Access control is a significant issue in any secure computer system. Authorization models provide a formalism and framework for specifying and evaluating access control policies that determine how access is granted and delegated among particular users. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate flexible decentralized authorization model supporting authorization delegation, both positive and negative authorization, and conflict resolution. A graph based authorization framework is proposed which can support authorization delegations and both positive and negative authorizations. In particular, it is shown that the existing conflict resolution methods are limited when applied to decentralized authorization models and cyclic authorizations can even lead to undesirable situations. A new conflict resolution policy is then proposed, which can support well controlled delegation by giving predecessors higher priorities along the delegation path. The thesis provides a formal description of the proposed model and detailed descriptions of algorithms to implement it. The model is represented using labelled digraphs, which provide a formal basis for proving the semantic correctness of the model. A weighted graph based model is presented which allows grantors to further express degrees of certainties about their granting of authorizations. The work is further extended to consider more complex domains where subjects, objects and access rights are hierarchically structured and authorization inheritance along the hierarchies taken into account. A precise semantics is given which is based on stable model semantics, and, several important properties of delegatable authorization programs investigated. The framework provides users a reasonable method to express complex security policy. To address the many situations in which users may need to be granted or delegated authorizations for a limited period of time, a temporal decentralized authorization model is proposed in which temporal authorization delegations and negations are allowable. Proper semantic properties are further investigated. Finally, as an application, the thesis shows how the proposed authorization model can be used in a e-consent system on health data. A system architecture for e-consent is presented and different types of e-consent models discussed. The proposed model is shown to provide users a good framework for representing and evaluating these models. / Doctor of Philosphy (PhD)

Inspiré de la jurisprudence administrative, le contrôle des incompétences négatives est l’un des contentieux les plus mobilisés par le Conseil constitutionnel. Dès la première censure prononcée en 1967, le juge constitutionnel s’est « approprié » les incompétences négatives en s’écartant des classifications traditionnelles du droit administratif et en utilisant ce contentieux bien au-delà de la répartition des compétences. Aujourd’hui, il s’agit davantage d’un contrôle du fond de la loi que de sa forme. Se pose alors la question de savoir pourquoi le Conseil refuse d’accueillir les demandes fondées sur l’incompétence négative – exclusivement – dans le cadre des questions prioritaires de constitutionnalité. En réalité, les incompétences négatives ont une qualité essentielle : elles permettent de réaliser un contrôle effectif des omissions législatives, de renforcer la protection des droits et libertés, sans jamais avoir l’apparence de le faire. / Inspired by the administrative’s case law, control of the « incompétence négative » is one of the most mobilized by the Constitutional Council. From the first censure pronounced in 1967, the constitutional Council "appropriated" this notion by departing from the traditional classifications of administrative law and use this concept well beyond the distribution of powers. Today, it is more of a substance check of the law than a formal control. This raises the question of why the judge refuses to accommodate requests based on the « incompétence négative » - exclusively - as part of the priority preliminaryruling on the issue of constitutionality. In fact, this notion has an essential quality: it allow to achieve an effective control of legislative’s omissions, to strengthen the protection of rights and freedoms without ever having the appearance of doing so.

The thesis is devoted to analysing the EU's communication with Southern Neighbours (SNs), namely Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The purpose of the study is to identify what the EU's communications disclose about its role as Hard, Soft, Normative or Transformative Power in the region. The literature describes the actorness of the EU in the world by all four forms of power. However, the competition between these concepts inside the official discourse of the EU Delegations (EUDs) has been less investigated. Data for the current research comes from the content of the country-specific statements and press releases that appeared on the EUDs' websites from June 2016 to March 2021. The methodology is a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The work reveals that the EU appeals to its Transformative Power more often in comparison to the other concepts of power in its communications to the three SNs in focus. Moreover, the thesis critically assesses external perceptions of the EU based on 2016 and 2020 opinion polls. It unfolds the problems of the current communication strategy of the EU with SNs. This review is followed by recommendations for possible improvement of the efficiency of the EU's power representation on the international stage. The thesis attempts to add to the discussion...

Le principe de légalité de l’impôt, en tant que traduction au plan juridique du principe de consentement de l’impôt et principe fondamental du droit fiscal, est universellement reconnu par des pays démocratiques. Ce principe consistant à limiter le pouvoir de l’exécutif en matière fiscale et protéger des droits fondamentaux du contribuable en tant que citoyen, joue un rôle crucial pour l’établissement de la hiérarchie des normes dans un Etat de droit. Pourtant, ce principe n’est reconnu que de manière partielle et imprécise dans le droit chinois. Nous avons conviction que l’application effective de ce principe permettra non seulement d’améliorer l’efficacité de la gestion des impôts, mais aussi de diminuer les tensions et d’améliorer les relations entre l’administration fiscale et le contribuable. L’application de ce principe doit se réaliser autour de deux axes : l’un consiste en l’établissement des normes fiscales essentielles par la loi afin de délimiter le pouvoir réglementaire en matière fiscale, et l’autre en la mise en œuvre effective de ces normes dans les procédures fiscales afin de protéger les droits du contribuable. Pour le premier, l’abrogation de ces habilitations nous paraît fort souhaitable et indispensable pour régler le problème de l’incompétence négative du législateur chinois et celui du déclassement des normes fiscales dans le pays. Pour ce dernier, il est nécessaire de révéler les illégalités et les irrégularités commises dans l’exécution de la loi fiscale qui menacent sérieusement l’application effective du principe de légalité de l’impôt en Chine, que ce soit dans les procédures d’imposition ou dans les procédures contentieuses. / The principle of legality of the tax, being a translation of the taxation consent in a legal background, is universally recognized by democratic countries. This principle, consisting to limit the taxation power of the government and to protect the fundamental rights of citizen, plays a crucial role to establish a hierarchy of legal rules. However, this principle is recognized only partially and vaguely in China. We have conviction that the effective application of this principle will not only improve the efficiency of the management of the taxes, but also calm down the tensions and to improve the relationship between the administration and tax payers.The application of this principle must be carried out around two axes: one consists in the establishment of taxation rules principally by law in order to limit the power of regulation of government, the other in effective application of the legal rules in taxation, in order to protect the tax payer’s rights. For the first one, abrogation of delegations of legislative power appears desirable and necessary to settle the problem of negligence of legislator’s competence, as well as the depreciation of the tax norms in China. And as for the second one, it is necessary to notice the illegality and irregularities in the execution of the legal rules, which is an obstacle to apply this principle either in the taxation in the proceedings.

Europos Komisijos išorės tarnyba ir jos vaidmuo Europos Sąjungos diplomatinės tarnybos tinkle – Lietuvoje nauja, visiškai netyrinėta tema. Todėl šio darbo autorė siekia išanalizuoti Europos Komisijos išorės tarnybos delegacijų vaidmenį ir statusą Europos Sąjungos diplomatinės tarnybos tinkle, taip pat įžvelgti šio vaidmens ir statuso pokyčius. Siekiant minėto tikslo, šiame darbe iškeliami tokie svarbiausi uždaviniai:  Pristatyti Tinklinio valdymo viešajame sektoriuje perspektyvą, išskiriant tinklinį užsienio politikos valdymą;  Apibūdinti naujas Tinklinio valdymo perspektyvoje formuluojamas diplomatijos formas bei pritaikyti šią perspektyvą Europos Sąjungos diplomatinės tarnybos struktūros analizei;  Iškelti Europos diplomatijos formos trečiosiose šalyse vystymosi hipotezes;  Apibrėžti Europos Komisijos išorės tarnybos vietą Europos Sąjungos diplomatinės tarnybos tinkle, apibūdinant Išorės tarnybos struktūrą, plėtrą, institucionalizacijos procesą, naujausias administracines šios tarnybos reformas bei funkcijas;  Identifikuoti Europos Komisijos išorės tarnybos delegacijų statuso, veiklos pobūdžio, santykių su kitais tarptautinės arenos veikėjais bei vaidmens Europos Sąjungos diplomatinės tarnybos tinkle pokyčius;  Apibūdinti kaip praktiškai vyksta Europos Komisijos delegacijų ir valstybių narių diplomatinių tarnybų bendradarbiavimas trečiosiose šalyse. Svarbiausios šio darbo išvados pažymi, kad Europos Komisijos išorės tarnyba išvystė funkcinę, į vartotoją orientuotos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / External Service of the European Commission and it‘s role in network of EU diplomatic service is a new and not researched topic in Lithuania. Therefore the author of this paper seeks analyse the role and status of delegations of the External Service of the European Commission in network of European Union diplomatic service and also to detect mutation of their role and status. There were several main goals set for this purpose:  To introduce Networked approaches to public sector, putting stress on networked governance of foreign policy;  To define the new forms of diplomacy formulated in Networked approach and to apply this approach for the review of constitution of EU diplomatic service;  To hypothesize on development of European diplomacy form in third countries;  To determine the role of External Service of the European Commission in the network of EU diplomatic service defining the formation, development, process of institutionalization, latest administrative reforms and functions of the External Service.  To identify the mutation of status and brief of delegations of the European Commission in third countries, also to define changes in their relationships with the other actors of international arena and in their role in Network of EU diplomatic service.  Characterize the process of cooperation between delegations of the European Commission and embassies of member states of EU in third countries. Main conclusions of this paper say that the External Service of the... [to full text]

This dissertation explores political representation and its manifestation within the European Union (EU). The main purpose is to examine the representative roles of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in the context of cross–pressure between the national level and the EU level. This involves an analysis of how the MEPs under-stand their roles, how they organize their work, and how they have voted in the European Parliament (EP) in 1999-2002. It also includes a study of how national party organizations adapt to the EU environment and how this influences the MEPs link to the national arena. The study is based on various sources, such as interviews, formal documents and voting data. The most under-researched part of the cross-pressure has been the national link and the empirical focus of the thesis is on that link. It is a comparative study of parties in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. In each country, three parties were selected (social democratic, right-wing and green parties). By using a focused comparative method, and by controlling for certain independent variables, the ambition is to go beyond description and identify explanations for why MEPs adopt certain roles. The overall picture that emerges is of a relatively weak link between MEPs and the national level. To a certain extent, MEPs express frustration over their limited role in the national arena and over the lack of input from the national arena in their work at the European level. Most of the parties struggle to include MEPs in their organizational set-up, and the MEPs experience a growing hostility within the parties toward them. In general, the lack of interest and knowledge in the national arena, concerning the EU in general and specifically the work of the MEPs, obscures the role of the MEPs. They become EU ambassadors at the national level, rather than elected representatives at the EU level. The dissertation also tests variables that are thought to influence MEPs’ roles: the type of electoral system, popular opinion on EU issues, whether their party is in government, the party’s ideological heritage, and if the party organizes more advanced coordination mechanisms. The main result is that the working assumption that MEPs are influenced by characteristics in the national arena is shown to be largely correct. That is, some of the identified aspects of the national political context do influence how the MEPs understand their roles. For example, the character of the electoral system influences attitudes among the MEPs. However, that relationship is not as simple and straightforward as much of the literature suggests. Rather, the results in this study suggest that the most important aspect of the relationship between the national level and the MEPs is whether parties or others (such as national parliamentarians) actively engage in the work of the MEPs. It matters how parties design the relationship between the levels, especially for how and where MEPs direct their main attention, but also in terms of how MEPs vote in the EP. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of further research into how parties facilitate the link between the national and the EU level.

It is more than a decade since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, and the European External Action Service (EEAS) was founded to unify the EU's foreign policy and make it more coherent and consistent. With the creation of the EEAS, the Commission delegations were transformed into EU delegations, and the delegations started to represent the whole EU abroad politically. The Lisbon Treaty clearly strengthened the EU foreign policy and arguably gave the EU a common voice in the world. However, the speed at which the transformation took, and takes place, is not the same in all third (non-EU) countries where the EU is present. Many scholars argue that there is still a lack of consistency in EU foreign policy, and some aspects of EU external action after Lisbon are still understudied, such as EU external action in specific regions. Against this backdrop, and within a theoretical framework of Frauke Austermann’s theory of a European diplomatic service of “different speeds,” this thesis examines the consistency of the political role between EU delegations in selected Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries in an attempt to answer the following research question: How consistent is the political role between EU delegations in the MENA region twelve years after the founding of the EEAS and the political sections of the delegations? This is done by conducting and analysing semi-structured interviews with diplomats working in the political sections of fourteen of the sixteen EU delegations in the region. With the help of a qualitative content analysis method, the consistency of the political role is examined by investigating the function of the political sections, their main tasks within the respective delegations and their relations and interaction with headquarters in Brussels, EU member states’ (EUMS) foreign missions and host country authorities. The findings of this thesis show that a few observations of the interviewees could put the consistency of the political role into question. The main issues concerned malfunctioning cooperation between the sections of the delegations, the influence of specific EUMSs on the work of the delegations and the poor staffing (although this was a rather consistent issue). Yet, for the most part, based on the aspects studied in this thesis, the political role proved to be very consistent between the delegations of the region.

Diplomatic privileges and immunities of bodies and workers of the EU institutions Le sujet de ce travail est de présenter des privilèges et immunités concernant l'Union européenne en tant qu'organisation internationale, ses fonctionnaires, agents et autres personnes susceptibles d'agir dans son intérêt. À la différence des immunités des États, accordées à ces derniers au nom de leur égalité souveraine, les immunités des organisation internationales se justifient exclusivement par leur caractère fonctionnel. Elles visent en effet à assurer à l'organisation une certaine autonomie et une indépendance indispensables à l'efficacité de son action. L'Union alors jouit des privilèges et immunités nécessaires à l'accomplissement de sa mission. Le document servant de base juridique, dans lequel les privilèges et immunités de l'UE sont définie , est le Protocole du 8 avril 1965 sur les privilèges et immunités des Communautés européennes. Ce dernier a été révisé au 1er décembre 2009 par le traité de Lisbonne. L'UE remlace ainsi, par ce traité, la Communauté européenne, ainsi duquele Protocole sur les privilèges et immunités des Communautés européennes, qui devient le Protocole sur les privilèges et immunités de l'Union européenne. Ce Protocole concerne l'UE, ses organes, les représentants des États...

Les personnes publiques disposent de la liberté contractuelle. Elles peuvent choisir librement d'externaliser leur action en ayant recours aux contrats pour mobiliser les savoir-faire et les financements qui leur font défaut. Le contrat constitue ainsi un procédé de l'action publique et particulièrement un mode de gestion des services publics. Les personnes publiques vont apprécier l'opportunité des différents contrats publics en considération de leurs besoins et d'une optimisation de la dépense publique et seront contraintes par le respect des règles de passation et du régime juridique d'exécution du contrat qu'elles auront choisi de conclure. Le juge sera compétent pour contrôler la qualification juridique de ce contrat ainsi que le respect de l'application des règles de son régime juridique. Bien qu'étant une caractéristique fondamentale des contrats publics, l'objet de ces contrats n'est plus un critère excusif et propre à chaque contrat. Une qualification erronée des contrats avec une incidence contentieuse peut en résulter. Le recours au mode de rémunération du cocontractant va permettre de confirmer l'identification du contrat ou de le distinguer d'un autre. Au préalable, il s'agira de démontrer que la rémunération du cocontractant d'une personne publique est un critère financier opérationnel contribuant à la qualification des contrats publics / The public persons have the contractual freedom. They can choose freely tou outsource their action by resorting to contracts to mobilize the know-how and de financing which are lacking to them. The contract so constitutes a process of the public action and particularly a mode of gestion of the public utilities. The public persons are going to appreciate the opportunity of the various public contracts considering their needs and considering an optimization of the public spending and will be forced by the respect for the rules of signing and for the legal regime of execution of the contract which they will have chosen to conclude. The judge will be competent to control the legal qualification of this contract as well as the respect for the application of the rules of his legal regime. Although being a fundamental characteristic of the public contracts, the object of a contract is not any more a criterion exclusive and appropriate for every contract. An erroneous qualification of contracts with a contentious incidence can result from it. The appeal to the method of payment of the cocontracting party is going to allow to confirm the identification of the contract or to distinguish him it from the other one. Beforehand, it will be a question of demonstrating that the payment for the cocontracting party of a public person is an operational financial criterion contributing to the qualification of the public contracts

La Corse est la plus septentrionale des grandes îles de Méditerranée Occidentale, elle est la plus petite (3680 km2) et la moins peuplée.(330 000 habitants). Plus proche des côtes italiennes, elle fait néanmoins partie intégrante de la France où une forte diaspora est installée et génère des échanges serrés. Depuis l’Antiquité, la Corse a toujours eu des relations commerciales avec le continent, d’abord avec la péninsule italienne puis, depuis l’annexion de 1768, avec la France continentale. Deux révolutions technologiques favorisèrent un fort accroissement des échanges : l’arrivée des navires à vapeur en 1830 et celle de l’avion au vingtième siècle. Les évolutions se poursuivent toujours pour réduire la durée des vols et des traversées et augmenter la capacité de transport. La Collectivité Territoriale de Corse a la maîtrise des transports et conclut des délégations de service public avec les compagnies maritimes et aériennes ; tandis que l’État s’est retiré, l’Union Européenne intervient davantage pour imposer la libre concurrence. Les infrastructures ont dû s’adapter à l’évolution des flottes mais elles sont toujours déterminées par le relief cloisonné de l’île qui a l’originalité de disposer de sept ports et quatre aéroports afin de mieux desservir les territoires. Le trafic des marchandises est modeste et déséquilibré, les entrées étant très supérieures aux sorties ; celui des passagers a été décuplé en soixante ans, sa répartition est très inégale dans l’année et entre les ports et aéroports. ; la part de l’avion se rapproche de celle du bateau. Les touristes sont majoritaires chez les passagers mais sont beaucoup moins nombreux que ceux des îles concurrentes. Les tarifs ont été nettement réduits pour les résidents mais restent élevés pour les autres usagers, ce problème devra être résolu pour améliorer la continuité territoriale. / Corsica is the northernmost of the big western Mediterranean islands, as well as the smallest (3680 km2) and the less populated (330 000 inhabitants). Even if Corsica is nearer from Italian coasts than French ones, it takes part fully of French mainland where a significant diaspora lives and creates tight trades.Since Antiquity, Corsica had business relations with the mainland. It started with Italian peninsula, and went on with mainland France after its annexation in 1768.Two main technological revolutions promoted a huge increase in the trade relations: the emergence of steamboats in 1830 followed by the plane in the 20th century.Technological improvements are still continuing to reduce time of flights and sea crossings, increasing thus transport capacity.Territorial collectivity of Corsica is in charge of transports and delegates public services to the airlines and shipping companies. While French state progressively withdraws, European Union is more and more involved to impose free market.Even if infrastructures evolved with the fleet changings, they are still determined by the compartmentalized relief of the island which led to the construction of seven ports and four airports in order to serve better the different territories.Goods’ traffic is of modest size and unbalanced (entries rather higher than exits), whereas passengers’ one has increased tenfold in sixty years. For this last one, an inequality of distribution along the year is observed (seasonal variations), as well as between ports and airports. Progressively the plane’s part gets closer to the boat’s one. Passengers are mainly tourists that remain less numerous than those of the competing islands.Fares have been reduced significantly for Corsican residents, but still remain high for the other passengers. This problem will have to be solved to improve territorial continuity.