Since the early 1990s Croatia has defined membership of the European Union as one of its primary goals. However, the immediate post-war period and the difficult transition to democracy left Croatia in relative isolation from Western European states and its aim of joining the European Union seemed unattainable and distant. Croatia’s involvement in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and President Tuđman’s politics proved to be great obstacles to its further democratisation and development. The parliamentary and presidential elections in the year 2000 and the defeat of Tuđman’s party offered a unique opportunity to change the direction of Croatian politics and to move closer to achieving the goal of EU membership. This thesis addresses changes in Croatia’s identity and it does so through the analysis of discourses surrounding Croatia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its changing attitudes towards the protection of minority rights during the year 2000. Both cases fall under the Copenhagen Criteria of Accession whose implementation was crucial for Croatia’s moving closer towards EU membership. They are also closely linked to Croatia’s identity and are rooted in the civilisational discourse that juxtaposes ‘the West’/ EU and ‘the East’/ the Balkans as both geographical and civilisational spaces. The two case studies are both concerned with questions of sovereignty, justice, victims of the Homeland War and the role of Serbia in Croatia’s recent past and in its future. Serbia features as Croatia’s radical other and is discursively constructed as an embodiment of the Balkans civilisation. The study of cooperation with the ICTY and of discourses surrounding minority protection analyses the links between different civilisational spaces that Croatia navigates and their implications to the reconstruction of discourses central to Croatian identity. Despite different subject material both case studies reveal the centrality of the Serbian other for the Croatian identity and the need to redefine that relationship without undermining Croatia’s identity as a Western country and attempts to differentiate itself from the Balkans.

This thesis examines the NATO's adaptation of a new security focus towards forward defense in the 21st Century. Until the late 1990s, the strategic focus of NATO was on mutual defense based on a collective response guaranteed by Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. Since the adoption of NATO's Strategic Concept (1999), the Alliance has shifted their strategic focus toward a forward defense strategy. As NATO assumed more operational responsibilities, and deployed forces out-of-area in non-Article 5 missions, the disparity of military capabilities, operational challenges, and cultural and institutional differences within the Alliance gave rise to the question, "Is NATO the most effective instrument with which to execute a strategy of forward defense?" A review of the expeditionary campaigns in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq determines the efficiency of the Alliance as an expeditionary security actor. The modernization of European military capabilities are described in relation to NATO, and how these programs either complement or duplicate existing structures and capabilities. Furthermore, inherent structural flaws in NATO's composition are examined, as well as cultural and ideological differences within the Alliance and their effects on out-of-area operations. Finally, challenges and issues that may confront NATO in the future during the execution of their forward defense strategy are discussed.

... In my contribution I will tell in short the long story how Austria approached the European Union (EU). For other EU applicants this may not serve as a model blueprint, but it shows the particular problems a country has to tackle with when engaging to become a member of Europe's mightiest economic powers. Austria's roads to Europe were by no means straight. In contrast, we made many roundabouts and sidesteps. This, however, is not a problem unique to Austria. The double-trackedness of European integration in the sixties (EC versus EFTA integration) has caused enormous frictions and ineffiencies which resulted in a sub-optimal growth process in Europe and unused welfare potentials. In the case of Austria one can demonstrate that the splitting of integration in Europe was not very helpful for Austria's economic development. (excerpt) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

Title in English: Development of common European currency Abstract Main topic of my master thesis was to summarize current development of the European monetary integration. This part is mainly covered by chapter 1, current situation and future expectations mentioned in chapter 4. Some evidence of current integration could be found in the prewar history, but actual development covers the post war period. European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) were the real beginning of the current European union. European Union was settled by founding treaties of above mentioned institutions. Further milestones were provisions of founding treaties and new treaties of so called primary source of the EU law, of which the final goal was supposed to be the Constitution of the European Union. This constitution was approved in a modified version excluding constitutional symbols and it is called the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty can be considered as the greatest step of the European integration whose integral part is the common currency, euro. The second chapter summarizes theoretical and economic bases of the common currency. The rich theory of optimum currency areas is a dominant theoretical concept in this area. Founder of this theory,...

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

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the trade-development nexus in economic relations between the European Union and Pacific island states. Two interrelated but competing International Relations theories are utilised as tools for analysis: the dependency theory and realist theory. The research consists of analysis of the approaches, assumptions and applicability of both theories in the wider context of North-South relations, with a focus on recent changes in the relationship between the European Union and Pacific island states. The thesis revealed that the lack of success in reaching policy objectives throughout a long-lasting relationship was a key driving force for several policy shifts; these resulted in the implementation of the trade-development nexus into new foreign policy instruments, the Economic Partnership Agreements. Research demonstrated that new dependency theory forecasts more emphasis on the internal development dimension and a development-friendly trade-development nexus. Realist theory however estimates that, depending on power projections and self-interests involved, the trade-development nexus may lead to either more co-operation or more conflict in relations between the European Union and Pacific island states. In order to test the theoretical propositions, the thesis turned to the analysis of two case studies. It looked at the sugar sector in Fiji and the fisheries sector in the South Pacific. Both case studies demonstrated how the trade-development nexus selfadjusts to a given situation or changes through a set of conditions present at any given point in time— a phenomenon that is a defining feature, and possibly the actual essence of the nexus. This flexibility may positively contribute to the European Union's aspirations of becoming an influential global actor through trade and development policies. However, flexibility renders the trade-development nexus unpredictable as policy instrument and therefore less desirable from the perspective of Pacific island countries than it would appear in light of the case-studies.

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

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-181.