The research puzzle of the thesis is to investigate how policy discourse mediates domestic policy adjustment consequent on commitments entered into at the domestic level by the European Union. Conceptually, it adopts the discursive institutionalist framework as developed by Vivien Schmidt and Claudio Radaelli. Empirically, it chooses a single-case study approach to focus on the Greek old-age pension policy adjustment during 1990-2002. The thesis also appraises the process of Europeanization. It adopts the ‘bottom-up’ approach to Europeanization as developed by Claudio Radaelli. Under this scope it’s analysis does not start from EU policy commitments as an independent variable, but from a system of interaction at the domestic level. Conceptually, the thesis looks at policy discourse as a consensus and legitimacy building resource. It focuses on the discursive interactions of key policy actors and analyses how they use policy discourse in order to justify the necessity and the appropriateness of policy adjustment in a given institutional context. The thesis suggests that the discursive institutionalist argument of how policy discourse facilitates policy adjustment puts too much emphasis on the governmental discourse and that the input of the rest of key policy actors must be included in the analysis. It thus proposes the integration of certain elements of the Neo-Positivist Narrative Analysis framework to discursive institutionalism. The argument claims that policy actors’ discourse will take the form of policy narratives that either expand or contain the policy issue. The institutional context will determine the level at which the discursive interaction will take place. In simple polities like Greece, discourse will be thicker at the communicative level and thinner at the coordinative. The effectiveness of discourse will be determined by the level of trust between the government, the key policy actors and the public. The empirical analysis points to a number of domestic factors that restrict the effectiveness of policy discourse and the process of Europeanization, which fall outside the pension policy area and Greece. The thesis also contributes to the advancement of discursive institutionalism. Firstly, it incorporates narrative analysis to the study of discourse. Secondly, it highlights certain limitations, it suggests ways that discursive institutionalism could be improved and directions towards which it could be fruitfully developed.

This research examines European Union (EU) policy instruments affecting the urban domain throughout the lenses of the Europeanization approach. Instead of looking at EU instruments that are formally/legally consecrated to cities, we use theoretical public policy analysis to explore the arenas and the causal mechanisms that structure the encounter between the EU and urban systems of governance. We develop the argument that there are four different modes of Europeanization. In consequence, to grasp the essence of a single instrument or a given EU initiative, one has to establish which mode is prevailing in the policy logic of that instrument or initiative. The core variables that explain change concern the status of actors’ preferences (a) and the payoffs from Europeanization (b). The combination of (a) and (b) thus originates a four dimensional space. We can therefore develop a typology for the modes of Europeanization, which chimes with current theorisations on the EU modes of governance. The eventual Europeanization of urban systems depends on the nature of strategic interaction, not on the legal ‘tools’ explicitly designated for cities. Thus, policy instruments are initially associated with the four modes. We then used process-tracing to verify whether instruments actually perform according to the ‘mode’ to which they have been initially paired, or if they trigger contingencies that have not been theoretically/deductively foreseen. This is particularly convenient within a realm – urban policies – where the EU does not have a specific formal competence and where interactions between ‘cities’ and the EU are likely to take place within multiple policy areas and during different stages of the policy process. Mechanisms are explored by considering the city of Turin. The four ‘policy instruments’ selected as proxies for the assessment of modes of Europeanization are the Covenant of Mayors programme for energy saving, directive 1994/62 (then waste framework directive) for waste management, directive 1993/30 for air quality control and the URBAN II Community Initiative for urban regeneration and development. The analysis of the four instruments reveals less variation between modes than initially expected. In this connection, theoretical similarity between modes, as emerged from the typological exercise carried out at the outset of the research, was partially echoed by the empirical analysis of policy instruments. Within cities and urban areas, the Europeanization effect is likely to assume a more blurred fashion and the action of, and reaction to, Europe is greatly interwoven with other dynamics, which in turn shape the perception and the actual impact of European modes and instruments for regulation. In the conclusions we highlight the differences between this approach and the traditional analysis of EU urban policy, and suggest avenues for future empirical research based on typologies of policy instruments.

The research investigated the impact of EU law and policies on direct taxation in REITs, and movement towards a harmonised EU-REIT with common direct taxation of REITs profits. It represents the first comparative study of EU member state REIT regimes to identify an emerging common understanding informed by European jurisprudence and Europeanization policy and theory. After identifying the fundamental elements of a REIT (following the original US model) within a context of Europeanization theory, the research examined EU policy mechanisms (such as goodness of fit and adaptational soft pressure) and the impact of relevant case law from the European Court of Justice. It then presented in-depth case studies of three member states: France (example of a well-established REIT regime), Bulgaria (a new accession state) and Spain (a recent REIT regime). The research found an emerging common understanding between member states’ REIT regimes, offering the prospect of a European harmonised REIT form distinguishable from the US model. It also found negative approaches to direct taxation in cross-border situations, and member state concerns about loss of sovereignty and tax base, which should be recognised within any harmonised direct tax regime. The research can claim to be the first comparative analysis of MS REIT regimes to address a common understanding, and thus is relevant to practitioners and academics in the fields of European law and international taxation. It has potential to contribute towards an improved common direct taxation approach and the harmonisation of European REITs within the wider processes of Europeanization. The research was limited to REIT regimes in EU member states, and further research could analyse relevant member state tax regimes outside the 'common understanding' REIT model, and further explores issues of loss of sovereignty and tax base in member states.

Europeanization of Criminal Law This thesis deals with Europeanization of Criminal Law. The topic itself is broad, selected issues of Europeanization of Criminal Procedural Law are therefore emphasized. In the introduction, certain problems which accompany the Europeanization in a Criminal Law field are presented. The biggest obstacle is a close connection of Criminal Law with state sovereignty, which is something that states are reluctant to restrict in favour of European Union. Another hindrance to Europeanization is a difference among national criminal regulations, which make an achievement of a compromise regarding the harmonization harder. The first chapter concentrates on the terms Europeanization of Criminal Law, European Criminal Law and Criminal Law of the European Union. Their definition and differentiation is provided. The second chapter discusses in brief the evolution of Europeanization of Criminal Law prior to the adoption of Schengen treaties. The informal cooperation in criminal matters took place in this era. Unlike the one in the chapter three, which already addresses the formal cooperation in criminal matters. It describes gradual development from Schengen cooperation, through the cooperation under Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaty, up to the cooperation on the basis of...

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse not only the general topic of the europeanisation but also the topic of the legal europeanisation as such. This thesis is divided into eight parts. Chapter I provides a general introduction of the europeanisation and it also sets down the goals of this thesis. Chapter II aims at the general overview of the labour law. Chapter III deals with the European Union and the European law. This chapter is divided into two subchapters. The first subchapter goes in mainly for the development of the European Union. This is followed by the second subchapter dealing with the development of the labour law in the European Union. European labour law has been developing long time and can be divided into three time lines. Chapter IV engages with the topic of the europeanisation. Firstly, the terminology is reconciled and afterwards it continues with the europeanisation in common sense. Also some definitions and opinions from authors dealing with the Europeanisation are taken into consideration and pointed out. Then, the legal europeanisation introduction come after with regard to reasons which lead the member states of the European Union to harmonize their own legal order or which tools are used to harmonize the legal orders. The following Chapter V targets the europeanisation...

Thesis advisor: Jonathan Laurence / This thesis analyzes the impact of Europeanization on national sovereignty, through a case study examining the French experience between the Maastricht Treaty of the early 1990s and the Treaty of Lisbon in present day. It approaches the study of Europeanization and French national sovereignty from two directions, addressing both political and social sovereignty. While Europeanization and European integration are most identified with the economic realm, examining political and social sovereignty allows for the development of an understanding of how Europeanization operates as a top-down process. Europeanization began on the supranational level, bringing the states together economically. It then developed on the interstate level, bringing together leaders politically. Currently, it is expanding to the subnational level, uniting the people of all member states socially. Because of this progression, Europeanization has had the most impact on economic sovereignty, less on political sovereignty and the least on social sovereignty. Though Europeanization and national sovereignty are traditionally seen as locked in an either/or battle, this study of France’s experience with political and social sovereignty throughout the past twenty years suggests that Europeanization is not destroying national sovereignty, but rather, allowing for a reinterpretation of national sovereignty and the relationship between nation-states and international actors. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies.

Thèse confidentielle jusqu'au 14/12/2019. Notre thèse s’intéresse à l’européanisation du système énergétique européen. Par système énergétique européen, nous comprenons un ensemble de 28 politiques nationales, construites dans un cadre normatif européen régi par le principe de primauté du droit communautaire. Dans ce système énergétique, nous nous sommes focalisés sur la question de la sécurité énergétique. Notre recherche a démontré que l’européanisation par la norme fonctionne. / Confidential PhD thesis. Our research focused on the Europeanisation of the European energy system. By European energy system, we understand a set of 28 national policies, built in a European normative framework governed by the principle of primacy of EU law. In this energy system, we focused on the issue of energy security. Our research has shown that normative Europeanisation works.

<p>The general aim of this paper is to describe how the European Union can affect and transfer their conditionality politics to the Western Balkan countries. A specific purpose of this study is to describe and explain what we in this paper consider to be a specific additional membership criterion, regional cooperation that has been especially designed for this region. The point of departure for this paper is Europeanization theory that will be used to study the European Union’s impact on non EU-members in Europe. The theoretical Europeanization mechanisms are taken from Heather Grabbes “Europeanization model”. A descriptive case study method together with a theory consuming method will be used. After the wars in former Yugoslavia the now independent countries started in their own pace to move closer the European Union. The problems the individual countries faced in the beginning of the 21^st century were much a consequence of the war. This lead the European Union to establish a special political and economical regional framework, where regional cooperation was emphasized. Regional cooperation developed into one of the most important elements in the EU´s relation with the countries and is made a specific requirement under the Stabilization- and association process. Implications this paper makes are that regional cooperation can be considered as a specific requirement the EU use in the Western Balkan countries membership process and that EU have a series of “influencing tools” which works to promote regional cooperation in the Western Balkans.</p><!--EndFragment-->

<p>The goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of the EU on Turkish democracy. In order to achieve this aim, the paper concentrates on three areas, as representative institutions, opposition parties and freedom of expression. The impact of the EU on Turkey has been more explicit during the last decades. In particular since 1999 when the country became a candidate for membership, and that will eventually lead to Turkey joining the European Union. Thereby this paper will examine the demands EU set up for the country and how Turkey accomplishes these criteria. The first part of the analysis focuses on the conditions EU set up for Turkish membership, while the second part explains Turkey’s progress in meeting those demands.  The theories are Europeanization and the institution of freedom of expression which is part of Polyarchy. These will be used to answer the question: Which demands EU set up for Turkey and to what extent the country applies to those demands? The paper is based on qualitative method as a case study. Turkey has in some areas made progress regard to freedom of expression and representative institutions, however the country must continue with political reforms in those areas.</p>

The general aim of this paper is to describe how the European Union can affect and transfer their conditionality politics to the Western Balkan countries. A specific purpose of this study is to describe and explain what we in this paper consider to be a specific additional membership criterion, regional cooperation that has been especially designed for this region. The point of departure for this paper is Europeanization theory that will be used to study the European Union’s impact on non EU-members in Europe. The theoretical Europeanization mechanisms are taken from Heather Grabbes “Europeanization model”. A descriptive case study method together with a theory consuming method will be used. After the wars in former Yugoslavia the now independent countries started in their own pace to move closer the European Union. The problems the individual countries faced in the beginning of the 21st century were much a consequence of the war. This lead the European Union to establish a special political and economical regional framework, where regional cooperation was emphasized. Regional cooperation developed into one of the most important elements in the EU´s relation with the countries and is made a specific requirement under the Stabilization- and association process. Implications this paper makes are that regional cooperation can be considered as a specific requirement the EU use in the Western Balkan countries membership process and that EU have a series of “influencing tools” which works to promote regional cooperation in the Western Balkans. <!--EndFragment-->