Thèses sur le sujet « Urban policy – European Union countries »
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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.
Texte intégralExamining 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.
FERNANDES, Daniel. « Governments, public opinion, and social policy : change in Western Europe ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/75046.
Texte intégralExamining 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.
BAHMER, Larissa Elisabeth. « Chutes, ladders, snakes and surprises : policy durability and policy flexibility in EU energy and climate governance based on the governance regulation ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69195.
Texte intégralSupervisor : Professor Joanne Scott (European University Institute)
Whether the EU will live up to its leadership ambition in mitigating climate change to no little extent depends on whether the Governance Regulation will prove successful or whether it will add to the list of climate and energy policies which aimed high but performed low. This thesis analyses the legal arrangements of the Governance Regulation as embedded in the EU constitutional and administrative law framework in light of policy durability and policy flexibility, with the aim of assessing whether the Governance Regulation promises to build a long-lasting yet adaptable foundation for EU energy and climate governance that facilitates ratcheting up ambition and progress toward a ‘climate neutral’ Union.
Bai, Xue. « Evaluation and suggestions on EU development assistance policy ». Thesis, University of Macau, 2012. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2595841.
Texte intégralZhu, Feng. « EU energy policy after the Treaty of Lisbon : breakthroughs, interfaces and opportunity ». Thesis, University of Macau, 2012. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2580185.
Texte intégralHuang, Zhi Feng. « Study of European Union Common Agricultural Policy : France agricultural policy anaysis ». Thesis, University of Macau, 2008. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555543.
Texte intégralDAVITER, 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.
Texte intégralExamining 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.
Fee, Emma. « 'A Europe without dividing lines' : the normative framework of the European neighbourhood policy - emergent jus gentium or consolidation of jus civile ? » Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=83952.
Texte intégralBinfield, Julian Westhoff Patrick C. « The changing policy environment for agriculture in the European Union ». Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/6140.
Texte intégralPalmer, James Robert. « Science and politics in European energy and environmental policy : the wicked problem of biofuels and indirect land-use change (ILUC) ». Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.608217.
Texte intégralLuedtke, 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.
Texte intégralKuok, 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.
Texte intégralZhang, 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.
Texte intégralWoolgar, Chris. « European Union Dairy Policy and the Least Developed Countries : Case Study - Africa ». Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för planering och mediedesign, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-1113.
Texte intégralZAVAKOU, Alkistis. « How labour market institutions in European welfare capitalisms affect labour market transitions ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/61309.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof. Hans-Peter Blossfeld, European University Institute (Supervisor); Prof. François Rycx, ULB (Co-Supervisor); Prof. Anton Hemerick, European University Institute; Prof. Manos Matsaganis, Politecnico di Milano
Despite the large body of literature on labour market institutions and their effects on employment and unemployment, large gaps remain. This thesis sheds a new light to the old problem of labour market institutional design and labour market performance. It examines how labour market institutions in different European models of capitalism affect labour market transitions. It does so by employing an advanced econometric method: an event history analysis, estimating a piecewise constant exponential model. Longitudinal data are employed from three different national datasets (the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP), the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the Italian Survey “Famiglia e soggetti sociali”) for the period 1990–2009. The effects of labour market institutions are estimated both at a country-level and at a comparative, pooled-country-level to increase the degrees of freedom and the variability in the independent variables. The empirical evidence suggests that institutions indeed have a significant effect on labour market transitions and this effect differs largely among different models of capitalisms, corroborating the Varieties of Capitalism approach. In accordance with the latter, the importance of non-pecuniary institutions such as trade union power, trade union fragmentation and wage bargaining is re-affirmed and substantial labour market institutional complementarities are found. This thesis advocates for an optimal, strictly positive and intermediate level of EPL in all countries; an unemployment insurance contingent on strict conditionality and high activation; while the optimal level and system of wage bargaining are found to depend crucially on the trade union power as well as trade union coordination and fragmentation. Trade union fragmentation is found to reduce all labour market transitions and have a negative effect on labour market performance.
COLEMAN, Nils. « European readmission policy : third country interests and refugee rights ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/7021.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof. Bruno de Witte, (EUI) ; Prof. Marise Cremona, (EUI) ; Prof. Rosemary Byrne, (Trinity College Dublin) ; Prof. Thomas Spijkerboer, (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
no abstract available
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.
Texte intégralLEAL, ARCAS Rafael. « Theory and practice of EC external trade law and policy ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/13171.
Texte intégralExamining board: Prof. Bruno De Witte, European University Institute (Supervisor) ; Prof. Francesca Martines, Faculty of Economics, University of Pisa ; Prof. Petros C. Mavroidis, Columbia Law School, NY and University of Neuchâtel ; Prof. Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, European University Institute
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Both the European Community (EC) and its Member States agree that it is in their best interest to coordinate their action vis-à-vis the rest of the world in international trade agreements. Theory and Practice of EC External Trade Law and Policy looks at the intricacies of the institutional framework of EC trade law, and with special emphasis on services trade, examines the law and practice of EC external trade relations from a policy, economic, legal and an overarching European constitutional perspective. The objective of the author’s analysis is not only to find ways to nurture and preserve the unitary character of EC external trade relations in areas of shared competence between EU Member States and EU institutions, but also to understand the management of the EC’s external trade relations. The book begins with an analysis of the evolution of the EC common commercial policy, through which the author examines the checks and balances at the micro, meso and macro levels. The author then proceeds to analyse the problems faced by the EU in its external relations and the legal complexity of mixed agreements. This unique legal phenomenon is tackled from an intra-EC perspective as well as from an extra-EU perspective taking into account various implications for third parties. The major EU institutions are examined: the Commission as the negotiator of international trade agreements, the role of the EU Council and the European Parliament in concluding and ratifying of agreements and the European Court of Justice in relation to judicial enforcement. The EU’s decision-making process in the trade arena and its relation with national institutions are examined. The book concludes with an analysis of the EC’s contribution to the Doha Round in the area of services trade.
TESCHE, Tobias. « Institutional responses to the euro area crisis ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/62526.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof. Philipp Genschel, European University Institute; Prof. Adrienne Héritier, European University Institute; Prof. C. Randall Henning, American University Washington D.C.; Prof. Manuela Moschella, Scuola Normale Superiore
This article-based dissertation traces the institutional responses to the euro area crisis in the realm of fiscal and financial governance. First, it shows why the diffusion of national fiscal councils in the EU has not led to institutional isomorphism. The troika institutions - the European Commission, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund - formed a technocratic consensus about the desirability of establishing national fiscal councils in the EU. Considerable disagreement existed, however, with regards to their design features. Each institution promoted a distinct fiscal council model in line with their institutional self-interest. Preference heterogeneity among the troika members ultimately prevented the spread of a one-size-fits-all fiscal council in the EU. Second, this thesis links three models of a fiscal council (agent, trustee and orchestrator) to three different sources of the deficit bias (i.e. forecasting errors, common pool problem, asymmetric information) and three different conceptions of legitimacy (input, output, throughput). Third, it explains why the ECB President started to visit national parliaments. The ECB’s unconventional monetary policy measures triggered unprecedented levels of public distrust, invigorated a fierce debate about central bank independence and led to deteriorating output legitimacy. Given the diverging demands from creditor and debtor states, the ECB saw an opportunity to reduce the audience costs of their policies by directly targeting national parliaments. Fourth, it shows how large cross-border banks stood to gain from the banking union because it would level the playing field, create regulatory savings and ultimately encroach on the business model of the smaller competitors that had, thus far, been shielded from competition through favorable regulation. Fifth, it discusses the European Stability Mechanism, the ECB, the proposed European Minister of Economics and Finance and the European Fiscal Board and relates them to strategies that supranational actors can pursue to deepen European integration.
Chapter 2 draws upon an earlier article published in the JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. Chapter 3 draws upon an earlier article published in the Journal of Contemporary European Research (JCER). Chapter 4 draws upon an earlier article published in the Journal of European Integration. Chapter 5 draws upon an earlier paper published in the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper Series. Chapter 6 draws upon an earlier paper published in the CERiM Online Paper Series.
Jónsdóttir, Jóhanna. « Europeanisation of the Icelandic policy process ». Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609096.
Texte intégralWang, 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.
Texte intégralZhong, Xiao Fei. « China and the EU : competition and cooperation in the Caspian region ». Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555549.
Texte intégralWilliams, R. H. « The emergence of spatial planning as a European Union policy sector ». Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.389610.
Texte intégralGalan, Andreea Elena. « The Impact of the Refugee Crisis on the European Union ». PDXScholar, 2018. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4253.
Texte intégralNoordijk, Peter Andrew. « Building Bridges with Social Capital in the European Union ». PDXScholar, 2013. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1091.
Texte intégralEdquist, Kristin Alisa. « Authorizing affluence : European Union social policy and promotion of the commerce society : a critical theoretical analysis / ». Thesis, Connect to this title online ; UW restricted, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/10717.
Texte intégralGIGLI, Michele. « EUROSUR funding policy : how financial accountability challenges the European strategy for external border management ». Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69196.
Texte intégralSupervisor : Professor Deirdre Curtin (European University Insitute)
This thesis explores the way the development of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) has been funded and assess whether the funding strategy adopted complies with established principles of financial accountability. Starting from a notion of financial accountability as a duty to report expenditure in a measurable, transparent and coherent way, relevant budget lines contributing to the development of the system will be singled out in order to assess whether they have been implemented in accordance with those criteria. While the funding strategy initially relied on a multi-level system of financial governance involving the EU, the Member States and the executive agency Frontex, EUROSUR funds were then channelled into three main funding streams belonging to different policy areas of the EU: research and development, border management and humanitarian aid to developing countries. An integrated analysis of these financial instruments shows that the overall EUROSUR funding policy infringes principles to be respected to give account of expenditure, because of original accountability gaps affecting the launch of the EUROSUR project. Nevertheless, this deficit has been reduced over time. Chances are that in the next multiannual financial framework, running for the period 2021-2027 compliance will be improved in the field of external border management, with a more efficient use of available resources.
Egbe, Daniel Enonnchong. « The Global Mediterranean Policy : the evolution of the EU-Mediterranean countries relations during 1976-1998 / ». free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9998481.
Texte intégralWang, Jia. « Research on EU regional policy : its selective mechanisms, effects and role for EU integration, with reflections on its possible meaning for China ». Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555597.
Texte intégralAbellán, Miguel Angel Medina. « The participation of Turkey in the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) : how has the European Union managed the 'involvement issue' ? (1999-2009) ». Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.610608.
Texte intégralLiang, Zheng Yun. « The enviromental principles of the European Union ». Thesis, University of Macau, 2009. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2120095.
Texte intégralTOFARIDES, Maria. « The multi-level gatekeeper system : the case of the European Union's urban policy 'experiment' ». Doctoral thesis, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/5407.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof. Colin Crouch (EUI- co-supervisor) ; Prof. Michael Keating (EUI) ; Prof. Howard Machin (London School of Economics and Political Science) ; Prof. Yves Mény (EUI - supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
SOBCZAK, Anna. « Europeanization and urban policy networks : the impact of EU programmes on cooperation around economic development in Kraków and Glasgow ». Doctoral thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/14507.
Texte intégralExamining Board: John Bachtler (Univerity of Strathclyde), László Bruszt (EUI), Jerzy Hausner (Cracow University), Michael Keating (EUI) (Supervisor)
First made available online: 25 August 2021
This PhD thesis is the outcome of a research project that has analysed how EU programmes influence cooperation among local economic development actors in European cities. The focus of the research is particularly on the impact of the Europeanization process on urban policy networks. The study is based on a comparative analysis of two European cities, Krakow and Glasgow. In particular, the thesis looks into the impact of EU funds on local actor relations around economic development by analysing the management of EU programmes, participation in EU projects and international city cooperation. The theoretical framework provided is based on analysing five dimensions of the Europeanization process, categorised as institutional, financial, cognitive, rhetoric and symbolic. The study builds on an extensive literature review and involved a range of sources, including a large number of interviews in both cities. The structure of the thesis is based on six main chapters. The first chapter introduces a research problem, puts forward preliminary hypotheses and sets a research design based on the five dimensions of the Europeanization process. In the second chapter we find a literature review, looking at actor relations around economic development in cities, with an emphasis on urban policy networks, and the conceptualised role of Europeanization stimulating cooperation among actors. Chapter three provides a review of the urban dimension in EU policies with respect to policy objectives, funding and policy measures. This is followed by two empirical chapters on Glasgow and Krakow, reviewing the historical, political and institutional contexts, management of EU programmes, participation in EU projects and engagement in inter-city cooperation. The final chapter links the empirical findings with urban theories and Europeanization literature as well as provides conclusions on the five dimensions set out in the theoretical framework. The dimensions of the Europeanization model set out in this dissertation demonstrate that when exposed to EU programmes, European cities tend to develop similar features of cooperation around EU funded economic development, despite their distinct institutional structures and differences in national, historical, cultural and political backgrounds. Similar institutions in the form of partnerships are created around EU funds (institutional dimension), which attract additional funds, both private and public (financial dimension). Actors involved with EU funded projects exchange knowledge and expertise that contribute to the creation of best practices, which become available to all cities in the European Union (cognitive dimension). Consequently, local actors involved with EU programmes start using the same EU language (rhetoric dimension) and apply the same EU symbols (symbolic dimension).
KUROWSKA, Xymena. « The Politics of a Policy : Framing European security and defence policy ». Doctoral thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/10449.
Texte intégralDefence date: 25 February 2008
Examining Board: Professor Friedrich Kratochwil, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Ole Wæver, University of Copenhagen (External Supervisor) Professor Michael Merlingen, Central European University Professor Pascal Vennesson, European University Institute
This thesis enquires into the making of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) from the perspective of the actors endorsing and contesting the policy. By identifying the political milieu of the policy, it seeks to problematise the established depiction of ESDP and delineate the framing involved in designing and implementing the policy. I thus advance the argument about the all-pervading character of the political and I stipulate the value of micropolitical analysis for unpacking broad political arrangements. In order to trace security practices enacted through the policy, I explore in depth two instances of ESDP operations and a case of strengthening the UNIFIL forces to Lebanon via an EU initiative. I conclude that the ESDP has proven transformative both within the EU internal system of governance and vis-à-vis the EU’s international positioning. The former involves the rise of domestic politics engendered by the interplay of institutional identities and conceptions of achieving EU security. The latter exposes the shift in the international role assignments wherein the EU becomes a deputy of the US and a saviour of the UN’s reputation.
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.
Texte intégralExamining 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.
TOWNLEY, Christopher. « Article 81 : putting public policy in its place ». Doctoral thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/4807.
Texte intégralExamining board: Mr Monti, London School of Economics ; Prof. Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, EUI (supervisor) ; Prof. Hanns Ullrich, EUI ; Prof. Richard Whish, School of Law, King's College London
First made available online 25 November 2016
This dissertation discusses the role of public policy in Article 81 of the EC Treaty. The Commission, and recently the Court of First Instance have said that the sole objective of Article 81 EC is consumer welfare. Many competition lawyers and economists support this view. Writing in a crisp, plain style, Townley demonstrates that public policy considerations are still relevant in that provision. He also examines how and where they are currently considered and then suggests why, how and where this might be changed. The book explains how some of the most complex competition law cases can be understood and offers a framework for those fighting or deciding such cases in the future. As such, it will be of interest to European competition lawyers, both academics and practitioners (furnishing them with a framework for hard cases), as well as students, seeking a deeper understanding of how the European competition rules work and how they interact both with European Union and Member State public policy goals. It will also help competition economists by revealing the mechanisms through which public policy considerations impact upon the consumer welfare test in European law.
STEHMANN, Oliver. « Network competition for European telecommunications ». Doctoral thesis, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/5072.
Texte intégralDefence date: 7 June 1993
First made available online: 31 May 2016
The telecommunications industry is in the throes of rapid technological and regulatory change. Markets for terminals and services have been liberalized, and only the provision of networks has remained under the control of national operators. This book analyses from an economist's point of view the benefits which may be expected from the introduction of network competition in Europe, and describes how competition can be reconciled with social objectives. The author first looks at the latest technological developments and discusses the impact of new transmission systems such as mobile phones and satellites, and the convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications. He goes on to weigh up the arguments for and against network competition, looking in particular at the natural monopoly view and at universal service. The third part of the book compares policy in Europe and the USA, with a detailed analysis of the European Commission's approach, and an up-to-date view of the regulatory frameworks in five European member states. Finally, the author sets out a strategy for network competition in Europe which takes into account both the latest developments and the characteristics of the European environment.
BICCHI, Federica. « European foreign policy making towards the Mediterranean non member countries ». Doctoral thesis, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/5220.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof. Emanuel Adler, The Herbrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Christopher Hill, LSE; Prof. Leonardo Morlino, University of Florence; Prof. Thomas Risse, Free University and European University Institute (Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
A comprehensive and theoretically informed examination of European foreign policy making towards the Mediterranean, from 1957 to nowadays. This dissertation focuses on the reasons and the patterns of Europeans’ actions, with a special emphasis on the early 1970s and on current times. It analyses how interest in Europe for the Mediterranean has generally arisen out of a shared sense of puzzlement in front of challenges, such as terrorism or migration, originating from the Southern neighbours. The dissertation casts new light on the role of member states as policy entrepreneurs in European integration, and explains European foreign policy as a way to collectively reconstruct a new understanding of Euro-Mediterranean relations.
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.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof. Dr. Bruno de Wittw, Rijsuniversiteit Limburg ; Prof. Dr. M. Rainer Lepsius (supervisor), Universität Heidelberg ; Prof. Dr. Giandomenico Majone, Europäisches Hochschulinstitut, Florenz ; Prof. Dr. Roger Morgan (co-supervisor), Europäisches Hochschulinstitut, Florenz ; Prof. Dr. Fritz W. Scharpf, Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
SCHLOSSER, Pierre. « Resisting a European fiscal union : the centralized fragmentation of fiscal powers during the euro crisis ». Doctoral thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/44566.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Professor Stefano Bartolini, (EUI - Supervisor); Professor Renaud Dehousse (EUI - formerly at Sciences Po Paris - Co-Supervisor); Professor Henrik Enderlein (Hertie School of Governance); Professor Adrienne Héritier (EUI)
The euro crisis has been an existential crisis for Europe and for its stateless currency. It substantially impacted the institutional evolution of Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), making EMU’s rules-based logic tumble and triggering an institutional capacitybuilding. The euro crisis period should therefore be regarded as the most constitutionally relevant post-Maastricht European integration moment. This dissertation claims that the euro crisis management, because it involved the adoption of an array of significant fiscal rules, instruments, mechanisms and bodies, has resulted in the institutionalization of a distinctive fiscal authority in Europe. The convoluted process through which this authority has emerged was characterised by a tension between countervailing forces of centralization and fragmentation. This dissertation hence conceptualizes, documents and interprets the logic of a singular institutionalization process in which new fiscal powers became concomitantly centralized, fragmented and delegated to a series of ad hoc bodies operating in the shadow of newly empowered EMU executive institutions. The centrifugal delegation pattern at play is intriguing because it runs against the classic, pre-Maastricht delegation trend that entrusted the European Commission with newly centralized tasks. The new fiscal centre is instead fundamentally fragmented among three key actors: the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank and the Commission. Indeed, the dissertation has found that despite the emergence of a fiscal centre, the European Union still does not dispose of a formalized and settled fiscal power structure. The main puzzle uncovered by this examination is that while a fiscal authority has been institutionalized, no political EU actor has been able to formally embody and exclusively claim this authority. Going forward, formalizing such a political authority would require some form of constitutional settlement to clarify who is Europe’s fiscal primus inter pares.
Chapter 3 ‘Enhancing EMU’s fiscal arm: towards stronger regulatory surveillance' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Public finances in Europe: fortifying EU economic governance in the shadow of the crisis' (2016) in the journal ‘Journal of European integration’
STORSKRUBB, Eva. « Judicial cooperation in civil matters : a policy area uncovered ». Doctoral thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/6367.
Texte intégralSupervisor: Prof. Jacques Ziller
Awarded the Mauro Cappelletti Prize for the best comparative law doctoral thesis, 2007.
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
This dissertation examines a burgeoning policy area of the EU - the regulation of cross border civil and commercial litigation. The dissertation analyses the EU's specific legislative measures regulating civil procedure and assesses their impact on litigation, particularly due process rights. The policy is then placed in the broader contexts of European integration and the international codification of civil procedure.
RATHGEB, Philip. « Strong governments, precarious workers : labour market policy-making in the era of liberalisation ». Doctoral thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/43276.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Pepper Culpepper, formerly EUI/University of Oxford (Co-Supervisor); Professor Lucio Baccaro, University of Geneva; Professor emer. Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Outsiders are perhaps the clearest losers of the neoliberal era. They are either unemployed or have atypical jobs, thereby often lacking adequate coverage in such fundamental areas as wage bargaining, job security, and welfare benefits. The growing number of outsiders in advanced capitalist political economies is associated with several trends that are adverse in their implications for democracy and society: declining voter turnout and political resignation, diverging life chances and growing poverty as well as poor health, and even an increased relative risk of suicide. The willingness of a state to protect workers from the risks of being unemployed or atypically employed is thus of great political and social significance. Why, then, did some European welfare states protect outsiders better than others, given the common constraints of the neoliberal era? My PhD thesis examines this question through a comparative investigation of labour market policy change in Austria, Denmark, and Sweden over the past three decades, complemented with shadow case studies of Italy and Spain. A historical reconstruction of reform trajectories in similar small states with different distributive outcomes allows us to test the explanatory power of different theoretical approaches. Building on primary and secondary sources as well as evidence from 46 interviews with policy-making elites, this thesis follows a qualitative methodological approach that combines co-variation analysis, causal process tracing and counterfactual arguments. Challenging conventional theories, the thesis finds that the enhanced protection of outsiders rests on the interaction between inclusive trade unions and politically weak governments. High levels of inclusiveness continue to provide trade unions with an acute interest in the protection of outsiders. But governments of all partisan colours prioritised fiscal consolidation over the social protection of outsiders in the neoliberal era. When they had a united majority of seats in parliament, they were therefore strong enough to pursue a unilateral reform strategy that excludes unions to the detriment of outsiders. When they were weakened by intra-coalitional divides or a hung parliament, on the other hand, they negotiated political deals with trade unions to mobilise an extra-parliamentary channel of consensus mobilisation. This kind of weakness was instrumental in forcing governments to compensate outsiders for economic uncertainty. The core argument of this thesis can therefore be summarised as follows: the weaker the government, the stronger the capacity of inclusive trade unions to enhance the protection of outsiders through an extension of job security regulations, unemployment benefit entitlements, and active labour market policy spending. This finding calls into question the electoral responsiveness of national governments – and thus political parties – to the social needs of an increasingly numerous group of precarious workers.
DE, LA PORTE Caroline. « The European level development and national level influence of the open method of coordination : the cases of employment and social inclusion ». Doctoral thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/10463.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Tanja Boerzel (Free Univ. Berlin), Maurizio Ferrera (Univ. Milano), Adrienne Héritier (EUI/RSCAS), Martin Rhodes (Denver Univ./former EUI)
This thesis aims to understand how the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) has developed at the European level and to explore how, and with what effect, it has influenced the EU Member States. My cases are policy areas, which have been selected on the basis of their salience in Member States. The case of high salience is employment policy and the case of low salience is anti-poverty policy. Regarding the European level, the thesis seeks to identify the main causal factors that determine the development of the OMC. I use an adapted version of the Principal-Agent framework, where the Member States represent the Principal(s) and the European Commission represents the Agent. While most existing literature analyses the OMC at one moment in time, I analyse how the OMC develops through time, where I distinguish between emergence, when it has not been fully established, and evolution, when it has been fully established as a policy coordination instrument. I develop two hypotheses to test Commission-Member State interaction during OMC development during emergence and evolution and two to test if their interaction differs in cases of high and low saliency. My findings show that the Commission has a greater influence during the emergence of the OMC and that the Member States have more influence during the evolution of the OMC. The saliency of a policy issue only minimally influences Member State and Commission interaction in the two cases. For the national level, the thesis seeks to shed some light on how and the extent to which the OMC has been integrated into the domestic contexts of (14) EU Member States. The endeavour is first to draw some general conclusions about how governmental and non-governmental actors in Member States use the OMC. My findings show that it has mainly been used as a policy reporting instrument, but has in some cases also been used for policy development. The aim is secondly to assess the extent to which the general objectives of the OMC have been achieved. My findings show that it does not define core reform programmes in Member States, which is hardly surprising, since the OMC is a soft policy instrument.
VAN, VOOREN Bart. « A paradigm for coherence in EU external relations law : the European neighbourhood policy ». Doctoral thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/14529.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Marise Cremona (Supervisor, EUI), Panos Koutrakos (University of Bristol); Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann (EUI); Ramses Wessel (University of Twente)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Coherence is a powerful rhetorical device that is prevalent throughout decades of EU external relations discourse and practice. There is intuitiveness to coherence, an implied sense of ‘good fit’ between the different elements of an all-encompassing system. Yet, any attempt to concretize coherence will open up a plethora of context-specific legal and political questions. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is a recent example of an external policy drawn up explicitly with the objective of achieving coherence across different EU and Member State external policies. Positioning the ENP in the legalhistorical context of political Union, this thesis first argues why coherence is an issue at all in EU external relations, and why law is integral to attaining the ever-enigmatic single voice of the European Union. Subsequently, the text examines the role of EU external relations law in attaining a coherent neighbourhood policy. It is argued that the innovative nature of the ENP for coherence lies beyond the narrowly defined legal sphere, but stems mostly from its hybrid composition of hard legal, soft legal and nonlegal policy instruments. It is concluded that from a purely EU-internal and institutional perspective, this approach was reasonably successful in involving different actors towards common objectives in the neighbourhood. However, coherence should be more than rhetorical gloss, and agreeing that a wide range of initiatives should be included in soft legal instruments is no guarantee for coherence in actual policy substance. To examine the latter issue this thesis then moves beyond the realm of legal inquiry, and employs content analysis to investigate the extent to which the ENP is substantively coherent between the different norms, actors and instruments this policy encompasses.
CARATELLI, Irene. « The Political impact of the EU's international trade : EU trade power, policy and influence ». Doctoral thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/13296.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Marise Cremona (EUI, Law Department); Christopher Hill (University of Cambridge); Erik Jones (Johns Hopkins, Bologna); Pascal Vennesson (EUI/RSCAS, Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The aim of the PhD Thesis is to ascertain whether the EU is able to exert a political influence through its international trade agreements. Since the Union has always been considered as an economic giant and a political dwarf at the global level, the objective is to evaluate whether the EU external trade may be considered as a useful tool to address the gap between its economic and political relevance. If the EU is effectively able to wiled a political influence through trade also beyond the neighbourhood area, where it uses the membership card chip, the EU might have a greater global role. The conceptual analysis of the Thesis is based on the distinction between the EU trade Power (i.e. Resources, Institutions and Values), EU trade Policy activity and its final Influence in order to disentangle the 'levers' from the 'leverage' exercised by the EU through its external trade policy. The potential for political influence of the EU ultimately relies on the ability to change the norms, beliefs, rules and regulations in EU partner countries, during and after the trade negotiations. The empirical side of the research focuses on two bilateral agreements: the EU-Mexico Partnership Agreement (2000), and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea (2009). Despite the strong differences between the case studies (in terms of their geographic location, production and export patterns, timing of the negotiations, etc.), Mexico and South Korea share four basic similarities: i) neither is an EU neighbouring country (i.e. the EU cannot use the membership card); ii) both are strongly dependant and receive their primary influence in economic, political and security terms from the United States; iii) both have strongly endorsed neoliberal and free market principles; and finally iv) each of them might be a potential gateway for the EU in its macro-region. Furthermore, Mexico and South Korea share also a more specific strategic value for the EU in three main respects. First, in both cases the rationale for EU to conclude the agreements was the same: economic and defensive vis-à-vis US previous trade agreements (the NAFTA and the US-South-Korea FTA). Second, the basic objectives of the EU in both countries tend to correspond to a great extent: the achievement of the commercial parity treatment of EU for its exporters vis-à-vis US’ exporters. Third, the overall political influence of the EU in the countries might thus be not only limited, but also fairly comparable. The theoretical structure and the empirical work highlight interesting indications. First, in terms of Power, neither the EU trade power, nor the conclusion of trade agreements is sufficient for the EU to exert, by default, a political influence in the countries considered. Second, in terms of Policy, during Peter Mandelson’s tenure as EC Trade Commissioner, the Union downsized the normative and political ambition of its external trade action in respect to the past, focusing on the achievement of commercial-parity objectives vis-à-vis other major global actors (i.e. a defensive trade strategy in relation to that of the US). Finally, in terms of Influence, both cases indicate that the EU has still a limited capacity to exert a political influence via its trade policy in nonneighbouring countries. Four main reasons help to explain this: 1) Internal institutional constraints within the EU; 2) The bilateral level of trade negotiation; 3) The weakness of EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and of its Common Security and Defence Policy; 4) The defensive rather than proactive global projection of the EU. The Thesis concludes that although the EU foreign economic policy can be a means to address the capability-expectations gap that affects the EU as an international actor, there is still ample scope to improve the EU political influence through trade in countries beyond the neighbourhood area in economic, political and/or normative terms.
PERRY, Suzanne B. « Universal service in the European Union : policy goal or market-based assumption ? » Doctoral thesis, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/5652.
Texte intégralLUBOW, Alexis. « Taming regulatory competition : interest groups v. joint decision trap : four EU policy cases on workers mobility ». Doctoral thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/46447.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Professor Adrienne Héritier, EUI (Supervisor); Professor László Bruszt, EUI; Professor Pieter Bouwen, University of Leuven; Professor Susanne K. Schmidt, University of Bremen
Worker migration across EU member states’ borders constitutes an increasingly salient issue. Unlike the liberalization of trade in goods, it has spilled into other policy areas in many unexpected ways. It contributed to turning the so called Bolkestein Directive on services into a highly politicized policymaking episode. Subsequent decisions adopted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have only aggravated looming conflicts between high and low standard countries, new and old member states, competing social partners and political parties within the European Parliament. Policy issues that are resolutely foreign to EU competences, like the right to strike, have been affected as well. Simply put, recent policy developments about worker migration illustrate the increasingly contested nature of European integration. In that context, decision makers are trapped into a prisoner’s dilemma that is a real or perceived risk arising from regulatory competition. Hence, member states’ preference heterogeneity translates into an amplified risk of policymaking deadlock. Therefore, the question that this dissertation aims to answer is: under which conditions can EU institutions collectively negotiate positive policy solutions in the context of regulatory competition? Taken in isolation, a change in member state’s bargaining attitudes is unlikely and puzzling. Instead, I argue that when there is a high risk of deadlock in the Council the successful negotiation of policy instruments depends significantly on the relative homogeneity of preferences of competing social partners and their ability to defend pan‐European interests next to national immediate interests. The empirical analysis examines four cases of policy negotiations in relation to worker mobility within the EU. Negotiations over the 2006 Services Directive are sliced into two distinct strategic interactions. In addition, I examine the failed negotiations over the 2012 Monti II Proposal on the right to take collective action and the successful negotiations over the 2014 Directive on the enforcement of the 1996 Posted Worker Directive. The selection of cases aims to carry out a conceptual experiment in which the strategic setting is maintained relatively constant while variations in actors’ preferences and strategies may affect policy outputs.
LARIK, Joris. « Worldly ambitions : foreign policy objectives in European constitutional law ». Doctoral thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/27186.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Professor Loïc Azoulai, European University Institute; Professor Marise Cremona, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Christophe Hillion, Leiden University; Professor Daniel Thym, University of Konstanz
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Constitutions of today do not merely address the salus populi anymore, the welfare of the people, but increasingly exhibit international ambitions. This is true in particular for the EU Treaties. To make sense of these developments, this thesis presents a comprehensive account of foreign policy objectives as a growing part of European constitutional law. It grasps these provisions as legal norms, discerns their legal force and functions, and situates them into the overall legal order of the state, the Union, and the composite 'European Constitutional Space’. It argues that for comparative constitutional law in general, the codification of foreign policy objectives suggests a step forward in the evolution of the role of the constitution: From limiting public authority to guiding it towards certain goals, both at home and in the world. For the EU in particular, this research advances a comparative constitutional perspective for the study of EU external relations, and adds a constitutional dimension to the 'normative power’ debate in the study of EU foreign policy. Drawing on established national doctrines on constitutional objectives from Germany, France and India, the thesis elaborates a common vocabulary for understanding foreign policy objectives across different jurisdictions. It adapts these findings to the pluralist context of the Union and its Member States, which closely intertwines both legal orders and foreign policies. It reveals that constitutional foreign policy objectives represent norms of constitutional rank which commit a polity to an active and 'normative’ foreign policy, serving principally as an interpretive lens through which public powers can be enlarged. As a feature peculiar to the EU context, such objectives help to channel the individual ambitions of the Member States through the Union framework towards a more coherent, albeit polyphonic, external action. Furthermore, the project feeds its legal findings into the debate on the EU as an actor in International Relations, drawing on the main IR theories to sharpen the analysis of these norms in inter-institutional struggles as well in long-term processes of identity-shaping, legitimation and socialization.
WOLF, Katharina. « Europe's military responses to humanitarian crises ». Doctoral thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/53504.
Texte intégralExamining Board: Prof Ulrich Krotz, EUI (Supervisor); Dr. Antonio Missiroli, NATO; Prof James Sperling, University of Akron; Prof Jennifer Welsh, EUI
Why do European Union (EU) member states sometimes respond collectively to prevent or address large-scale humanitarian crises while, at other moments, they use different institutional channels? More than once, EU states have pondered, hesitated, disagreed and let others interfere when widespread and systematic killing of civilians were looming. Instead of using the EU’s military crisis management capacities, member states have acted through different institutional channels such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ad-hoc coalitions of states or single state-led operations to interfere in humanitarian crises. At times, they have decided not to intervene at all. Why does Europeans’ involvement in humanitarian intervention vary so strikingly? To examine this striking variation in European states’ responses to large-scale humanitarian crises, the thesis draws on in-depth case study evidence from the conflict in Libya during 2011, the post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire during 2010/2011, the sectarian war in the Central African Republic during 2013 and 2014 and the fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. The cases capture the entire range of variation on the dependent variable covering EU operations, NATO operations, ad-hoc operations, and non-intervention. The thesis develops a three-step model to explain why, when, and how European states use military force for humanitarian purposes. The model is situated at the intersection of domestic preferences and the international opportunities and constraints under which European states seek to realize their foreign policy goals. The findings show that, in combination, these factors condition European states’ readiness to intervene. Hence, a preference for non-intervention is easier to maintain if others are willing to intervene, but more difficult to pursue if the resort to force is urgent and the non-European actors are unable or unwilling to offer an appropriate response. At the regional European level, states’ power resources and preferences influence the institutional channel through which European states ultimately decide to intervene militarily. The findings show that the deployment of EU and NATO operations is likely when member states’ preferences are at least weakly congruent and backed by the interests and preferences of the organizations’ most powerful states. Diverging preferences among member states severely hinder common military operations and compel states to resort to ad-hoc arrangements. The dissertation concludes that European states’ preferences, the political contexts in which they operate and their ability to pursue their goals at the international and the regional level considerably influence why, when, and in which format European states intervene in humanitarian crises.
FROIO, Caterina. « The politics of constraints : electoral promises, pending commitments, public concerns and policy agendas in Denmark, France, Spain and the United Kingdom (1980-2008) ». Doctoral thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/34202.
Texte intégralExamining 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.