Why do Member States, that are similar in many aspects, still have varying levels of compliance? As current compliance theories are unable to answer this question a new theory has been developed...Show moreWhy do Member States, that are similar in many aspects, still have varying levels of compliance? As current compliance theories are unable to answer this question a new theory has been developed that adds an historical aspect into compliance research: the challenging attitude approach. This theory proposes that earlier adopted attitudes by Member States, that range from agreeable to challenging, which they display before, during and after infringement proceedings, affect future compliance. Member States initially base these attitudes on a normative assumption about the importance of compliance to a policy field. For this research the Netherlands has been compared to Belgium, which yearly faces twice the amount of infringement proceedings as the Netherlands. Portugal has been to Spain, which faces from 10% more to twice the amount of infringement proceedings as Portugal. Their portrayed attitudes in regards to the Dangerous Substances Directive and the Birds Directive have been studied. This research showed, however, that Belgium did not adopt a challenging attitude more often than the Netherlands. Spain did adopt a challenging attitude more often than Portugal. There was also great variation displayed by Member States in adopted attitude per directive. However, there appears to be a correlation between adopted attitude and future compliance. More research is needed to make substantial claims about the challenging attitude approach.Show less
Disruptions to the routine operations of ICTs in conflict situations have made cybersecurity come to ascend a prominent position in the legal and political decision-makeing of the EU....Show moreDisruptions to the routine operations of ICTs in conflict situations have made cybersecurity come to ascend a prominent position in the legal and political decision-makeing of the EU. Europeanization has been used to describe the processes by which EU decision-makeing manifests itself in the logic of, for example, national policy outcomes of those processes (see Radaelli, 2012, p. 1 as cited by Fererro & Ackrill, 2016, p.880). The literature has pointed to the significant amount of soft law which the EU has issued to regulate cybersecurity. However, per definition EU member states are not legally obliged to implement soft law. Accordingly, by utilizing Europeanization as a conceptual frame, this thesis has sought to answer the question: To what extent has non-legally binding EU soft law on cybersecurity influenced the making of the national cybersecurity policies of its MS over time? To address the research, question the thesis has taken a small-scale empirical mixed-method approach by analyzing the extent to which specifically, Germany's and Slovakia's national cybersecurity strategies have harmonized over time toward the 2020 EU cybersecurity strategy (EUCSS) as a consequence of using the soft law document in their stagey-making. The analysis suggest that the EU cybersecurity strategy did influence the national strategy-making, but that the degree of harmonization depended on the extent to which the EUCSS aligned with national ambitions and priorities. To this end, the member states actively strived to 'Europeanize' their national cybersecurity strategies.Show less
The bombings in New York on 9 September 2001 (9/11) made the European Union (EU) realize that it would be necessary to change European policies to combat this form of terrorism. This asked for a...Show moreThe bombings in New York on 9 September 2001 (9/11) made the European Union (EU) realize that it would be necessary to change European policies to combat this form of terrorism. This asked for a strong cooperation between different elements of the EU, such as the EU self, Member States and the European Police Office (Europol). Although it is Europol’s role to gather information that comes from the Member States concerning terrorists’ acts or behaviour and to act as an umbrella organisation, the cooperation between Europol and the Member States is difficult. Even so, after 9/11 the EU was capable in creating the ‘Plan of Action on Combating Terrorism’ to create the first guidelines to prevent that the EU would also be a victim of this form of terrorism in the future. To understand what the effect was of this Plan, this thesis looks into the question to what extent the EU has been using arguments such as terrorism to incentivize the Member States to take action against terrorism. This thesis will argue that this Plan was not very successful. The member states should make more use of the EU’s and Europol’s capabilities and increase and improve the cooperation between them all and that the EU should enhance the capabilities of Europol. Furthermore, the Member States should not only act when there is a massive attack as on 9/11, because it is better to prevent certain attacks and to minimalize the consequences and victims.Show less
