Cybercrime is not clearly defined. This is an important issue as academics, but also law and policymakers are not able to tackle the issue sufficiently without knowing the boundaries of the concept...Show moreCybercrime is not clearly defined. This is an important issue as academics, but also law and policymakers are not able to tackle the issue sufficiently without knowing the boundaries of the concept. Defining what the boundaries are, is important to identify if it is a crime and to establish international consensus on the topic with regards to law enforcement. This thesis aimed to map out the debate regarding the definition of ‘cybercrime’. A database of 139 sources was created and divided into three categories; sources that used no definition, sources that were about the debate itself and the last category, sources that provided/stated a definition on cybercrime (see Appendix A). In this category, two main camps were identified. One following the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime definition and one where the role of technology was deemed the centre point of the definition. ‘Technology’ was an important concept but the meaning of this term differed across the definitions. Finally, to provide new angles for this research gap, the ‘cybercrime’ definition debate was compared to the ‘white-collar crime’ definition debate. Three uncertainties that Quinney (1964) described were compared to the findings from the database. Two uncertainties were comparable. This means that this is not a new discussion but rather history repeating itself in another form. This opens up possible new opportunities and angles for research.Show less
On regular bases, the Court of Justice of the European Union has been accused of being activist. However, the very nature of the European Union and the great complexity and diversity of the...Show moreOn regular bases, the Court of Justice of the European Union has been accused of being activist. However, the very nature of the European Union and the great complexity and diversity of the European Court of Justice’s case law imply that judicial activism in itself may mean different things. First used and widespread in the United States, the term was rapidly taken for granted and applied to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Yet, the notion of judicial activism has been extensively used by scholars and judges but its meaning has become more and more ambiguous. As American Judge Frank H. Easterbrook already put in 2002 “Everyone scorns judicial “activism”, that notoriously slippery term” (2002: 1402). In fact, too often employed to explain a number of different, even contradictory, concepts, it has become increasingly risky to use it. This thesis does neither aim to provide a single and specific definition of the notion of judicial activism nor to bring a completely new approach to the term. Its purpose is rather to collect a wide body of scholarship, to gather the most top-cited theories, to link them to case law and other literature. Then, the objective is to create a typology of judicial activism to make it easier for the reader to understand and for the scholars to convey their theories more adequately.Show less
China is closely examined by the rest of the world’s eagles eye. Different aspects such as the economy, western ideas and new incumbent politicians play a major role in the process of...Show moreChina is closely examined by the rest of the world’s eagles eye. Different aspects such as the economy, western ideas and new incumbent politicians play a major role in the process of democratization. This thesis is aimed at examining China’s recent historical events and analyzing what impact this had on rural level. In order to analyze China’s rural level there is a top-down structure throughout this thesis. Furthermore, this analysis is supported by various definitions and requirements to finally be able to conclude whether Chinese rural areas enhance democracy or not.Show less
