Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Local government – European Union countries'
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IBANEZ, GARZARAN Zyab Luis. "Access to non-vulnerable part-time employment in the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, with special reference to the school and local government sectors." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/12002.
Full textExamining 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.
Infantino, Federica. "Bordering Europe abroad : Schengen visa policy implementation in Morocco and transnational policy-making from below." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/209200.
Full textLa construction d’un régime européen de visas représente un domaine de recherche important. Ceci a été analysé comme un des instruments politiques qui déplacent le contrôle migratoire au delà des limites du territoire européen. Cependant, la mise en œuvre dans les consulats nationaux reste très peu étudiée. Cette thèse analyse la mise en œuvre de la politique du visa Schengen conceptualisée comme politique des frontières. Par la délivrance du visa Schengen, organisations étatiques et non-étatiques réalisent le travail de filtrage des frontières. Cette thèse investigue la construction quotidienne de la frontière européenne à l’étranger en privilégiant la perspective théorique de la mise en œuvre des politiques publiques. L’analyse s’appuie sur un cas d’étude comparé. Elle se concentre sur les services visas des consulats de deux anciens pays d’immigration, la France et la Belgique, et un nouveau pays d’immigration, l’Italie, qui mettent en œuvre la politique du visa dans un même État tiers :le Maroc. Cette étude met en évidence des différences nationales importantes qui sont dues aux différents passés historiques, à l’attribution d’un sens national à la politique du visa, aux conditions organisationnelles distinctes. Toutefois, la méthodologie comparative et l’approche épistémologique inductive choisis ont permis de mettre en exergue des processus de transferts au niveau de la mise en œuvre qui constituent l’action publique transnationale par le bas. Les interactions informelles entre les acteurs constituent une ‘communauté de pratiques’ basé sur le désir de partager un savoir pratique et local qui sert à adresser des problèmes liés à la mise en œuvre au quotidien.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
KARAGIANNIS, Yannis. "Preference heterogeneity and equilibrium institutions: The case of European competition policy." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/15460.
Full textExamining 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)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
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.
Prosser, Christopher. "Rethinking representation and European integration." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1f596c7e-bfb9-43ff-b3e8-2de716f234ec.
Full textLi, Xin. "European identity, a case study." Thesis, University of Macau, 2009. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555548.
Full textHarvey, Matthew. "Constituting a Commonwealth for Europe and beyond." Monash University, Faculty of Law, 2003. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5642.
Full textCarey, Sean D. (Sean Damien). "A Political and Macroeconomic Explanation of Public Support for European Integration." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1997. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc278919/.
Full textFERNANDES, Daniel. "Governments, public opinion, and social policy : change in Western Europe." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/75046.
Full textExamining 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.
Lai, I. Tak. "Towards the EU common migration and asylum policy : challenges or opportunities?" Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555551.
Full textZhang, Lu. "Is the EU a social union? :the function of common social policy for European integration." Thesis, University of Macau, 2012. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2554777.
Full textPAOLINI, Giulia. "The legitimacy deficit of the European Union and the role of national parliaments." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/10445.
Full textExamining 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
DAVITER, Falk. "The power of initiative : framing legislative policy conflicts in the European Union." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/7044.
Full textExamining 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)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
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.
Luedtke, Adam. "Fortress Europe or spillover? : immigration politics and policy at the European level." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=20441.
Full textGalan, Andreea Elena. "The Impact of the Refugee Crisis on the European Union." PDXScholar, 2018. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4253.
Full textSCHULTE-CLOOS, Julia. "European integration and the surge of the populist radical right." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/63506.
Full textExamining 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.
Finck, Michèle. "Above and below the surface : two models of subnational autonomies in EU law." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:60c9f0ae-3f2a-4701-a096-e8f9ce38b5f0.
Full textREH, Christine. "The Politics of Preparation : delegated decisions, arguing and constitutional choice in Europe." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/10475.
Full textExamining Board: Prof. Adrienne Héritier (EUI, Florence) ; Prof. Frank Schimmelfennig (ETH, Zürich) ; Prof. Andy Smith (IEP, Bordeaux) ; Prof. Helen Wallace (EUI/RSCAS, Florence)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
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.
Dalby, Andrew K. "European integrationist influences on member states' counter-terrorist co-operation and co-ordination." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14394.
Full textKuok, Lai Ieng. "Do the employment policies of the Lisbon Strategy promote EU economic growth?" Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555547.
Full textOu, Wei Qiang. "Assessing the strategic partnership between China and the European Union (2003-2010)." Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2554719.
Full textZheng, Shan Shan. "European Union's humanitarian intervention : an English school perspective." Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555554.
Full textMichailidou, Asimina. "The European Union online the role of the internet in the European Union's public communication strategy and the emerging European public sphere." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2007. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/3055.
Full textLi, Wen Jing. "Water governance in a changing climate : adaptation strategy of EU water law." Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2586411.
Full textCoimbra, Joao Pedro de Sa. "European Union integration model : follow me model for ASEAN?" Thesis, University of Macau, 2008. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b1880477.
Full textBi, Si Wei. "Impact of EU green directives on China's exports." Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555560.
Full textCrabbe, Tim John. "Multinational companies in the cleaning industry : local government privatisation, trade union responses and the European dimension." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.259945.
Full textJónsdóttir, Jóhanna. "Europeanisation of the Icelandic policy process." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609096.
Full textSmith, Jason Matthew. "Extreme Politics: An Analysis of the State Level Conditions Favoring Far Right Parties in the European Union." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2003. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4177/.
Full textWang, Yan Chao. "EU's agricultural support policy and its revelation on China's agricultural policy." Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555588.
Full textMocca, Elisabetta. "The politics of transnational municipalism for sustainable development in the European Union : an urban analysis." Thesis, Brunel University, 2015. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/11274.
Full textBlew, Dennis Jan. "The Europeanization of Political Parties: A Study of Political Parties in Poland 2009-2014." PDXScholar, 2015. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2567.
Full textArdic, M. Nergiz. "Social Policy In The Urban Context: Contemporary Turkish Local Governments On The Way To The European Union." Master's thesis, METU, 2006. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12607943/index.pdf.
Full texts approach on the social policy in the urban context. Within this framework, the social policies of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality are studied.
Pardo, Sierra Oscar. "The governance of the European Union in its Eastern neighbourhood : the impact of the EU on Georgia." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1708/.
Full textGurkan, Seda. "The impact of the European Union on turkish foreign policy during the pre-accession process to the European Union, 1997-2005: à la carte Europeanisation." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/209295.
Full textDoctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
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Magnette, Paul. "Citoyenneté et construction européenne: étude de la formation du concept de citoyenneté et de la recomposition de ses formes institutionnelles dans le cadre de la construction européenne." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211973.
Full textWu, Yan Ni. "The EU development aid policy : evolution, legal basis, features, effectiveness and its role in the EU-China relations." Thesis, University of Macau, 2009. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2099266.
Full textTanrikulu, Osman Goktug. "A Dissatisfied Partner: A Conflict - Integration Analysis of Britain's Membership in the European Union." PDXScholar, 2013. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1064.
Full textGrevi, Giovanni. "The common foreign, security and defence policy of the European Union: ever-closer cooperation, dynamics of regime deepening." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210673.
Full textThe 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
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
Corbett, Johannes Kruger. "The EU-SA free trade agreement : implications for selected agricultural products." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51976.
Full textENGLISH 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.
Coosemans, Thierry. "Les Libéraux dans l'Union européenne: étude de cas :le groupe libéral, démocratique et réformateur du Parlement européen, 1979-2002 :un bilan." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210544.
Full textESTELLA, DE NORIEGA Antonio. "The principle of subsidiarity and its critique : a contextual analysis of the principle of subsidiarity." Doctoral thesis, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/4617.
Full textTATHAM, Michael Robert. "With, without or against you? : the interest representation of states and their sub-state entities in the European Union." Doctoral thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/14983.
Full textExamining Board: Adrienne Héritier (EUI/RSCAS) (Co-Supervisor); Michael Keating Univ. Aberdeen/formerly EUI) (Supervisor); Gary Marks (Vrije Univ. Amsterdam/Univ. North Carolina, Chapel Hill); Andy Smith (Sciences Po, Bordeaux) (in absentia)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Much research has highlighted that sub-state entities (SSEs) - such as the German Länder, Spanish autonomous communities or French regions - mobilise at the European level. This literature, however, suffers from a research gap on the question of how this sub-state activity interacts with that of its own member state. In other words, while it is clear that SSEs do represent their interests in Brussels, it is not so clear whether this activity is carried out with their member state (cooperation), without their member state (non-interaction) or against their member state (conflict). This thesis fills such a research gap by 1) identifying what the pattern of interaction between state and sub-state EU interest representation corresponds to and by 2) identifying what the determinants of such a pattern are. To achieve this double task, quantitative and qualitative methods are employed. The quantitative section consists of regression analysis on data collected through a survey addressed to the Heads of regional offices in Brussels (n=104). It highlights that cooperation is the most frequent outcome, followed by noninteraction. Conflicting interest representation is the least frequent outcome. It also indicates that, contrary to expectations, devolution levels do not affect conflict but increase the frequency of cooperation and decrease that of non-interaction. Meanwhile, party political incongruence fails to affect conflict, decreases cooperation and increases non-interaction. Finally, preference intensity configurations affect all three outcomes. This quantitative work was complemented by a series of in-depth case study analyses of Scotland (UK), Salzburg (Austria), Rhône-Alpes and Alsace (both France). Based on over a hundred semi-structured interviews with state, sub-state and supra-state officials and politicians, these case studies confirmed the overall findings reached through quantitative means and further suggested that the effect of devolution overrides that of party political incongruence. Additional statistical testing confirmed this inductive finding. The concluding sections highlight this research’s overall theoretical and policy implications.
PICCOLI, Lorenzo. "The politics of regional citizenship : explaining variation in the right to health care for undocumented immigrants across Italian regions, Spanish autonomous communities, and Swiss cantons." Doctoral thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/53404.
Full textExamining Board: Prof. Rainer Bauböck, European University Institute (Supervisor); Prof. Maurizio Ferrera, University of Milan; Prof. Andrew Geddes, European University Institute; Prof. Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Over the last forty years, regions in Europe have acquired an increasingly important role in the provision of rights that were traditionally used by states to define the boundaries of national citizenship. Despite this trend, there are still few comparative examinations of what citizenship means for subnational actors, how these affect the provision of rights, and what the consequences of this process are for internal solidarity, the democratic process, and ultimately the constitutional integrity of modern states. These are important questions at a time when ideas about membership and rights within multilevel polities are vigorously contested in courts, legislative chambers, and election booths. Instances of these contestations are the Spanish Constitutional Court’s decision on the legality of subsequent referendums on Catalan secession in 2014 and 2017; the ongoing standoff between the state of California and the American federal government over who ought to regulate the rights of undocumented immigrants; and the Scottish and UK referendums on independence and exit from the European Union, respectively. This dissertation sets out to explain under what conditions, how, and with what kind of consequences some regions are more inclusionary than others in their approach to what citizenship entails and to whom it applies. This is what I refer to as the politics of regional citizenship. The empirical analysis focuses on subnational variations in the realisation of the right to health care for undocumented immigrants in three multilevel states where regional governments have some control over health care and, within these, on pairs of regions that have been governed by either left- or right-wing parties and coalitions: Lombardy (Italy, conservative government from 1995), Tuscany (Italy, progressive government from 1970), Andalusia (Spain, progressive government from 1980), Madrid (Spain conservative government from 1995), Vaud (Switzerland, progressive government from 2002) and Zürich (Switzerland, conservative government from 1991). Evidence is collected via the analysis of over 31 legislative documents and 62 interviews with policy-makers, health care professionals, and members of NGOs. The comparison shows that the interaction of political ideologies at different territorial levels leads to the emergence of contested ideas about citizenship through the use that regional governments make of the distinct traditions of regional protection of vulnerable individuals like minor children, the disabled, and the homeless. The comparison also shows that the structure of the territorial system of the state plays an important role in determining the direction of the politics of regional citizenship. The value assigned to territorial pluralism within a country, in particular, determines whether regional citizenship is developed against the state, as a strategy to manifest dissent and mark the difference—as is the case in Spain and, to some extent, in Italy—or, instead, together with the state, as an expression of multilevel differentiation—as in Switzerland. Importantly, however, regional citizenship does never develop in complete isolation from the state because it always represents an attempt to weaken or reinforce the policies of the central government.
GRANAT, Katarzyna. "National parliaments and the policing of the subsidiarity principle." Doctoral thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/33889.
Full textExamining Board: Professor Bruno De Witte, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Loïc Azoulai, European University Institute; Professor Damian Chalmers, London School of Economics; Professor Thomas Christiansen, Maastricht University.
This PhD thesis studies the role of national parliaments in the policing of the EU subsidiarity principle. The Treaty of Lisbon enshrines the Early Warning System (EWS) in Protocol No. 2, according to which national parliaments may review Commission proposals for compatibility with the subsidiarity principle expressed in Article 5(3) TEU. On the basis of the number of reasoned opinions submitted, which count as votes, national parliaments may trigger either a ‘yellow’ or an ‘orange’ card, each of which entails different consequences for the Commission draft act in question. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the functioning of the EWS and to explore why national parliaments participate in this mechanism. To achieve this task, this thesis analyses the reasoned opinions issued under the EWS. Hence, this thesis firstly conducts a case study of the Commission proposal on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office which triggered a ‘yellow card’. This example shows that national parliaments tend to conduct a broad scrutiny of Commission proposals, which includes aspects other than the subsidiarity of the proposal: its legal basis, the competence of the EU to act, its proportionality and its substance. This practice of national parliaments is evaluated according to a textual, structural and functional interpretation of the EU Treaties, and as a result, a narrow subsidiarity test is suggested for the purpose of the EWS. Thereafter, the thesis explores the national procedures of ex ante (EWS) and ex post (action before the ECJ) scrutiny. In addition, national debates are studied in order to analyse the relationship between national legislatives and executives, between parliamentary majorities and opposition, as well as the reflection of regional interests. This detailed study of debates also points to the first reasons for the participation of national parliaments in the EWS: the protection of idiosyncratic national interests and the restriction of EU redistributive policies. Further reasons for national parliaments’ participation in the EWS are indicated on the basis of two case studies, dealing with the Monti II regulation (competence), and the Tobacco Products Directive (‘delegated legislation’). These suggest that the EWS is used by national parliaments to increase their impact in the EU legislative process. The last case study of this thesis – the ‘Women on Boards’ proposal – ponders the application of the EWS to ‘genuine’ fundamental rights proposals, showing that the subsidiarity tests at stake here are focused to a much greater extent on a political willingness to protect universal values, rather than on efficiency. The thesis concludes by discussing whether the EWS enhances the EU’s democratic legitimacy and decreases the EU’s competence creep, which were the leading ideas behind the introduction of the Protocol No. 2 mechanism. It is pointed out that, although the impact of national parliaments on EU policy-making is uneasy to measure, some of the criticism of national parliaments is taken on board by the EU legislator. Because the ‘competence creep’ of the EU is rather limited, it also does not demand a great deal of involvement on the part of national parliaments.
RACCAH, Aurélien. "L'application directe du droit de l'Union européenne par les entités décentralisées : approche comparative en Allemagne, au Royaume-Uni et en France." Doctoral thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/13304.
Full textExamining board: John Bell (Cambridge University); Bruno De Witte (EUI); Otto Pfersmann (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Jacques Ziller (Supervisor, former EUI, Università di Pavia)
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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.
BARROS-GARCIA, Xiana. "Explaining EU decision-making on counter-terrorism." Doctoral thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/11993.
Full textDefence 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.
HERNÁNDEZ, Enrique. "Europeans’ democratic aspirations and evaluations : behavioral consequences and cognitive complexity." Doctoral thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/43804.
Full textExamining 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.
SCHINK, Gertrud. "Kompetenzerweiterung im Handlungssystem der Europäischen Gemeinschaft : Eigendynamik und policy-entrepreneure : Eine Analyse am Beispiel von Bildung und Ausbildung." Doctoral thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/4781.
Full textExamining 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
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CITI, Manuele. "Patterns of policy evolution in the EU : the case of research and technology development policy." Doctoral thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/12046.
Full textExamining 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)
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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.
Chen, Yishao, and 陳奕卲. "The Impact Of Macroeconomic Factors To Government Debts In European Union Countries." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/76222006892600317628.
Full text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.