Climate change not only corresponds to scientifically proven future implications, but also poses a politically relevant study of climate security analysis, affecting the study and practice of (international) politics in different ways. In the same vein, the EU as an international organization have been getting more involved in discussions of climate-related security risks, in which the European Commission (which represents the Union’s common interests) have been publishing a set of consecutive policy documents addressing the climate change since the early 2000’s. Accordingly, this thesis studies five big policy documents produced by the Commission addressing the climate change between 2007 and 2021 by conducting a Qualitative Content Analysis upon the discourses and conceptualizations used to inform how the issue is to be understood, while basing on the theoretical model developed by von Lucke  et al.’s (2014) that distinguishes levels of referent objects and risk-security approaches. In doing so, it finds that the Commission often draws indirect connections between the climate change and its social, political and economic implications to the EU at the territorial (and individual) level, while heavily employing risk-based approaches and promoting rather business-as-usual solutions.

This thesis examines through the means of a comparative perspective, factors which have allowed the British National Party to enjoy recent electoral success at the local level under the leadership of party chairman Nick Griffin. Such electoral successes have arisen despite the seemingly relative obscurity of the party at the turn of the century. A number of different aspects are examined in order to achieve this aim. The history of the far right in the UK is examined to establish whether the BNP have changed their stance in comparison to previous far right movements. The BNP are also investigated comparatively with other West European parties who have enjoyed national success, as a means of discovering whether the party are similar to their far right neighbours and why they have not enjoyed similar national success. The press coverage of the BNP is examined at a local and national level, using content analysis and the LexisNexis database. The thesis looks at the role played by the BNP in local elections and the decline of participation in political activity, to establish if there is a link between these two factors. Finally a case study is taken of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, to establish directly if any of the above factors can be directly applied to BNP electoral success in this district. The research discovers that there are opportunities for the BNP to establish a connection with the electorate in local politics which are not necessarily available at times of general election.

A l’heure d’Internet, l’avenir du cinéma est en jeu. Les TIC nous font entrer dans une nouvelle ère dont la caractéristique centrale est le transport instantané de données immatérielles. Les modes de fonctionnement de la société, de l’économie et du droit d’auteur s’en trouvent bouleversés. L’adoption rapide des usages et l’extrême volatilité des modèles appellent à un ajustement des stratégies pour concilier développement technologique et juste rémunération des ayants droit. Avec la disparition de la notion de territorialité et la remise en cause du concept de propriété, l’Etat tente d’ajuster les diverses législations en vigueur et se lance dans une course de vitesse contre le numérique. L’industrie sort, quant à elle, progressivement d’une position défensive et s’efforce de développer des offres et services innovants. Mais la remise en cause de la chronologie des médias et l’arrivée d’une multitude d’acteurs qui ne participent pas au financement de la création, requièrent des solutions novatrices et de nature supranationale. S’il est important de faire évoluer les cadres juridiques et réglementaires pour soutenir et favoriser la distribution des films à la demande, il est également urgent de concevoir collectivement la manière dont les nouvelles pratiques de la génération connectée peuvent contribuer à un soutien équilibré de la production, condition fondamentale pour la pérennité du cinéma. Cette recherche pluridisciplinaire est une étude prospective qui vise à trouver des solutions concrètes en mesure de dépasser les stéréotypes et de réconcilier les motivations et contraintes des divers acteurs : industries, créateurs, publics, gouvernements. / With the growth of the Internet, the future of cinema is at stake. ICT ushers in a new era whose main characteristic is the instant transportation of immaterial data. The way society, the economy and copyrights work is undergoing dramatic shifts. New uses of technology are swiftly embraced and the volatility of models demands an adjustment of strategies so that technological development does not clash the right of owners’ fair payment. Territoriality is disappearing as a notion and property is being questioned as a concept. The State tries to adjust the different legislations in force and engages in a race against digital technologies. As for the industry itself, it is progressively forsaking its defensive stance and is striving to develop innovative offers and services. But the sequencing and the emergence of numerous new actors who do not participate in the financing of creation, call for modern and supranational solutions. While legal and regulatory frameworks need to evolve in order to sustain and encourage the distribution of on demand films, it is also urgent to collectively conceive a way for the digital natives’ new practices to contribute to a balanced support to production, which represents a fundamental condition to ensure the continued existence of cinema. This multidisciplinary research aims at finding actual solutions that will be able to overcome stereotypes as well as reconcile the motivations and constraints of the various actors: industries, creators, audiences, governments.

Throughout the Eurozone’s economic crisis, little attention has been given to wage-setting practices. This lack of attention is surprising given that wages have been considered an important instrument for managing the economy in a currency union since the 1960s and have even been emphasized in successive blueprints for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Recent scholarship has found differences in wage-setting practices a key feature distinguishing healthy and crisis-stricken Eurozone countries. Indeed, in this emerging literature, countries that coordinate wages effectively have remained competitive under EMU and had fewer troubles in responding to the crisis, while those with weakly-coordinated wages have struggled mightily. In effect, this literature finds differences in EMU members’ wage-setting regimes at the heart of the economic crisis now facing the Eurozone and the trade imbalances between its Northern and Southern members. However, very little work has examined the specifics of individual labour market models under EMU. Indeed, while this new literature on wage setting and the crisis places wage setting models at its centre, it does not delve into the differences among highly coordinated systems. This oversight is problematic given that scholars of monetary union have suggested that the single currency may amplify the effects of subtle differences in national socioeconomic models, while others have suggested that EMU may be corrosive to some labour market models that coordinate wage setting. This study addresses this gap in the literature, dissecting labour market models by the mechanisms that deliver horizontal and vertical coordination, as well as the indicators to which they are calibrated. Using this framework, it then traces the experiences of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands under EMU, who use very different mechanisms to coordinate wages. It argues that while EMU has exacerbated longstanding problems in the Belgian wage-bargaining system, it has had little impact upon the German and Dutch systems. Rather, underlying changes in the institutions that manage wage setting in these countries, and changes in social partner organizations – particularly the trade unions – are far more consequential for their continued functioning under EMU. More broadly, these findings suggest that in fact, many designs of highly coordinated wage setting are capable of managing pressures from the single currency. For those Eurozone countries currently refashioning their labour market models, tighter coordination may be just as viable an option as dismantling their wage-bargaining institutions. / Graduate / 0615 / ifdumka@gmail.com

歐體當初被設計成為一個具有彈性及動力的組織，它只是一個開端，而並非為終極目標，所以從一九五七年至今，會員國由原創始的六個國家，擴增至今日之十五國，其創造之經濟及政治成就，不僅使歐洲從戰後的頹敗，變為今日之繁榮、先進，且由於歐洲國家之結合，而使其在國際舞台上之份量愈形吃重。而此等成就亦吸引同為歐洲國家，只是在過去五十年來一直實行共產主義的中、東歐國家希望加入。 在一九九○年代之前，有關於歐體成員國擴增的討論，僅僅止於有關於南歐或北歐國家加入的問題。但隨著以蘇聯為首的中、東歐共產集團的瓦解，一些有關歐盟未來發展的型式、範圍、整合速度以及歐盟現有成員國對於廣化之可欲性等，在近年來一一浮上檯面。本論文之主要研究目的即是在藉由對歐體歷次廣化經驗之研究及解析，瞭解歐體在每次擴大的過程中所遭遇之各項難題，並且瞭解歐體各成員國對於廣化所持之態度，以評估未來中、東歐國家加入歐盟的可行性，同時，亦瞭解歐盟在未來廣化成功之後，整個歐盟在機構及政策上，所將要面臨的改變與調整。 第一章、 緒論 第一節、 研究動機及研究目的 第二節、 研究方法 第三節、 名詞界定 第二章、 歐體的三次擴大經驗 第一節、 第一次擴大經驗：英國、丹麥、愛爾蘭 第二節、 第二次擴大經驗：希臘、西班牙、葡萄牙 第三節、 第三次擴大經驗：奧地利、瑞典、芬蘭 第三章、 歐體三次廣化經驗之啟發 第一節、 申請加入歐體之條件與程序及相關要素 第二節、 各國於加入歐體後之反應 第四章、 中東歐國家加入歐盟的背景 第一節、 中東歐國家申請加入歐盟的進程 第二節、 中東歐國家申請加入歐盟的經貿背景 第五章、 對中東歐國家加入歐盟的評估 第一節、 中東歐國家對於加入歐盟的態度 第二節、 歐盟對於東擴所作的準備 第六章、 結論 參考書目

This thesis addresses the question as to why multilevel politics is becoming an integral part of politics in Europe. Multilevel politics is conceptualized as a system which functions through a complex web of political relations within and across levels of decision making. The thesis argues that the rise of multilevel politics can be explained by its institutionalization in terms of the emergence, the evolution and especially the effects of relevant institutions. Based on a mixed-method research project, the influence of European institutions on subnational actors and the alignment of actor motives with institutional characteristics are empirically shown. The first chapter of the dissertation establishes the centrality of institutions for political transformation, examines the role of transnational and domestic institutions for multilevel politics, and contextualizes the research question in terms of institution-actor relations. The second chapter develops a new-institutionalist theoretical framework that explains the emergence, the evolution and the effects of the institutions, and formulates a series of hypotheses with regard to freestanding institutional influence, power distribution, material benefits and political identification. The third chapter outlines the mixed-method research design which addresses individual-level and institutional-level variations through a Europe-wide survey and a comparative case study. The fourth chapter on survey results shows generally favourable views on multilevel politics, and strong associations of these views with the independent variables under scrutiny. The fifth chapter specifies a multivariate model which includes all posited variables and confirms the majority of the hypotheses. Therefore, the new-institutionalist argument is broadly confirmed, while there is relatively weak evidence to sustain sociological explanations. The final chapter compares the Committee of the Regions and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and examines the institutional characteristics which correspond to the hypothesized variables. It is then concluded that the two institutions share several overarching similarities, and display complementarity in other aspects.