This thesis project focus on the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on Germany politics. This paper will explore in what way Syrian refugee has impacted the Germany politics. The main...Show moreThis thesis project focus on the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on Germany politics. This paper will explore in what way Syrian refugee has impacted the Germany politics. The main argument in this project is (How has the Syrian refugees' crisis in Germany contribute to the rise of the right-wing populist party?). The findings and analysis of the above mention issue will be drawn from existing primary and secondary data using peer-reviewed literature on the subject. The data will be used from different journal and articles based on the political issues in Germany, statistics data from the European Union and Germans government institutions, as well as from different national and international body predominantly working on that issue of refugees within Germany. In the end, this thesis project also unveil the rise of right-wing populist parties in Germany Alternative for Germany(AfD) from the aftermath of 2015 refuge crisis. This project will also try to analyze how Germany position itself within the negotiation in the EU concerning the migration.Show less
This thesis assesses whether the EU is as a market power shaping third countries' legislation and policies as asserted by "Market Power Europe", a theoretical framework, which has been...Show moreThis thesis assesses whether the EU is as a market power shaping third countries' legislation and policies as asserted by "Market Power Europe", a theoretical framework, which has been insufficiently explored in the literature so far. More concretely it is scrutinised if electricity market liberalisation and emissions trading acquis has been externalised to Switzerland and Ukraine. First, it is shown that there is market power potential in the field of energy, as the European regulatory order was increasingly strengthened since the mid-1990s and gave birth to two significant markets for electricity and carbon emissions trade. Second, it is demonstrated that even though acquis externalization occurred to a certain extent in both cases, four intervening variables filtered the EU's market power. Indeed, market interconnectedness, political culture, the nature of the political system and the level of institutionalization of the EU's relations with a third country need to be taken into account when assessing the EU's market power in a given third country. These findings are not only theoretically relevant, they also suggest that the EU should concentrate on the development of its Single Market and regulatory order as well as on solid institutional framework conditions to cement its power towards third countries and enlarge its global influence.Show less
This thesis looks if Britain's decision to leave the EU will lead to more European defence and military cooperation between the remaining EU member states.
Migration in the Central Mediterranean is not a new development, but in the period between 2011 and 2016, the number of migrant arrivals in Italy has significantly increased. The central question...Show moreMigration in the Central Mediterranean is not a new development, but in the period between 2011 and 2016, the number of migrant arrivals in Italy has significantly increased. The central question in this thesis is: What are the pull factors of migration? Why do migrants increasingly choose to migrate towards the EU? The basis is the theory of Ravenstein of push and pull factors to explain migration. In this thesis, I identified several developments in the Central Mediterranean during this period and analysed the different variables. These variables are: governmental missions in the Mediterranean, the movement of NGOs involved in search and rescue operations and the EU-Turkey agreement. After a method of process tracing and interviews, the conclusion was that pull factors are less important in the process of decision-making of migrants than is mostly considered. Most migrants are more influenced by push factors.The invasion towards the European Union is a myth and their rescue missions in the Mediterranean do not influence migrants or attract huge numbers of them.Show less
This thesis seeks to interrogate the response of the European Union to the events known as the Arab uprisings, with a particular focus on the political transitions experienced by Egypt and Tunisia...Show moreThis thesis seeks to interrogate the response of the European Union to the events known as the Arab uprisings, with a particular focus on the political transitions experienced by Egypt and Tunisia since early 2011. It conducts a thorough textual analysis of major European Neighbourhood Policy documents and ‘speech acts’ related to Egypt and Tunisia, using Norman Fairclough’s three- dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). In each instance of ENP discourse, this study sees a text, a discursive practice and a social practice. It identifies the particular discursive configurations of democracy promotion in these text samples, noting a significant change in tone since the launch of the ENP in 2003. More specifically, it points to the new neighbourhood agenda developed by the EU since the wave of protests in the Middle-East and North Africa, characterised by greater ownership of ENP policies by EU partners, considerable differentiation in their objectives and a heightened concern for the stabilisation of the region. Rooted in a critical, constructivist approach to discourse analysis, it eventually contends that the seemingly less voluntarist narrative developed in South Neighbourhood policy documents is the result of higher threat perception in the Union. A threat narrative is indeed highlighted, as a particular instance of a crisis rhetoric, resulting in a notable downscaling of EU normative ambitions in the region. Investigation of the Egyptian and Tunisian cases since 2011 provides important information regarding these developments in the ENP. This thesis eventually points to civil society assistance as a narrative of inclusiveness which could prove to be a significant addition to ENP democracy promotion agenda, while recognising the limits of this endeavour.Show less
A comparative study comparing regional and minority language policies in Spain, Italy and the European Union. Particular focus on language policies in Italian and Spanish regions, regarding French,...Show moreA comparative study comparing regional and minority language policies in Spain, Italy and the European Union. Particular focus on language policies in Italian and Spanish regions, regarding French, German, Galician, Catalan and Basque. Topics include historical Spanish and Italian language policies, European language policies and frameworks.Show less
Recently, the positions of France, Great Britain and Germany towards the Middle East Peace Process have started to show convergence. However, it is unclear what has caused this. This multiple...Show moreRecently, the positions of France, Great Britain and Germany towards the Middle East Peace Process have started to show convergence. However, it is unclear what has caused this. This multiple qualitative case study assesses whether this convergence is the result of the gradual adoption of common European positions and ideas, also known as Europeanization, or that it has been caused by domestic and geopolitical factors. The findings of this study suggest that limited Europeanization has occurred but that the level and kind of Europeanization differs among the three states. Whereas Great Britain and Germany have been influenced by Europeanization, France has successfully managed to influence Europe’s position towards the Middle East Peace Process. This study concludes that the difference in Europeanization has predominantly been caused by each of the states’ unique strategic and historic backgrounds.Show less
The phrase "War on Terror" has become one of the most used by politicians in the last two decades and international terrorism nowadays classifies as one of the top security priorities in the...Show moreThe phrase "War on Terror" has become one of the most used by politicians in the last two decades and international terrorism nowadays classifies as one of the top security priorities in the political agendas. With the growth of the phenomenon of the “home-grown” terrorists, the pressure is on the rise for countries worldwide to find and adopt measures suitable for preventing rather than mitigating and treating post-terrorist attacks' conditions and situations. Next to repression early prevention could prove to be an extremely valuable tool maybe not for the immediate future but for the generations to come to live terror-free. For this reason, violent extremism and violent extreme radicalization need to be approached and tackled at their roots before reaching the point of searching for potential homegrown terrorists or even later post-attack attempting to find the culprits and their groups or networks or even later trying through programmes to de-radicalize and reinstate them in the society. According to many scientists and academics, education plays a key role in the shaping of young minds and this is a preventive sector that the EU should be investing in even more. It could be argued that legal constrictions to the matter are applicable, which has been a significant impediment. However, the Member States should be discussing for education reforms to be applied as such, since this not anymore purely a matter of education and of national interest of each Member State, but relates directly to EU-wide security situations. The EU until very recently has not had specific steps or points within its policies at union level as far as education is concerned to prevent violent extremist radicalisation of young individuals. The situation has changed in the last 5 years, but measures still lack specificity, guidance and instruction in application. Member states themselves have adopted different approaches - related to counterterrorism and not necessarily focusing on education since such EU reforms were non-binding - either pre or post-incidents of terrorism depending on the degree to which each has suffered from cases and attacks of violent radicalisation. Many discussions and decisions have been made to adopt a common EU level approach on education against terrorism, or at least to follow the same direction and to move towards a common goal. However, all of these until now - other more and other less - have been non-specific and/or non-binding, meaning they also have not been implemented evenly around the EU or - if not at all. This dissertation is an effort to more specific and targeted steps in education in an effort to prevent violent radicalisation and the creation of more homegrown terrorists.Show less
After years of integration in other sectors, the member states decided to include foreign and defence policy to EU cooperation. Therefore, it is now, after a few decades, a good moment to look...Show moreAfter years of integration in other sectors, the member states decided to include foreign and defence policy to EU cooperation. Therefore, it is now, after a few decades, a good moment to look critically at what has been achieved in this sector of EU defence cooperation. With this reason, this thesis will approach the question, why do the member states want defence integration to happen in smaller groups? This question can be split in multiple sub-questions. Firstly, could reaction of the member states be out of discontent of how cooperation is functioning on a EU-level? Secondly, does the EU allow the member states to continue in smaller groups, instead of moving forward as a Union? These question will be approached by using a variety of documents. For example, not only the EU perspective but also the national interests of member states and the vision of experts on defence integration should be taken into consideration as well as useful sources for this thesis. Furthermore by looking at theories of defence integration in the EU, such as, Institutionalism, constructivism and realist theory, this thesis will try to find the motives for defence integration. Using the patterns of the theory will make it easier to analyse and compare the cases that will be included in this thesis. The three selected cases are from a different scale. From cooperation on a Union-level to bilateral cooperation and integration. As a result, this thesis has to add additional information and perspectives on the integration of defence within the EU.Show less
The European Union’s approach towards the OPT on human rights has often been criticised for its conflicting interests, its internal division and coordination. However, simply renouncing the EU’s...Show moreThe European Union’s approach towards the OPT on human rights has often been criticised for its conflicting interests, its internal division and coordination. However, simply renouncing the EU’s effort in human rights promotion in the name of realism, neo-liberalism or Eurocentric imperialism does not offer clarifications why the EU is committed to universal human rights norms and as to why the EU proved to be very weak in projecting its human rights agenda. This thesis suggests a normative power approach to the study of EU human rights policy towards the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Vital to it is the assumption that EU human rights policy and the relation between the EU and Israel has been and should be normative. To analyse this assumption, this thesis draws upon the existing literature in regard to ‘Normative Power Europe’ and adopt Ian Manners tripartite analytical framework in order to assess the EU’s adherence to human rights norms and its external identity, illustrate how the EU diffuses human rights norms, and how the impact of this should be evaluated in the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In doing so, this thesis aims to add to the empirical abundance of NPE literature and applying normative power to the human rights dimensions of EU-Israeli relations. To address these goals, the research shows the inconsistencies between the EU’s rhetoric and the diffusion of norms in Israel’s policy. This thesis will argue that the EU has normative intentions but that this is not a precondition for firm action and the diffusion of human rights norms in Israel. The protection of human rights as core norm of the EU is easily sacrificed when it has to compete with (vital) self-interests such as a collective European identity, security interests and strategic interests. The extent to which the EU pursues a human rights agenda is nevertheless very limited to the detriment of the EU’s normative identity.Show less
This thesis explains the arms export control in EU Member States after the establishment of the European Code of Conduct (ECC)’s criteria, where the need to protect human rights is incorporated as...Show moreThis thesis explains the arms export control in EU Member States after the establishment of the European Code of Conduct (ECC)’s criteria, where the need to protect human rights is incorporated as one of its criteria. This thesis shows that, although EU Member States should only control their arms exports using the ECC’s criteria, the result of the controls on the exports of arms to third countries considered as human rights perpetrators in different Member States is not harmonized. This is because national parliament of each EU Member State might approve the exports of arms in their countries based on different reasons. Parliaments in the Member States that have more respect to human rights, like the Netherlands, can prevent their governments from granting the permits to the exports that carry risk of violation of human rights. The parliaments in the Member States that have less respect on human rights can still allow their governments to grant the permit for such exports because for them export revenues and bilateral relationship might be more important than human rights. This thesis shows that the national parliaments can control the exports of arms in their countries and prevent their governments from granting the permits to the exports that do not satisfy their wishes.Show less
