking discussion if affective polarization normatively could be seen as something good for voter turnout and whether there is a risk for demobilization among less affective voters in European elections."
Katharina Trampush
Katharina Trampush is awarded 2,500 Swedish kronor for her bachelor's thesis GENDER EQUALITY IN THE EU IN TIMES OF CRISIS: SIDELINED OR SUPPORTED? A qualitative comparative analysis of the EU’s Global Financial Crisis and Covid-19 Crisis policy Response.
The jury's motivation:
"In her thesis, Katharina asks a scholarly and societally very important question – does the EU uphold its values during crises? In the thesis, she analyzes EU’s commitment to gender equality in competition with other policy objectives, such as economic recovery, especially under the conditions of urgency as in the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 crisis. The thesis has a very well-written and extensive overview of the existing research in the field, linking it to clear theoretical discussion of Historical institutionalism. Hence, it becomes clear that the thesis contributes to a well-defined gap in the existing knowledge.
The empirical material covers a large corpus of EU documents from the two time periods, analyzed with a carefully crafted theoretical framework to guide the qualitative content analysis. The analysis concludes by arguing that the in the more recent period, i.e. the Covid19 crisis, the EU support in the form of the NGEU demonstrates greater focus on gender equality than during the previous crisis, which is explained with the help of the theoretical concepts of ‘critical junctures’. In sum, Katharina’s thesis is evidence of her maturity and curiosity, especially with regards to the ability to understand historical patterns and to link high-level theory with empirical evidence. Overall, this is an excellent piece of work and demonstrates a very good understanding of both the substantive issue, but also of research design and academic scholarship."
More information about Henrik och Karolina von Mentzers uppsatspris
Graduated Master's students
