University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

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This thesis scrutinizes &ldquo / flexible integration&rdquo / as an evolving concept within the European Union. It aims to understand the framework in which the debate on flexibility has taken place before the institutionalisation of the mechanism with the Treaty of Amsterdam through examining the different conceptualisations, past examples and the political debate associated with these examples. After analysing the Treaty provisions on flexible integration, the thesis attempts to answer the question whether this mechanism can be perceived as a tool for managing diversity in economic and political sense.

The European Union (EU) is a formidable actor in contemporary international politics. Many prominent scholars devote their lives to studying both how European power came to be and analyzing the character of that power. The vast majority of the resulting scholarship fails to empirically test the arguments set forth. While rich in theoretical insights, the lack of empirical support renders the debate unsatisfying. This study tests the arguments about the nature of European power in the international context using the cases of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and Europe's energy policies. Chapter One introduces the Normative Power Europe concept and describes my methodology. Chapter Two delineates the existing debates on the power of the EU. Chapters Three and Four test European power using the cases of the ENP and Europe's energy policies (respectively). In addition, Chapter Four offers some concluding remarks. This study finds that the EU consistently behaves as a normative power from the basic premise of virtue ethics, but inconsistently in terms of deontological and teleological ethics.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-140). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). "August 2008." Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-232). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-213). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Diss. Univ. Ghent, 2007. / Bibliogr. et index.

Adopting a critical cosmopolitan outlook the thesis identifies a constructive engagement with the European project at a time when the crisis of the Euro-zone is still threatening the very existence of the European Union. The purpose of the study is to determine whether cosmopolitanism is feasible in Europe. I argue that the EU can be conceived as a catalyst of cosmopolitanism without being cosmopolitan per se due its so far limited internal and external contexts of cosmopolitanism. In the case of the EU's limited inner cosmopolitanism, I seek cosmopolitan alternatives for the EU to overcome the crisis on the basis of an institutional and civil society analysis within the conceptual framework of cosmopolitan democracy. Instead of adopting the terminology of governance either for or by the people, my cosmopolitan approach focuses on governance with the people. The case of Greece is of utmost importance for my research as it reveals the causes and gravity of the crisis. It also broadens the empirical basis of cosmopolitan studies by embodying both the dynamics and challenges posed to cosmopolitanism which are exemplified in the paradoxes provoked; on the one hand there is aggravation of (fascist) nationalism and domination of economics on politics perhaps leading to Greece's de- Europeanisation; on the other hand the dynamics of a paradigm shift towards a post-crisis cosmopolitanism are revealed. That kind of cosmopolitanism needs to take under consideration the role of contestation and to redefine its position in the era of global capitalism for the confrontation of the crisis. In the case of the EU's limited external cosmopolitanism, my analysis of Turkey's possible impact on the EU and the reverse aims to demonstrate that Turkey's integration can contribute to the formation of a cosmopolitan, post-Western EU and post-national Turkey. What is of crucial importance for both cosmopolitan and Europeanisation studies is that the endogenous process of change within Turkey which is interlocking with the external dynamics of the EU may potentially lead to a distinctive ‘hybrid' type of cosmopolitanisation neither merely European nor simply Asian. The conclusions drawn from this multiple case study suggest that the current crisis may open new meanings for cosmopolitanism in Europe.