Building Happy and Resilient Communities in the North of the European Union : A case study on Transition Movement in Sweden and its relationship with the EU

Sammanfattning: When the world becomes drowned in multiple global problems and citizens do not see any real progressive solutions from their governments, they take the initiative in their own hands and start changing the world on their own. The Transition Town movement was born this way. It is a social movement which aims at building resilient local communities in response to climate change, peak oil and an unfair ecologically destructive economic system which is probably soon to break down. As a potentially strong actor of future social change, it is worth studying emerging local movements in Europe, and hopefully identifying new potentials for success of these grass-root innovations.The study, thus, aims to investigate the relation between the participants of the Transition Movement Sweden and the supranational/intergovernmental entity EU, which plays one of the key roles in economic, environmental and social aspects of Swedish citizens. By conducting interviews with participants of the movement in several Swedish cities, the nature of this relationship is being explored. Using the theory of Multi-Institutional Politics Approach the case study explains the connection between the movement and the EU.