Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Regional planning – European Union countries'

Defence date: 16 March 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Michael Keating (EUI); Prof. Virginie Guiraudon (EUI); Prof. Marino Regini, (Università di Milano) ; Prof. Jacint Jordana Casajuana (Pompeu Fabra University)
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no abstract available

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the most notable features of the relations between the European Union and SADC is the current reconfiguration of their trading architecture as encapsulated in the Cotonou Agreement. Such a process of change can be shown to have inevitably been the result of policy shifts, which are salient characteristics of a global political economy, whose ontology is embedded theoretically in neo-liberalism. Nevertheless, any process of change in the structure of global trading relations has the logical outcome of systemically imposing either challenges or opportunities, and in some cases both, on the participants of that structure. This study represents a scholarly attempt at creating a lucid and descriptive embodiment of the challenges and opportunities involved for SADC in the negotiation and implementation of a Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (REPA) with the European Union. These challenges and opportunities, obligatory within a REPA framework are theoretically pronounced in as far as they shape the political economy of regional integration in SADe. The process of negotiating such a multifaceted agreement with a sophisticated partner, calls for institutional and negotiating capacity. Undoubtedly, such capacity is beyond the membership of SADe. The point is also emphasized that the process of trade liberalization, ingrained in a REPA will create a complex and difficult interface with the current SADC initiatives underway to deepen regional integration. Tellingly, these would contradict the cautious developmental and bottom up approach taken by SADC in its drive for regional integration. Conversely, this study concedes that a REPA with the EU holds a number of novel opportunities for SADC because such a process would provide scope for the fundamental restructuring of the SADC economies. The competitive pressures through decreased levels of protection within a REPA can create an upward convergence of low performing industries in the region. These, amongst others are important aspects if the political economy of SADC is to move into a virtuous cycle of deeper integration and ultimate insertion in the global economy.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die mees opvallende kenmerke van verhoudinge tussen die Europese Unie (EU) en Suider-Afrikaanse Ontwikkelingsgemeenskap (SAOG) is die huidige rekonjigurasie van handelsbetrekkinge, soos vervat in die Cotonou Ooreenkoms. Hierdie proses is die onafwendbare gevolg van beleidsveranderinge in die internasionale politieke ekonomie, met 'n. ontologie wat teoreties in neo-liberalisme gewortel is. Sodanige veranderinge in die struktuur van internasionale handelsverhoudinge. bied uitdagings sowel as geleenthede, en soms beide, aan deelnemers van sodanige struktuur. Hierdie studie is 'n akademiese poging om 'n helder en deskriptiewe blik te werp op die uitdagings en geleenthede vir die SAOG met betrekking tot die onderhandeling en implimentering van die Regionale Ekonomiese Venootskapsooreenkoms (REVO) met die EU Hierdie uitdagings en geleenthede, wat verpligtend is binne die REVO struktuur, is teoreties belangrik in soverre as wat dit die politeke ekonomie van regionale integrasie in SADC beinvloed. Die onderhandelingsproses van so 'n komplekse dokument met gesofistikeerde vennote vereis intitusionele en onderhandelingskapasiteit. Hierdie kapasiteit is nie in SAOG te vinde nie. Die punt word ook benadruk dat die proses van handelsliberalisering, wat deel uitmaak van REVO, botsend kan wees met SAOG inisiatiewe om regionale integrasie te versterk. In essensie sal dit die huiwerige ontwikkelings en 'onder na ba' benadering, wat die SAOG tans volg, weerspreek. Aan die ander kant, gee die studie toe dat 'n REVO met die EU 'n hele aantal voordele inhou, aangesien so 'n proses momentum kan voorsien vir verreikende herstrukturering van SAOG ekonomieë. Die kompeterende druk a.g. v. 'n afname in beskermingsvlakke onder die REVO, kan lei tot 'n opwaartse neiging onder tradisionele swakpresterende nywerhede in die streek. Hierdie is onder andere belangrike aspekte wat SADC in gedagte moet hou, ten einde deel te word van die deugsame kringloop van dieper integrasie, en uiteindelike deelwording van die internasionale ekonomie.

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.

The main purpose of this paper was to explore the role economic partnership agreements play in regional integration. The whole paper was premised on identifying the nature of economic partnership agreements that is conceived as a free trade arrangement. Therefore the paper discussed the feasibility of the reciprocal principle between the European Union and ACP countries, and further indicated that there is no need to implement the principle of reciprocity at present. The paper also discovered that, due to the fact that unequal trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries still exist, the implementation of the EPAs is most likely to generate the complementary but non-competitive trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries. Such a situation could result in the ACP countries over-independence on the EU's market. ACP countries are not expecting to such integration. In addition the paper ascertains that the EPAs themselves could contain the intrinsic negative impacts such as discrimination against the third countries on regional integration.

The European Union is now facing with the enormous enlargement processes, which comprise thirteen new countries. Different from the European Union member states, these candidate countries are suffering significant socio-economic problems and have to face with the need for adjustment of their regional policies, administrations and institutions. In this process, the EU is intervening actively into the development of the Central and Eastern European Countries&rsquo
regional policies and institutional structures. While twelve of these countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia) will be definitely the member states until the year of 2007, Turkey is not currently negotiating her membership and is highly backward status in comparison with the other candidate countries. In this context, the thesis study is composed of four main parts: 1. the changing system of the European Union regional policy, 2. the realized applications of the candidate countries in the field of regional policy after the year 1989, 3. the developments of the candidate countries&rsquo
institutional structures on regional policy, and 4. the position of Turkish regional policy and institutional structure. Basically, the thesis investigates how the European Union is following a similar system for the candidate countries in the field of regional policy and institutional structure and tries to provide significant outputs in Turkish case.

This thesis examines the role of human capital in the growth and convergence of the Iberian countries. Using a newly computed series for human capital at the NUTS III level for the Portuguese regions, the comparison between Portugal and Spain suggests a positive role for human capital proxied by the average years of schooling in both Iberian countries regional growth, which supports the hypothesis that higher levels of education improved the regions‟ ability to adopt new technology; although the levels of education indicate that secondary schooling is important for technology adoption in Portugal, but not in Spain, and its effect is higher than that of tertiary education. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), two convergence clubs are identified within the Iberia Peninsula (Core and Periphery), but convergence occurs mainly in the Periphery group and education plays a positive and significant role only in the Core club.

Orientador: Shiguenoli Miyamoto
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
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Resumo: Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma visão da União Europeia, através dos processos de alargamento, para observar as possíveis perspectivas futuras a que o bloco pode optar. A União Européia é um processo de integração regional sem um projeto específico, sem um fim conhecido, ainda em constante construção. Observá-la a partir dos processos de alargamento traz uma dimensão mais dinâmica às alterações sofridas pelo bloco ao longo do tempo e apresenta duas opções como perspectivas de futuro: o aprofundamento da integração - com a delimitação de novas competências para a União e a conseqüente oposição que isso suscita nos Estados-membros - e o alargamento, que ao permitir a entrada de novos Estados acrescenta o debate sobre até onde devem ir as fronteiras do bloco. Esta dissertação está organizada em quatro capítulos. O primeiro apresenta a UE, suas características e um pouco de sua história, importante para entender as motivações do processo. O segundo faz uma abordagem sobre as etapas do crescimento da integração na Europa, os novos Tratados introduzidos e os alargamentos, que transformaram a CECA do pós-guerra e a CEE da Guerra Fria na UE dos dias de hoje. O terceiro capítulo trata dos principais problemas que envolvem o processo. Alguns deles existem desde os primeiros passos da integração, não tendo sido solucionados com as constantes reformulações do bloco. Outros são fruto de fatores do contexto internacional dos dias atuais, como o neoliberalismo e o final da Guerra Fria. Encerramos com um quarto capítulo que faz a discussão sobre os futuros possíveis a que a UE pode perseguir, decidindo entre aprofundar a integração ou ampliar o número de Estados participantes. E, na conclusão, temos o entendimento permitido a partir da observação do desenvolvimento da integração, de seus problemas e das possíveis soluções e caminhos a seguir
Abstract: This work has in its objectives to present a view of the European Union, through the enlargement processes, to observe the possible future perspectives that the EU can choose. The European Union is an integration process without a specific project, without a known end and in incessant construction. To observe it from the enlargement processes brings a more dynamic dimension to the modifications took by the european process as the passing of the time and presents two options as perspectives of future: the deepening of the integration - determining new competences to the Union and the sequent opposition that it brings to the member States - and the enlargement, when the permission of the access of new members increases the debate on where should end the European Union's frontiers. This dissertation is organized in four chapters. The first one presents the UE, its characteristics and a bit of its history, very important to understand the motivations of this process. The second makes an approach on the european integration growing fases, the new Treaties introduced and the enlargement processes, that turned the ECSC from the post-war period and the EEC from the Cold War period in the current EU. The third chapter discuss mabout the problems the EU is involved. Some of them came since the first steps of the integration, unsolved even with the constant reforms of the EU. Other problems are results of factors of the international context of the current days, such as the neoliberalism and the Cold War. Ending the dissertation we have a forth chapter that debate about the possiblefutures the EU can choose, the deepening or the enlargement. End in the conclusion, we have the understanding arrived from the observation of the EU's development, its problems and the possible solutions and paths to follow
Mestrado
Relações Internacionais
Mestre em Ciência Política

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
Europe and Africa share a long history that is characterized both by oppression and development. The relationship between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries is a particularly important aspect of EU development cooperation policy. The developmental history between the EU and Africa started with the Yaoundé Conventions of 1963 and 1969, which were replaced by the Lomé Convention. Unfortunately, the favourable terms and preferential access for the ACP countries to Europe failed and the Lomé Convention was replaced by the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA) in 2000. As a result of a WTO-waiver, the discriminatory non-reciprocal trade preferences, which were previously enjoyed under the Lomé Convention, continued until December 2007. The Cotonou Agreement points out that these trade preferences will be replaced by joint WTOcompatible Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). During the EPA negotiations, the EU preferred to negotiate on a regional basis instead of negotiating with the ACP as a whole or with individual countries. Consequently, Sub-Saharan Africa formed two negotiation groups; the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) EPA group and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) EPA group, represented by the five Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries, together with Mozambique and Angola. Although Southern Africa is the region that leads the continent; from an economic perspective, the Southern African states show considerable disparities. Due to the economic differences between South Africa and the BLNS countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland), the interests of the individual SACU countries are diverse and often contradictory, which resulted in complicated EPA negotiations. However, maintaining a favourable long-term trading relationship with the EU is of great importance to the economic and political well-being of the SADC, since the EU is the main trading partner of most African countries. By December 2007, an interim EPA (IEPA) was initialled by the BLNS countries as a result of the pressure to fall back to the unfavourable Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Due to the bilateral Trade Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) that is in force between South Africa and the EU, South Africa was not negatively influenced by the expiry of the WTO-waiver. The EPA will have a negative impact on regional integration within SADC and will promote distinction within the regional economic communities. Duty free, quota free access was offered to the BLNS countries, but the EU did not extend this offer to South Africa because of the developmental status of the country and the pre-existing TDCA. Consequently, South Africa will be required to export at higher prices and will experience increased competition within the region. The downside of the removal of import tariffs for the BLNS countries is that government revenues will decrease, which might result in income losses and will accentuate poverty. The standstill-clause of the IEPA prevents the SACU countries from diversifying economically and from developing new industries. The Most- Favoured Nation clause primarily impacts negatively on South Africa, since it prevents South Africa from negotiating freely with other countries such as Brazil and China. Furthermore, the strict intellectual property rules of the IEPA undermine access to knowledge and hereby fail to support innovation. The content of a chapter on liberalization of services, that will be included in the full EPA, is still being negotiated. Liberalization of services might lead to more foreign investments in the BLNS countries, as a result of which the quality of services will increase, leading to better education, infrastructure and more job opportunities. However, foreign companies will gain power at the expense of African governments and companies. South Africa is the main supplier of services in the BLNS countries and will therefore be confronted with economic losses when the services sector is liberalized. From an economic nationalist perspective, the EU included numerous provisions in the IEPA that were not necessary for WTO compatibility. However, the EU is aware of the importance of trade agreements for the BLNS countries and found itself in the position to do so to fulfil its own interests. By making use of the expiry date of the WTO waiver; the IEPA was initialled by the BLNS countries within a relatively short period of time. South Africa, in its own national interests, opposed the provisions of the IEPA, which has led to the negotiations deadlock. Because of the economic power and negotiating tactics of the EU and the selfinterested attitude of South Africa in this respect, regional integration is undermined and the poorest countries are once again the worst off. Although Economic Partnership Agreements have to be established, the partnership-pillar is, in my opinion, hard to find.

La thèse propose une analyse de l’influence du droit français et de l’UE de la concurrence sur celui des pays en voie de développement en s’appuyant sur une étude du cas marocain ainsi que d’autres pays arabes. Au niveau mondial, le droit de la concurrence est actuellement dominé par deux régimes : le premier est américain, le second est européen. Dans ce contexte, les pays en voie de développement qui souhaitent adopter un régime de droit de la concurrence ou réformer celui préexistant se tournent naturellement vers l’un de ces deux modèles dominants. En s’appuyant sur l’expérience européenne en matière du droit de la concurrence, le Maroc et d’autres pays arabes ne dérogent pas à cette règle. Par conséquent, il devient nécessaire de s’interroger sur la logique d’un tel phénomène. En s’appuyant sur une étude du cas marocain, cette recherche tend, dans un premier temps, à identifier non seulement comment le phénomène d’influence se manifeste mais également les facteurs lui permettant de prendre place. En procédant de la sorte, l’objectif est de révéler, dans un second temps, si une telle influence est en ligne avec les besoins d’un pays en voie de développement comme le Maroc
This research focuses on the influence of EU competition law on developing countries by taking Morocco and other Arabic countries as a case study.On the world stage, the field of competition law is currently dominated by two main regimes: one is American, the other is European. In this context, developing countries intending to acquire a sound competition regime naturally turn to one of the dominant models. Morocco as a developing country, do not derogate from this rule and rely on the European experience so that it seems relevant to wonder whether this phenomenon could somehow be questioned.This dissertation has two folds. By taking Morocco as case study, the Thesis investigates first not only how does this influence manifest itself but also the factors allowing it to take roots. Second, it critically assesses whether such influence is in line with the needs of developing countries such as Morocco

Mestrado em Economia Internacional
O trabalho tem como objectivo caracterizar as relações entre a União Europeia (UE) e os países mediterrânicos num contexto mais actual, entre 1995 – desde o Processo de Barcelona - e 2005 no contexto do multilateralismo e do regionalismo. Pretende-se descrever os avanços conseguidos em termos de política mediterrânica da UE ao nível comercial e os entraves ao aprofundar das relações entre as duas regiões, bem como fazer um balanço dos dez anos de Barcelona. Os esforços para relançar a Parceria feitos a partir de 2005 também serão tratados. O trabalho fará também uma abordagem às relações entre Portugal e os países mediterrânicos.
This paper pretends to characterize the relationship between the European Union and the Mediterranean partners between 1995, year of the Barcelona Process, to 2005 in the context of multilateralism and regionalism. The objective is to describe the evolution of the trade relations and to make a balance of the ten years of the Barcelona Process. The EU’s new strategies to re-launch the partnership will also be treated. The paper will show the differences between the two regions and between the Mediterranean countries themselves. The relations between Portugal and the Mediterranean countries will also be treated.

This study aims to advance the knowledge of the system of spatial planning instruments and of the Europeanization process, having as an object of study a country from Eastern Europe: Bulgaria. The actuality of the topic is justified by the fact that Bulgaria is one of the new EU member states and also by the need to understand how the national system of spatial planning is transformed and Europeanized as a result of this membership. Understanding and interpreting the changes in the planning system after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 and the country's preparation for EU-membership, followed by an analysis of the system of spatial planning instruments and its implementation in the process of Europeanization, shape out the two main successive lines of research, which define the main objectives of the study. The time scope of the study covers the period between 1989 and 2013, thus coinciding with the end of the first programming period for Bulgaria as an official member of the Union. The study follows the dynamics of the various dimensions of the system of spatial planning, with special focus on those periods when the Europeanization process has had the greatest impact in the transformation of the system of planning instruments, respectively – the strongest impact on the spatial instruments - and its implementation through new ones, in the context of the European spatial discourse or model. The analysis of the studied literature and documents, as well as the conducted interviews, show and argue that Bulgaria has made significant efforts in introducing new planning instruments, mostly related to regional development planning, but without any reformation and integration of the system of spatial planning. The implementation of the Integrated Plans at the local level and the National Spatial Development Concept as new spatial instruments - an expression of the coordination of the physical planning and the development of the territory, although within the legal framework of regional development - display the first attempts for integration of the planning system, discursive integration and transfer of the ideas of the European spatial model.
Este estudio pretende contribuir al conocimiento del sistema de instrumentos de ordenación del territorio (spatial planning) y del proceso de europeización, teniendo como objeto de estudio a un país de Europa del Este: Bulgaria. La actualidad del tema se justifica por el hecho de que Bulgaria es uno de los nuevos Estados Miembros de la UE, y también por la necesidad de comprender cómo se transforma y europeiza el sistema nacional de ordenación del territorio como resultado de esta adhesión. Las dos principales líneas que definen los objetivos del estudio son, en primer lugar, comprender e interpretar los cambios en el sistema de ordenación del territorio tras la caída del régimen comunista en 1989 y la preparación del país para la adhesión a la UE. Y en segundo lugar, realizar un análisis del sistema de los instrumentos de ordenación y su aplicación en el proceso de europeización. El ámbito temporal del estudio abarca el período comprendido entre 1989 y 2013, coincidiendo así con el final del primer período de programación para Bulgaria como miembro oficial de la UE. La investigación sigue la dinámica de las diversas dimensiones del sistema de ordenación del territorio, con especial atención en aquellos períodos en los que el proceso de europeización ha tenido mayor impacto en la transformación del sistema de instrumentos de planificación y, posteriormente, su implementación en el contexto del discurso espacial europeo o modelo de ordenación de territorio. El análisis de la literatura y los documentos estudiados, así como las entrevistas realizadas evidencian que Bulgaria ha realizado esfuerzos significativos en la introducción de nuevos instrumentos de planificación, en su mayoría relacionados con la planificación del desarrollo regional, sin reforma e integración del sistema de ordenación del territorio. La implementación de los Planes Integrados a nivel local y del Concepto Nacional de Desarrollo Espacial constituye nuevas herramientas en el sistema de instrumentos de ordenación y son una expresión de la voluntad de coordinación de la planificación física y del desarrollo del territorio, dentro del marco jurídico del desarrollo regional. La implementación de estos planes y la difusión del Concepto Nacional de Desarrollo Espacial representan los primeros intentos de integración del sistema de planificación, de integración discursiva y transferencia de las ideas del Modelo Europeo de Ordenación territorial (European Spatial Model).

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

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

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

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

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

Construction and operation of cross-boundary transportation infrastructure is a challenge at the local, state, and international levels. Trends in travel patterns show increases in travel demand in both the United States and Europe resulting in greater attention to cross-boundary infrastructure and services. In the United States, this challenge has arisen most frequently in provision regional transit services and infrastructure while Europe is faced with a challenge of connecting its member-states. One question that remains unknown is whether when governments are faced with providing cross-boundary infrastructure or services, do they develop similar organizational arrangements when meeting these challenges regardless of what level of government is involved? This research asks whether governments at all levels of governance develop similar organizational solutions in the construction and operation of transport infrastructure. This question is answered through an examination of regional transit provision in seven U.S. metropolitan areas, six commuter rail systems in the United States, a series of bi-state river highway bridges in the United States, and five cross-border segments of the Trans-European Transport Network in the European Union, three similar organizational arrangements types were found to govern cross-boundary provision of transportation infrastructure and/or services. These three types, an independent entity, an intergovernmental agreement or contract, or direct financial payment, were found at all levels of governance. The research suggests that there is a relationship between the complexity of the service involved the level of financial control indicating that more complex operations such as network of services requiring day-to-day operation tend to be arranged as independent entities with various levels of public and/or private financing.

In a series of landmark rulings on patient mobility and cross-border healthcare, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has made clear that Member States’ healthcare systems have to comply with the rules of the EU’s Internal Market when it comes to individual patient rights and the non-discrimination of healthcare providers. The rulings increased the possibilities for EU Member State citizens to get medical treatment in another Member State (“cross-border healthcare”), yet providing that under certain conditions the home Member State has to pay for these treatments in the other country. After a decade of negotiations, these rulings have been codified in a European Directive. Assuming that European integration has an impact on national welfare states and taking the example of European rules on access to cross-border healthcare, this thesis suggests analyzes the domestic impact of European integration in terms of Europeanization of the Austrian healthcare system within the context of the interplay between actors’ interests and practices on the one hand, and institutional effects on the other. European cross-border healthcare in forms of regional projects and privately or publicly organized healthcare arrangements has already become a reality in many European countries, especially in border regions. The main research questions which guides this thesis can be be put as follows: How does European integration in healthcare impact on the interests, practices and strategies of national actors that operate between national institutional constraints and European opportunities? And if national actors’ interests and strategies change, does this in turn have repercussions on the national institutional rules of healthcare governance? Given that European integration in healthcare delivery is a rather a “recent” phenomenon, and based on the assumption that actors’ strategies change more easily than national institutions, the following hypothesis is tested: Even if national healthcare actors use Europe – and hence their practices and strategies change – their interests remain largely determined by the national institutional set-up of the healthcare system. The institutional boundaries of the national healthcare system may have become porous, but for the time being they remain intact. The main findings of this study confirm the hypothesis and can be summarized as follows: Austrian actors responsible for the delivery of healthcare actively integrate various usages Europe into their existing practices of healthcare governance. These usages of Europe are more frequent at European level than at national level. Those actors who have important legal competencies, financial resources, and hence power in healthcare governance at national level, are also in a better position to use Europe effectively than those actors who lack such national resources. Limited usages of Europe at national level by corporate actors can best be accounted for by practices of consensually governing a typically Bismarckian healthcare system. None of the actors analysed, no matter how critical their stance vis-à-vis their own healthcare system might be, puts into question the legitimacy of the national healthcare system in the light of increased European competencies in regulating cross-border healthcare. Advancing European integration, mainly through the ECJ’s rulings on cross-border healthcare, might have rendered national institutional boundaries porous, but national institutions retain – at least for the time being – their power of channelling actors’ interests and of influencing corresponding practices of healthcare governance. These results invite us to further investigate which kind of healthcare governance structures are being developed at European level in parallel to those existing at national level, and to what extent Bismarckian welfare regimes might be showing resistance to institutional change induced by European integration.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

La presente tesis doctoral trata de valorar la huella que ha dejado hasta el momento la dimensión europea de ordenación en la planificación territorial del Estado español. Bajo este objetivo general, la investigación consta de diferentes etapas que se corresponden con distintas escalas de análisis. En primer lugar, se toma como ámbito de estudio la escala europea, especialmente la Unión Europea como entidad política, que si bien no posee competencias en ordenación territorial, ha difundido y publicado una serie de orientaciones y documentos específicos en la materia. Además, la trayectoria seguida por la política territorial de la Unión muestra que está cobrando relevancia entre sus objetivos políticos y que su influencia en las escalas administrativas inferiores es cada vez mayor. En el contexto europeo, también se analizan las orientaciones de ordenación derivadas del Consejo de Europa, cuya producción científica puede considerarse íntimamente ligada a la actividad de la Unión. Del estudio de este contexto se concluye que existen una serie de documentos europeos de referencia cuyas determinaciones han establecido un marco de ordenación territorial común para los Estados miembros y las regiones europeas, entre los cuáles destacan la Estrategia Territorial Europea, los Principios Directores para el Desarrollo Territorial Sostenible, el Convenio Europeo del Paisaje y la Agenda Territorial de la Unión Europea. En segundo lugar, el ámbito de estudio se traslada al Estado español, centrándose concretamente en las Comunidades Autónomas, puesto que son las que poseen las competencias exclusivas en ordenación del territorio. En esta fase de la investigación, se trata de evaluar el grado en que las distintas Comunidades Autónomas han integrado en sus respectivos planes territoriales las orientaciones de ordenación establecidas por los documentos europeos de referencia (teniendo en cuenta que éstos no tienen carácter regulador ni imperativo), de manera que se realiza un estudio comparado entre los planes territoriales autonómicos aprobados con posterioridad a la aparición de los mencionados documentos. Por último, la investigación trata de desarrollar una valoración argumentada en torno a la influencia de la escala europea de ordenación más allá de la retórica plasmada en los planes territoriales: por un lado, sobre el propio territorio, mediante la implementación real de las determinaciones europeas integradas en los planes autonómicos; y por otro lado, sobre el sistema administrativo de ordenación territorial, mediante la asunción de los principios relacionados con la gobernanza territorial. Para ello, se toman tres casos de estudio de Comunidades Autónomas (Navarra, Andalucía y Cantabria) que, de acuerdo con los resultados de la anterior etapa de la investigación, han integrado en sus planes las orientaciones europeas. En estos tres casos de estudio, la información se obtiene principalmente por medio de trabajo de campo y entrevistas en profundidad, de manera que se recogen las opiniones y explicaciones de diferentes expertos/as sobre la implementación de las orientaciones europeas en su Comunidad Autónoma.
This doctoral thesis, titled “Spatial planning in Spain in light of European territorial policies. From rhetoric to practice” aims to assess the impact to date of the European dimension on spatial planning in Spain. Under this general objective, the research consists of different stages which correspond to the different levels of analysis. Firstly, the European level is studied, in particular the European Union as a political entity, which, though lacking specific competencies for spatial planning, has published a number of guidances and documents addressing this topic. Furthermore, the trajectory of spatial policy in the Union shows that this is gaining in relevance among its political objectives, and that its influence in lower administrative levels is growing. In the European context, the planning guidances of the European Council are also analyzed, as its scientific output is intimately linked to the activity of the Union. From the analysis of this context, this thesis concludes that there are a series of European reference documents whose guidances have established a framework for spatial planning common to all member states and European regions, foremost among which are: the European Spatial Development Perspective, the Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development of the European Continent, the European Landscape Convention and the Territorial Agenda of the European Union. Secondly, the focus of this study turns to Spain, examining the autonomous communities, which possess exclusive competencies in spatial planning. In this section, this thesis attempts to evaluate the degree to which the various autonomous communities have integrated into their spatial plans the planning guidances established by the European reference documents (considering that these are not of a regulatory or binding nature), by conducting a comparative study of the regional territorial plans approved after the publication of the aforementioned documents. Finally, this thesis evaluates the influence of the European planning level beyond the rhetoric of territorial plans: firstly, on the physical territory, through the actual implementation of the European guidances integrated into regional plans; and secondly, on the administrative system of spatial planning, through the incorporation of principles related to territorial governance. Three case studies of autonomous communities (Navarra, Andalucía and Cantabria) are conducted, which, according to the results of the previous research stage, have integrated into their plans the European guidances. In these case studies, evidence is collected primarily through field work and in-depth interviews, obtaining the opinion of various experts on the implementation of European guidances in their autonomous communities.

La présente thèse a pour objet l’étude du régionalisme. Ce dernier se réfère ici à des régions mondiales constituant une dimension médiane entre le niveau étatique et le système mondial. Notre analyse porte donc sur les nouvelles expériences régionales qui ont émergé dans le contexte de la globalisation néolibérale et de la post-guerre froide. Le régionalisme est analysé en tant qu’objet des relations internationales et l’étude de cas choisi est celui du régionalisme latino-américain, et plus précisément le Marché commun du Sud (MERCOSUR). Une importante partie des travaux consacrés à l'explication du régionalisme partent d'une approche essentiellement endogène accordant une attention distraite aux déterminants exogènes. Pour comprendre la nature du nouveau régionalisme, il faut le situer dans une perspective globale qui tient compte de l’interrelation entre les niveaux national, régional et global. Bien que le régionalisme renvoie à des logiques internes propres, le phénomène est fortement conditionné et façonné par l’extérieur du fait qu’il évolue en interaction directe et constante avec le monde économique et politique international, et qu’il fait l’objet de politiques menées par des acteurs dominants de l’arène mondiale. Les déterminants extérieurs sont donc essentiels pour comprendre l’évolution du régionalisme. Dès lors, la thèse se propose de répondre à la question suivante :comment et en quoi la nature et l’évolution du régionalisme se trouve façonnée par le cadre exogène et comment ce dernier interagit avec les facteurs d’ordre interne ?Pour répondre à cette question il convient de resituer le MERCOSUR dans le cadre du triangle atlantique (Amérique du Sud/Union européenne/Etats-Unis) qui lui-même doit être placé dans le contexte plus large de la globalisation néolibérale.
Doctorat en sciences politiques
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Defence date: 2 December 2005
Examining Board: Michael Keating, European University Institute, Florence ; Colin Crouch, Institute of Governance and Public Management, Warwick Business School ; Francesc Morata, Institut Universitari d'Estudis Europeus, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ; Andy Smith, Centre d'Etude et de Recherche sur la Vie Locale, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux

Defence date: 11 April 2018
Examining 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.

Defence date: 9 June 1987
Examining board: Prof. Rudolf Wildenmann, Manheim University ; Prof. Basil Chubb, Trinity College, Dublin ; Prof. Roland Bieber, European Parliament, Luxembourg ; Prof. Jean Blondel, EUI, Florence
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 8 January 2015
Examining Board: Professor Pepper Culpepper, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor E. Scott Adler, University of Colorado, Boulder (External Supervisor); Professor Stefano Bartolini, European University Institute; Professor Peter John, University College London.
Who sets lawmakers' priorities? The aim of the thesis is to provide a convincing theoretical argument able to identify what are the policy problems that demand lawmakers' attention, but also to test this empirically for France, Denmark, Spain and the United Kingdom between 1980 and 2008. This research shows how accounting for the way in which lawmakers deal with competing policy problems integrate two major accounts of the way in which governments set their priorities: party mandate approaches and public policy approaches. The thesis does so by suggesting that given their double role of representatives and administrators, lawmakers have to deliver policies consistent both with electoral and non-electoral mandates. In this framework, parties’ promises, administrative commitments, and the priorities of the public originate policy problems that compete for lawmakers' attention to enter the policy agenda. Compared to classic party mandate approaches, this research does not conceive parties as being the key actors of the game or the major agenda-setters. Compared to public policy approaches, the study does not dismiss the role of parties. The theory argues that a problem-solving approach is key to account for lawmakers' priorities and for the way in which lawmakers select policy problems that need to be addressed in the policy agenda. In this framework, different policy problems demand lawmakers' attention and problems-solving scholars have illustrated that the types of issues that need to be addressed are different in "nature". Existing accounts of the composition of policy agendas distinguish between problems ranging from "compulsory" to "discretionary" concerns (Walker 1977; Adler and Wilkerson 2012) where the former derive from "periodically recurring demands " and the latter from "chosen problems" (Walker 1977:425). Building on these contributions, the theoretical model of the dissertation discusses the "nature" of different policy problems by identifying some 'ideal types' that originate from the double functions that lawmakers shall perform in contemporary democracies as "representatives" of voters' interests and as "responsible" administrators (Mair 2009). In this sense, the dissertation contends that different policy problems emerge from the electoral promises of the governing parties, from commitments related to the responsibility of being in office, and from the 'external world', and that the balance between them determines the composition of the policy agenda. 13 There are four propositions of this study to existing knowledge in the field of policy agendas. The first is that the content of the policy agenda is stable across countries with different institutional settings. Lawmakers' priorities are no less stable in institutional systems that are more 'open' to accommodating policy problems brought by the electoral promises of the parties. At the same time stability persists even when elections approach, questioning the long-lasting assumption that lawmakers may manipulate policies to their will in order to assure re-election. The second is that policy problems brought by the electoral promises of the governing parties impact lawmakers’ priorities, but this is only half of an old story. The results show that the policy problems originating from the electoral promises of the opposition influence the content of the policy agenda confirming that the agenda-setting power of parties is not limited to those who are in office. The third proposition is a theoretical effort and empirical contribution to conceptualise and measure "policy commitments". Studies of public policy have stressed the importance of inherited commitments in everyday law making (Rose 1994; Adler and Wilkerson 2012) since some decisions take longer than a legislature to be realised. Classic analyses have emphasised the importance of budgetary constraints on policy agendas, but the thesis suggests that there is also another striking case of policy commitments for European polities: EU integration, since decisions on EU affairs and delegation of powers taken from previous governments are hard (if not impossible) to reverse by their successors. In this sense, EU decisions are inherited by all governments, and they add complexity to the problem-solving capacity of Member States because they produce extra policy problems that require lawmakers' attention. For lawmakers respecting legally binding EU decisions, this is a way to avoid "reckless and illegal decision making" (Mair 2009). The results highlight that when reflecting on the divisions of competences between the Union and its Member States (MSs), policy commitments derived from the EU directives are concentrated on a narrow set of policy areas. The results show that in most fields where commitments are higher, the agenda-setting power of parties’ electoral promises is weakened. Finally, this research suggests that policy problems originating from the agenda of the public (as approximated by media coverage) are another explanatory factor of policy priorities, but in a very narrow set of policy areas. Media effects appear to be limited to policy areas with the special characteristics of newsworthiness and sensationalism (Soroka 2002) that contribute to boost their policy appeal. In addition, the findings highlight that the agenda-setting power of the media is mediated by the interaction with the electoral promises of the opposition, probably as a result of a blame avoidance game to discredit incumbents. 14 Chapter 1 introduces the concepts of policy agenda and policy problem before summarising existing accounts of the content of policy agendas. Two theoretical traditions are identified. The first one is the "partisan account" highlighting the importance of partisan preferences for lawmakers' priorities. The second is made up of the "public policy accounts" proposing incrementalist and agenda-setting approaches to representatives' priorities. Chapter 2 sets up the theoretical framework that will be tested in this research. Drawing upon theories of "representative and responsible" government (Mair 2009) the research provides an encompassing model of how different policy problems compete for attention in order to enter the agendas of lawmakers. The thesis highlights that different agenda-setters have to be considered as creating policy problems: the electoral promises of the governing parties, the demands addressed to lawmakers by the EU agenda, and the issues that are important for the public as reported by the media. Starting from existing typologies of problems that must be addressed in the policy agenda (Walker 1977; Adler and Wilkerson 2012), the research roughly distinguishes between discretionary and compulsory policy problems, discussing how the three agenda-setters considered in this study fit into those ideal types, as well as the incentives for lawmakers to prioritise one over the other. Chapter 3 presents the data, models and methods that are used to test the theoretical framework. The dissertation relies on data from the Comparative Agendas Project modelled in the form of time series cross sectional models. Chapter 4 introduces the empirical investigation of the content of the policy agenda. It focuses on stability and change in lawmakers' priorities, to understand the extent to which priorities change (or remain the same) across elections. Chapter 5 moves a step further and will assess the connection between policy problems brought by parties' electoral promises and the content of the policy agenda. Chapter 6 will account for one of the most debated sources of policy problems among public policy scholars: policy commitments. This chapter will test the agenda-setting power of policy commitments deriving from the content of the EU directives on lawmakers' priorities and proposing an "EU acquiescence index" to shed light on the 'overlaps' between EU and domestic policy agendas. Finally, Chapter 7 aims at analysing the connection between lawmakers' priorities and media coverage (in terms of print and, where appropriate, audio media) and each of the two relevant types of policy problems competing for lawmakers' attention identified in the previous chapters. In sum the thesis offers a theory of the composition of policy agendas grounded in a problem-solving understanding of politics, and an empirical assessment of its validity. In this sense the study is about how policy problems originating from the dual role of lawmakers in 15 contemporary democracies (representation and administration) affect everyday policy making. More precisely the thesis considers the impact of different agenda venues (parties, EU commitments, and the media) on the way in which lawmakers deliver policies.

Defence date: 15 March 1996
Examining board: Prof. A. Borrás, University of Barcelona ; Prof. J. González Campos, Spanish Constitutional Court (Madrid) ; Prof. C. Joerges, European University Institute (supervisor) ; Prof. P. Mengozzi, University of Bologna ; Prof. F. Rigaux, University of Louvain-la Neuve (co-supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 29 June 2015
Examining Board: Professor Rainer Bauböck, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Philippe Van Parijs, UC Louvain (Co-supervisor); Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, EUI; Professor Nadia Urbinati, Columbia University.
This dissertation aims to arrive at a model of democratic legitimacy for the European Union. There is, however, a strain of thought pre-dominant in political theory since the nineteenth century that doubts the capacity of political systems constituted by multiple public spheres to have sustainable democratic systems. This view is referred to here as the lingua franca thesis on sustainable democratic systems (LFT). It states that, in the absence of a common language for political debate, democracy cannot function well in the long-term as citizens existing in distinctive public spheres will inevitably come to have diverging preferences that cannot be satisfactorily resolved by a collective democratic process. Poor quality democratic institutions, as well as acute demands to divide the political system (through devolution or secession) so that state and society become more congruent, are predicted by this thesis. To arrive at a model of democratic legitimacy for the EU, in light of the challenge presented by the LFT, three major steps are taken. Part One attempts to arrive at an account of democratic legitimacy as a realistic ideal for modern political systems. Understanding democracy as a system which strives to maximise citizens’ equal opportunities for control over the decisions to which they are subject, the maximisation of electoral and direct voting opportunities for citizens is recommended, subject to certain practical constraints. Importantly, democratically legitimate institutions are identified as having important external effects, which amount to more than just the peaceful resolution of conflict. Centripetal democracy is the idea that legitimate democratic institutions set in motion forms of citizen practice and representative behaviour that serve as powerful drivers of demos-formation. In the second part of this dissertation, an effort is made to both classify and normatively assess the EU. As a political system the EU is taken to be a demoi-cracy, or a democracy of democracies, whereby the demoi of the member states take sovereign precedence over the European demos constituting the citizens of Europe as a whole. While citizen’s control over their respective governments’ roles in EU decision-making is seen to have significant shortfalls, the major democratic deficiencies are detected in citizens’ control over actors located exclusively at the European level. Overall, the absence of voting opportunities directly connecting citizens to European power ensures that the EU is not controlled by its citizens in a way that is commensurate with the power it wields. If the EU is to democratise, it must be capable of dealing with the dynamics predicted by the LFT. Part Three of this dissertation analyses the sustainability of democracy in two political systems that bear striking resemblances to the EU, namely Belgium and Switzerland. Like the EU, these are multilevel and multilingual political systems attempting to organise themselves in a democratic fashion. Belgium proves to be a near perfect case for corroborating the LFT, its linguistic communities finding it increasingly difficult to coexist in one democratic community. Switzerland, by contrast, has managed to produce one of the most democratically legitimate political systems in the modern world, despite being fractured into linguistically distinct public spheres. As my conception of centripetal democracy predicts, however, the Swiss success in integrating the public spheres within one political system is in no small part related to the arrangement of its democratic institutions. That being said, there are certain conditions that made the development of centrifugal forces more likely and centripetal democracy less likely in Belgium than in Switzerland. In Part Four, where I finally derive a model of democratic legitimacy for the EU, it is demonstrated that while many of the conditions that made centrifugal forces so strong in Belgium are not (or not yet) present in the EU, the conditions for the development of a legitimate democratic process are also generally lacking. This is especially true when it comes to the introduction of direct democracy at Union level, although there may be fewer obstacles to making European institutions more electorally accountable.

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.

Defence date: 11 September 1995
Examining board: Prof. Susan Strange (LSE, Warwick and EUI, supervisor) ; Prof. Roger Morgan (European University Institute, co-supervisor) ; Ms. Noriko Hama (Chief Economist, Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., London) ; Prof. Jonathan Story (INSEAD, Fontainebleau) ; Prof. Stephen Wilks (University of Exeter)
First made available online: 1 December 2015

Defence date: 5 June 2013
Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Ernst Ulrich Petersmann, European University Institute Professor Markus Gehring, University of Cambridge, England Professor Adriana Dreyzin de Klor, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina.
First made available online 12 June 2019
This thesis addresses the implementation of sustainable development in the legal frameworks of regional integration agreements (RIAs). Sustainable development is reaffirmed as one of the main priorities of the international community, while poverty eradication and the integration of socio-environmental concerns into all governance levels remain the most pressing challenges to its implementation. Furthermore, the role of law is considered fundamental for sustainable development, but there remains a lack of analysis of how legal frameworks are effectively advancing this objective. In this regard, the thesis focuses on the laws and policies of two of the most important RIAs in force, the European Union and MERCOSUR, with a twofold objective: 1) to analyze how RIAs can provide enabling legal frameworks for the promotion of sustainable development, going beyond trade liberalization and serving as a building block between multilateral goals and their implementation at the national level; 2) to provide case studies of norms and policies developed at the regional level addressing a) poverty eradication and social justice within their internal spheres; b) trade policies and instruments that more effectively integrate socioenvironmental objectives. The research undertaken has also a comparative element that enables the consideration of whether the EU, a more developed regional organization, can provide lessons to MERCOSUR in advancing these specific issues. The conclusions show that RIAs' legal frameworks can facilitate effective translation of sustainable development goals into concrete norms and policies, bridging the divide between a multilateral system of standard setting with low implementation power, and national states with weakened capacity to deal independently with these issues. The RIAs studied have been developing procedural innovations such as 'impact assessment' instruments, and substantive innovations, such as regional development funds aimed at promoting social cohesion internally, and trade instruments that integrate development concerns in their external relations, such as preferential trade systems (GSP) linked to socio-environmental issues and trade agreements that include 'trade and sustainable development' chapters. It also provides evidence that, despite their institutional differences, the development of sustainable development laws and policies within the EU has followed a path that can provide valuable insights for MERCOSUR. Finally, the thesis argues that, despite the tensions that might arise between the implementation of these regional measures and the multilateral trade system rules, regional action might be a way to cope with the difficulty of reaching a global agreement while also reflecting more adequately local concerns. The challenge is to assure coherence and consistency with the international goals, but given the importance of promoting a more sustainable development process, this a task worth pursuing.

Defence date: 23 October 2000
Examining Board: Adrienne Héritier, MPP-RdG, Bonn (supervisor) ; Jacques Ziller, EUI ; Michael Keating, EUI ; Les Metcalfe, EIPA, Maastricht
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
How can we approach the Commission's role as co-manager of policy implementation? Why should we expect the Commission to be pulled into domestic policy execution and to accumulate something like an implementation management capacity? How should we conceptualise the Commission's linkage with post-decision management issues? Finally, how does the Commission's involvement in the application of EU policies, if any, significantly change everything? Such questions are answered in this study, which is concerned with what may be called the implementation management capacity of the European Commission. Simply put, this is the role the Commission plays in the implementation of large-scale European spending programmes. While it is true that the Commission's predominant prerogatives are to draft legislation and facilitate bargaining, it also has a role in post-decision policy management. This role is of increasing importance for the emerging governance of the European Union.

Defense date: 22 June 2010
Examining Board: Kris Deschouwer (Vrije Univ. Brussel), Charlie Jeffery (Univ. Edinburgh), Michael Keating (formerly EUI/Univ. Aberdeen) (Supervisor), Peter Mair (EUI)
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between the claims advanced by regional nationalist parties for the re-organisation of state structures based on the recognition of their distinct national groups and the process of territorial restructuring in Great Britain, Spain and Belgium. The objectives are to examine the conditions under which regional nationalist parties have influenced the reform of state structures and to assess the factors that condition the relation between their electoral and policy success. The thrust of the argument advanced is that the influence of regional nationalist parties on the reform of state structures can be understood as the result of processes that take place during the agenda-setting and the decision-making phases. To provoke institutional change, regional nationalist parties must firstly set the political agenda by exerting pressures on mainstream parties in the electoral, parliamentary and governmental arenas. Secondly, institutional change is likely to occur, if nationality claims are accommodated by mainstream parties that are ideologically open to political decentralisation and the recognition of regional nationalism and if the question of territorial autonomy has a broader resonance for political competition between mainstream parties. Finally, institutional change is likely to occur, if the government undertaking reforms is cohesive and there is no ideological opposition by any partisan veto players to those reforms. These arguments are examined through a comparative-historical analysis of political decentralisation in Great Britain, Spain and Belgium, over a time period spanning the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Each case study is disaggregated into time periods that represent moments in the process of territorial restructuring, bounded by significant changes in the assertiveness of regional nationalist parties and the occurrence of territorial reform. Within each period, the process tying the claims of regional nationalist parties to institutional change is examined. Theses different observations are used as evidence for undertaking a comparison of the accommodation of nationalism across space and time. The thesis finds that regional nationalist parties exert a strong influence on the creation of decentralised state structures when they can set the political agenda. It is also necessary for nationality claims to be accommodated by mainstream parties that are open to the accommodation of nationalism and for them to feature as a salient issue of party competition, and for constitutional reforms to be undertaken by a cohesive centre-left government. The ideological opposition of a partisan veto player in government to institutional change is sufficient for bringing about the failure of reform. The second finding is that the configuration of factors producing reforms tends to diversify with the development of restructuring. During the empowerment of regional governments, regional nationalist parties can set the political agenda and their claims may feature as an issue of party competition, but the reforms must be undertaken by centre-left governments. The subsequent deepening of territorial autonomy is stimulated by regional nationalist demands but undertaken by governments of different ideological persuasions whose mainstream parties may compete on the territorial dimension.

The main aim of the thesis is to analyze how the town of Jindrichuv Hradec has used the European Union's financial resources during the program period 2007-2013. The thesis is divided into three parts, i.e. theoretical and practical part, and part of evaluation of outcomes of the thesis. The first goal of the thesis is a description of projects realized by the town of Jindrichuv Hradec, and funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds. These projects are compared to the strategic document of development of the town of Jindrichuv Hradec. The last part of the thesis fulfills its goals by giving recommendations for further development of the town of Jindrichuv Hradec.

This diploma thesis deals with the problem of community social work in a small town and the planning of new social services to be convinient for the real needs of the community. The thesis also deals with possible difficulties which the municipality can encounter to as applicant for a grant from the Integrated Regional Operational Program (call no. 74 Development of polyfunctional community centers infrastructure). It also focuses on the topic of sustainability of the project. The aim of this diploma thesis is to theoretically define the community centers and community social work and to describe the possibilities of drawing funds from the EU fund and the process of preparing the application and its difficulties.

This diploma work has been made on legal basis, of which the framework is act no. 240/2000 Coll. (the Crisis Act) and other related legal regulations.The objective of the submitted study is to evaluate, by means of comparison of the structure and organization at the time of preventive measures and resolving of emergencies or crisis situations, readiness of single crisis management units of the regional self-government and public administration in South Bohemia.As a result it can be stated that the place and role of the crisis management in the structures of the South Bohemian public administration are irreplaceable and functional as far as resolving of emergencies and crisis situations is concerned, in spite of the fact that the rules are not always fixed and their interpretation is not always clear, which is caused by certain deficiencies in legal framework.