Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Decentralization in government – European Union countries'

Defence date: 21 December 2007
Examining board: Prof. Adrienne Héritier (EUI)(Supervisor) ; Prof. Christian Joerges (EUI, Law Department) ; Prof. Jacint Jordana (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) ; Prof. Hussein Kassim (Birkbeck College, University of London)
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One characteristic of European competition policy is its complex governance structure. On the one hand, the European competition regulator has always enjoyed a high degree of formal autonomy from national governments. On the other hand, that regulator has always been embedded in a multi-task and collegial organisation that mirrors intergovernmental politics. Although the literature has often disapprovingly noted this complexity, it has not been explained. Part I elaborates on the theoretical lens for understanding the governance structures of EC competition policy. Despite the prominence of principal-agent models, transaction cost economics seems to offer a more promising venue. The assumption that Member States maximise their total expected gains and postpone excessive bargaining costs leads to the following hypothesis: the greater the preference heterogeneity (homogeneity) between Member States, the higher (lower) the asset-specific investments involved, hence the higher (lower) the risk of post-contractual hold-ups, and hence the more (less) integrated the governance structures created to sustain future transactions. Alternatively, this logic leads to a deterministic hypothesis about the sufficiency of preference heterogeneities for the production of complex governance structures. Part II examines this deterministic hypothesis. Using various sources, and conducting both within- and comparative case- studies, it analyses three important cases: the negotiations of the Treaty of Paris (1951), of the Treaty of Rome (1957), and of the two implementing Council Regulations (1962 and 2003). The evidence shows that (a) the relevant actors do reason in terms of transaction cost-economising, and (b) in the presence of preference heterogeneity, actors create complex governance structures. Nevertheless, it is also found that (c) the transaction cost-economising logic is not as compelling as it may be in private market settings, as bargaining costs are not systematically postponed to the post-contractual stage, and (d) the transaction costs between Member States are not the only relevant costs.

In representative democracy the chain of political legitimacy runs from voters to governments through votes cast at elections. In order for representation to occur, political parties must offer distinct policy platforms that citizens consider in their vote choices. This thesis examines whether citizens are adequately represented within the European Union. It finds that although representation on left-right issues occurs, it does not occur for European integration preferences. Over the course its history, European integration has changed from being primarily an economic issue to a social issue. This separation from the primary axis of political competition has increased the need for representation on EU issues directly. Political parties have polarised over European integration providing increased choice, but voters have not engaged with the issue. Examining how voters process party signals about policy positions shows that very few are affected by signals on the EU. Accounting for voters' cognitive biases suggests that the influence of EU issues in European Parliament elections has been overestimated and is non-existent in most member-states. As direct democracy might offer an alternative to inadequate representation this thesis examines why referendums have been held on the EU but finds that they are largely driven by governments' desire to contain the threat of EU issues at national elections, further undermining representation. However, as a result of institutional differences between national and European Parliament elections rather than the emergence of the EU as an electoral issue, the size of party systems at European Parliament elections has grown considerably over successive elections in many member-states, a change that has fed into national party systems. Although representation on EU issues is inadequate, the expansion of European party systems and the redrawing of the lines of political competition offers some hope that representation on EU issues might improve in the future.

This study develops a model of macroeconomic and political determinants of public support for European integration. The research is conducted on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from five European Union member states between 1978 and 1994. The method used in this analysis is a Generalized Least Squares - Autoregressive Moving Average approach. The factors hypothesized to determine a macroeconomic explanation of public support for integration are inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. The effect of the major economic reform in the 1980s, the Single European Act, is hypothesized to act as a positive permanent intervention. The other determinants of public support are the temporary interventions of European Parliament elections and the permanent intervention of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. These are hypothesized to exert a negative effect. In a fully specified model all variables except economic growth and European Parliament elections demonstrate statistical significance at the 0.10 level or better.

Defence date: 21 November 2022
Examining Board: Prof. Ellen Immergut (EUI, Supervisor); Prof. Anton Hemerijck (EUI); Prof. Christoffer Green-Pedersen (Aarhus University); Prof. Evelyne Hübscher (Central European University)
This dissertation investigates how public opinion and government partisanship affect social policy. It brings an innovative perspective that links the idea of democratic representation to debates about the welfare state. The general claim made here is that social policy is a function of public and government preferences. This claim hinges on two critical premises. The first relates to the general mechanisms that underlie government representation. Politicians have electoral incentives to align their actions with what citizens want. They may respond to public opinion indirectly by updating their party agendas, which can serve as the basis for social policy decisions in case they get elected. They may also respond directly by introducing welfare reforms that react to shifts in public opinion during their mandates. The second premise concerns how citizens and politicians structure their preferences over welfare. These preferences fall alongside two dimensions. First, general attitudes about how much should the state intervene in the economy to reduce inequality and promote economic well-being (how much policy). Second, the specific preferences about which social programmes should get better funding (what kind of policy). The empirical analysis is split into three empirical chapters. Each explores different aspects of government representation in Western European welfare states. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 4) asks how governments shape social policy when facing severe pressures to decrease spending. It argues that governments strategically reduce spending on programmes that offer less visible and indirect benefits, as they are less likely to trigger an electoral backlash. The experience of the Great Recession is consistent with this claim. Countries that faced the most challenging financial constraints cut down social investment and services. Except for Greece, they all preserved consumption schemes. The second empirical chapter (Chapter 5) explores how public opinion affects government spending priorities in different welfare programmes. It expects government responsiveness to depend on public mood for more or less government activity and the most salient social issues at the time. Empirical evidence from old-age, healthcare and education issue-policy areas supports these claims. Higher policy mood and issue saliency is positively associated with increasing spending efforts. Public opinion does not appear to affect unemployment policies. vii The third empirical chapter (Chapter 6) examines how party preferences affect spending priorities in unemployment programmes. It claims that preferences on economic intervention in the economy and welfare recalibration affect different components of unemployment policy. Evidence from the past 20 years bodes well with these expectations. The generosity of compensatory schemes depends on economic preferences. The left invests more than the right. The funding of active labour-market policies depends on both preference dimensions. Among conventional parties, their funding follows the same patterns as compensatory schemes. Among recalibration parties, parties across the economic spectrum present comparable spending patterns.

Defence date: 14 December 2007
Examining board: Professor Colin Crouch, University of Warwick (EUI Supervisor); Professor Ramón Ramos Torre, Universidad Complutense; Professor Martin Rhodes, University of Denver; Professor Jelle Visser, Universiteit van Amsterdam
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
A large part of the literature on part-time employment stresses that this form of employment contract is the result of employers’ strategies and female employees who need to reconcile work and family life. However, the growth in the number of employees sharing employment and other paid or unpaid interests expands the range and significance of working-time issues. This dissertation claims that where regulation and implementation of working-time transitions are favourable to part-time employment, part-time is likely to expand to more diverse categories of workers than those for whom it was originally intended ( i.e. mothers with caring responsibilities). The research follows a case-oriented comparative approach that draws on documentary information and a total of 48 in-depth interviews with actors’ representatives at three levels: national, sector (education and local government) and organizational, in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. Initiated in different moments in time, the regulation of working-time transitions appears to follow a similar staged path in the three countries, although the wider institutional context affecting part-time and the active support of main actors varies for each country, especially at the organizational level. In the Dutch case, part-time regulation started off as a mechanism to enable the employment of women with caring responsibilities and, from there, it evolved towards a wider understanding of workingtime flexibility, extending the right to work part-time to other categories of employees. Given the pioneering role of the Netherlands in this area, it could be argued that both the UK and Spain have been following the Dutch example although with different degrees of success. In the Netherlands, after two decades of active support to part-time, there is still a big gender gap among part-timers, and in many sectors and occupations employees face difficulties to change their working hours; still, the general trend seems to be that access to part-time is becoming easier at more sector and occupational levels, in a context where organizations, already facing short full-time working weeks and high percentages of part-time, have been learning to decouple business hours from the different duration of the employees’ shifts. The need to design clear-cut coordination mechanisms that guarantee the steadiness of the service and the 'standardisation' of handing-over procedures, have helped to accept a variety of working-time arrangements. This capacity to dissociate organisations’ operative time from employees’ working hours is also present in British and Spanish 24-hour services, what has favoured exceptional good part-time jobs. However, the political efforts to promote part-time in Spain and the UK are confronted with serious obstacles, their segmented labour forces among them. The long-hours culture in both Spain and the UK, together with the high proportion of temporary contracts in the Spanish case, are the most visible signs of the structural difficulties these two countries face to achieve working-time flexi-curity. In the three countries, there are no clear links between long hours and productivity levels, and the processess that lead to more transparent assessments of work performance seem to facilitate working-time flexibility beyond standard full-time employment contracts. Certainly, different commitments and compromises need to be achieved between conflicting demands and interests about how employees use their own time, but this thesis argues that part-time may help to soften the conflicts between the specialization and hierarchy requirements of the social division of labour and individuals’ time-use autonomy.

Defence date: 17 September 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Morten Kelstrup, (University of Copenhagen) ; Prof. Peter Mair, (European University Institute) ; Prof. Gianfranco Pasquino, (University of Bologna) ; Prof. Philippe C. Schmitter, (EUI Professional Fellow)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
no abstract available

Defence date: 13 July 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Adrienne Héritier, (European University Institute/SPS/RSCAS) ; Prof. Stefano Bartolini, (European University Institute/RSCAS) ; Prof. Ellen M. Immergut, (Humboldt University Berlin) ; Prof. Claudio Radaelli, (University of Exeter)
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This thesis asks how the framing of policy issues in EU legislative politics influences the way issues are processed, how it affects which interests play a role during policy drafting and deliberation, and what type of political conflicts and coalitions emerge as a result. Focusing in particular on the European Commission’s role in EU policy-making, this thesis goes on to investigate how actors in EU politics define and redefine the issues at stake according to their shifting policy agendas and in doing so attempt to shore up support and marginalise political opposition. Drawing on the empirical investigation of two decades of EU biotechnology policy-making, the thesis finds that the framing of policy issues systematically affects how the complex and fragmented EU political decision-making process involves or excludes different sets of actors and interests from the diverse political constituencies of the Union. It argues that the Commission’s role in structuring the EU policy space can at times be substantial. Yet the longitudinal perspective adopted in this study also reveals how the structuring and restructuring of the biotechnology policy space led to the increasing politicisation of the EU decision-making process. Eventually, the empirical investigation concludes, the Commission was unable to control the political dynamics set off by the reframing of the policy choices, and the resulting revision of the EU biotechnology policy framework ran counter to the Commission’s original policy objectives. This study thus provides fresh insights into the dynamics of policy-level politicisation and its effects on political conflict and competition in the EU. The framing perspective allows students of EU politics to trace how political agents and institutions interact to shape and at times exploit the complexities of EU policy-making in pursuit of their often conflicting agendas. Finally, the findings suggest that the key to conceptualising the scope of Commission agency in terms of systematic policy dynamics lies in exploring the interlocking effects of policy framing and EU politicisation in the political construction of interests at the supranational level.

Political decentralization is in vogue. However, it is not clear what political incentives central governments should have to give up authority. Thus, the question guiding this thesis is under what conditions and why central governments shift authority to subunits. The existing literature does not specify the cost-benefit calculus that could underlie such a decision, merely viewing decentralization as a reaction to increased demands for sub-national authority, which are believed to be the result of international trends such as Europeanization or globalization. Working with a sample of 42 industrial democracies that have been observed over a period of up to 40 years, I demonstrate that central governments pursue institutional reforms only under the condition that they are sufficiently reassured that granting autonomy to subunits will not threaten the territorial integrity of the nation-state. When this necessary condition is met, as is shown to be the case for European Union member states, state agents are mainly motivated by reaping the political benefits associated with reforming a malfunctioning political system or with accommodating sub-national demands.
La décentralisation politique est en vogue. Toutefois, il n'apparait pas clairement quels incitatifs politiques motivent les gouvernements centraux à déléguer leur autorité. Par conséquent, ce mémoire de maîtrise se penche sur la question de savoir dans quelles conditions et pourquoi les gouvernements centraux cèdent de leur autorité aux gouvernements sous-nationaux. La littérature existante ne précise pas quel calcul coûts-bénéfices sous-tend une telle décision. Les recherches antérieures suggèrent plutôt que la décentralisation est une réaction à des demandes sous-nationales accrues qui sont censées être le résultat de tendances internationales comme l'européanisation ou la mondialisation. À partir d'un échantillon de 42 démocraties industrialisées observées sur une période allant jusqu'à 40 ans, je démontre que les gouvernements centraux poursuivent des réformes institutionnelles uniquement s'ils perçoivent que l'octroi d'autonomie aux gouvernements sous-nationaux ne menace pas l'intégrité territoriale de l'État-nation. Lorsque cette condition nécessaire est atteinte, comme c'est le cas dans les États membres de l'Union Européenne, les agents de l'État voient un intérêt dans la collecte des bénéfices politiques liés soit à la réforme d'un système politique dysfonctionnel, soit aux concessions accordées aux paliers gouvernementaux sous-nationaux.

Although the evolution of a unified Europe has been unsteady, the immigration policies of member states have nonetheless become increasingly harmonized in recent years. This harmonization has not been without its controversies, however, and is characterized by two inter-linked political disputes that have shaped the progress achieved thus far. The first dispute area is the exclusion of Europe's legally-resident third country nationals (TCNs) from the privileges of intra-EU free movement, contrary to the inclusionist arguments of the European Commission and Parliament. The second dispute area is the political struggle between advocates of intergovernmental decision-making structures, which are not subject to EU law or institutional control, and the advocates of full (supranational) EU competence over policy. Two hypotheses are contrasted to examine these disputes: (1) the "Fortress Europe" hypothesis, which foresees the continuation of exclusionism and intergovernmentalism; and (2) the "spillover" hypothesis, which predicts the inclusion of TCNs through the EU's central institutions eventually winning full competence over policy. It is concluded that although exclusionism continues to hold the upper hand, recent victories for supranationalism have confirmed the optimism of the spillover hypothesis.

The purpose of this thesis is to focus on the impact of the influx of refugees on the European Union taking into consideration the challenges, threats and opportunities that arise from this persistent crisis. The examination of the above-mentioned issue presents and analyzed pertinent findings derived from the relevant literature in the field, ranging from diverse case studies, public statistics, data of European Union institutions as well as NGO's, associations and other entities that have addressed issues of human rights and refugee integration in European Union countries. The thesis discloses how this complex matter, referred to as the "current European refugee crisis" gives rise to complex problems and divergent concerns ranging from Islamophobia, terrorist attacks and threats, economic challenges, cultural conflicts, and social clashes. It concludes that there is a need for new perspectives and strategies for better addressing the long and short term causes and challenges of the European refugee crisis.

Defence date: 2 July 2019
Examining Board: Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Elias Dinas, European University Institute; Professor Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Professor Kai Arzheimer, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Does European integration contribute to the rise of the radical right? This dissertation offers three empirical contributions that aid understanding the interplay between political integration within the European Union (EU) and the surge of the populist radical right across Europe. The first account studies the impact that the European Parliament (EP) elections have for the national fortune of the populist right. The findings of a country fixed-effects model leveraging variation in the European electoral cycle demonstrate that EP elections foster the domestic prospects of the radical right when national and EP elections are close in time. The second study demonstrates that the populist radical right cannot use the EP elections as a platform to socialise the most impressionable voters. The results of a regression discontinuity analysis highlight that the EP contest does not instil partisan ties to the political antagonists of the European idea. The third study shows that anti-European integration sentiments that existed prior to accession to the EU cast a long shadow in the present by contributing to the success of contemporary populist right actors. Relying on an original dataset entailing data on all EU accession referenda on the level of municipalities and exploiting variation within regions, the study demonstrates that those localities that were most hostile to the European project before even becoming part of the Union, today, vote in the largest numbers for the radical right. In synthesis, the dissertation approaches the relationship between two major current transformations of social reality: European integration and the surge of the radical right. The results highlight that contention around the issue of European integration provides a fertile ground for the populist radical right, helping to activate nationalistic and EU-hostile sentiments among parts of the European public.

This thesis examines the relation between subnational autonomies, that is to say regional and local authorities and the norms they create, and European Union law. The existence of local and regional autonomies within the various Member States of the EU is a factual truth. We know that they exist and co-exist with other levels of public authority, themselves generating norms. Yet, on its surface European Union law does not devise any substantive understanding of such autonomies. This stands in stark contrast to the relation between the Member States and the EU, which is governed by a complex catalogue of Treaty rules. As a consequence of European integration, however, subnational autonomies and EU law do interact, so that the latter cannot simply ignore the existence of the former. This thesis sets out to determine the contours of their mutual relation through an analysis of EU procedural and substantive law. It uncovers that the relation between subnational autonomies and EU law is multifarious and diverges depending on whether we look at the surface of EU law, that is to say the Treaties, or whether we look below its surface, at the Court of Justice's rich case law or soft law instruments of the Commission. I map this conclusion through a modelling approach, relying on what I term the 'Insider Model' and the 'Outsider Model' respectively. These models underline that, in some areas of EU law, SNAs are seen to be outsiders to the project of European integration whereas other areas recognise SNAs and especially their norms to be the insiders of that project. The coexistence of both models forces us intellectually to rearrange things. It challenges our 'constitutional imagination'. The key to understanding the coexistence of both models can be found in the evolution of EU law itself. While the Outsider Model remains attached to the public international law origins of the EU Treaties, the Insider Model captures the reality that not only States and citizens, but also SNAs, are integrated into the EU legal order.

Defence date: 10 December 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Adrienne Héritier (EUI, Florence) ; Prof. Frank Schimmelfennig (ETH, Zürich) ; Prof. Andy Smith (IEP, Bordeaux) ; Prof. Helen Wallace (EUI/RSCAS, Florence)
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This project investigates a ubiquitous yet under-studied phenomenon in national, European and global politics: delegated preparation, defined as those negotiations through which civil servants or experts "pre-cook" political choice in multi-level decision-processes. While examples are legion-reaching from legislative drafting in national ministries to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) in the European Union (EU)- the project focuses on preparation in complex international negotiations, and chooses EU Intergovernmental Conferences (IGCs) as empirical case. Claiming that a look beyond the tip of the "decision-iceberg" will gain us deeper insights into how and by whom Europe has been constitutionalised, I tackle two wider questions: 1) What is preparation and what can it do? and 2) Under what conditions will preparation be effective? Linked to an understanding of international negotiation as a "thick" social process, I argue, first, that the key to preparatory effectiveness lies in a particular set of collective resources as a necessary condition, and in consensual preagreement as both necessary and sufficient. Second, with effective pre-decision-making thus hinging upon successful delegated arguing, a set of scope conditions favourable to persuasion are singled out. These include 1) a familiar, iterative and insulated social context as a pre-condition for the non-distortive use of arguments; 2) an issue's complexity as facilitating the resonance of expertise and novel ideas; and 3) a macronorm's constitutional-systemic nature as favouring factual arguments linked to the international system. The hypotheses are tested on the "Group of Government Representatives" (GoR), with units of observation chosen from the Amsterdam and Nice IGCs according to variation of issue complexity and constitutional-systemic nature. Process-tracing of five issues: the communitarisation of free movement, the integration of Schengen and the institutionalisation of flexibility (Amsterdam), as well as Commission reform and Council votes (Nice) confirms that delegated preparation plays a key role even in the "bastion of high politics" that is EU reform. Yet, empirical evidence shows that persuasion is less prominent than expected, and uncovers alternative mechanisms behind effective preparation,in particular accommodation, depoliticisation and systemic compensation.

Under the competences of the European Union's intergovernmentally controlled Justice and Home Affairs policy, counter-terrorist co-operation and co-ordination of efforts have progressed at a rapid pace following the 11 September attacks on the USA. Given, however, that Europe has experienced entrenched terrorist campaigns for the past three decades, one could be forgiven for questioning, in light of the unique co-operative position of Western Europe, why it has taken so long for the membership of the EU to reach a common definition of terrorism. Also why is it that even now, the EU has failed to develop a common policy against terrorism? Political explanations are traditional responses to such questions, but there is a risk of underestimating the complexities of the European Project, and the effect which this has had on so many areas of transnational co-operation. By focusing therefore on the often-overlooked role played by European integration on counter-terrorist co-operation, in addition to empirical analysis of the efficiency of the co-operative structures, we place ourselves in a more beneficial position to understand the current situation. Intergovernmentalism, the controlling force of JHA co-operation, we find is not mutually exclusive to law-enforcement co-operation. Two theories tested for supranational influences - neo-functionalism and federalism - have also played their part, from the early 1960s onwards, in facilitating co-operation. The historical emphasis is important, because co-operation prior to the regulation of much of this area within the EU, following the Treaties of Economic Union, provides us with ample material for analysis and greater insight into the JHA process and counter-terrorism. Intergovernmentalism has helped push counter-terrorist co-operation along, but equally we find that it now serves as a hindrance in completing its development because of its in-built tendency to retain subsidiarity. Counter terrorist co-operation, we conclude, need not be restricted to intergovernmental control any longer.

The focus of this thesis is on the vertical Europeanisation of the online public debate and more specifically on the EU's online public communication strategy, i.e. the top-down process of the unmediated, direct, online communication between the EU and the general public. The empirical data has been collected in four stages, namely public communication policy-making; public communication policy implementation online; online public communication policy impact on key Internet audiences; and interviews with key senior Commission officials. The review of the EU public communication documents has shown that the Commission has unambiguously committed to facilitate direct communication with the EU public as part of the process of building the EU citizens' trust towards its institutions and in addressing the issues of transparency and democratic legitimation of the EU's decision-making process, while the Internet is seen as a key tool in facilitating direct communication. However, after monitoring three of the EU's official websites for a year and analyzing the views of 221 Internet users on the EU's Information and Communication strategy online, it has become evident that the Commission has not yet fulfilled these commitments. The interviews with key Commission officials have revealed that behind this gap between policy and online implementation lie: a) an institutional culture which conflicts with the aims of the Commission's public communication strategy; and b) constant institutional restructuring in the last six years. Very recently the Commission has begun to address some of the shortfalls in the online implementation of its public communication strategy, yet there is no indication that the results of the online debate regarding the EU's future will be incorporated in the decision-making process, while further study is required in the future in order to assess any change in the institutional culture in relation to its public communication strategy.

Three models are developed to analyze the state level conditions fostering the rise of far right parties in the European Union in the last two decades. The political background of these parties is examined. This study offers a definition for far right parties, which combines several previous attempts. The research has focused on the effects of the number of the parties, immigration, and unemployment on support for the far right in Europe. Empirical tests, using a random effects model of fifty elections in eight nations, suggest that there are political, social, and economic conditions that are conducive to electoral success. Specifically, increases in the number of "effective" parties favor the far right, while electoral thresholds serve to dampen support. Immigration proves to be a significant variable. Surprisingly, changes in crime and unemployment rates have a negative effect on support for the far right. Suggestions for future research are offered.

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.

The dissertation is about the impact of the European Union (EU) on the foreign policy of a candidate in the pre-accession period. More specifically, the research analyses the factors and processes that intervene between the EU power to generate change in Turkish foreign policy and Turkish national compliance with the EU conditions between 1997 and 2005 by way of analysing three cases: Turkish foreign policy towards Cyprus issue, Greek-Turkish bilateral problems in the Aegean Sea; and Turkey’s stance vis-à-vis the launch of the ESDP. Main question the research addresses is “why does a candidate choose to comply (or fail to comply) with the EU conditions in foreign policy?” In other words: “How (through what mechanisms) does the EU generate compliance with the EU conditions in foreign policy?” The dissertation approaches these questions through the perspective of the Europeanization literature and its conditionality school drawing on the Rational Choice Institutionalism. In accordance with this rationalist account, main argument the doctoral research intends to prove is that “the EU’s adaptational pressure on Turkey (operationalized as a function of clear/attainable membership perspective and credible conditionality policy) is a necessary yet not a sufficient condition for domestic compliance in foreign policy if the cost of compliance is high for the target government. In this respect, domestic actors’ strategic calculation is the ultimate determinant of the compliance degrees at the domestic level. In order to prove this core hypothesis, the research used theory testing process-tracing, longitudinal comparison of cases, counter-factual reasoning and the use of a control case. The evidence for testing the argument comes from the measurement of conditionality (measured as the linkage between a given foreign policy condition and membership-related reward) and domestic compliance (measured as foreign policy output ranging from rhetorical to behavioural change) through the content analysis of primary documents. This analysis is complemented with 33 semi-structured elite interviews. The dissertation by proving that the EU’s transformative power in foreign policy works through the cost and benefit calculation of the ruling party and by elaborating on the conditions under which the EU can interfere with this rational calculus (hence modify the opportunity structure for the target government), advances our understanding of the EU’s transformative power and contributes to the Accession Europeanization literature in general. Furthermore, the study provides additional empirical as well as theoretical in-depth case knowledge to the available literature on the Europeanization of Turkey and Turkish foreign policy.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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.

“What is Europe's role in this changed world? Does Europe not, now that is finally unified, have a leading role to play in a new world order, that of a power able both to play a stabilising role worldwide and to point the way ahead for many countries and peoples?” These were two of the central questions put by the Laeken Declaration, adopted by the European Council in December 2001. The Declaration offered the beginning of an answer, pointing out the direction for future policy developments, and for the institutional reform underpinning them: “The role it has to play is that of a power resolutely doing battle against all violence, all terror and all fanaticism, but which also does not turn a blind eye to the world's heartrending injustices. In short, a power wanting to change the course of world affairs…A power seeking to set globalisation within a moral framework.” At the same time, the Laeken Declaration pointed out some more specific questions concerning the institutional innovations required to enhance the coherence of European foreign policy and to reinforce the synergy between the High Representative for CFSP and the relevant Commissioners within the RELEX family. With a view to a better distribution of competences between the EU and Member States, on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, the text mentioned the development of a European foreign and defence policy first, and referred more particularly to the scope for updating the ‘Petersberg’ tasks of crisis management, a policy domain that would take a pivotal place in the consolidation of ESDP and CFSP at large. This Declaration marks the beginning of the process of regime reform that covers the last three years of common foreign and security policy (CFSP) of the European Union. This evolution, and the innovations that it has brought about in institutional and normative terms, are the subjects of this thesis.

The Convention on the future of Europe, set up by the Laeken Declaration, represented an important stage in the pan-European debate on the objectives, values, means and decision-making tools of CFSP. The US-led intervention in Iraq in March 2003 marked a new ‘critical juncture’ in the development of the conceptual and institutional bases of CFSP. As it was the case in the past, following major policy failures in the course of the Balkan wars, Member States sought to mend the rift that divided them in the run up to the Iraq war. In so doing, Member States agreed on a significant degree of institutional reform in the context of the Convention and of the subsequent Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC). The creation of the new position of a double-hatted Foreign Minister, as well as the envisaged rationalisation and consolidation of the instruments at his/her disposal, including a new European External Action Service (EAS), is a primary achievement in this perspective. On the defence side, a new formula of ‘permanent structured cooperation’ among willing and able Member States has been included in the Treaty Establishing the European Constitution (Constitutional Treaty), with a view to them undertaking more binding commitments in the field of defence, and fulfilling more demanding missions. Right at the time when the Iraq crisis was sending shockwaves across the political and institutional structures of the Union, and of CFSP in particular, the first ESDP civilian mission were launched, soon followed by small military operations. The unprecedented deployment of civilian and military personnel under EU flag in as many as 13 missions between 2002 and 2005 could be achieved thanks to the development of a new layer of policy-makign and crisis-management bodies in Brussels. The launch of successive ESDP operations turned out to be a powerful catalyst for the further expansion and consolidation of this bureaucratic framework and of the conceptual dimension of CFSP/ESDP. Most importantly, these and other dimensions of institutional and operational progress should be set in a new, overarching normative and political framework provided by the European Security Strategy (ESS).

Needless to say, institutional innovations are stalled following the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in the French and Dutch referenda of May/June 2005. With a view to the evolution of the CFSP regime, however, I argue in this thesis that the institutional reforms envisaged in the Constitutional Treaty are largely consistent with the unfolding normative and bureaucratic features of the regime. As illustrated in the course of my research, the institutional, bureaucratic and normative dimensions of the regime appear to strengthen one another, thereby fostering regime deepening. From this standpoint, therefore, the stalemate of institutional reform does slow down the reform of the international regime of CFSP but does not seem to alter the direction of its evolution and entail its stagnation, or even dismantling. On the contrary, I maintain that the dynamics of regime change that I detect will lead to stronger, endogenous and exogenous demands for institutional reform, whose shapes and priorities are to a large extent already included in the Constitutional treaty. This vantage point paves the way to identifying the trends underlying the evolution of the regime, but does not lead to endorsing a teleological reading of regime reform. As made clear in what follows, CFSP largely remains a matter of international cooperation with a strong (although not exclusive) inter-governmental component. As such, this international regime could still suffer serious, and potentially irreversible, blows, were some EU Member States to openly depart from its normative coordinates and dismiss its institutional or bureaucratic instances. While this scenario cannot be ruled out, I argue in this thesis that this does not seem the way forward. The institutional and normative indicators that I detect and review point consistently towards a ‘deepening’ of the regime, and closer cooperation among Member States. In other words, it is not a matter of excluding the possibility of disruptions in the evolution of the CFSP regime, but to improve the understanding of regime dynamics so as to draw a distinction between long-term trends and conjunctural crises that, so far, have not undermined the incremental consolidation of CFSP/ESDP.

Central to this research is the analysis of the institutional and normative features of the CFSP regime at EU level. The focus lies on the (increasing) difference that institutions and norms make to inter-governmental policy-making under CFSP, in the inter-play with national actors. The purpose of my research is therefore threefold. First, I investigate the functioning and development of the bureaucratic structures underpinning the CFSP regime, since their establishment in 2000/2001 up to 2005. This theoretically informed review will allow me to highlight the distinctive procedural and normative features of CFSP policy-making and, subsequently, to assess their influence on the successive stages of reform. Second, I track and interpret the unprecedented processes by which innovations have been introduced (or envisaged) at the institutional and normative level of the regime, with a focus on the Convention on the future of Europe and on the drafting of the European Security Strategy. Third, I assess the institutional and normative output of this dense stage of reform, with respect both to the ‘internal’ coherence and the deepening of the regime, and to the ‘external’ projection of the EU as an international actor in the making.

On the whole, I assume that a significant, multidimensional transition of the CFSP regime is underway. The bureaucratic framework enabling inter-governmental cooperation encourages patterned behaviour, which progressively generates shared norms and standards of appropriateness, affecting the definition of national interests. In terms of decision-making, debate and deliberation increasingly complement negotiation within Brussels-based CFSP bodies. Looking at the direction of institutional and policy evolution, the logic of ‘sharing’ tasks, decisions and resources across different (European and national) levels of governance prevails, thereby strengthening the relevance of ‘path-dependency’ and of the ‘ratchet effect’ in enhancing inter-governmental cooperation as well as regime reform.

Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
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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.

In the past decade, there has been a surge of interest in extreme right Western European parties. Well-established parties such as the National Front (FN) in France, Vlaams Belang (formerly Vlaams Blok) in Belgium, and Lega Nord in Italy have been scrutinized. However, extreme right parties that have just recently begun to experience electoral successes such as the British National Party (BNP) have received less evaluation and discussion in the literature. Therefore, this study examines the BNP's electoral fortunes in the European elections of 1999, 2004, and 2009. I explore the support for the BNP using the traditional variables of unemployment, education, income, and immigration. In addition to these variables, I examine how support for other parties present in Great Britain, such as the right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the center-right Conservative Party affects electoral support for the BNP. I find that support for other right-wing parties in Great Britain do exert an influence on BNP electoral fortunes (the UKIP a positive one, and the Conservative Party a negative one). I also find a strong negative link between BNP support and education and a weak positive one between BNP support and unemployment. However, income and immigration rates appear to have no effect on voter support for the BNP.
ID: 030646218; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-71).
M.A.
Masters
Political Science
Sciences
Political Science; International Studies Track

Partant du constat de la constitution de la promotion de la démocratie comme enjeu des relations internationales et de politique étrangère, la présente recherche s’interroge sur les politiques menées en la matière par l’Union européenne dans le cadre des relations avec ses voisins méditerranéens, particulièrement le Maroc et la Tunisie. L’analyse se concentre sur l’Instrument européen pour la démocratie et les droits de l’homme, sur la période 2007-2012.

L’objectif est de comprendre et d’expliquer les pratiques des différents groupes d’acteurs impliqués dans ces politiques, au sein de la Commission (DG Relex/SEAE, DG Devco, délégations) et du Parlement (sous-commission DROI).

La position défendue est la suivante :les pratiques européennes de promotion de la démocratie au Maroc et en Tunisie sont fonction de l’identité des groupes institutionnels qui les mettent en œuvre. Pour chaque groupe institutionnel, peuvent être mis en évidence des normes, intérêts et ressources qui contribuent à défendre et renforcer l’identité institutionnelle. Dès lors, des pratiques qui peuvent paraître incohérentes au premier abord (pourquoi agir au Maroc et pas en Tunisie ?pourquoi créer l’IEDDH et, parallèlement, évincer l’objectif de promotion de la démocratie de la coopération bilatérale avec la Tunisie ?) prennent tout leur sens lorsqu’on parvient à restituer la fonction sociale qu’elles assurent.

Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
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Thèse qui propose d'analyser le processus de construction de la politique spatiale européenne. La question au coeur de la recherche est de comprendre pourquoi, alors qu’il fut initialement décidé de ne pas s’en remettre au cadre offert pas la Communauté pour européaniser les efforts naissants de coopération spatiale, put-on assister, à la fin des années 1980, à une implication grandissante de la Communauté européenne, qui se traduisit progressivement par une nouvelle européanisation du spatial ?La thèse défendue est que, loin de résulter uniquement de la confrontation et du choc des intérêts portés par les différents Etats, la politique spatiale européenne a été progressivement construite au travers d’un parcours historique dans lequel ont été impliqués différents espaces sociaux régis par des référentiels et des normes qui leur sont propres.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
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This study analyses the possible impact of the European Union (EU) on the development of the relations between business interest groups and the government in Turkey, more precisely on the interventions of the business interest groups in domestic policy-making. Hence it deals with the links between the progress of the relationship between Turkey and the EU and the development of domestic interest group activity in Turkey.

The progress of Turkey’s relations with the EU enhanced the visibility of the Turkish Peak Business Organizations (PBOs) in representing Turkish business interests in Brussels. Moreover, the evolution of the activities of the PBOs, provides a broader understanding of the developments of the general characteristics of the relations between the government and business interest groups in Turkey. Hence the investigation focuses on the major Turkish PBOs.

We examine the relations of Turkish PBOs with the EU, essentially, on the basis of the observation of their transnational actions within the EU as well as their participation in financial and technical assistance programmes of the EU and in the joint institutional structures of the association regime between Turkey and the EU. By analysing these two dimensions we assess the repercussions of the socialization of the Turkish PBOs on their strategies of action in dealing with European Affairs, on discourses they adopted regarding domestic policy-making and on their organizational structure and policy agenda.

We elaborate our topic with reference to the Europeanization concept, which covers the examination of the consequences of the European governance on national systems. Through the Europeanization concept we observe the correlation between the progress of the Turkey-EU relations and the ongoing process of change in the patterns of interventions of the Turkish business interest groups in domestic policy-making.

Doctorat en sciences politiques
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Cette thèse de doctorat s’articule autour d’une question dont l’apparente simplicité masque une réelle complexité :Comment le Conseil européen est-il devenu une institution ?En effet, alors qu’il existait déjà depuis plusieurs décennies, le Conseil européen n’a été formellement considéré comme une institution européenne que depuis l’entrée en vigueur du traité de Lisbonne, le 1er décembre 2009. Ce constat juridique attire l’attention sur les raisons de cette consécration tardive, mais soulève de nombreuses questions aussi bien pour ce qui concerne les institutions dans l’Union européenne (UE) que pour l’ordre politique européen dont elles font partie.

Le dépassement du seul critère juridique et la prise en compte du temps long remettent clairement en question l’idée que le Conseil européen ne soit devenu une institution qu’avec le traité de Lisbonne et interrogent, entre autres, sur ce que signifie « être une institution » dans l’UE. Plusieurs questions de pouvoir fondamentales sont soulevées :Comment les institutions sont-elles crées et développées dans l’UE ?Le Conseil européen est-il une institution « supranationale intergouvernementale » ?L’ordre politique européen est-il un ordre politique autonome ?

Le développement de la recherche a procédé en 3 phases, pour lesquels les répertoires de codification juridique, politique et symbolique ont servi de grille d’analyse. En premier lieu, le temps de l’instituant, temps court posant les bases du temps long dans lequel se développe l’institutionnalisation, a été étudié. Il correspond au moment de l’incursion directe et explicite des Etats dans la sphère européenne. Puis, les évolutions et trajectoires respectives des différents processus de codification du Conseil européen ont été examinées, tout au long de son existence dans l’ordre politique européen. Enfin, l’omniprésence de l’interaction national-européen a conduit à observer les processus suivis par les « sous-institutions » du Conseil européen, dans la mesure où ils permettent d’expliquer son institutionnalisation dans l’ordre politique européen. Le couple franco-allemand et la présidence du Conseil européen ont ainsi fait l’objet de processus d’institutionnalisation propres, mais intrinsèquement liés à ceux suivis par le Conseil européen, et ont servis à déterminer les interactions entre les ordres politiques nationaux et l’ordre politique européen.

Cette recherche a notamment mis en évidence le fait que l’institutionnalisation du Conseil européen a principalement été réalisée sur le plan politique (au travers des actions des acteurs, des rôles qu’ils ont façonné et investi, de la stabilité qu’ils ont instauré par la répétition de pratiques, de convergences de vues facilitées par la pression du groupe, ou encore du respect de l’échelon national par la dimension supranationale), en étant partiellement soutenue sur le plan symbolique, tandis que le droit n’a très longtemps fait que suivre ces processus et n’est vraiment intervenu que pour reconnaître l’existant ou dresser un état des lieux du consensus en vigueur au moment où les circonstances appelaient des reconfigurations substantielles.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
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This study analyzes newspaper coverage of immigration reform in mainstream newspapers prior to, and following the debate in June 2007. The newspaper text is analyzed using metaphor interpretation supported by content analysis. The quantitative result categorizes the identified metaphors in three distinct metaphor categories about: immigrants and immigration, immigration policy and enforcement, and metaphors about the debate and immigration issue itself. The relative distribution of metaphors among categories is provided. Using an open coding process, emergent metaphor categories are identified. The qualitative findings describe metaphors and schemas that were potentially activated by particular metaphorical phrases in this context. Lastly, this research compares the similarities and differences of the immigration debate of the early 20th century with the contemporary U.S. and European debate.

Defence date: 09/12/2009
Examining board: John Bell (Cambridge University); Bruno De Witte (EUI); Otto Pfersmann (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Jacques Ziller (Supervisor, former EUI, Università di Pavia)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Devolved bodies are local and regional authorities in the Member States mainly responsible for economic development, environment, transport... In these fields, EU law has progressively become preponderant. How do the devolved bodies implement the European Law? What are the legal consequences and their responsibilities? Firstly, I take a special interest in the foundations of the norms of devolution in Great Britain, federalism in Germany and décentralisation in France. All entities qualified as 'devolved entities' have a power to make subordinate legislation in these matters. It is necessary to note that EC law is uninterested in the form of the national measures applying EC law. It is more a question of degree of decentralization of the state. Secondly, the problem raised results from the legally binding legislation taken on the basis of the EC Treaty. Regulations, directives which are 'sufficiently clear, precise and unconditional' and decisions are directly applicable in national orders. The possibility of confrontation with a national norm, general as individual, is problematic. The Simmenthal jurisprudence implies the national norm should be put aside, even when valid. European law has no competence to regulate the territorial organization of Member States. The principle of institutional autonomy drawn by the ECJ prohibits any interference of the European norm. European institutions are thus limited to the material competences. Consequently, the European norm directly applicable lacks an important element of a normal norm, which is the determination of the organ. That means that this norm cannot be effective without the national norm which is exclusively competent for this determination. Finally, I raise two important problems. On the one hand, the complexity of European law shows the failure to adapt to the coordination between the devolved administration, the national representation and the EU. On the other hand, I underline the lack of direct constraint towards devolved entities which apply European law insofar as the state assumes this responsibility for them. That explains, in part, why the British and French states tend to keep the control of the implementation of European law. The German Länder stand out from this tendency according to general powers enshrined in the Grundgesetz.

Examining board: Prof. Pascal Vennesson, EUI/RSCAS (Supervisor) ; Prof. Adrianne Héritier, EUI/RSCAS ; Prof. Monica Den Boer, Free University of Amsterdam; Prof. Hanna Ojanen, Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Defence date: 22 December 2008
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Prior to 11 September 2001, the counter-terrorist responsibilities overseen by the European Union (EU) were relatively unimportant. Since then, however, member states have decided to engage the EU in a larger number of counter-terrorist issues and, in some cases, empower it to undertake substantial tasks. The EU has thus become an important player in counterterrorism in Europe; notwithstanding the fact that the major actor remains the member states themselves. However, this increase in EU engagement on counter-terrorist issues has varied enormously from one policy area to another. This asymmetric increase lies at the centre of my research question: since 11 September 2001, why have member states conferred important anti-terrorist responsibilities to the EU in some areas - for instance, judicial cooperation in criminal matters - and less significant in others, such as policing? I address this question by investigating the agenda-setting and decision-making processes of two specific EU decisions in each of my two policy area cases (2001-2007). In each case, one decision constitutes a large increase of EU engagement and the other represents a small or zero increase. The two cases are: Judicial Cooperation (European Arrest Warrant and the European Evidence Warrant) and Police Cooperation (EU ‘Prüm Measure’ and failure of the Commission’s proposal on the Principle of Availability). In order to explain the research puzzle, I apply a modified version of John Kingdon’s ‘Three Strands Model.’ This enquiry sheds light on the relative influence on decision-making of the occurrence or non-occurrence of a major terrorist attack (i.e. changes in the addressed problem) and the entrepreneurship of the European Commission or of the member state holding the rotating Presidency of the EU Council. The EU member states are the central actors and their preferences are analysed as a means to understand the role played by the logic of consequentialism and the logic of appropriateness, respectively.

Defence date: 21 October 2016
Examining Board: Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Pedro C. Magalhães, University of Lisbon; Professor Mariano Torcal, Pompeu Fabra University; Professor Alexander H. Trechsel, European University Institute
This thesis is a collection of four empirical studies that analyze Europeans’ democratic aspirations and evaluations and their behavioral implications. It is well established that most citizens support democracy in the abstract but that a substantial proportion of them are not fully satisfied with the way democracy works. However, we know significantly less about the specific type of democracy citizens aspire to, about the extent to which they evaluate that their democracies meet these democratic aspirations, and about how these aspirations and evaluations relate to their political behavior. Drawing on an innovative dataset that provides a detailed account of individuals’ democratic aspirations and evaluations I first assess the availability and structuration of these attitudes towards democracy in the belief systems of Europeans. Next, I analyze how democratic aspirations and evaluations and the imbalance between the two relate to political participation and party choice decisions. The empirical analyses reveal that: (i) these attitudes towards democracy are widely available and coherently structured in the belief systems of most individuals; (ii) that democratic aspirations and evaluations, and the imbalance between the two, are significantly related to the likelihood of turning out to vote and demonstrating, but that, at the same time, their impact is contingent on a series of individual- and macro-level factors; (iii) that the imbalance between democratic aspirations and evaluations that individuals perceive for specific elements democracy is significantly related to their likelihood of defecting from mainstream parties and voting for different types of challenger parties. In the conclusion to this dissertation I discuss the potential implications of these findings for the quality and stability of democracies, and how these findings qualify some aspects of the prevailing optimistic outlook about the behavior of those who are critical or dissatisfied with the functioning of their democracies.

Defence date: 20 November 1992
Examining Board: Prof. Dr. Bruno de Wittw, Rijsuniversiteit Limburg ; Prof. Dr. M. Rainer Lepsius (supervisor), Universität Heidelberg ; Prof. Dr. Giandomenico Majone, Europäisches Hochschulinstitut, Florenz ; Prof. Dr. Roger Morgan (co-supervisor), Europäisches Hochschulinstitut, Florenz ; Prof. Dr. Fritz W. Scharpf, Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence Date: 26/06/2009
Examining Board: Frank Baumgartner (Penn State University); Susana Borrás (Copenhagen Business School); Adrienne Héritier (EUI/RSCAS) (Co-Supervisor); Rikard Stankiewicz (Lund University (emeritus), formerly EUI) (Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The literature on the policy-making of the European Union (EU) has trouble understanding the long-term evolution of EU policies. While numerous accounts exist that analyze EU policies from a historical, analytical-descriptive and normative perspective, no existing account has studied the evolution of EU policy output from a positive perspective. This thesis wants to start filling this gap in the literature by studying the patterns of policy evolution in the European Union’s research and technology development (RTD) policy. This policy is studied at three different levels of analysis. The first level is that of budgetary dynamics; here I test two alternative hypotheses on the pattern of budgetary change, both derived from the American literature: the classical incrementalist hypothesis, and the punctuated-equilibrium hypothesis of Bryan Jones and Frank Baumgartner. The second level of analysis is that of agenda dynamics, where I study the pattern of issue expansion/contraction on the fragmented agenda of the EU, and test two alternative hypotheses on the allocation of agenda space to RTD policy. The third level of analysis is that of institutional dynamics; here I test the hypothesis that institutional stability is associated with phases of incremental changes, whereas institutional developments occur in correspondence with budgetary punctuations. The empirical results show that both the budgetary and agenda dynamics of this policy are fully compatible with the punctuated-equilibrium hypothesis. However, the hypothesis on the correspondence between budgetary punctuations and institutional change is to be rejected. The final part of this work investigates the mechanism and the necessary conditions for the emergence of new policy priorities, by focusing on the recent emergence of security RTD as a new priority of the Framework Programme. This dissertation is the first work to empirically test the punctuated-equilibrium model on the EU, with an extensive and original dataset composed of budgetary, agenda and institutional delegation data.

碩士
國立暨南國際大學
國際企業學系
100
This thesis explores within the dynamics of government debts, macroeconomic factors that might indicate relationships to primary deficits and debt shocks of European Union countries, which many suffer from extreme debt crisis. In many debt sustainability analysis studies, the key factors of influencing the debt ratio are primary deficits and debt shocks, which are not included in public debts, thus these variables are chosen as the main focus to represent the debt conditions of the European Union. This paper uses panel VAR to combine 18 EU countries as one entity to represent the EU and examine the relationship of the primary deficit and debt shocks with other macroeconomic variables, such as the inflation rate, the real effective exchange rate, the real GDP growth rate, and the real interest rate. The Granger Causality Test is performed to assess the variables’ long-term causality, since the panel VAR results can only provide results for the short run. The results show that in the short run, the inflation rate has positive and negative impacts on primary deficits and debt shocks. The real effective exchange has positive and mixed effects on deficits and debt shocks. The real GDP growth rate produces negative and mixed impacts on deficits and debt shocks. The real interest rate is negatively correlated with both variables. Finally, there exists a positive relationship between primary deficits and debt shocks. In the long run, the primary deficit granger causes the real effective exchange rate. The inflation rate, real interest rate, and debt shocks granger cause the primary deficit. There exists a two-way causality between the primary deficit and the real GDP growth rate. As for the debt shocks, it is granger caused by the inflation rate and the real effective exchange rate. Finally, debt shocks have a two-way causality between the real GDP growth rate and the real interest rate.