Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Albania – International relations – European Union countries'

Defence date: 30 November 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Philippe Schmitter (EUI); Prof. Làszlò Bruszt (EUI); Dr. Antoaneta Dimitrova (Leiden University); Prof. Shinasi Rama (New York University)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
This dissertation explores how and to what extent EU conditionality can foster democratisation in a highly problematic case such as post-communist Albania. In order to examining the phenomena of democratisation in operational detail, the thesis delves into the sub-systemic level of democratisation focusing on two partial regimes - electoral regime and civil service system. The analysis follows on the rational choice premise that the domestic actors’ strategies of compliance depend on the structure of external incentives i.e. rewards and threats, that appeal to their interest. Our account on the impact of EU conditionality upon democratisation assumes that the likelihood of compliance depends on 1) the size of the rewards attached to conditionality; 2) the size of adoption costs; 3) the clarity of prescriptions and 4) credibility of reinforcement. The first part consists of developing a conceptual framework for assessing and explaining the impact of EU enlargement conditionality over democratisation processes. The second part explores the case of Albanian democratisation and the specific challenge it poses to the working of EU conditionality. The third part analyses the association between EU conditionality and reform seeking to identify whether the fortification of the EU conditionality coincides with a pattern-breaking change in each of the partial regimes of our choice. The thesis concludes that the EU was more successful to foster reforms in the area of electoral competition than public administration and civil service system. The EU seemed to push forward reforms by articulating clear prescriptions regarding the electoral competition; and advancing contractual relations with the country in function of electoral performance.

This thesis explores the bilateral relationship between the European Union (EU) and Japan as interregional partners and as united global actors. The principal aim is to navigate the nature of relations between these two diverse entities asserting that ideology, culture and identity formation contribute significantly to the joint policies undertaken by these two groups. The theoretical assumptions of this thesis are discussed in parallel to observable phenomena relative to the nature of relations between the EU and Japan, 1990-2005. This research analyses EU and Japan interactions from the Joint Declaration 1991 and including the Action Plan 2001 and aims to use the theoretical concepts of Identity. The frameworks of the Four Point Plan and the Analytic Narrative are appropriate to gain insight to the nature of these relations. Both the Four Point Plan and the Analytic Narrative are broad in scope but defined in nature, thus they are most suitable for the purpose of this analysis. This multidisciplinary approach enables the deconstruction of the influence held by 'identity' in domestic and international policy, outlining that policy influences such as preference and 'stories'! affect the relationship between the EU and Japan. This modem research angle serves to emphasise the uniqueness of the EU and Japan as international actors. The United States and rise of China act as intervening variables, and their secondary role highlights the changing global environment over this period.

The 'Open Skies' policy launched by the United States in 1992 gave birth to new bilateral agreements between them and most Member States of the European Union, as the latter were adopting a single aviation market. Nevertheless, the nationality clause the agreements included conflicted with the Community principle of freedom of establishment.
On November 5, 2002, the European Court of Justice therefore ruled there was indeed violation. However, the true question raised by the agreements focused less on such violation, which was anterior to those agreements, than on their fragmentation and the inequality they created in the Europe/United States aviation relations.
Indeed, the issue to be stressed in the judgments is linked to the building of the external competence of the Union with regards to aviation. While the Court refused to grant total competence to the Community, it made that of the Member States impracticable, leading to a global mandate for the Commission.
Although the orientations of the agreements to be concluded are foreseeable, the role the European Union will play in a potential multilateral negotiation remains to be defined.

This study examines economic integration within the European Union (EU) as a factor in conflict transformation and peace-building. European responses to causes of frequent conflicts and wars after the end of WWII focused on the search for peace, economic cooperation and prosperity. This thesis will focus on three elements: economic interdependence, the expansion of the free market, and economic integration. In-depth examination of these factors reveals that economic interdependence or the exchange of goods and services across inter-state and international boundaries only, is not sufficient to bring peace among states. Economic inter-dependence may reduce the impact of war, but cannot maintain sustainable peace. Unfair competition fanned by economic nationalism was a strong obstacle to free trade in Europe in the early 19th century. In the 21st century, the expansion of free trade, with increased understanding has enhanced reduction in interstate conflicts. However, free trade, in and of itself does not constitute a strong factor for a sustainable peace. Free trade may encourage democracy, but the expansion of free trade coupled with interdependence, does not bring sustainable peace. The EU has successfully established sustainable peace through economic integration-the creation of the single market that established freedom of movement, people, goods, services; and a single currency that facilitates easy transactions. The single market also abolished tariffs and custom duties. By and large, economic integration within the EU has been successful in creating a sustainable peace because economic interdependence, and the expansion of the free market have been combined with political integration by building democratic institutions at the intergovernmental and transnational levels.

Defence date: 21 December 2021
Examining Board: Professor Hans – W. Micklitz, European University Institute (Supervisor), Professor Martijn W. Hesselink, European University Institute, Professor Anna Beckers, Maastricht University, Professor Fernanda Nicola, Washington College of Law.
This doctoral dissertation examines the EU consumer perspective on externalities of production in global value chains (GVCs). Whether as part of the discourse on development or global economic governance, externalities of production are a long-standing issue that has been problematised not only by lawyers but also by economists, anthropologists, sociologists and social scientists at large. In the legal field, the analysis has struggled to contextualise consumer law and policy together with the peculiarities of GVCs as a distinct model of business organisation characterised by contractualisation of processes of production. The thesis argues that contractualisation of production establishes a relationship between consumers and processes of production, also in relation to externalities. Such a relation is not mirrored either by the voluntary self-regulation through which enterprises regulate externalities nor by EU consumer law. The present dissertation addresses this matter and argues that EU consumer law limits the involvement of consumers in the process of self-regulation that leading enterprises of GVCs undertake to prevent and/or remedy externalities of production and that results into a unilateral exercise of epistemic authority. The exercise of epistemic authority is favoured by a ‘communication paradigm’ framing EU consumer law, according to which consumer claims’ on sustainability and externalities of production depend on the content of the communication consumers receive prior or via the contract. This paradigm prevents consumers involvement, in all phases of the contractual relationship, in the definition of a legal episteme of sustainability in line with the core constitutional principles and values as enshrined in the EU Treaties and constitutional charters of member states. The final part of the thesis suggests that the limits deriving by the communication paradigm can be overcome by the CJEU that, by relying on the principle of effectiveness can integrate the communication paradigm with a consumer perspective on externalities of production in the post-contractual phase.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
The 1992 European Union (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP, Maastricht Treaty) marked a turning point in the trans-Atlantic relationship. The Balkan conflicts and broader political changes in the 1990s compelled the EU to assume more responsibility in peace operations. The EU's 60,000 strong Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) is planned to be operational in 2003. Will the EU be able to conduct Petersberg-type peace operations? This thesis analyzes policy and military shortfalls of the Balkan peacekeeping effort. Questions about the legitimacy of armed humanitarian interventions, about difficulties in common policy formulation and translation to sound military objectives are the core problems of civil-military relations in European peace operations. The case studies focus on the EU failure to resolve the Bosnian crises between 1992-95, and on the gaps between NATO policies and military objectives in the operations of 'Implementation Force' in Bosnia and 'Allied Force' in Kosovo. The thesis considers developments in EU CFSP institutions and EU-NATO relationship as well as the EU's response to terrorist attacks on September 11 2001. The thesis argues that the difficulty in EU CFSP formulation limits the effective use of RRF in military operations.
Major, Hungarian Army

On May 1st 2004, Poland entered the European Union (EU), introducing new variables into the domestic politics of the Polish Republic. Since gaining its independence from Soviet control in 1989, Poland’s political landscape can be described as a dynamic and ever changing force towards democratic maturation. With the accession of Poland to the EU, questions of European integration and Europeanization have arisen, most specifically with how these two processes effect and shape the behaviors of domestic political actors. With Poland entering its second decade of EU membership, this study attempts to explain how, and if, further European integration has had any effect on the Europeanization of political parties in Poland. Building upon the work of various scholars, most notably Aleks Szczerbiak, this study examines the years 2009-2014, and examines Poland’s political parties through Robert Ladrech’s framework of Europeanization.

Patterns of domestic political contestation in international affairs often see the centre aligned against both the left and the right of the ideological spectrum. This is observable in a range of issues, from democracy promotion, intervention, international law, European integration, free trade, globalization and the creation of international regimes. Why centre-periphery ideological competition occurs is an interesting puzzle, given the challenge it offers to the idea that partisanship is an inherently left-right phenomenon. Yet the role of the political centre in foreign policy has not been subjected to systematic analysis. This thesis studies the nature and effects of the foreign policy position of the political centre. It argues that the centre is distinguished from left and right by its embrace of distinct elements of liberal ideology. The liberal view of international politics differs in thee important respects from its socialist and conservative competitors: It is particular, rather than pluralist, when it comes to questions of sovereignty and international legitimacy; it views interdependence, rather than independence, as a natural and desirable condition of the international; and it views deterrence, rather than diplomacy, as the best means of achieving security. To test the validity of this thesis I discuss the role of ideology in explaining variation in relations between four Euratlantic states (Britain, France, West Germany and Canada) and the United States during the Cold War. This is a hard case given the intensity of global threat at the time. The thesis tests the claim that the strength of Euratlantic-American relations is a function of the relative influence of the political centre at the time. To do this it outlines a mixed-methods research design that combines in-depth case studies with a quantitative analysis of Euratlantic-US relations. The results from both elements confirm the validity of the theoretical proposition.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As the Trade Development and Co-operation Agreement (TDCA) creates competitive challenges and opportunities, labour and capital will seek the highest returns, dri ving out less efficient performances while bolstering more efficient enterprises and industries. This dynamic process of adjustments will continue throughout the implementation of this agreement. The South African government sees the agreement with the European Union as a step towards restructuring the country's economy and making it part of the rapidly changing world economy. This policy view of the South African government will result in those sectors of the economy that are not internationally competitive, receiving no support from government. Consequently these sectors will decrease in time. Of the three agricultural profiles studied, fresh fruit (deciduous fruit) will benefit the most from the TDCA. The most obvious effect the agreement will have on the sector is the saving on customs duties payable on exports to the EU. An estimate on 1997 trade figures revealed that in the short term the deciduous fruit industry will save approximately RI00 million. Over the implementation period of 10 years, the industry will save about Rl billion. After that, savings amounting to approximately R125 million per annum should be possible. The canned fruit sector is an export-driven industry that exports about 90 per cent of its products, 50 per cent of which is exported to the EU. The export tariffs to the EU are very high. As non-EU member, South Africa is the biggest provider of canned fruit to the EU. Some analyses revealed that the total savings in tariffs for the first year of implementation will be R25 million. The industry stands to save approximately R100 million over the implementation period. At the EU's request, South Africa agreed to negotiate a separate Wine and Spirits Agreement. The EU believes that South Africa's continued use of certain "geographical indications" or terms is in breach of Article 23 of the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement. The quotas granted by the EU on wine and sparkling wine cover 79 per cent of South African exports to the EU. South Africa granted the EU a 0.26 million litre quota for sparkling wine and a 1 million-litre quota for bottled wine. SA will phase out the use of the terms "port", "sherry", "grappa", ouzo", "korn" , "jagertee" and "pacharan" over agreed time periods. The issue will be taken to the WTO for a ruling in this regard. The EU has agreed to grant SA a duty-free tariff quota for wine but has suspended the tariff quota until the Wine and Spirits agreement has been signed. The EU will also provide financial assistance of 15 million ECU to help restructure the SA wine and spirits sector. The South African agricultural industry should take note of the constantly changing international marketing environment. The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with the European Union opens up new markets and enhances existing ones that must be exploited. It is imperative that every role player should evaluate the level of competitiveness of his or her enterprise. Thus the message is very clear: Agricultural production with an international trading view is the only sustainable road to follow.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Soos die Handel, Ontwikkelings en Samewerkingsooreenkoms kompeterende geleenthede en uitdagings skep, sal arbeid en kapitaal verskuif na die hoogste opbrengste beskikbaar. In hierdie proses sal daar wegbeweeg word van onvoldoende prestasies en sal effektiewe ondememings en industriee floreer. Hierdie dinarniese proses van herstruktuering sal voortduur regdeur die implementeringsperiode van hierdie handelsooreenkoms. Die Suid Afrikaanse regering beskou die ooreenkoms met die Europese Unie as 'n belangrike stap in die proses om die land se ekonomie te herstrukltureer en so deel te maak van die vinnig veranderende wereld ekonomie. Hierdie regerings beleid sal daartoe lei dat sektore wat nie intemasionaal mededingend is nie, geen ondersteuning vanaf die regering sal ontvang nie. Met tyd sal hierdie sektore verdwyn. Van die drie landbousektore wat bestudeer is, sal vars vrugte (sagte vrugte) die meeste voordeel trek uit die ooreenkoms. Die besparing van aksynsbelasting op die uitvoere na die Europese Unie is die mees kenmerkendste voordeel vir die sektor. 'n Beraming gebaseer op 1997 handels syfers toon 'n jaarlikse besparing van plus minus R100 miljoen. Deur die hele implementeringsperiode, sal die besparing plus minus Rl biljoen beloop. Na afloop van die implementeringsperiode, sal jaarlikse besparing van plus minus R125 miljoen moontlik wees. Die inmaak vrugte sektor is 'n uitvoer gedrewe industrie wat gemiddeld 90 persent van hul prod uk uitvoer. Van hierdie uitvoere is 50 persent bestem vir die Europese Unie. Die uitvoertariewe na die Europese Unie is baie hoog. As nie-lidland, is Suid Afrika die grootste verskaffer van geblikte vrugte aan die Europese Unie. Beramings voorsien dat die sektor 'n totale besparing vir die eerste jaar van implemetering van plus minus R25 miljoen kan beloop. Die industrie kan soveel as R100 rniljoen oor die implementeringsperiode bespaar. Op die Europese Unie se versoek, het Suid Afrika ingestem om 'n afsonderlike Wyn en Spiritualie ooreenkoms te onderhandel. Die Europese Unie beweer dat Suid Afrika se gebruik van sekere "geografiese aanduidings" of terme, In verbreking is van Artikel 23 van die Handelsverwante Aspekte van die Intellektuele Eiendomsregte Ooreenkoms. Wyn en vonkelwyn kwotas wat deur die Europese Unie aan Suid Afrika toegestaan is, beloop 79 persent van die uitvoere na die Europese Unie. Suid Afrika het die Europese Unie In kwota van 0.26 miljoen liter vir vonkelwyn en 1 miljoen kwota vir gebottelde wyn toegestaan. Voorts sal Suid Afrika die terme "port", "sherry", "grappa", "ouzo", "kom" , "jagertee" and "pacharan" met die ooreengekome peri odes uitfaseer. Die aspek sal egter na die WHO geneem word vir In finale beslissing. Die Europese Unie het ooreengekom om aan Suid Afrika In tarief vrye kwota vir wyn toe te staan, maar het dit opgehef tot tyd en wyl die Wyn en Spiritualie ooreenkoms onderteken is. Die Europese Unie sal ook finansiele ondersteuning van 15 miljoen ECU skenk om die Suid Afrikaanse Wyn en Spiritualiee industrie te help hestruktureer. Suid Afrikaanse Landbou sal notisie moet neem van die konstante verandering in die intemasionale bemarkingsomgewing. Die Vrye Handelsooreenkoms wat geteken is met die Europese Unie, open nuwe markte en sal bestaande markte bevorder. Hierdie geleenthede moet benut word. Dit is baie belangrik dat elke rolspeler sy vlak van kompeterende vermoe moet evalueer, om so sy eie siening oor die ooreenkoms te kan uitspreek. Hieruit is die boodskap dus baie duidelik: Landbou produksie met In intemasionale handels uitkyk, is die enigste volhoubare pad om te volg.

Since 2009, the European Union has faced the worst economic crisis of its history. Due to the devastating impact of the Eurozone crisis on their economies, European countries realized the need to deepen the integration. Without a fiscal union, the Monetary Union would always be prone to economic crises. However, the efforts to reinforce the Union’s economy have been hampered by the UK due to its obsession with national sovereignty and lack of European ideals. In opposing further integration, the UK officials have started to speak out about the probability of leaving the EU. The purpose of this paper is to present benefits and challenges of Britain’s EU membership and to assess the consequences of leaving the Union both for the UK and for the EU. This study utilizes Power Transition theory to analyze British impact on European integration. With the perspective of this theory, the UK is defined as a dissatisfied partner. By applying the conflict– cooperation model of Brian Efird, Jacek Kugler and Gaspare Genna, the effect of the UK’s dissatisfaction is empirically portrayed. The empirical findings of the conflict– integration model clearly show that Britain’s dissatisfaction has a negative impact on European integration and jeopardizes the future of the Union. Power Transitions analysis indicates that the UK would become an insignificant actor in the international system and lose the opportunity for the Union’s leadership if it leaves the EU. On the other hand, although Britain’s departure would be a significant loss in terms of capability, economic coherence is more important for the EU. Without enough commitment for the Union, increasing the level of integration with the UK would raise the probability of conflict with the integration process in the future.

The aim of the thesis is to further explore the relationship between economic integration and firm mobility and investment, both from an empirical and a theoretical perspective, with the objective of drawing conclusions on how government policy can be used to strengthen the positive impact of integration on investment, which is crucial in moving and maintaining countries at the forefront of the technology frontier and accelerating economic growth in a world of rapid technical change and high mobility of ideas, goods, services, capital and labor.

The first chapter aims to bring together the literature on economic integration, firm mobility and investment. It contains two sections: one dedicated to the literature on FDI and the second covering the literature on firm entry and exit, economic performance and economic and business regulation.

In the second chapter I examine the relationship between the Single Market and FDI both in an intra-EU context and from outside the EU. The empirical results show that the impact of the Single Market on FDI differs substantially from one country to another. This finding may be due to the functioning of institutions.

The third chapter studies the relationship between the level of external trade protection put into place by a Regional Integration Agreement(RIA)and the option of a firm from outside the RIA block to serve the RIA market through FDI rather than exports. I find that the level of external trade protection put in place by the RIA depends on the RIA country's capacity to benefit from FDI spillovers, the magnitude of set-up costs of building a plant in the RIA and on the amount of external trade protection erected by the country from outside the reigonal block with respect to the RIA.

The fourth chapter studies how the firm entry and exit process is affected by product market reforms and regulations and impact macroeconomic performance. The results show that an increase in deregulation will lead to a rise in firm entry and exit. This in turn will especially affect macroeconomic performance as measured by output growth and labor productivity growth. The analysis done at the sector level shows that results can differ substantially across industries, which implies that deregulation policies should be conducted at the sector level, rather than at the global macroeconomic level.
Doctorat en sciences économiques, Orientation économie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study examines the issue of compatibility of demo-conditionality with state sovereignty in international law.  From a practical perspective, it examines the state of the science with respect to the enforcement of demo-conditionality, in the context of the unique relationship between the European Union and the African,  Caribbean and Pacific countries. The practicality of any argument declaring certain norms to be compatible with state sovereignty rests on an assumption that it is possible to distinguish which norms are compatible from those which are not. The validity of such an assumption depends on whether a universal workable test with which to draw this distinction, and its accompanying requirements, has been or can be developed. Therefore, the starting point of this study is to investigate whether such a universal test exists, and if so, what its requirements are. The author reaches a legally appropriate conclusion as to which norms are compatible with the principle of state sovereignty and which not in the international legal system. Thereafter, an investigation is undertaken with regard to the legal premises invoked to justify the compatibility of the demo-conditionality with state sovereignty. To this end, two levels of analysis (also referred to here as two paths) are followed. The first level of investigation concerns the proposition for demo-conditionality’s being premised upon adherence to new treaty obligations governing the parties’ observance of democratic norms. In this context, the examination focuses on Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 as the relevant provision. Other single-issue human rights instruments are also examined to establish whether they compliment Article 25. The second level of investigation explores the possibility for demo-conditionality's compatibility being premised upon obligations of State parties, which arise from the various development co-operation instruments adopted over the years. Here, emphasis is placed upon the question of whether or not these instruments advocate the inclusion of demo-conditionality in development co-operation between donors and recipients of aid. This study ultimately reaches a legally appropriate conclusion, at both levels of analysis, concerning demo-conditionality's compatibility with the principle of state sovereignty. At this juncture, a recommendation is made as to which of the two paths is the legally safer one for the pursuit of the demo-conditionality in development co-operation. On the question of what constitutes a more successful international approach to the establishment of democratic governments in the South, this study has undertaken a comparative analysis, making suggestions with respect to two models: the "Enforcement Model", based upon coercive enforcement measures, and the "Managerial Model", based upon an approach of co-operative dialogue. Finally, the study examines the state of the science with respect to enforcement of demo-conditionality, with a focus on the special relationships between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. This is designed to provide a degree of insight into the practical aspects associated with the enforcement of demo-conditionality.

Judicial activism implies a hidden politicization of the Court. The legal arguments and the methods used by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) might seem coherent. However, an inquiry into judicial activism means looking beyond the legal reasoning of the Court and trying to “connect the dots” of an alternative narrative that can explain the Court’s long-term approach to certain issues. In the case of judicial activism of the CJEU in the case-law concerning public international law, the veil for the politicization of the Court is provided by the pluralist architecture of global law. The heterarchical structure of relations among legal orders in the international arena activates the CJEU as an actor of global governance. Simultaneously, it results in the Court adopting a rather internal and defensive approach, undermining legal security.

Judicial activism of the CJEU finds its particular expressions in the case-law concerning public international law. The pro-integrationist tendency of the CJEU often raised in the literature concerning the Court’s role in the process of EU integration, translates into a substantial and an institutional dimension of judicial activism. The substantial articulation of judicial activism in the case-law concerning international law is the Court’s emphasis on the autonomy of the EU legal order. This internal perspective is adopted not only for virtuous reasons, but also in defense of definitely not universal European interests. The institutional dimension refers to the Court’s position within the EU structure of governance. The case-law concerning international law is marked by a close alignment with the European Commission and the integration of the EU goals in external relations. Moreover, the pluralist veil can cover the extent to which the Court’s decisions concerning international law are influenced by considerations completely internal to the EU.

In my analysis I proceed in three steps that are reflected in three chapters of the thesis. There is no clear and prevalent definition of judicial activism, but instead rather multiple possibilities of approaching the concept. While the general intend of the research project is to critically reflect on the concept of judicial activism of the highest courts within a legal order, the particular focus will be on the CJEU dealing with international law. I proceed in three steps. First, I assess different understandings of the role of the judge and the concept of judicial activism in legal literature in view of ascertaining the relevance of the debate and distilling some general components of a possible definition. Secondly, I identify the factors particular for the position of the CJEU within the EU legal order and with regard to international law. The particular characteristics of the CJEU result in a limited applicability of the general definitions of judicial activism. Finally, I analyze the case-law in view of identifying examples as well as counter-examples of the particular symptoms/attributes. Because judicial activism broadens the scope of the factors guiding judicial decision-making, it enables us to better understand the contingencies in the Court´s jurisprudence.
Doctorat en Sciences juridiques
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

International relations can be reviewed from different perspectives. One of them is through culture. In general, a lecture and an analysis of it from this specific point of view has been neglected, attracting much less attention comparing to other issues, like the political science, the international law, or the economics. The cultural perspective offers a mirror of the reality and can contribute to a better understanding of the external relations and on what is happening at other levels, usually considered as more relevant in the foreign policies and the traditional diplomacy, like politics, trade and commerce, or military issues. At the same time, this cultural perspective needs a transversal focus to offer a real insight and overview of the actual scope, due to the multifaceted feature of culture considered in its broad approach. The international presence and the role of culture within the bilateral relations is conditioned by the definition of the external cultural policies and the priorities and strategies in its bilateral relations with third countries. Sometimes the external cultural policies can have a close link with the internal cultural policies as well, being a projection of the internal priorities in the international context. The institutional structure and the competences of the different institutions can also influence in the role of culture in the bilateral relations of a specific country. Aside of that, there are other relevant factors that can be determinant in the bilateral relations, like the historical background or the bilateral political and commercial relations, among others. Culture in the context of the international relations and cooperation between Europe and Egypt includes from the institutional level, the bilateral and multilateral relations of the European Union, and its 28 Member States at an individual level as well. Otherwise, some of these European countries have had a long presence during the colonialist period, maintain historical ties, or have economic interests in Egypt. Within this framework, the different cultural policies are embedded in the external actions of the bilateral cultural relations and cooperation, where the cultural projection is a component of the public diplomacy as a form of soft power. The present research has as primary objective to get a deep inside of the bilateral relations, and the identification of some quantitative indicators and qualitative aspects of the European bilateral relations from the public sector, and makes a detailed analysis of which is the present situation of culture in the context of the international relations with a strategic country of the Arab world like Egypt. Getting an insight into the different facts, parameters and indicators allows to identify the different exogenous and endogenous factors which can have a determinant role, jointly with the explicit and implicit objectives, and other elements to consider, including priorities, strategies, instruments and activities. Actions taken into consideration are those from the European Union, and some of its Member States, which are reviewed and compared in a systematic way. This research takes as case study five of the European countries, the most populated of the European Union, and several specific fields. It starts checking the way how each individual country is presenting its external cultural policy in the official web, and followed by the cultural bilateral relations with Egypt. Then it is verified the role of the national cultural institutes, the archaeological cooperation, the higher education, the research and scientific cooperation, the presence of culture in the cooperation to development and the media. Finally it is revised the European Union's cultural presence through actions and initiatives in Egypt, and checked how the individual cultural bilateral relations of the selected countries fit together with them. The result offers a broad and comprehensive perspective of the presence of culture in international relations and cooperation in the particular case of Egypt. The analysis carried out allows concluding an insufficiently structured place of culture in the European external relations and cooperation with Egypt, the missed coordination among the different actors involved, the individual interests, and some incoherencies as well.
Les relacions internacionals poden ser examinades des de diferents perspectives. Una d'elles es des de la cultura. En general, una lectura i un anàlisi d'aquest punt de vista específic ha estat oblidat, i ha atret molta menys atenció comparat amb altres temes com són els temes polítics, el dret internacional o els econòmics. La perspectiva cultural ofereix un mirall on es reflexa la realitat, que pot contribuir a un millor enteniment de les relacions exteriors i sobre el que succeeix a altres nivells, normalment considerats com a més rellevants dins de la política exterior i la diplomàcia tradicional, com són els temes polítics, comercials o militars. Al mateix temps, aquesta perspectiva cultural necessita una mirada transversal per poder oferir una mirada profunda i al mateix temps global de la actual abast del tema, ja que abraça diferents àmbits de la cultura, que en aquest cas és considerada en la seva aproximació més amplia. La presència internacional i el rol de la cultura a les relacions bilaterals està condicionada per la definició de les polítiques culturals exteriors i de les prioritats i estratègies en les seves relacions bilaterals amb països tercers. De vegades les polítiques culturals externes poden tenir un vincle estret amb les polítiques culturals internes, sent una projecció de les prioritats internes en el context internacional. L'estructura institucional i les competències de les diferents institucions poden també tenir una influència en el rol de la cultura en les relacions bilaterals d'un país concret. A part d'això, hi ha altres factors rellevants que poden ser determinants de les relacions bilaterals, com són els antecedents històrics o les relacions bilaterals polítiques i comercials, entre d'altres. La cultura en el context de les relacions internacionals i la cooperació entre Europa i Egipte inclou des del punt institucional les relacions bilaterals i multilaterals de la Unió Europea, així com les dels seus 28 estats membres a nivell individual. Per altre banda, alguns d'aquests països europeus han tingut una llarga presència durant el període colonial, mantenen vincles històrics, o tenen interessos econòmics a Egipte. En aquest marc, les diferents polítiques culturals estan encaixades en les accions exteriors de les relacions culturals bilaterals i de la cooperació, on la projecció cultural és un component de la diplomàcia pública com a forma de soft power. La recerca té com a principal objectiu aprofundir sobre les relacions bilaterals, i la identificació d'alguns dels indicadors quantitatius i aspectes qualitatius de les relacions bilaterals des del sector públic, i fer un anàlisis detallat sobre quina és la situació present de la cultura en el context de les relacions internacional amb un país estratègic del món àrab com és Egipte. Aquest aprofundiment en els diferents factors, paràmetres i indicadors permet identificar els diferents factors exògens i endògens que poden ser determinants, juntament amb els objectius explícits i implícits, i altres aspectes que s'han de considerar, com les prioritats, estratègies, instruments, i activitats. Les accions que es prenen en consideració són les de la Unió Europea, i d'alguns dels seus estats membres, que són revisades i comparades d'una manera sistemàtica. Aquest treball agafa com a estudi de cas a Egipte, i també analitza a cinc països europeus, els cinc més poblats de la Unió Europea, i alguns dels camps culturals específics. Com a marc general es comença per veure la manera com cada un d'aquests països individuals presenta la seva política cultural exterior a les pàgines webs oficials, i es continua amb les relacions culturals bilaterals amb Egipte. Després es verifica el rol dels instituts nacionals de cultura, la cooperació arqueològica, l'educació universitària, la investigació i la cooperació científica, la presencia de la cultura a la cooperació al desenvolupament, i els media. Finalment es revisa la presencia cultural de la Unió Europea mitjançant les accions i les iniciatives a Egipte, i com les relacions culturals bilaterals individuals dels països seleccionats hi encaixen. El resultat ofereix una perspectiva àmplia i comprensiva de la presencia de la cultura a les relacions internacionals i la cooperació en aquest cas particular d'Egipte. L'anàlisi que s'ha portat a terme permet concloure que la cultura té un lloc insuficientment estructurat a les relacions exteriors europees amb Egipte, l'absència de coordinació entre els diferents actors involucrats, els interessos individuals, així com algunes incoherències.
Las relaciones internacionales pueden ser examinadas desde diferentes perspectivas, una de ellas es desde la cultura. En general una lectura y un análisis desde este específico punto de vista ha sido dejado de lado, atrayendo mucha menos atención en comparación con otros temas, como las ciencias políticas, el derecho internacional, o la economía. La perspectiva cultural ofrece un espejo donde se refleja la realidad, y que puede contribuir a una mejor compresión de las relaciones exteriores y sobre lo que sucede a otros niveles normalmente considerados como más relevantes en las relaciones exteriores y la diplomacia tradicional, como son los temas políticos, de comercio internacional o los temas militares. Al mismo tiempo esta perspectiva cultural necesita un enfoque transversal para ofrecer una visión detallada y al mismo tiempo global para conocer su alcance real, debido al carácter multidisciplinar de la cultura, considerada en su amplia aproximación. La presencia internacional y el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales están condicionados por la definición de las políticas culturales exteriores, además de las prioridades y estrategias en las relaciones bilaterales con países terceros. Por otro lado, frecuentemente las políticas culturales exteriores pueden tener vínculos estrechos con las políticas culturales a nivel nacional, siendo una proyección de las prioridades internas en el contexto internacional. La estructura institucional y las competencias de las diferentes instituciones públicas también pueden influenciar en el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales de un determinado país. Además de ello, también hay otros factores relevantes que pueden determinar las relaciones bilaterales, como los antecedentes históricos o las relaciones bilaterales políticas y comerciales, entre otras. La cultura en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación entre Europa y Egipto incluye, a nivel institucional, las relaciones bilaterales y multilaterales de la Unión Europea, así como sus 28 estados miembros a nivel individual. Además de ello, algunos de estos países europeos han tenido un larga presencia durante el periodo colonial, mantienen lazos históricos, o tienen intereses económicos en Egipto. Dentro de este marco las diferentes políticas culturales se encuentran incluidas en las acciones exteriores de las relaciones culturales bilaterales y la cooperación, donde la proyección cultural es uno de los componentes de la diplomacia pública como una forma de soft power. La presente investigación tiene como principal objetivo profundizar en las relaciones bilaterales y la identificación de indicadores centrados en diversos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las relaciones bilaterales europeas desde el sector público, y analiza en detalle sobre cuál es la situación presente de la cultural en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales con un país estratégico del mundo árabe como es Egipto. Esta profundización de los diferentes factores, parámetros y indicadores permite identificar los diferentes factores exógenos y endógenos que tienen un rol determinante, juntamente con los objetivos explícito se implícitos, y otros elementos que se deben considerar como son las prioridades, las estrategias, instrumentos y actividades culturales. Las acciones consideradas son las de la Unión Europea y las de algunos de sus estados miembros, la cuales son revisadas y comparadas de forma sistemática. Esta investigación se centra en el estudio de case de cinco países europeos, los cinco estados miembros de la Unión Europea más poblados, y en diferentes campos específicos. Se inicia supervisando la forma como cada país individualmente presenta su política cultural exterior en sus páginas web oficiales, seguido por una revisión de las relaciones culturales bilaterales con Egipto. Luego en diferentes capítulos se verifica el rol de los centros culturales nacionales, la cooperación arqueológica, la educación universitaria, la investigación y la cooperación científica, la presencia de la cultura en la cooperación al desarrollo, y los media. Finalmente se analiza la presencia cultural de la Unión Europea en Egipto a través de diferentes acciones e iniciativas, y como las relaciones culturales bilaterales de los países europeos seleccionados encajan con ellas. El resultado obtenido ofrece una amplia y comprensiva perspectiva sobre cuál es la presencia de la cultura en las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación en el caso particular de Egipto. El análisis llevado a cabo permite concluir un lugar insuficientemente estructurado de la cultura en las relaciones exteriores europeas con Egipto, la falta de coordinación entre los diferentes actores involucrados, los intereses individuales, así como algunas incoherencias.

This case-study establishes the influences of power-knowledge relationships on capacity-building for sustainability in the European Union Funded ‘Wild Coast Spatial Development Initiative Pilot Programme’ (EU Programme). It aims to capture the lessons learned for capacitybuilding to support nature-based tourism initiatives on the Wild Coast. The EU Programme aimed to achieve economic and social development of previously disadvantaged communities through nature-based tourism enterprises, and to develop capacity of local authorities and communities to support environmental management. The study discusses common trends in thematic categories emerging from the research data, and contextualises research findings in a broader development landscape. This study indicates that power-knowledge relations were reflected in the EU Programme’s development ideology by an exclusionary development approach, which lacked a participatory ethos. This exclusionary approach did not support an enabling environment for capacity-building. This development approach, guiding the programme conceptualization, design and implementation processes, resulted in a programme with unrealistic objectives, time-frames and resource allocations; a programme resisted by provincial and local government. The study provides a causal link between participation, programme relevance, programme ownership, commitment of stakeholders, effective management and capacity-building for sustainable programme implementation. The study argues that the underlying motivation for the exclusionary EU development ideology in the programme is driven by a risk management strategy. This approach allows the EU to hold power in the development process, whereas, an inclusionary participative development methodology would require a more in-depth negotiation with stakeholders, thereby requiring the EU to relinquish existing levels of power and control. This may increase the risk of an unexpected programme design outcome and associated exposure to financial risk. It may also have a significant financial effect on donor countries' consultancies and consultants currently driving the development industry. This study recommends an interactive-participative methodology for programme design and implementation, if an enabling environment for capacity-building is to be created. In addition, all programme stakeholders must share contractual accountability for programme outcomes. This requires a paradigm shift in the EU development ideology to an inclusionary methodology. However, this research suggests that the current EU development approach will not voluntarily change. I, therefore, argue that South Africa needs to develop a legislative framework that will guide donor-funded development programme methodology, to support an enabling environment for capacity-building.

L'étude a porté sur deux outils élaborés par l’Union européenne à l'appui de ses politiques d'allocation d'aide extérieure au bénéfice principalement d'Etats en développement et participant à sa stratégie de promotion du respect de droits de l’homme dans les Etats tiers. Il s'agit du mécanisme de conditionnalité démocratique d’une part, et de la doctrine fondée sur le concept de gouvernance d’autre part. L'une des principales critiques que la doctrine adresse à l’Union au sujet de sa politique de conditionalité est son incapacité à répondre à l’une des attentes fondamentales qui la sous-tend, à savoir :la naissance d’une politique d’aide extérieure détachée des considérations géopolitiques et visant à protéger et promouvoir efficacement les droits de l’homme. Dans la mesure où la doctrine en attribue en général la responsabilité à l’absence de clarté et de prévisibilité du mécanisme de la conditionnalité démocratique, cette critique eut dû conduire à l’élaboration d’un régime davantage juridicisé. Or, l'émergence de la doctrine fondée sur le concept de gouvernance révèle que l’Union n’a pas opté pour une telle solution. C’est alors que, divisant mon étude en deux parties, la première affectée à l’étude du mécanisme conditionnel et la seconde affectée à l’étude de la doctrine de gouvernance, je me suis interrogée sur les raisons pour lesquelles l’Union avait pu choisir de recourir d’abord à un appel au droit, et ensuite à une repolitisation partielle de son mécanisme. Prenant appui sur une étude des documents officiels des institutions européennes, de la pratique de l'Union et des théories des relations internationales, l'étude tend à révéler les atouts et les limites théoriques de chacune de ces stratégies déstinées à suciter des réformes particulières dans les Etats partenaires de l’Union.Il apparaîtra que l’appel au droit opéré dans le cadre du mécanisme de conditionnalité répondait à des besoins et à une logique spécifiques lors de son institution, mais que la forme juridicisée du mécanisme conditionnel tel qu’institué se heurtait à diverses limites. La doctrine fondée sur le concept de gouvernance, dans le même temps qu’elle acte ces limites et tend à les dépasser, amène à de nouveaux questionnements.

The study related to both EU tools, affecting its external aid policies and contributing to its human rights strategy :conditionality and governance. One of the main critic that the doctrine addresses to EU conditionality, is its incapacity to lead to an external aid free of geopolitical considerations and acting to protect and promote effectively the human rights. The doctrine explains this weakness by pointing out the mechanism of conditionality’s lack of clearness and previsibility. Despite this critic is pleading for a more legalized mechanism, the governance strategy reveals that the Union did not choose such a solution.Then, dividing the study into two parts, the first assigned to conditional mechanism and the second assigned to governance, I’m asking the reason why a less legalized mecanism succeeded to conditionality. Based on cooperation agreements, strategic orientations, EU practice and the international relations theories, the study tends to reveal the assets and limits of the two strategies. It appears that the legalization process of conditionality can be explained by specific needs but it encountered various limits. At the same times, while strategy based on Governance adresses some of them, this new tool reveals new questions.

Doctorat en droit
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L’outre-mer comprend des régions, des pays et des territoires aux statuts divers et au passé hérité en grande partie des grandes puissances européennes, ce qui les a placés dans une communauté d’intérêts avec les Etats auxquels ils sont rattachés mais aussi avec l’Union européenne (UE).Néanmoins, ces régions, pays et territoires n’ont eu cesse de reconstruire entre eux des liens historiques et culturels et de tisser des relations avec l’ensemble de l’outre-mer afin de présenter une cohérence d’ensemble dans leur négociation avec l’Union européenne.Les régions ultrapériphériques appliquent le droit communautaire tandis que les pays et territoires d’outre-mer, situés en dehors du territoire communautaire, connaissent un régime d’association avec l’Union européenne.Le Danemark, l’Espagne, la France, les Pays-Bas, le Portugal et le Royaume-Uni ont procédé aux réformes constitutionnelles autorisant de multiples évolutions statutaires dans le respect du droit à l’autodétermination des populations.Forts d’une évolution statutaire et d’un développement économique et social continu, les régions, pays et territoires d’outre-mer souhaitent maintenant faire valoir leurs droits et défendre leurs intérêts au niveau européen et sur la scène internationale.La globalisation des politiques les incite à se regrouper au sein d’institutions internationales. Le rattachement de ces territoires à des Etats de droit leur a ouvert la voie à des systèmes juridiques bien structurés mais aussi aux valeurs européennes. Leur ultrapériphérité les a placés dans une situation géopolitique qui les a fait accéder aux relations internationales.L’objet de cette thèse est de démontrer l’interdépendance entre ces différents ordres juridiques et l’influence du droit européen et du droit international sur l’évolution statutaire de l’outre-mer vers davantage d’autonomie, mais aussi de responsabilisation et de prise en charge de son développement au moyen d’une implication dans son environnement régional, d’une coopération inter-régionale ou transnationale et d’une participation aux travaux des organisations internationales
The Overseas regions, countries and territories present various statuses inherited mainly from the major European Powers which placed them in a relationship of a common interest not only with their mother countries but also with the European Union (EU).However, these territories have continuously re-built between them historical and cultural links, and weaved relationship within the entire Overseas to appear as a constituted whole while negotiating with the EU.The outermost regions (OR) apply Community Law while the Overseas Countries and territories (OCT) situated outside the territory of the Community, have Association Arrangements with the EU.Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom have proceeded to necessary constitutional reforms to allow numerous articles amendments in respect of right to self-determination of peoples.At the light of statutory amendments and of a continuous economic and social development, the Outermost regions (OR) and the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT), now wish to assert their rights and to defend their interests at European and International level.Globalisation of policies encourages OR and OCT to gather within International bodies. The rule of law of the related countries opens them to well-structured legal systems and to European values. The outermost geopolitical localisation makes them to have access to international relations.The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the interdependence between these different legal systems and the impact of European and International Law on the statutory amendments of the Overseas towards more autonomy, but also liabilities and involvement on their own development by using their regional environment, inter-regional and transnational cooperation and taking part at the works of international organisations

Defence date: 04/06/2009
Examining Board: Prof. Claudia Buch, Universität Tübingen; Prof. Giancarlo Corsetti, EUI, supervisor; Dr. Marcel Fratzscher, European Central Bank; Prof. Morten Ravn, EUI and University of Southampton
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
This thesis is a collection of three empirical papers in international economics. The first paper discusses the suitability of fixed-basket price indexes to provide accurate macroeconomic description in countries where the scope for variety change is particularly large, such as the transition countries. Price-mismeasurement has important implications for the assessment of inflation, real growth, welfare, terms of trade and the real exchange rate behaviour. The following two papers use firm-level data from several countries in Europe and Asia to provide novel stylised facts on the importing behaviour of firms, and to examine the specific firm-level characteristics that are likely to be correlated with access to credit markets. Chapter 1 studies the impact of imported variety expansion on prices and welfare in two Eastern European countries, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Using detailed information on import volumes, disaggregated by product-categories and supplying countries, the chapter first documents that the sharp increase in trade with the rest of the world since the start of the transition process has been accompanied by a similar increase in imported variety. The chapter then follows the methodology of Feenstra (1994) and Broda and Weinstein (2004) and computes the bias in the import price index that is due to ignoring variety change over nine years, from 1995 to 2004. It finds that the conventional price index overstates import price inflation by around 1% per year in Hungary and 0.5% per year in the Czech Republic, equivalent to a cumulative of 8.4% and 4.2%, respectively, over the entire period. Due to the sector-level nature of the dataset and its not so low level of aggregation, as well as to the geographical concentration of these countries’ imports, these estimates are likely to be a lower bound. Chapter 2 uses firm-level data from 11 countries in Europe and Asia to provide a set of novel stylised facts on the importing behaviour of firms. The data is collected from two rounds of the "Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey" (BEEPS), a cross- country survey of individual firms conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank in 2001 and 2004. Firms using imported intermediate inputs are found to be a distinct group from the firms that only use domestic inputs in their production process. Importers are larger, more productive, more capital-intensive and more skill-intensive than non-importers. Importers are also significantly more likely to introduce new product varieties, invest in research and development, provide formal training to their workers and upgrade their production technology. These differences are robust to controlling for alternative ways in which firms are exposed to foreign markets, such as exporting, being foreign-owned or supplying to multinational firms. The third chapter uses the same firm-level dataset as chapter 2, but exploits a different set of questions contained in the BEEPS questionnaire. Specifically, it takes advantage of the fact that firms are asked detailed questions about their borrowing behaviour and financing patterns, and directly identifies those firms which are shut o¤ from financial markets. The chapter then studies those firm-level characteristics that are likely to affect the probability of being credit constrained. It finds that the variables capturing the severity of informational asymmetries present in financial markets are large and significant predictors of access to credit. The chapter represents an attempt to study liquidity constraints at firm level, from a perspective that is different from the standard "investment-cash flow sensitivity" literature.
-- Variety expansion and themeasurement of prices and welfare in transition countries -- International trade and economic performance : more heterogeneity uncovered -- Who is credit constrained in the transition economies?

Defense date: 30 September 2009
Examining Board: Marise Cremona (EUI, Law Department), Christopher Hughes (LSE), Pascal Vennesson (EUI/RSCAS) (Supervisor), Lanxin Xiang (Grad Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva)
First made available online 1 October 2019
This thesis investigates how Chinese decision-makers deal with the complexities of EU foreign-policy making. Which of the many entities within in the EU, among Brussels-based institutions and in member states, do they approach and how? How can the modalities of engagement be explained? What patterns emerge and how and why do they change over time? In answering these questions, the thesis provides insights on three under-researched issues of international relations: first, on how outsiders engage with the EU and whether the EU is capable of managing requests from the outside; second, on how China makes its EU policy, and, by extension, to what extent its decision-making structure can deal with complex foreignpolicy challenges; third, and more generally, on how international actors interact through numerous contacts among the bureaucratic agents within them. To reach these goals, a new analytical framework is introduced that distinguishes three processes to explain such transnational bureaucratic interaction. First, the decisionmaking in China on how to engage the EU. Second, the reception this approach receives on the EU side. These first two processes are analysed as based on the interplay of organisational logic, bureaucratic politics, and the degree of central control. Third, there are independent dynamics of direct interaction between bureaucratic entities, which result from the quality of personal relations and the matches or mismatches in preferences, worldviews, and perceptions. Two intensive case studies are performed, one on China’s efforts to be recognised as a market economy by the EU, and another on the Chinese push to have the EU lift its arms embargo against China. The thesis proposes a threefold argument. First, due to complex formal rules and volatile informal patterns of EU foreign policy, the EU remains difficult to approach for third actors and is incapable of managing requests from the outside. Second, engaging a complex counterpart like the EU puts strain on the foreign-policy process. Chinese policy making suffers from strong horizontal divisions which prevent the distribution of expertise and hinder the formation of elaborate strategies for approaching the EU. Lastly, in order to explain the modalities of interaction between different actors in international affairs, it is crucial to look at how the bureaucratic agents involved in the foreign-policy process interact with their respective counterparts.

Defence date: 29 July 2011
Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, EUI Professor ; Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, EUI Professor ; Giorgio Gaja, University of Florence ; Dr Esa Paasivirta, European Commission
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
This thesis addresses the question of when the European Union is internationally responsible. More precisely, it examines the extent to which the European Union and its Member States bear responsibility for the violations of an international agreement committed as a consequence of the implementation of EU Law. The specific features of the multilevel system implementation of EU Law poses a series of very interesting questions as regards the EU’s relations with its Member States and their responsibility under International Law. The EU primarily implements its law through its Member States’ authorities. As such, should the EU bear responsibility for a violation committed by a Member State organ because it was implementing EU Law? Should a Member State which, in complying with a piece of EU legislation, violated an international obligation be held liable? This thesis examines these questions from a practical perspective. It examines how international bodies approach the issue. In this regard, the thesis sets out to examine whether there is a common thread in the way international courts and tribunals deal with the EU’s international responsibility. The thesis is structured in four parts. Part I identifies the basic issues surrounding the responsibility of the EU and its Member States under international law, by examining the context and the main issues both at the international level and domestic level. Part II of the thesis focuses on the main mechanism used by the EU to deal with its international responsibility. More specifically it addresses the question of whether the division of competence is a good way to establish the EU’s responsibility under an international agreement. Part III of the thesis continues with a practical examination of the EU’s responsibility. It examines how international courts and tribunals establish the EU‘s international responsibility in absence of any declaration limiting its competence. Part IV summarizes the conclusions of Parts I, II and III and contains a series of concluding remarks on the issue of the EU’s international responsibility and future developments.

Defence date: 7 December 2001
Examining Board: P. Alston (Supervisor) ; G. De Búrca ; B. De Witte ; A. Rosas
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 31 May 2010
Examining Board: Marise Cremona (Supervisor, EUI), Panos Koutrakos (University of Bristol); Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann (EUI); Ramses Wessel (University of Twente)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Coherence is a powerful rhetorical device that is prevalent throughout decades of EU external relations discourse and practice. There is intuitiveness to coherence, an implied sense of ‘good fit’ between the different elements of an all-encompassing system. Yet, any attempt to concretize coherence will open up a plethora of context-specific legal and political questions. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is a recent example of an external policy drawn up explicitly with the objective of achieving coherence across different EU and Member State external policies. Positioning the ENP in the legalhistorical context of political Union, this thesis first argues why coherence is an issue at all in EU external relations, and why law is integral to attaining the ever-enigmatic single voice of the European Union. Subsequently, the text examines the role of EU external relations law in attaining a coherent neighbourhood policy. It is argued that the innovative nature of the ENP for coherence lies beyond the narrowly defined legal sphere, but stems mostly from its hybrid composition of hard legal, soft legal and nonlegal policy instruments. It is concluded that from a purely EU-internal and institutional perspective, this approach was reasonably successful in involving different actors towards common objectives in the neighbourhood. However, coherence should be more than rhetorical gloss, and agreeing that a wide range of initiatives should be included in soft legal instruments is no guarantee for coherence in actual policy substance. To examine the latter issue this thesis then moves beyond the realm of legal inquiry, and employs content analysis to investigate the extent to which the ENP is substantively coherent between the different norms, actors and instruments this policy encompasses.

Defence date: 18 January 2010
Examining Board: Marise Cremona (EUI, Law Department); Christopher Hill (University of Cambridge); Erik Jones (Johns Hopkins, Bologna); Pascal Vennesson (EUI/RSCAS, Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The aim of the PhD Thesis is to ascertain whether the EU is able to exert a political influence through its international trade agreements. Since the Union has always been considered as an economic giant and a political dwarf at the global level, the objective is to evaluate whether the EU external trade may be considered as a useful tool to address the gap between its economic and political relevance. If the EU is effectively able to wiled a political influence through trade also beyond the neighbourhood area, where it uses the membership card chip, the EU might have a greater global role. The conceptual analysis of the Thesis is based on the distinction between the EU trade Power (i.e. Resources, Institutions and Values), EU trade Policy activity and its final Influence in order to disentangle the 'levers' from the 'leverage' exercised by the EU through its external trade policy. The potential for political influence of the EU ultimately relies on the ability to change the norms, beliefs, rules and regulations in EU partner countries, during and after the trade negotiations. The empirical side of the research focuses on two bilateral agreements: the EU-Mexico Partnership Agreement (2000), and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea (2009). Despite the strong differences between the case studies (in terms of their geographic location, production and export patterns, timing of the negotiations, etc.), Mexico and South Korea share four basic similarities: i) neither is an EU neighbouring country (i.e. the EU cannot use the membership card); ii) both are strongly dependant and receive their primary influence in economic, political and security terms from the United States; iii) both have strongly endorsed neoliberal and free market principles; and finally iv) each of them might be a potential gateway for the EU in its macro-region. Furthermore, Mexico and South Korea share also a more specific strategic value for the EU in three main respects. First, in both cases the rationale for EU to conclude the agreements was the same: economic and defensive vis-à-vis US previous trade agreements (the NAFTA and the US-South-Korea FTA). Second, the basic objectives of the EU in both countries tend to correspond to a great extent: the achievement of the commercial parity treatment of EU for its exporters vis-à-vis US’ exporters. Third, the overall political influence of the EU in the countries might thus be not only limited, but also fairly comparable. The theoretical structure and the empirical work highlight interesting indications. First, in terms of Power, neither the EU trade power, nor the conclusion of trade agreements is sufficient for the EU to exert, by default, a political influence in the countries considered. Second, in terms of Policy, during Peter Mandelson’s tenure as EC Trade Commissioner, the Union downsized the normative and political ambition of its external trade action in respect to the past, focusing on the achievement of commercial-parity objectives vis-à-vis other major global actors (i.e. a defensive trade strategy in relation to that of the US). Finally, in terms of Influence, both cases indicate that the EU has still a limited capacity to exert a political influence via its trade policy in nonneighbouring countries. Four main reasons help to explain this: 1) Internal institutional constraints within the EU; 2) The bilateral level of trade negotiation; 3) The weakness of EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and of its Common Security and Defence Policy; 4) The defensive rather than proactive global projection of the EU. The Thesis concludes that although the EU foreign economic policy can be a means to address the capability-expectations gap that affects the EU as an international actor, there is still ample scope to improve the EU political influence through trade in countries beyond the neighbourhood area in economic, political and/or normative terms.

Defence date: 12 December 2016
Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, EUI, Supervisor; Professor Bruno De Witte, EUI and University of Maastricht; Professor Steven Blockmans, University of Amsterdam and CEPS; Professor Christophe Hillion, University of Leiden and University of Oslo
Coherence in EU external relations is a long-standing concern. While seemingly surpassed in the last years by the idea of the 'comprehensive approach', the latter is nothing but the latest attempt to advance coherence in this field. The issue of the role of law in the quest for coherence is characterised by the existence of important gaps in the literature, at both theoretical and practical levels. This thesis aims at complementing legal literature on coherence with a study that specifically focuses on how coherence is sought between specific policies and activities coexisting in external action. It also intends to complement the empirical political science literature on coherence by focusing on the legal aspect of the query. The thesis elaborates on the notion of coherence in EU foreign policy, addressing questions like: What does coherence in external action mean? Why is it an obsession? What purposes does it serve? It also proposes a categorisation of the legal provisions and principles that are relevant to the struggle for coherence based on four mechanisms set out in EU primary law. It then focuses on the CFSP-development nexus in Union action in Somalia between 2008 and 2014 as a striking case to analyse these mechanisms in the development and implementation of policy action. The thesis reflects on the interaction between law and policy in the external dimension of the EU project, and provides arguments to think about how the law of external relations could more effectively promote coherence in this field.

Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Bruno De Witte, European University Institute Professor Sara Poli, Università di Pisa Dr Anne Thies, University of Reading.
Defence date: 5 September 2013
First made available online on 22 January 2016.
With the growing awareness in EU external relations that the existence of Member States' competence does not necessarily allow them to freely exercise such competence, the duty of sincere cooperation laid down in Article 4 (3) TEU is increasingly becoming the focus of academic attention. In light of the vast potential of the duty to encroach on Member State prerogatives, in combination with a number of striking developments in the Court's case law in the field of external relations, particularly in recent years, the question arises whether Article 4 (3) TEU is slowly turning into an instrument for the Union institutions to achieve a loss of national competence, disguised as restrictions on the Member States' freedom to exercise their powers. This thesis investigates which role Article 4 (3) TEU has really played in governing the relationship between the EU and the Member States in external relations. It sets out to answer the positive question of which concept of federalism dominates the exercise of external powers. Building on this foundation, the thesis ultimately endeavours to provide an answer to the normative question regarding the vision of federalism best suited to the needs of both the Member States and the EU when acting on the international scene. In order to answer these questions, the thesis seeks to transpose Halberstam's theory of the political morality in federal systems to the field of EU external relations. Looking at the interpretation given to Article 4 (3) TEU, both in its detailed reasoning and as part of a broader picture may then allow us to appreciate the construction of the loyalty obligation as the reasoned outcome of a constitutional process involving the EU institutions, the Court of Justice and the Member States themselves. It will be argued that instead of pursuing political harmony between the Member States and the Union by way of creeping competence, Article 4 (3) TEU emphasises cooperation, compliance and complementarity in areas where the rigid division of competence would otherwise render the system of external relations ineffective.

Defence date: 22 June 2015
Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Patrizia Vigni, University of Siena; Professor Craig Barker, London South Bank University; Professor Rainer Bauböck, European University Institute.
This thesis explores the development of European Union’s model of protecting its citizens in the world, demonstrating it to be a unique and complex mixture of EU internal and external policies and instruments that is unlike any other international, regional, or domestic model of protecting individuals abroad. The thesis will critically assess the three main stages of development of the EU model until the present day. The first stage started in 1993, when the Maastricht Treaty introduced an EU citizenship right to equal protection abroad and this continued for the following decade. It will be shown that during this period the EU model of protecting the Union citizens abroad consisted of a purely horizontal form of cooperation among the Member States that materialised in a sui generis type of international agreement that has restricted the efficiency of the EU citizenship right, due to the Member States’ reluctance to lose their State prerogatives in favour of the EU. The second stage of development started in 2004 when a number of international disasters affecting EU citizens in third countries led the Member States to accept cooperation with EU institutions and external policy instruments for the purpose of complementing their capacity to secure the effective protection of unrepresented Union citizens abroad. The third stage started with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which conferred an unprecedented power to an international organisation (the EU) to exercise State-like consular protection functions directly with respect to the Union citizens in the world. The thesis will offer a critical assessment of two decades of application of the least-researched EU citizenship right (to consular and diplomatic protection), its nexus with other EU external relations policies and its implementation by the Member States. It will show the added value of the EU model of protecting citizens abroad for the EU citizens, the Member States and the Union, while also making policy recommendations addressing the shortcomings in its current implementation. The thesis will demonstrate that, in spite of the scholarly critiques of the incompatibility of the Union model with public international law, the international community has widely accepted.

Examining Board: Professeur Marise Cremona, European University Institute (Directeur de thèse) Professeur Evelyne Lagrange, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (Co-directeur de thèse) Professeur Loïc Azoulai, European University Institute Professeur Yann Kerbrat, Aix-Marseille Université.
Defence date: 4 December 2012
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Les mesures restrictives sont des instruments privilégiés de l’Union européenne en matière de coercition pacifique des tiers à l’Union. Fruit de la pratique des Etats membres réunis au sein de la Coopération politique européenne, elles ne sont consacrées en droit primaire que depuis l’entrée en vigueur du traité de Lisbonne. Adoptées en réaction à certaines situations de crise internationale et dans le but de contribuer à leur résolution, les mesures restrictives peuvent avoir pour cible formelle des Etats tiers et/ou pour cible réelle des personnes physiques ou morales, et couvrent des domaines aussi variés que l’imposition d’embargos sur les armes, le gel des fonds et des avoirs financiers de certaines personnes, ou encore la rupture des relations diplomatiques avec l’Etat visé. L’étude des mesures restrictives de l’Union européenne comme instruments de participation aux mécanismes de réaction à l’illicite implique également de les replacer dans les cadres du droit international, selon qu’elles mettent en oeuvre des décisions du Conseil de sécurité de l’Organisation des Nations Unies ou qu’elles sont adoptées par l’Union européenne proprio motu. Aborder la question du fondement des mesures restrictives permet de montrer la déconnexion du droit interne de l’Union et du droit international public ; le premier régissant la compétence de l’Union, le second déterminant les conditions de sa participation aux relations internationales. Le régime des mesures restrictives de l’Union européenne s’accomode quant à lui difficilement de l’indifférence mutuelle de ces deux branches du droit et doit être pensé de manière dynamique, selon que l’on considère le régime général des mesures à portée étatique ou le régime spécial applicable aux mesures à portée individuelle. La présente analyse illustre la spécificité de l’apport de l’Union au développement progressif du droit international contemporain : organisation internationale participant à des mécanismes jusqu’alors réservés aux sujets primaires du droit international, l’Union européenne affirme son identité constitutionnelle au travers de ses mesures restrictives et participe de manière significative à l’évolution structurelle et matérielle des cadres classiques du droit des gens.

Defence date: 8 December 2001
Examining board: Silvana Sciarra, Directeur de thèse, Prof. à l'Institut Universitaire Européen de Florence ; Catherine Del Cont, Maître de Conférences à l'Université de Nantes ; Alain Supiot, Prof. à l'Université de Nantes ; Karl-Heinz Ladeur, Prof. à l'Institut Universitaire Européen de Florence
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 25 January 2013.
Examining Board: Professor Gráinne de Búrca, NYU, formerly EUI (Supervisor); Professor Philippe C. Schmitter, EUI; Professor Dimitry Kochenov, University of Groningen; Professor Erwan Lannon, University of Ghent.
First made available online on 11 September 2019
In the late 1980s/early 1990s the EU started to purse a new policy: that of democracy promotion. It quickly put in place a whole range of instruments that would facilitate the transition to democracy and its consolidation in new democracies. Democracy assistance has over the last two decades, due to its 'positive' features, increasingly emerged as one of the EU's preferred instruments of that policy, expressed in particular in increasing budgets for democracy assistance programmes, new democracy assistance facilities, and explicit policy declarations on the topic. This thesis outlines and analyses the EU's strategy of democracy promotion through the use of democracy assistance from its inception in the early 1990s until 2011, focusing on all major world regions except the enlargement dimension. While revealing numerous details on the strategy, it attempts to also answer the following three more fundamental questions: What is the EU's underlying conception of democracy? What is its preferred model of democratization? And what is its preferred approach to democracy assistance? In looking for answers, the thesis first traces the emergence and evolution of the use of EU democracy assistance, revealing major developments, stumbling blocks, and key features of the policy tool. A discussion of primary law traces the partly difficult development of EC/EU competences to engage in democracy promotion and especially assistance as well as the limited role primary law plays in policy implementation. An outline of the procedural and institutional dimension investigates the role of core actors in policy-making and implementation, including EU institutions, civil society organizations, and third state governments. Further, the thesis provides detailed quantitative data on EU commitments and expenditure under its specific democracy assistance programme - the EIDHR - as well as under mainstream assistance programmes and analyses the thematic and geographical distribution of provided funds.

Defence date: 12 June 2014
Examining Board: Professor Pascal Vennesson, S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (previously European University Institute), Supervisor Professor Ulrich Krotz, European University Institute Professor Stephan Klingebiel, German Development Institute Professor Ann Fitz-Gerald, Cranfield University.
In recent years, international donors have steadily increased their focus on fragile states, defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as “those failing to provide basic services to poor people because they are unwilling or unable to do so”. An indication of this shift is the nature of the policies promoted by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, which encourages bilateral donors that work with fragile states to adopt a whole-of-government approach, i.e. to develop cross-departmental cooperation between defence, diplomacy and development administrations. The question as to why some bilateral donors implement such integrated approaches to confront challenges in fragile states, while others only do so marginally or not at all still remains. Neither the existing literatures on security or development cultures nor the current securitization theories are able to explain the different levels and patterns of implementation of these specific OECD/DAC recommendations. In this thesis, I use the concept of “the organization of hypocrisy” to understand the complex relationship, and often the discrepancy, that exists between “talk” and “action” in the policy attempts to link security and development. Donor organizations are routinely confronted with the security and development demands of various actors. They need to act to produce results, and include such activities as contributing to UN peacekeeping missions to increase the country in question’s chances for development, or deciding who should be the beneficiaries of aid without fostering conflict. Producing these desired outcomes is not always possible however. Consequently, donor organizations “talk” about coherence, but are unable to “act” coherently and therefore to adapt their strategies and their policies. I compare France, Germany, the UK and the EU as donors – in particular in their roles in North and South Sudan, but also in selected West African countries – in an attempt to understand which factors favour a higher level of “action” with regard to the security-development nexus. I argue that bureaucracies cannot be studied in isolation from their complex and often inconsistent environment. The ability of the diplomacy, defence and development sectors to integrate their administrations and policies depends on the consistency of their environment and on their institutional ability to collectively find an acceptable convention that is capable of balancing development, diplomacy and defence norms. Protecting the normative aims of development policy is the key to achieving a higher level of integration in some OECD/DAC donor countries as well as to cultivating the formation of synergies between security and development policies.

Defence date: 07 February 2018
Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Joanne Scott, European University Institute; Professor Olivier De Schutter, University of Louvain; Professor Markus Krajewski, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg
This thesis uses the case of the international investment regime to demonstrate how the human rights framework that governs EU external relations can be operationalized in the realm of international economic law making. The first part of the thesis outlines the legal foundations for the EU to become a shaper of the international investment regime. These legal foundations are firstly found in the unique human rights framework consisting of human rights as a general principle and objective, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and international human rights law and secondly in the international investment competence of the EU. The second part of the thesis demonstrates the inaccessibility of the current international investment regime for human rights interests and shows that recent EU reforms fail to address the major inequalities of rights protection inherent in the investment regime. This regulatory tilt is however difficult to uphold in light of the normative framework established by the first part. The third part analyses two mechanisms, which were developed in the trade context: Ex-ante human rights impact assessments for EU trade and investment agreements and civil society monitoring bodies of EU trade and sustainable development chapters. In examining these mechanisms, this part explores the question of whether they could work towards mitigating the inequalities of rights protection. The potential of these mechanisms lies in their capacities to ensure a comprehensive assessment of policy impacts as well as to empower traditionally marginalized rights-holders to participate in the making, implementation and contestation of the international investment regime. These two methods – comprehensive assessment of policy impacts and empowerment of rights-holders – are embedded in other EU structural principles and the international human rights discourse and would, so this part argues, enable the EU to discharge its human rights obligations. To seize this potential, substantial reforms and a shift of conceptions are however still necessary. This part also analyses what parameters need to be changed in order to utilize these mechanisms for building sustainable institutions that enable marginalized local communities to inject their interests into the design and implementation of international investment regulations. Next to providing concrete proposals, this thesis therefore also demonstrates in a generalizable manner how the broad constitutional human rights mandate can gain precise shape and be broken down into clear benchmarks to which EU international economic law making can be held accountable to.
Chapter 1 'Human rights as a framework for foreign policies' draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Human rights law in international investment arbitration' (2016) in the journal 'Asian Journal of WTO and International Health Law and Policy'
Chapter 3 'The European Union's external human rights commitment : what is the legal value of Article 21 TEU?' draws upon an earlier version published as EUI LAW WP 2016/10

Defence date: 22 November 2001
Examining Board: Richard Breen, EUI (supervisor) ; Prof. Gerald Schneider, University of Konstanz (co-supervisor) ; Prof. Jan Zielonka, EUI ; Prof. Roy Ginsberg, Skidmore College
First made available online on 25 April 2018
This project was formally initiated in September 1997, two and a half months after the Treaty of Amsterdam had been agreed by the EU Heads o f State and Government. The Treaty marked a turning point o f the institutional basis o f European foreign policy. Title V o f the Treaty on European Union was amended, introducing Common Strategies, a new post as High Representative for the CFSP, a Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit, incorporating the Petersberg tasks into the Treaty, opening up for a common defence, the integration o f the Western European Union into the EU, constructive abstention and on some issues also qualified majority voting. Crucial political progress has also taken place in the course o f the last decade or two regarding the creation o f the Common European Security and Defence Policy, the EU’s unity o f voice in most international organisations, the increasing use o f economic sanctions, and the rapprochement o f Member State positions in the question of the Middle East Peace Process. The gradual progress o f European foreign policy however stands in sharp contrast with the general perception o f the actual capabilities o f European foreign policy since the beginning of the European Political Cooperation in 1970. The disaster evolving for the European Union’s foreign policy ambitions in the Western Balkans throughout the 1990s and the institutional unanimity voting system are only two o f many more illustrations o f this contrasting paralysis. The image o f European foreign policy viewed by this project was thus initially one reflecting the paradox o f simultaneous presence o f progress and paralysis of European foreign policy, cutting across variables and time. Following this image was always the audio o f voices discussing the degree to which EU, Europeans, the West, and the leaders o f our time have been able to learn any lessons from their past failures (or in theory also successes). Not many events were allowed to pass, without hearing the choir o f voices claiming what we have or should have learned from Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, or any other crisis or conflict intervention. Characteristically, these learning claims were formulated in an implicit way and against a seemingly dubious background, assuming everyone to be perfectly aware o f the theoretical or practical justifications for the ability of actors to learn in international relations. As the concept o f learning continued to re-emerge in this relatively vaguely defined manner, the idea thus came to dedicate this project to examine whether learning may explain the image o f the dichotomy o f progress and paralysis o f European foreign policy, what the conditions are for learning to take place, and which lessons may be learned from the past regarding European foreign policy in international relations in theory and in practice.

L’outre-mer comprend des régions, des pays et des territoires aux statuts divers et au passé hérité en grande partie des grandes puissances européennes, ce qui les a placés dans une communauté d’intérêts avec les Etats auxquels ils sont rattachés mais aussi avec l’Union européenne (UE).Néanmoins, ces régions, pays et territoires n’ont eu cesse de reconstruire entre eux des liens historiques et culturels et de tisser des relations avec l’ensemble de l’outre-mer afin de présenter une cohérence d’ensemble dans leur négociation avec l’Union européenne.Les régions ultrapériphériques appliquent le droit communautaire tandis que les pays et territoires d’outre-mer, situés en dehors du territoire communautaire, connaissent un régime d’association avec l’Union européenne.Le Danemark, l’Espagne, la France, les Pays-Bas, le Portugal et le Royaume-Uni ont procédé aux réformes constitutionnelles autorisant de multiples évolutions statutaires dans le respect du droit à l’autodétermination des populations.Forts d’une évolution statutaire et d’un développement économique et social continu, les régions, pays et territoires d’outre-mer souhaitent maintenant faire valoir leurs droits et défendre leurs intérêts au niveau européen et sur la scène internationale.La globalisation des politiques les incite à se regrouper au sein d’institutions internationales. Le rattachement de ces territoires à des Etats de droit leur a ouvert la voie à des systèmes juridiques bien structurés mais aussi aux valeurs européennes. Leur ultrapériphérité les a placés dans une situation géopolitique qui les a fait accéder aux relations internationales.L’objet de cette thèse est de démontrer l’interdépendance entre ces différents ordres juridiques et l’influence du droit européen et du droit international sur l’évolution statutaire de l’outre-mer vers davantage d’autonomie, mais aussi de responsabilisation et de prise en charge de son développement au moyen d’une implication dans son environnement régional, d’une coopération inter-régionale ou transnationale et d’une participation aux travaux des organisations internationales
The Overseas regions, countries and territories present various statuses inherited mainly from the major European Powers which placed them in a relationship of a common interest not only with their mother countries but also with the European Union (EU).However, these territories have continuously re-built between them historical and cultural links, and weaved relationship within the entire Overseas to appear as a constituted whole while negotiating with the EU.The outermost regions (OR) apply Community Law while the Overseas Countries and territories (OCT) situated outside the territory of the Community, have Association Arrangements with the EU.Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom have proceeded to necessary constitutional reforms to allow numerous articles amendments in respect of right to self-determination of peoples.At the light of statutory amendments and of a continuous economic and social development, the Outermost regions (OR) and the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT), now wish to assert their rights and to defend their interests at European and International level.Globalisation of policies encourages OR and OCT to gather within International bodies. The rule of law of the related countries opens them to well-structured legal systems and to European values. The outermost geopolitical localisation makes them to have access to international relations.The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the interdependence between these different legal systems and the impact of European and International Law on the statutory amendments of the Overseas towards more autonomy, but also liabilities and involvement on their own development by using their regional environment, inter-regional and transnational cooperation and taking part at the works of international organisations