This thesis analyses separatist movements within EU member states. The cases of Scotland, Catalonia and Flanders are thoroughly analysed and compared to establish a pattern of separatism within the...Show moreThis thesis analyses separatist movements within EU member states. The cases of Scotland, Catalonia and Flanders are thoroughly analysed and compared to establish a pattern of separatism within the EU. The pattern that is established recognizes imagined communities and 'rationalized' arguments as the cornerstones of European separatism. Moreover, this thesis considers the seemingly contradictory pro-European attitude that is clearly present within these separatist movements.Show less
Over the last two decades the productivity gap between the United States and the European Union has increased. In the 1990s the EU was one of the leading countries in the IT (information technology...Show moreOver the last two decades the productivity gap between the United States and the European Union has increased. In the 1990s the EU was one of the leading countries in the IT (information technology) development. With huge firms like Nokia who introduced the GSM standard for mobile telecommunication the European Union was a significant player. However, since the 1990s the EU lost its important market positions to countries like the USA and China. Dominant companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft all have their roots in the American soil. the main question this paper wants to answer is: Why is the European Union lagging behind the United States in the development of the IT market?Show less
This study concerns the EU's external policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their effectiveness. The policies of the EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the Dayton Accords in 1995 are analysed from...Show moreThis study concerns the EU's external policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their effectiveness. The policies of the EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the Dayton Accords in 1995 are analysed from a constructivist point of view, and the effectiveness of these policies is studied. Although the EU has been involved in Bosnia and Herzegovina for almost twenty years, both during the war and afterwards, the goal of Bosnia and Herzegovina becoming at least an EU candidate member state has not yet been reached. The EU has invested millions of euros a year in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but its economy is still very unstable and the unemployment rate has increased. The EU itself has engaged mainly with Bosnian politicians for the responsibility of improving Bosnia's unstable situation. However, at the same time the EU criticises these same politicians for not being able to reform to a society that is divided by ethnicity. With their policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU has only been acting from its own identity and values, and has not taken into consideration the Bosnian history and identity in this process. Due to this, the EU policies on Bosnia and Herzegovina have been ineffective for they only act from a European perspective. In their attempt to make democracy succeed, the EU has enforced democracy on Bosnia and Herzegovina, resulting in a contradiction in terms against the values that the EU stands for. The principle of conditionality that is used by the EU to compel Bosnia and Herzegovina to reform is weakened by this contradiction. That leads to a credibility gap in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which undermines the EU's efforts and further increases the ineffectiveness of their actions.Show less
In February 1992, the twelve member states of the European Union ratified the Treaty of Maastricht, and thereby decided to introduce a common European currency by 2002, the euro. Whereas this was...Show moreIn February 1992, the twelve member states of the European Union ratified the Treaty of Maastricht, and thereby decided to introduce a common European currency by 2002, the euro. Whereas this was mainly a monetary act of union, previous literature has often assumed that the euro also has implications for European identity within the participating countries. Evidence from opinion polling data seems to point in the same direction: when Eurozone citizens are asked what symbolises the EU for them personally, a large majority states that this is the euro. However, this thesis argues that the impact of the euro has in fact been marginal – at least initially. The thesis uses three in-depth case studies to formulate a hypothesis about the influence of the euro on European identity in all EU countries. The case studies are France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom for the period 1992-2013, examined through data from opinion polls and newspaper articles. A second section of the thesis tests the hypothesis through comparative analysis of data from three Eurobarometer questions. The results suggest that Eurozone citizens did feel more European at first, but that this sentiment of Europeanness has declined quickly with the advent of the euro crisis since 2009. From then onwards, the opposite of what was expected seems to be the case: non-Eurozone citizens have more positive feelings connected to the European Union.Show less
Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
In response to its democratic deficit, the EU has increasingly turned to stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process through consultations. Such stakeholder involvement, however, can...Show moreIn response to its democratic deficit, the EU has increasingly turned to stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process through consultations. Such stakeholder involvement, however, can potentially have a negative effect on decision-making efficiency, slowing down decision-making by increasing administrative work and the transaction costs for bargaining in legislative institutions. However, survival analyses – based on a unique dataset of the 2009- 2010 online public consultations and the follow-up (non-)legislative acts – show that the number of stakeholders involved in fact improves the decision-making efficiency. The heterogeneity of their interests, on the other hand, does not affect the decision-making.Show less
The last decade marked a significant change in the European Union‟s approach towards terrorism. As a result of terrorist attacks (9/11, Madrid and London) the EU terrorism policy turned from a...Show moreThe last decade marked a significant change in the European Union‟s approach towards terrorism. As a result of terrorist attacks (9/11, Madrid and London) the EU terrorism policy turned from a counter-terrorism approach, stressing repressive efforts targeting an outside threat, towards a counter-radicalization approach, targeting domestic radicalization processes. Led by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the latter approach based itself on a homegrown dimension of terrorism in which identification and resolving underlying causes of radicalization took center stage (Coolsaet 2012, 868). This shift was quite a significant one, since it influenced the traditional sovereignty of member states to deal with these issues themselves (Coolsaet 2012, 689).Show less
This thesis is an attempt to refresh the research done on the indicators for the allocation of Common Agricultural Policy funds. The European Union has changed its formation, structure and...Show moreThis thesis is an attempt to refresh the research done on the indicators for the allocation of Common Agricultural Policy funds. The European Union has changed its formation, structure and institutions over the past decades but the research on CAP hasn’t been updated along with it. This thesis borrows from the multi-level governance theory and molds the idea of the “winners-” and “losers of EU integration” debate into expectations for the predictive powers of various variables. These variables simulate two theories which have been predominant in research which has been previously done for the Common Agricultural Policy: the theory of need and the compensatory theory. The total area used for agriculture, the number of farms and GDP per Capita will represent the theory of need whilst the compensatory mechanism is simulated through a public opinion form of euroscepticism and a variable which calculates the net contribution to the EU budget to the EU budget. Key results for the thesis and improvements to the existing literature are the establishment for the net contribution to the EU budget variable, agricultural employment and GDP per Capita as predictors of CAP allocations and establishing the strength of the EU’s official allocation criteria for the CAP. Furthermore, for the first time the NUTS 2 regions have been included in research concerning CAP funding as a unity of analysis, leading to more statistically sound conclusions than what would otherwise be the case.Show less
In the European Union (EU) accession process the EU tries to transfer EU rules to the candidate states through conditionality. The acquis legislation and laws are not hard to implement and...Show moreIn the European Union (EU) accession process the EU tries to transfer EU rules to the candidate states through conditionality. The acquis legislation and laws are not hard to implement and therefore almost all candidate states did comply with this part of the acquis. However, there is a second element of the acquis, the democratic conditionality, concerning the fundamental political principles of the EU, the norms of human rights and liberal democracy. According to the EU one of those fundamental political principles is the need to curb corruption. In what way is the EU capable of influencing the anti-corruption policy of the candidate states? Is the EU thereby affecting corruption in the candidate states? In this thesis the role of the EU on the candidate states’ anti-corruption policy is tested. Is there any relation between the role of the EU, compliance of the member states and the real level of corruption? Statistical analysis and five short case studies show that there is a difference between simple rules, laws on corruption on the one hand and perceived corruption in a state on the other. The two are not related per se and therefore the EU influence in fundamentally curbing corruption is limited. The only way corruption can be stopped is when EU efforts are back upped by national actors.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
This thesis examines the impact of the European Union (EU) on the fight against high-level political corruption in Bulgaria and Romania from 2007 to 2013. Rather than being the result of internal...Show moreThis thesis examines the impact of the European Union (EU) on the fight against high-level political corruption in Bulgaria and Romania from 2007 to 2013. Rather than being the result of internal historical or cultural processes, I argue – in line with the theory of Europeanization – that the fight against corruption in these two countries is driven by the adaptational pressure exerted by the EU on the relevant national political actors (governments and parliaments). Using process-tracing, I show how this pressure wielded principally by the Commission via the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) and reinforced by some Member States through Schengen-membership conditionality leads to concrete legal and institutional reforms facilitating the control of high-level corruption. In particular, I find that when the Commission resorts to negative incentives (high adaptational pressure) domestic political will to adopt the desired changes increases correspondingly. Overall, I evaluate the CVM as an effective EU tool for tackling corruption in Bulgaria and Romania and I consequently recommend the implementation of a supranational monitoring system of this kind on a universal basis as to provide better guarantees that the fundamental values and principles of the EU are observed across all Member States at all times.Show less
Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
The European Union (EU) has witnessed a diversification of its membership in terms of integration. This is regarded as one way of accommodating an increasingly heterogeneous EU. However, this...Show moreThe European Union (EU) has witnessed a diversification of its membership in terms of integration. This is regarded as one way of accommodating an increasingly heterogeneous EU. However, this differentiated integration is likely to be accompanied by disadvantages. Among other things, differentiated integration is also thought to be harmful to the differentiated states’ reputation. However, there is very little empirical work on tangible consequences of differentiated integration. This paper tries to fill this void by looking at one manifestation of informal power: member state access to European Commission advisory committees. The main conclusion is that there is no general relation between access to advisory committees and differentiated integration. However, when looked at in more detail, differentiated integration appears to strongly diminish access to Eurozone-related advisory committees. Moreover, it appears that newer member states’ degrees of access are affected, especially those new members that have not yet integrated fully into the Eurozone and Schengen. If this pattern is structural, the interests of newer member states could be affected.Show less
My study focused on knowledge about the EU. It was my aim to explain the variance in this knowledge among Europeans and to answer the question: What explains the variance in the knowledge about...Show moreMy study focused on knowledge about the EU. It was my aim to explain the variance in this knowledge among Europeans and to answer the question: What explains the variance in the knowledge about European Union among European citizens?Show less
