The fundamental freedoms and human rights is something the countries, and its citizens, of the European Union more or less take for granted. However, in recent years these rights have become a topic of discussion in the way that a debate about the Islamic headscarves has developed. This debate has resulted in that a number of countries, including France, have taken legislative measures to ban clothing that fully covers ones face. Out of these bans a discussion has arisen concerning the fundamental freedoms and human rights. These burqa bans, as it is labeled in the pubic debate, have been accused to wrongfully limit the individuals freedoms and human rights. This study therefore has the aim to analyze these burqa bans in relation to the European Union, United Nations and the Council of Europe’s general declarations concerning the fundamental freedoms and basic human rights. The main result of this study shows that these bans in fact is not a proportionally restrict in the fundamental freedoms and human rights. These results also are strengthened by the theoretical positions on freedom as put forth by Samuel Pufendorf and John Stuart Mill.

The activity of interest groups in the political process of the European Union has given rise to a broad debate concerning the effect on European democracy these groups have. As relatively powerful political actors, the question of these groups’ views on the EU and how the union should be is an important one. The status of these groups owns democratic representation also affects the democratic status of the EU. Being based on a number of theories, this study adopts an ideology analysis for the purpose of testing these theories on two cases – the Swedish environmental organizations World Wide Fund for Nature and The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. This study conducts an investigation of these questions based on theories of interest group involvement in politics, aswell as the broader theories of pluralism and corporatism in a democratic political system. The question of representation is examined based on different perspectives and theories of representation, specifically on discursive representation which offers a view unlike the normal one of representing individuals or voters. The analysis shows varying support for the pluralist and corporatist view of politics, aswell as clear support for the discursive representation together with the more “traditional” view of representation.

Managing environmental sustainability gradually reveals its importance along with the increasing and irreversible destructions to the ecosystem. With 27 member countries, the European Union (EU) has applied indicators and the Driving forces-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to manage sustainable progress. Though the sustainable indicators in the DPSIR framework systematically structure environmental problems in the EU policy lifecycle, the DPSIR framework remains subject to certain criticisms. Moreover, the policymaker still needs more information to detect future environmental risks and take measures in advance. To meet the needs above, this study plans to further explore the DPSIR framework. To begin with, the DPSIR framework was used to select 28 indicators, as well as to collect corresponding data for 27 member states between 2005 and 2006.The partial-least-squares (PLS) technology will be applied to determine the cause-and-effect relationships among constructs. Next, this study refers to Tapio¡¦s decoupling concepts and then develops the idea of societal response initiative. By integrating these categories of societal response initiative and decoupling, a 3x3 joint ¡§Societal Response Initiative- Decoupling Joint Analysis Table¡¨ is formed. This table can help understand the sustainable attitudes of economy and society towards environmental problems and further decide policy priority to effect risk preventions. The study finally designs a scenario of greenhouse gas emissions to demonstrate the new DPSIR indicator system with the aggregate EU-23 data between 2006 and 2007. This study has two main contributions: First, this study provides the DPSIR framework with an empirical foundation for its explanatory ability of causal links among constructs. Secondly, this article develops jointly sustainable preventive indicators in order to systematically seek the possible causes of environmental problems derived from the development of the economy and the society. By doing so, the decision-maker can detect future environmental problems and allocate resources most timely and effectively.

This is a comprehensive study of tobacco control policy and politics in the European Union, 1970-2000. I develop an instrumental theory of public policy which establishes an approach for connecting policy instruments to policy outcomes. I investigate ways in which political, bureaucratic and interest group (particularly the tobacco industry) factors influence the success of policy instruments aimed at reducing cigarette consumption. I also explore whether and how supranational mandates and directives influence the success of national-level efforts to control tobacco. I test hypotheses empirically using pooled time-series methodologies. The substantive conclusion is that non-price policies are only a qualified success when controlling for addiction, price policy and factors in the policy environment. Price policy is consistently effective, cross-nationally and the public health bureaucracy is a key player in curbing consumption of cigarettes. Major theoretical conclusions include affirmation that supranational policy actions can shape national policy outcomes, that interest group pluralism favors those with a comparative advantage in organizing (in this case, the tobacco industry), and that while policy instruments can be evaluated according to their behavioral attributes, caution should be exercised when simultaneous policy adoption is occurring.

Look back to the history of the European Union¡]EU¡^, started with the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community¡]ECSC¡^ in 1951, then it turned into European Atomic Energy Community¡]EURATOM¡^and European Economic Community¡]EEC¡^to repeal customs duties. Maastricht Treaty was established in the year of 1992 and it brought a brand new, all concepts of integration. The international society and the academic world are interested in whether all these changes will bring the EU to a new single state or not. It¡¦s not an optimum way to via the highly legalized economic laws to define that if there¡¦s a tendency of building a new state of EU. In order to get more ideas of EU, this thesis chooses the youth policy, which has multidimensional concepts, to analyze the situation and to clarify the present and future state of EU integration. With the more specific analysis of the youth policy, this thesis has found that it has not only a goal of strategy, but also one of the most important chains of EU¡¦s integration. Therefore, this article uses the youth policy to be the main framework to check the existence of the EU¡¦s state-building. This thesis provides a new point of view to see if there¡¦s a possibility of the EU¡¦s state-building; begin with checking the EU¡¦s development to build the concept of EU¡¦s integration trend, analyze the EU¡¦s youth policy and compare it with the main trend of EU¡¦s development to explore if EU tends to become one state. The main framework of the study consists of ¡§Internal solidification¡¨ and ¡§external discrimination¡¨ to prevent the limitation of single integration theory and to exam the state of EU¡¦s integration. This proves that EU has found the motive to take the further step to the next stage of integration. It is likely to say that the relations between the member states of EU are getting stronger in cultural concept.

The end of cold war indicates the collapse of the bipolar system built by US and Soviet Union together. The international system at post-cold war era also has changed obviously following the trend of globalization, and international relation keeps varying and adjusting. First, global economy has accelerated towards globalization after releasing from the yokes of cold war. As a result, the interdependence of countries become closer and closer, the overall development and diversified trend of the word become more and more obvious. All these bring a strong influence on leading powers such as China, US and E. U, and consequently a significant adjustment on their strategies and relation. Based on geopolitics, these three parties own enormous economic, military and politic influence globally and also regionally, at the same time, China, US and E. U. all take a significant strategic role in America, Asia, and Europe respectively. Therefore, their interaction is an important foundation for observation of leading powers¡¦ relation under globalization background at post-cold war era. Therefore, the discussion on factors that affect relation of three parties, features and their development trend has quite significant meaning theoretically. It is also an innovative attempt in terms of study on the overall nature, especially at the post-cold war era and under the influence of globalization. For the cold war era, Lowell Dittmer¡¦s Strategy Triangle Theory was most frequently used to discuss the strategic relation of three parties in the international system. This study, on the other hand, tires to analyze the relation of these leading powers at post-cold war era under globalization background. From their interaction, it tries to understand how one party coordinates its strategic interests with the other two parties as they are all the most important bodies in international society. It benefits the understanding of internal drives and external pressure under globalization, and also the influence of leading powers¡¦ interaction on international system. This study starts from the ¡§corners¡¨, that is, to analyze three parties¡¦ positioning in the international system and based on one party¡¦s strategy view to the other two parties and strategy planning, to understand these three parties¡¦ strategy logistics and international behavior mode. Following that, it examines the structure of the ¡§sides¡¨ from the bilateral relation of three parties. Finally, it tries to understand the ¡§overall nature¡¨ of three parties based on an examination on the interaction of China, US and E.U. on significant international topics during the 21st century. Topics including events that have significant influence and special meaning on international strategies and national interests of three parties, such as the 911 event, US attack of Iraq, deregulation on shipping weapons to China, to find out the importance and influence of ¡§terrorism¡¨, ¡§regional conflict¡¨, ¡§weapon expansion¡¨, ¡§bilateral relation¡¨ etc. factors on interaction of three-party strategy. All in all, the purpose of this study is to make out the leading powers¡¦ political logistics and model under the globalization background at post-cold war era as well as its international influence.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between regional policy and regional state aid policy in the European Union and to evaluate the implications of this relationship on the transformation of the regional policy approach of both the EU and the member states with specific focus on the implications for Turkish regional policy in the process of EU accession. After providing a critical review of regional policy and regional state aid policy in the EU, this thesis lays out the possible alternatives for regional policy following the enlargement of the Union in 2004. The analysis shows that in the absence of a significant increase in the funding directed to regional policy at the EU level despite an increase in regional disparities and as a result of more strict regulations on regional state aids granted by member states / a trade-off exists, especially for less-prosperous member states, between national growth and reduction of regional disparities. Thus, achieving a proper balance between competitiveness and cohesion in the EU necessitates the coordination of national and EU level funding for regional development. The implications for Turkey is that in order to achieve national convergence with the EU in the short run and to reduce regional disparities in the long run, Turkey needs to revise its regional policy and regional state aid policy as to strategically coordinate national and EU regional policy funding.

Abstract Taiwan has won the good name of ¡§the Kingdom of Fasteners¡¨ for years. With the dedication by the whole industry the exporting volume of fasteners products kept significantly growing every year in Taiwan and the production scale has become the leading position worldwide as well. However, due to the unlimited investment along with large expansion of production capacity made in the past decade, the market situation tends to be oversupplied. Price war emerges whenever business gets slow, as a result, the exporting price keeps dropping year by year and Taiwan is likely to be the target of foreign anti-dumping suits. As a matter of fact, Taiwan fastener industry has encountered several anti-dumping suits before. Among all the cases, the European anti-dumping suit on import of stainless steel fasteners has resulted in a considerable impact to the industry that the exporting volume of fasteners products has significantly decreased since 1988 and many companies were forced to seek for other markets, downscale their operation or even move the factories to overseas. The Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 exercises multilateral agreement to sanction the dumping activities based on non-discrimination principle and adopts necessary measure to restrict the dumping activities. As a result, to avoid any negative impact caused by the free trade and protect the benefit of local industries, every country is allowed to bring the anti-dumping law into their trading policy. However, we noted from the evolution of the trading policy that the mechanism of protection measure has been shift from tariff barrier to be non-tariff barrier, and from non-tariff barrier to the abuse or misuse of WTO regulation, the discretion of the administration has even become one of the mechanisms. This paper is intended to emphasize the impact to the free trade by anti-dumping measure and the impropriety of the European anti-dumping system. This paper includes six chapters: Chapter 1 - General introduction; Chapter 2 ¡V The development of Taiwan fasteners industry; Chapter 3 ¡V The illustration of the European anti-dumping system and suit case; Chapter 4 ¡V The initial and definitive determinations of suit case; Chapter 5 ¡V The disputes of legal procedure and substance; Chapter 6 ¡V Conclusion and suggestion.

<p>European Union (EU) Enlargement is more than a collaboration of nations; it has become a large-scale development project where countries facing significant economic challenges undergo enormous transitions in order to meet the standards for acceptance into the EU. This level of accelerated development calls for a strong integrated sustainable development oversight.</p><p>Sustainable development is a global development management philosophy that aims to conserve the integrity of the earth’s ecosystems while supporting economic growth and social welfare. It was developed by the Brundtland Commission during the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, its primary purpose was to reduce the resistance to the conservation of the environment while raising awareness for the importance of the earth’s natural resources, both for those who need it today and those who will need it tomorrow.</p><p>The aim of this study was to investigate the degree to which sustainable development has been implemented into the process of EU Enlargement. A snowball method was used to identify both qualitative and quantitative data through official documents and statements, reports, research, and web pages. First, I investigated both the EU and the UN definitions of sustainable development to see how they compared and how the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) addressed EU Enlargement. Next, I examined the EU accession assistance programs available to candidate countries to determine if they were guided by sustainable development and if they had had any influence on the sustainable development within the candidate countries.</p><p>The definitions of sustainable development for both the EU and the UN were notably different. The UN:s definition provided a balanced approach to the Three Pillars of Sustainable Development, while the EU:s definition strongly supported the economic pillar decreasing the value of the environmental pillar. The EU SDS showed no marked reference to EU Enlargement and the accession assistance programs were not guided by sustainable development. Furthermore, the quantitative data collected from the EU sustainable development indicators in EuroStat indicated that the process of accession increased candidate countries GDP growth which also increased their capacity to meet the MDG’s and therefore, to implement sustainable development. However, while economic and social standards of the candidate countries were shown to increase while environmental conservation was shown to decrease. The significant lack of data designed to monitor the environmental pillar of sustainable development within the EU:s strategy indicated that the environmental pillar of sustainable development has been neglected. In conclusion, while the capacity to implement sustainable development has increased, implementation of sustainable development has not. Discussed in response to this is the need for a comprehensive EU SDS that reaches through the boundaries of member states and into candidate and candidate hopeful countries. Acting through an umbrella program the EU Enlargement SDS could bring both enlargement and sustainable development together cohesively increasing the chances that new EU members will make a more rapid advance in the process of sustainable development.</p>

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>The EU as a normative power in Belarus – a critical case</p><p>By Anna Johnsson</p><p>University of Växjö</p><p>School of Social Sciences</p><p>Spring semester 2007</p><p>The European Union’s identity is a much debated topic. Some say it’s a unique actor in the international arena because of the different tools it has at its disposal. Ian Manners claims that the EU is what he calls a normative power. A normative power has the possibilities to influence other actors’ perceptions of what is normal and tries to affect actors’ behavior by diffusing values. Manners defines nine different values that the EU exports and also in what ways it is done.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how the EU acts as a normative power in Belarus. Belarus was chosen because it is said to be the last dictatorship left in Europe. It was also chosen as a critical case for the EU’s normative power. To be able to fulfill the purpose of the thesis I have worked with two main questions:</p><p>• What are the normative values the EU is exporting through its contacts with Belarus?</p><p>• In what ways are these values diffused?</p><p>The questions were answered by examining the official EU strategy for Belarus and I found that the values the EU is exporting to Belarus mainly are democracy, human rights, rule of law and sustainable development. Main ways of diffusion were informational diffusion, procedural diffusion and the cultural filter.</p><p>Keywords: Normative power, diffusion of values, the European Union, Belarus</p>