The thesis tests the efficacy of Principal-Agent (PA) theory in explaining the creation and development of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). As such, the thesis is subject as well as theory-driven. Empirically, the focal point is how the interaction between the EU member states and the European Commission affected the development of the ENP. It is a theme which is largely overlooked in the ENP literature. In terms of theory, the ENP represents a fascinating case study for PA analysis not only because it has rarely been applied to the field of EU foreign policy but also because PA has seldom been used for studying the evolution of a policy (both pre and post-delegation). Conceptualising EU member states as principals and the European Commission as agent, the thesis examines PA dynamics through the following three ENP policy stages: formulation (2002-2004), finalisation (2004-2006), and implementation (2007-2009). Three hypotheses are tested for each stage of the ENP. Two hypotheses are rooted in PA scholarship, and address the influence of the agent as an informal agenda-setter, while the third distinguishes the agent's influence between different stages of the policy development. Methodologically, the research design is based on within-case process-tracing while the empirical data is drawn from a triangulation of official documents, secondary sources and elite interviews. The thesis findings show that during the initial stages of the policy, the Commission took advantage of its favourable position (e.g. informational asymmetries and uncertainty among the member states) to establish itself as the key actor in the ENP. As the ENP evolved, the Commission’s influence has diminished while the member states, collectively and individually, became more engaged in determining the course of the policy. However, contrary to PA assumptions, member states' increased oversight over the Commission did not come as a response to disobedient behaviour. Based on the empirical data, the Commission, as an agent, was in fact trying to implement the ENP following the guidelines which were previously agreed by its principals. Thus, in the case of the ENP, my PA analysis shifts from the traditional inquiry of how principals control opportunistic agents, to examining how principals could hinder the work of the agent. This phenomenon, broadly defined by Thompson (2007) as the ‘principal problem’, is an anomaly in existing PA literature dominated by an agency-biased standpoint and has previously not been analysed in the context of the European Union. Finally, the wider implication of this thesis is that there is still room for broadening the scope of PA analysis while highlighting the necessity to keep a watchful eye on both the principals and the agent.

The European Neighbourhood policy is the union’s joint foreign policy framework for themajority of the nations in the Caucasus, Eastern European, Middle eastern and North african regions, which are divided into an eastern, and a southern region. One of the main goals of the policy is to foster democratic progress in the regions involved. This task has, however, proven to be a complex and difficult one which has seen mixed results. This study uses a frameworkbased on the theory of soft power to examine what strategy the union utilizes to achieve democratization in these regions. The use of a comparative approach allows the drawing of conclusions about the subject matter based on differences in the approach between the regions. The study found that a top-down strategy of democratization was utilized in the eastern region, while a grassroot, bottom-up approach was more prevalent in the southern.This study is thus a useful addition to the plentiful research regarding the Neighbourhood policy as its findings offer opportunities for further comparative study by highlighting that there are indeed relevant differences in the relationship of the EU to the two regions.

Primary assumption of this thesis is that the European Union (EU) represents a unique international actor that embodies the major changes in institution of diplomacy. These changes culminate in the 21st Century. They rest namely in widening of diplomatic agenda, increasing number and kind of actors conducting diplomacy, growing importance of multilateral frameworks and transformation of diplomatic actors' objectives. At the centre of our interest lays the concept of structural foreign policy (SFP) that constitutes an analytical framework of this thesis. SFP is an instrument through which the EU exercises its structural power towards third countries. The aim of this thesis is to provide an analysis and critique of the EU's SFP towards Maghreb. The region has been chosen as the subject of our analysis since despite a long term and continuous effort since 1990s the EU has largely failed to effectively exercise its structural power in the region.

Practitioners and academics clearly established that participation in the EU system of foreign policy-making transforms national foreign policies. Whilst there have been detailed studies of the impact of participation in EU foreign policy on the original fifteen member states there are, as yet, few academic studies that have thoroughly investigated the impact of progressive integration in the area of EU foreign and security policy on the new (i.e. those who joined since 2004) member states. This thesis aims to address this deficit by focusing on the impact of Poland's participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It examines the processes of 'downloading', as it is argued here that involvement in CFSP has had a direct effect on both the procedures of foreign policy-making in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and, on the substance of Polish foreign policy as well as the impact of 'uploading' from member states to the EU level and 'crossloading' between EU member states. The thesis addresses the relevant conceptual issues and provides an outline of the academic debate regarding Europeanisation and foreign policy. It identifies three mechanisms that are responsible for change: conditionality, socialisation and learning. It suggests that a member state first adapts its national foreign policy to bring it in line with the EU's acquis politique and introduces basic changes in its institutional procedures in order to effectively participate in the EU's CFSP. Only later, does socialisation and learning result in changes to how national foreign policy is made, which then facilitates both changes to the substance of national policy and the uploading of national preferences to the EU level. A two-phase model of change is introduced which identifies April 2003, when Poland first became an active observer within the EU, as the date when Europeanisation began. The thesis provides a brief explanation of the transformation of Polish foreign policy after 1989, in order to provide contextual background for the four substantive chapters which follow: one procedural on the changes in the Polish MFA and three related to policy substance. The latter three chapters examine the Europeanisation of policy towards Poland's East European neighbours in general and policies towards Ukraine and Belarus in particular. The thesis concludes with a set of methodological and conceptual observations followed by analysis of the empirical findings.

This thesis deals with role of the European Union in the ethnic conflicts of South Caucasus, notably in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In the first part, the author concentrates on the evolution of situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well as on the role of international actors in these territories, before the outbreak of war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008. The master thesis continues with the analysis of the EU's engagement in break-away territories where author focuses on the evaluation of specific policies and instruments used by the EU towards the two ethnic territories and Georgia. The final section assesses the EU's responsiveness during the Russian-Georgian war and also the steps taken in the period after the violence. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to evaluate the Union's policies in South Ossetia and Abkhazia before, during and after the breakthrough war in August 2008. In this context, the author concludes that EU policies have failed because of unability to prevent a renewed outbreak of violence. Failure depended on the EU's reluctance to get involved in political and security issues and also on Russia's influence on decision-making process of the EU member states.

This study is primarily concerned with the evolution of the EU as a pluralistic security community throughout the course of European integration. Its main purpose is to examine how the EU member states have managed to renounce the use of force in their relations with one another and consequently succeeded in establishing a lasting peace in Western Europe following World War Two.Within the scope of the study, the EU&rsquo / s attempts to extend its zone of peace and stability beyond its immediate borders by using some foreign policy tools such as the enlargement and the recently launched European Neighbourhood Policy are also explored .Finally, the thesis attempts to evaluate the potential contribution that Turkey would make to the EU security community in the post-Cold War era upon her membership in the EU.

This thesis aims to examine the European Union (EU) as a normative power in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) through case studies of Morocco and Egypt. The uniqueness of the EU as a distinct actor in international politics has led many observers to claim that the EU is a normative power. The ENP, which emerged in 2004, has been one of the main instruments of the EU within this framework. This thesis studies the claim as to whether the EU is, in fact, a normative power in the context of the ENP with two cases studies. The selection of Morocco and Egypt originates from the existing similarities which render an opportunity to have a comparative study. The thesis will analyze this puzzle through an analysis of both primary documents published by the EU and the secondary literature. Through a close scrutiny of Morocco and Egypt, the normative power of the EU in its near abroad will be explored through the analysis of democratization process in these countries in terms of democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Based on theoretical analysis and two case studies, this thesis argues that the EU faces several challenges in its claim to be a normative power within the context of the ENP.

The subject matter of this research is content, features, role and prospects of soft security in the context of Eastern Dimension of European Neighbourhood Policy by identifying and analysing soft security as a component of the European Union initiated joint project management in the area of Eastern Dimension of European Neighbourhood Policy covering Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as Russian Federation. The objective of this research is to define ability of soft security component to effectively facilitate the process of security governance leading to increasing level of regional security and stability. / Šios disertacijos tyrimo objektas – minkštasis saugumas Europos kaimynystės politikos Rytų dimensijos kontekste, identifikuojant ir analizuojant minkštąjį saugumą kaip Europos Sąjungos inicijuojamų bendrų projektų ES Kaimynystės politikos Rytų dimensijos erdvėje, apimančioje Armėniją, Azerbaidžaną, Baltarusiją, Gruziją, Moldovą ir Ukrainą, o taip pat ir Rusijos Federaciją,valdymo komponentą. Siekiama, analizuojant minkštąjį saugumo komponentą, atskeisti jo gebėjimą skatinti, įgalinti ir lengvinti regiono saugumo ir stabilumo efektyvaus valdymo procesą.

The thesis "Trade relations of the EU with the countries involved in the European Neighbourhood Policy" deals with the European Neighbourhood Policy and its importance for trade. The first chapter is focused on external relations of the European Union in general and on the basic characteristics of the trade policy. The second part of the thesis describes the development of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the way how it works and the connection of the policy to the Union for the Mediterranean, the Eastern Partnership and the Black Sea Synergy. The third chapter deals with the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in Azerbaijan and Egypt and analyzes the effects of the policy on the trade with goods. At the end of the thesis the European Neighbourhood Policy is evaluated.

After two waves of the eastern enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2007, its territory reached borders of the former Soviet republics. The EU started immediately building up the business ties with these countries. To be able to cover its business activities with the common approach, the EU formulated the European neighbourhood policy. Within ENP structure was separated an eastern dimension based on the Polish-Swedish initiative called Eastern Partnership. The initiative includes both bilateral and multilateral dimension of the EU's cooperation with partner countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The objective of the thesis is to investigate the development of relations between the European Union and Russia as a background of the emerging and developing EU's Eastern Partnership initiative. The aim is to analyze how the process of implementation of the Eastern Partnership developed, to what extent did the project stakeholders promoted their objectives and identify factors limiting the smooth implementation progress of the initiative objectives. Finally, the paper also focuses on the definition of Russian attitudes to the Eastern Partnership, reveals the factors and circumstances that view Russia in the context of the shapers, and explores how this view changed over time.