The purpose of this research project is to analyse the opportunities and challenges that the foreign and security policy research institutes face in transnational cooperation across wider Europe. By specifically examining the capacities of non- and quasi-governmental actors to operate and cooperate at transnational level, the research informs the choices presented by the ongoing restructuring of the foreign and security policy sphere. The increasing deterritorialisation of foreign and security policy issues calls for transnational or multinational approaches to resolve them. As nation states fall short of the appropriate capacities, it is of interest to investigate how non- and quasi-governmental actors can contribute to transnational interaction. Therefore, their tools and capacities to operate and cooperate in the transnational sphere need to be established in the first place. In this context a broader geographical focus is chosen in order to study a more differentiated situation, instead of the already relatively integrated case of the European Union. The thesis first studies cooperation among research institutes in broader terms under consideration of their socio-political environment. It outlines differences in their organic development dependent on the geographic affiliation of the institutes, and identifies their tools as well as several defining characteristics. This is followed by an analysis of the fieldwork, discussing processes, opportunities and challenges in transnational cooperation as perceived by staff in research institutes. Subsequently, the thesis takes a more detailed look at applied cooperation among research institutes. Here it traces patterns and formats of interaction, and then delves into a case study on project- based cooperation that provides functional insights regarding research institutes cooperation across borders. In studying cooperation among research institutes from various perspectives, the research enables to investigate the integration among the different narratives. The study integrates a range of issues and concepts in an original manner, therefore it contributes to several significant debates. On the face of it, the thesis adds to the identification of a role for non- and quasi-governmental actors in an increasingly deterritorialised foreign and security policy sphere, using the example of research institutes. To address this aspect, the study considers both the broader implications of socio-political and economic interrelations for cooperation, as well as the detailed functional level of interaction. Moreover, based on the choice of geographical focus, the research project contributes to the literature on EU-Russia relations. Herein it adds to the extant literature by offering a perspective which acknowledges the implications of high politics but emphasises the role of non- and quasi-governmental actors. Beyond that, the thesis contributes to the theoretical debate on foreign and security policy in choosing a non-traditional approach to examine a non-traditional issue. Post-structuralism serves to facilitate a critical review of the construction of cooperation among Russian and EU-based public policy research institutes.

Thesis advisor: Jennifer Erickson / This thesis examines institutional enlargement for both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Both organizations added new members to their ranks during the Cold War and in the post-Cold War era. During the Cold War, NATO and the European Community (EC) had informal membership criteria, but once the Cold War ended, the two institutions implemented explicit membership requirements. The research question centers on whether both institutions admitted new members that did not satisfy some of the membership criteria. I find that the two organizations both admitted new states that only partially complied with the criteria. In this thesis, I analyze why NATO and the EU added new member states even when these states' membership applications were incomplete. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science.

<p>This essay examines the European Union’s (EU) ability to play a leading role as a global actor on the world stage in international relations. Specifically, this essay studies the EU’s role of negotiator in the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.  This essay also analyzes explanations for this role. Research is based on case studies, with conclusions drawn using an inductive approach. Analyses are based on International Relations Theory, with conclusions derived from the two main approaches in IR-theory - Realism and Liberalism. It is noted that the EU wanted to play an important role in the negotiations, through leading by example and consistently working towards a common, universal treaty for all involved, which is consistent with the Liberalist approach. However, the conference ended with the American president negotiating alone with four other countries, leaving the remaining one hundred and eighty-eight countries to either accept or reject the agreement without changes. This supports the Realist approach in IR-theory.  Therefore, the essay’s overall conclusions demonstrate that both the Liberalist and Realist approaches were present during this conference. </p>

A relatively well established literature already proffers explanations for the persistence of Euroskeptic Radical Right Parties (ERRPs) in Western Europe and for their emergence in the new democracies of the East. The purpose of this study is not to replicate those existing studies; instead, the argument advanced here is that there may be an important intervening factor as yet unexplored in the extant literature. Drawing upon aggregate survey data from select Western European EU member states and a focused case study of Slovakia, this paper seeks to assess the impact of information, in this case information about the European Union, on voting for ERRPs. The argument presented here is that EU information mitigates the support for ERRPs, more so in the East than in the West.

The growing demand for biofuels in the European Union is expected to have a significant impact on rural environments in sub-Saharan Africa. In the wake of Directive 2009/28/EC, Ghana experienced a rapid rise in foreign land acquisitions and direct investments to its agricultural sector. The potential implications of this development are multi-fold: While proponents of the EU biofuels policy stress the potential for agricultural development and improved energy security in the region, its opponents criticise the lack of binding rules and regulations concerning social sustainability and indirect land use changes. As a means of assessing the validity of these opposing views, this research paper provides an analysis of the directive's impact on Ghanaian energy security and agricultural development in the country. The analysis is based on key informant interviews and a comprehensive literature reviews. It is concluded that the potential of host countries to generate benefits from the cultivation of energy crops largely rests on their institutional framework. In Ghana, foreign biofuel investments appear to have at least partially resulted in negative socio-economic impacts on local rural communities. Formal and informal land rights, as well as land acquisition procedures present significant obstacles. Civil action and the proposal for a new national biofuels policy indicate, however, that the country could eventually emerge as a beneficiary of the global trend towards biofuels.

After experiencing World War ¢¹and ¢º, the European countries recognized that to prevent war on Europe was of necessary. They would like to inspire economic development by economic integration, and furthermore, to push Europe back to the key actor of world politics through political integration. From ¡§European Common Market¡¨, ¡§European Community¡¨ to ¡§European Union¡¨, the European countries has gone through many complex negotiations. Among the regimes in European Union, ¡§Common Foreign and Security Policy¡¨ works through ¡§Intergovernmental Cooperation¡¨, which is of much higher political meaning. It symbolizes the operation of integration theory has strode from economic to political matters. The operations of CFSP have two important contributions to Europe. First of all, it contributed to the reconciliation of European nations. Second, it demonstrates peace can be achieved through legal and institutional negations without threatening the existing political authorities. Both China and Taiwan can take lessons in the CFSP¡¦s negotiation process, especially in the aspects of how to leave aside disputes and put aside minor differences so as to seek common ground. President Chen Shui-Bian gave a talk on 31 December 2000 which indicated that the Cross-strait relation could learn from EU¡¦s integration experience and jointly seek for new framework of political integration. It could start from economic and cultural integration, build confidence step by step, and look for new framework for political integration. This kind of opinion conforms to international development experience. What norms of EU¡¦s experience should the Cross-strait refer to is the main topic of this research. How do EU¡¦s institutions make compromise between ¡§national interest¡¨ and ¡§EU¡¦s development¡¨ is another concerning point of the research.

On its own, Kosovo has neither come to where it is today nor could it move any forward in the near future. The role of the international community and especially that of the EU is crucial in helping Kosovo overpass some of the current barriers and become a truly European state, instead of just another state in Europe. Therefore, from a state-building perspective, this paper strives to shed some light on the process of state-building in Kosovo and the role of the international involvement during this past decade.

This study examines the making of the European identity concept under the impact of the European Union (EU) project. In order to define the structure of the European identity, theoretical and historical aspects have been scrutinised. Besides, the Eurobarometers (EBs) have been used to analyse the condition of European identity perception among the people of the member countries. The results of the EBs data show that the popularisation of the European identity is limited and the elite character of this identity seems dominant. The EU still lacks its common political identity, which forms a political agenda, and a supranational political identity. This thesis has concluded that the popularisation of the European identity can ensure more political unity for the EU, and this unity can be realised only with a multiple identity perception including current strong identities of the Europe.

This thesis analyzes the European Union as an international actor in the context of World Trade Organisation. This thesis discusses the interaction between the EU and the WTO from several important dimensions. This thesis also examines different theoretical perspectives about concepts of actors and actorness, the evolution of trade policy of the EU, and the history of world multilateral trade system as well.

Univ., Diss,--Groningen.