The European Union (EU) policy of gender mainstreaming has been discussed at length in the context of embedding gender equality into the EU's internal market. The effectiveness of gender mainstreaming has been less analysed in other areas of EU competence. This PhD draws on feminist theory to explain the EU's gendered treatment of vulnerable women within the asylum system. Using a range of theories of gender equality, notably separate spheres, radical feminism, and intersectional feminism, the thesis analyses the relevant asylum legislation, judgements and guidelines in international law, EU law and the national legal systems of two EU member states: the United Kingdom and Ireland. These feminist theories provided a perspective which allowed this research to explain how the EU has failed to address significantly and meaningfully the gendered aspects of the asylum system in member states. Despite the EU's stated attempts to ensure through gender mainstreaming that the member states rely on a theory of gender equality which provides protection to women in the asylum system, this PhD found both that the EU has not sufficiently embodied an intersectional approach to gender and asylum and that member states are still more influenced by their national political culture and treatment of gender equality than that of the EU. This thesis uses that research to make recommendations at both an EU and national level to help the EU and its member states better incorporate gender mainstreaming in order to ensure human rights protection for vulnerable women. As the EU manages increasing refugee applications and increasing nationalist sentiment, this presents an opportunity to embed more thoroughly intersectional gender mainstreaming in both EU asylum policy and the EU's political culture.

The aim of this thesis is to add to the growing literature on Euroscepticism by providing an in-depth comparative study of groups in civil society that actively campaign against European integration in Denmark, Estonia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. This study labels these groups as ‘Eurosceptic Protest Movements' (EPMs). Five explanatory factors drawn from the literature on Euroscepticism and social movements are used to ask the research question of why EPMs are formed. These are namely, Euroscepticism in the party system, the number of referendums in each case study, the availability of resources, the openness of the policy making process, and the perceived pro-EU bias of the media. Empirically it proceeds on a case by case basis, providing an in-depth account of each state's relationship with the EU from party system, public opinion, referendums to case specific factors to allow for an appreciation of the environment in which EPMs are formed. Data is gathered primarily from interviews with the founders and both current and former members of EPMs, with additional information coming from EPM documents, referendum manifestos and posters. Contextual information is provided by interviews with academics, journalists and pro-European activists, and secondary literature in EU studies and social movements. The thesis comes to two key conclusions. Firstly, in relation to the literature on social movements, EPMs conform strongly to the political opportunity structure paradigm in that body of work. More specifically is the importance of referendums to EPM formation, an element of the political opportunity structure that has not been researched in relation to social movements. Secondly, with regard to Euroscepticism the thesis concluded that EPMs emerge because of a lack of available space for contestation on the EU issue and the inability of political parties to act as an interlocutor between the electorate and the EU.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Heidelberg, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references and sources (p. 463-500).

The aim of this thesis is to focus on the concept of flexicurity, accepted as the new labour market model balancing the needs of employers for greater flexibility in order to adapt to market forces, and the need of employees for security, which has recently been one of the most popular concepts of the debate on labour market reforms in the European Union. While doing so, this thesis discusses the position of key European institutions, especially of the Commission of the European Communities. The main argument is that the concept is still very open to alternative interpretations at the European Union level. Related to this openness is the fact that the Commission has deliberately instrumentalized the concept&rsquo / s ambiguity in order to absorb all the main actors into the debate in line with its own policy preferences.

Univ., Diss.--Kiel, 2003.

Thesis (M.A.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Zurich, 1996/97. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-121).

This thesis studies Turkish migration policies as an outcome of the interactions between the European Union, international organisations (UNHCR, IOM) and domestic migration governance. Counterbalancing a tendency in the literature to focus on external influences and specifically the EU's power over candidate countries, Turkish migration policy is seen to result from interrelationships between external and domestic actors that vary according to context of policy type, time and relative balance of power between the actors. Changes in international relations, Turkey's relationship with the EU, and internal to migration governance, can relativize the power asymmetry between EU and Turkey, leading to opportunities for domestic authorities to exert influence. The study has a comparative design across four cases of migration policy decision-making and by actor-type. This allows investigation of interrelations and an actor's efforts to exert influence relative to the others. A prominent policy is examined for each of the main four fields of Turkish migration policy: legislative reform (Law on Foreigners and International Protection), irregular migration (EU-Turkey readmission agreement), regular migration (adoption of the EU's visa lists) and asylum (removal of geographical limitation clause from the 1951 Refugee Convention). Document analysis is supplemented by original data from twenty-one semi-structured interviews, conducted with experts from Turkish Ministries, international organisations and the EU Commission. The main finding is that the degree of external influence over Turkish migration policy is contextually shaped, by time, the substance of a specific policy field, and most notably by the degree to which a policy field is politicised. EU influence is strongest when a policy field is politicised and driven by ‘conditionality'. International organisations are less influential actors but present in shaping more technocratic and less politicised policies through ‘social policy learning'. Turkish authorities exert clear agency and use international negotiations to gain leverage to advance domestic migration interests.

Šiame magistro darbe yra plėtojama tai, kad Europos Bendrijų Teisingumo Teismas (ETT) kaip institucija, veikianti Europos Sąjungos viešojo administravimo sistemoje, atlieka Bendrijų konstitucinio teismo funkcijas kaip aukščiausiasis konstitucijos aiškintojas ir turi pareigą, esant normų kolizijai, apibrėžti konstitucinio pagrindo, reikalingo dalyvaujant Europos integracijos procese, turinį, apimtį ir ribas. Darbe yra siekiama parodyti, kad ETT, vykdydamas viešojo administravimo reguliavimo funkciją, savo praktikoje priimamais sprendimais neleidžia valstybių narių, kaip ES administracinių vienetų, nacionaliniams teismams jų nagrinėjamose bylose priimti sprendimus, išeinančius už ES teisės ribų, tai yra priimtus, vadovaujantis netinkamai išaiškinta teisės norma arba nuostata, prieštaraujančia Europos Bendrijos teisei. Darbe taip pat yra siekiama parodyti, kad ETT kaip EB institucija, įkurta Europos Bendrijos teisės vienodinimui ir darniam taikymui užtikrinti, negalėjo sėkmingai funkcionuoti, neatsižvelgiant į istorinės EB raidos metu atsiradusius naujus poreikius. ETT sėkmingai vykdydamas savo funkcijas įtakojo tokios Bendrijos teisinės sistemos, kokią mes turime dabar – vieningos, harmoningos, nepriklausomos -, suformavimą, įgyvendindamas EB sutarties 220 straipsnyje nustatytą Bendrijos teisės sergėtojo vaidmenį, jis ir toliau aktyviai dalyvauja šios teisės tobulinimo procese. ETT jam suteiktos apibrėžtos jurisdikcijos ribose vykdydamas jam priskirtas funkcijas prašymų priimti... [to full text] / The present Master degree thesis develops the concept that the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ), as an institution functioning within the system of the European public administration, performs the functions of a Community Constitutional Court acting as the supreme constitutional interpreter and, in the event of a collision of norms, is vested with the responsibility to determine the content, scope and limits of the constitutional basis that is necessary for the participation in the process of European integration. The work aims to show that in the performance of the function of regulating public administration, the ECJ by means of its judgements prevents the national courts of Member States – as administrative entities of the EU – to take such decisions in the cases before them that could exceed the boundaries of the EU law, i.e. would be taken on the basis of a wrongly interpreted legal norm or a provision that contradicts the Community law. It is also attempted to demonstrate in the work that the ECJ, as an institution of the European Communities founded with the aim to unify the Community law and ensure consistency in its application, could not function effectively without taking regard of the new demands that emerged in the course of the historical development of the European Communities. By successfully performing its functions and implementing the role of the ‘supervisor’ of Community law attributed to him by Article 220 of the Treaty of the European... [to full text]

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral), Universität Münster, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-338).