The thesis presents a comparative analysis of the scope and objectives of four EU regions’ European policies and programmes. It evaluates the extent to which regions’ European engagement is targeted to achieving regional economic development on the one hand and European social integration and identity construction on the other hand. The analysis starts with a comparative evaluation of the four case study regions’ European policies and is substantiated by the findings of over 60 interviews with regional political elites and civil servants in the four case study regions: Germany’s Brandenburg; Belgium’s Wallonia; France’s Nord – Pas de Calais; and the South West of England. This thesis advances a more comprehensive understanding of regional governments as European actors, whether political elites and civil servants aim to promote European identity-building through their policies, as well as which regional characteristics further impact the scope and objectives of their European policies. This thesis provides evidence-based answers to the research question posed: What are the scope and objectives of regions’ European policies and what role does European identity play in them? The thesis research has grown out of the context of regions’ EU integration; the multi-level governance approach; the increase of regions’ political authority vis-à-vis European politics; and the uncertainty on whether regional political actors (political elites and civil servants) aim to foster a European identity. Research has not yet observed, compared and analysed the objectives of regions’ European policies in terms of European identity-building. This thesis research has taken an important step in pioneering this area of research by undertaking case studies in four EU regions.

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This study contributes to the growing literature on the politicisation of European integration in EU member states, and the United Kingdom in particular. Existing studies have shown that political identities are closely related to the levels of support held by citizens for European integration, and that citizen opposition to the EU is mobilised by political parties who activate the tension between identity and jurisdictional reforms. This study argues that existing theories of integration do not adequately acknowledge the role of the media in national debates about European integration, in light of the media’s role as the main source of information on the EU for citizens. It builds upon Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks’ (2009) postfunctionalist theory of European integration, to examine the process by which European integration is politicised in member states, and argues that the media should be theorised as a substantive actor in this process. It presents a new model – Media Augmented Postfunctionalism – that conceptualises the politicisation process and the role of the mass media within it. A discourse analysis of nine UK national daily newspapers and of political party discourses is deployed alongside a quantitative analysis of media positions to explore the linkages between the press, party discourses, and public opinion in the UK between 1997 and 2010. The thesis presents evidence to suggest that the structure of newspaper positions on European integration is similar to that of parties. It goes on to explore the content and character of newspaper discourses, and shows that there is a strong association between the position of newspapers on the ‘new politics’ dimension and their discursive construction of the EU: those newspapers that have a strongly traditional-authoritarian- nationalist position are more likely to oppose European integration. It demonstrates that while there is a strong and cohesive anti-European discourse in the UK press, there is not a corresponding coherent pro-European discourse. This thesis finally shows that newspapers play an important role in mediating party discourses and that they substantively (re-)frame public debates on European integration, determining their character. These findings suggest that the mass media can alter the outcomes of the politicisation and contestation of the EU in member states.

This thesis is a study of the distribution of competences between the main actors in European integration: namely the European Community and the Member States. It aims to evaluate the place of the competence provisions in the current Treaty structure as well as within the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. This task first involves a legal-technical exercise based on a textual interpretation of different categories of competences within the above-mentioned sources. Second, it involves a review of the relevant Court of Justice case law with regard to those competences. The study of both has led the author to consider how the evolution of Community competence has given rise to the phenomenon of 'competence' creep'. It is argued that Member States contend that the Community assumes more powers than those it possesses. Thus, the thesis provides an insight into concerns about 'creeping competence'. Certain types of situations are identified under the title of 'creeping competence'. These include, the adoption of unjustified or undesired EC legislation under qualified majority voting the expansion of the Community's competence under Article 308 EC and finally the adoption of EC legislation that goes beyond the scope of Article 5 EC (principle of attribution of powers). The thesis will provide certain examples to underline the problem. It will take account of the use of the flexibility provisions of Article 95 EC and 308 EC with regard to the regulation of health and the Community's accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which are treated as case studies in the thesis. In the context of a problematic system of competences, the author will consider the assumptions made in the Nice and Laeken IGCs as well as the European Convention for a clearer distribution of competence and assess the role of the principle of subsidiarity as a tool against the expansion of Community competence into new policy areas. It is argued that the reform of subsidiarity will enhance EU legitimacy and enlarge the role of national legislatures in the Union. The reconstruction of subsidiarity procedures may remedy the tensions in the current system of competence and provide limits to the degree of EU intervention. Besides tidying up competences between the EU and Member States, European Constitutionalisation hides a question of political finality and further integration. How can the EU establish an effective and democratically legitimate governance beyond the Nation State Via a European Constitution or through alternative methods This question is particularly important in the current context following the French and Dutch rejection of the EU Constitutional Treaty. The chances of the EU Constitution being revived in the near future are slim, since it is unlikely that either France or Holland will soon hold another referendum. Thus, either a period of reflection shall be allowed to Member States or alternative routes to integration shall be considered. The thesis concludes with the hypothesis that as the EU Constitutional Treaty does not provide the answers to most of the questions posed by the Nice and the Laeken European Councils, enhanced cooperation may be utilised as a future method of governance and Fischer's 'Core Europe' as a tool capable of a redistribution of competences inside the Union. But then again the European Union needs to avoid a new iron curtain descending between those Member States that represent the 'core' and those that constitute the 'periphery'.

This thesis explores the dynamic development of transnational sub-regional cooperation in the East Asia Pacific and its relation to the East Asian integration process. It is generally agreed that regional integration has become an irresistible global trend. Nevertheless, while regionalism has succeeded in establishing the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement, no theory is yet profound enough to promote an effective cooperation mechanism in the East Asia Pacific. In respond to that, this empirical thesis is dedicated to exploring the problems and prospects that help explain why East Asian integration is different from other regions, as well as whether or not transnational sub-regional cooperation, focusing on intensive economic interaction at the local level without heavy political commitment, can be an alternative path for region-building in the East Asia Pacific. This thesis is based on case studies and the comparative methodology. A fieldwork research based on in-depth interviews was designed for further data collection. The research started by tracing out the development of contemporary integration theories including regionalisation, regionalism, new regionalism, and open regionalism; and their application in East Asia. It then evaluated the conditions underlying the transnational sub-regional cooperation for integration. The introduction in the first chapter lays out a basic framework for research and the main questions for analysis: what accounts for the establishment and transformation of transnational sub-regional cooperation in the East Asia Pacific? In addition to that, to what extent can transnational sub-regional cooperation contribute to regional integration in the East Asia Pacific? In order to build up a comprehensive understanding of transnational sub-regional cooperation in the East Asia Pacific, three cases were selected for further study, including the Singapore-Johor-Riau Growth Triangle, the Tumen River Area Development Programme, and the Southern China Sub-regional Economic Zone. Since the Southern China Sub-regional Economic Zone was the most prosperous project among these three cases, it was significant to conduct fieldwork research in this area to get a full picture of how micro-regionalism, a policy-driven force, interacted with micro-regionalisation, a market-led, in a sub-regional economic zone. Moreover, what was the extent of these two forces in sub-regional cooperation and their interrelations with regional integration in East Asia? This research introduces EGPIB factors (Economic complementarity, Geographical proximity, Political commitment and Policy coordination, Infrastructure development, and Business networks), as well as the theories used to examine the transformation of the cases. This thesis can contribute to the understanding of the establishment and the development of the transnational sub-regional cooperation in the East Asia Pacific. It contends that, firstly, economic complementarity, among five factors, is the most important determinant for forming a sub-regional economic zone. Secondly, micro-regionalisation and micro-regionalism are both important in maintaining a growing sub-regional economic zone. However, they weight differently in the course of a sub-regional cooperation project. And thirdly, a sub-regional economic zone which closely follows the flying geese pattern is more likely to grow.

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This thesis has two interrelated aims, both of which reflect my interest in the development of a variety of supra-national organisations since 1945 and the possibility that a new system of global soft governance may be emerging. The first is to fill a gap in the literature created by scholarly neglect of one of the most important of these supra-national bodies, viz. the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The method adopted partly involves archival research and partly elite interviews with fifteen of the twenty original OECD member states. The second aim is more theoretical. It consists of relating my research on the OECD to the development at global level of what some scholars have termed a novel system of soft governance. What characterizes soft governance is the gradual establishment by international organisations like the OECD of a relative degree of autonomy in their relations with the larger states with which they interact. My findings suggest that the this autonomy has transformed the OECD from a purely economic tool of large states into an institution enjoying a degree of independence as an expert adviser on issues of technology and development; as a moral educator on issues of social reform; and as a locus for diplomatic activity. Although soft governance is fragile, my research points to the emergence of a wholly unplanned normative framework for interaction which alleviates the uncertainties of a post-Westphalian international order. Particular attention has been devoted to Turkey, one of the original OECD members, since the Turkish case illustrates the great change in the global role of the OECD from being merely an American creation for implementing the Marshall Plan to a relatively autonomous international institution possessing a moral authority capable of transcending in some degree national economic, political, and cultural diversity.

I begin with a critical deconstruction of the conventional wisdom of globalisation. If the world does indeed resemble that depicted in the conventional wisdom, the claim that policy change is structurally determined at the economic level could well be sustainable. However, I show that globalisation rhetoric corresponds poorly with globalisation reality, suggesting that other causal influences on policy change must also be explored. I argue that in addition to examining the international economic conditions of domestic political change, a more comprehensive understanding of the globalisation experience emerges if we also examine the domestic political conditions of international economic change. Viewed through such a perspective, New Labour’s appropriation of the conventional wisdom of globalisation appears to be strategic. The repeated appeal to ‘globalising necessities’ has been used to displace the need for active consent to the political status quo in Britain. So long as the conventional wisdom continues to resonate within public discourse, the continued reproduction of the political status quo seems secure; even though I demonstrate that the management of the economy within the parameters of that status quo has become increasingly contradictory. Moreover, so long as the government acts in a manner consistent with the globalisation hypothesis, I show that path-dependent effects threaten to lock-in precisely those structural constraints which its globalisation rhetoric at present purportedly merely describes. As a consequence, this process of lock-in would then also inscribe the current contradictions within the government’s economic policy as a structural feature of the macroeconomic regime.

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