The diploma thesis Brexit and its implications for European integration uses the method of explanatory case study in an effort to analyze the causes and impacts of the Great Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. The thesis therefore examines the historical context of the complicated relations between Great Britain and the European Communities from their formation in the 1950s to the present, which ultimately led to the historic step of United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020. The thesis then maps the negotiations regarding the Withdrawal Agreement and the future arrangement of mutual relations, which took place between 2016 - 2020. The effects of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on the composition and functioning of the European institutions and the impact of the changes on the remaining member states are also analyzed. In addition, the work presents possible arrangements of economic relations between the two parties, which are currently the subject of negotiations between the UK and the EU during the transitional period from 1 February 2020 to 31 December 2020. Lastly, the thesis works with the White Paper presented by the European Commission in 2017 in order to analyze five possible scenarios for the future development of European integration. For this, the thesis...

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe in the beginning of 2020, a majority of countries reacted by closing their state borders. By drawing on concepts of border studies and border regional resilience, this thesis aims to examine the impact of the (im)mobility shock caused by the pandemic on two border twin cities in Europe. Through a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured expert interviews and content analyses, the thesis attempts to identify (1) Which factors facilitated/obstructed the coping/adapting strategies to the problems caused by the pandemic induced state border closures; and (2) Which long-term effects the COVID-19 crisis will have on the future development of the border twin cities and whether their development path will transform into a more resilient one. The main finding of this thesis is that the crisis management on the local level was considerably limited by the restrictions enacted at the national level. To be better prepared for similar shocks, the border twin cities have already made plans based on their experience. However, it remains to be seen whether these strategies can contribute to the resilience of the cities. Nevertheless, coordination between the local, regional and national level is essential to plan and establish resilient border twin cities.

Bibliographic note STAHL, C. (2014): Cleavage Politics and Europeanisation-induced transformation of the national political space - The Case of the Czech Republic, 94 p. Master thesis, Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Jiří Vykoukal, CSc. Abstract This research seeks to map the national political space and assess the prevailing cleavage patterns in the Czech Republic. Processes of globalisation and Europeanisation have left their imprint in Western Europe - splitting the electorate into winners and losers of globalisation and denationalisation. This demarcation vs. integration magnet is also relevant in the CEE region - altering and reshuffling the underlying structure of party competition and EU contestation. By employing quantitative content analysis of print media the prevailing issue and cleavage dimensions will be reconstructed both during early stages of democratic transition (1996 Parliamentary elections) and after the 2004-EU-enlargement (2010 elections). While the political discourse and politics in the 1990s are primarily structured by issues of economic transition and post-communist transformation (underlying the classical socio-economic cleavage between market and state), in 2010 also cultural and post-materialist political...

This doctoral thesis explores the ideational framework of British foreign and European policy in the era of New Labour governments (1997-2010). Drawing from social constructivism and the "linguistic turn" in social sciences, and using discourse analysis as its primary tool, it analyses a set of major foreign and European policy speeches by prime ministers and foreign secretaries, and Labour Party general election manifestos, to reconstruct the ideational structure in which empirical British foreign policy was embedded. It identifies conceptual ideas about the nature and rules governing the international order, distribution of power in the international system, hierarchy of issues in contemporary international agenda, international identity and role of the United Kingdom, its key international relationships, its power resources, and interests and values shaping British foreign policy, as held by the leading government figures of the era. Established changes and transformations of these governing ideas are contextualised in the empirical development in the international arena. While confirming the pro-stability and self-reproduction bias of ideational structures, via their constitution of agency and organization of the actors' discursive practices, the thesis identifies six events which sparked...

Cette thèse est consacrée à l’étude du positionnement des partis politiques nationaux vis-à-vis de l’intégration européenne ;ce qu’ils pensent de cette dernière sous sa forme actuelle ainsi qu’au sens large, du projet européen dont ils se font les porteurs. Bien qu’importante, la littérature consacrée à ce sujet reste à ce jour influencée par l’axiome selon lequel l’ensemble des positionnements possibles peuvent être identifiés le long d’un axe unique opposant supporters et adversaires de la cause européenne. Dans les faits, une telle lecture a pour conséquence d’aboutir à des classifications confuses, voire erronées, des rapports partisans à l’Europe. En particulier, celles-ci s’avèrent incapables de surmonter le problème de l’existence d’orientations politiques divergentes dans le chef des partis en fonction de la nature des enjeux européens évalués.À partir de la définition du soutien politique telle que théorisée par David Easton, cette thèse rompt avec le reste de la littérature en faisant le choix de décomposer systématiquement la nature des positionnements partisans à l’Europe. En particulier, une triple distinction est introduite entre le rapport à i) la Communauté européenne, à savoir le projet et les valeurs qui doivent la sous-tendre, ii) le régime institutionnel de l’Union européenne, c’est-à-dire la nature du processus décisionnel qu’ils souhaitent voir se mettre en place à l’échelle européenne ;iii) la gouvernance européenne, soit les décisions de politique publique qui devraient être prises à l’échelle européenne, ainsi que leur orientation politique. Théoriquement, ce choix est élaboré au travers de la constitution d’un modèle original de l’étude du soutien politique vis-à-vis de l’intégration européenne, construit sur une grille d’analyse comportant un ensemble de vingt-cinq variables ordinales. Empiriquement, le modèle est testé sur une trentaine de partis répartis entre la France, la Grande-Bretagne et la Belgique de 2001 à 2014. Dans chaque cas, l’analyse repose sur une collecte de données propres, extraites des programmes européens des partis considérés ainsi que, dans chaque pays, les débats parlementaires entourant la ratification des traités européens au cours de la période. Une fois les principaux résultats d’analyse croisés, une observation transversale des similitudes et des divergences constatées entre partis est opérée pour construire une typologie originale et exhaustive des rapports à l’Europe organisée sous la forme d’une matrice intégrée. Sous sa forme simplifiée, celle-ci amène à l’identification de onze idéaux-types dans le positionnement des partis politiques nationaux vis-à-vis de l’intégration européenne. Cette liste détaillée constitue l’aboutissement de cette recherche. Facile à appréhender, la classification que propose cette thèse constitue un outil d’analyse efficace, tant sur le plan conceptuel que sur le plan opérationnel, qui s’adresse non seulement aux experts de l’intégration européenne, mais aussi plus largement au grand public. Simple à l’emploi, elle ne renonce pour autant pas aux objectifs de sophistication qui ont amené à son élaboration. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This dissertation is a case study of Moldova regarding the influence of external assistance over the National Development Strategies 2020 and 2030 in face of the EU – Moldova Accession Agenda. The external assistance plays a key role for the country’s development but the allocation of the funds might not address the sustainable development goals set by the UN, and therefore the national strategic development plans need to be analysed on correlation. Donors tend to focus on a group of sectors leaving others lower in priority. One sector as such is the judiciary and governance. The European Commission claims that Moldova is making progress so far in adopting reforms, yet stressing that corruption and weak rule of law represent the main concern in the development of the country. The external assistance being allocated for many other sectors but not so much on reforms addressing the respective problem, what should we conclude? Allocating funds for infrastructure development, agriculture, energy, is obviously crucial for the country’s economic development. Nonetheless, the data on financial assistance management is rather hard to find from all the ministries benefiting of programs, and not all donors provide reports either. With weak monitoring mechanisms, according to the Paris Declaration Report 2008, and with a weak justice system from high level of corruption and low transparency, it is rather hard to trust the system overall, and the funds absorption capacity. This thesis aims at exploring the Official Development Assistance (ODA) per sectors, with a special focus on donors’ assistance for the judiciary sector. The intergovernmentalism theory is therefore explaining the states cooperation approach, and the approaches of the theory of constraints was used for stressing on the importance of finding the limitations in external assistance disbursements. Thus the methods used are comparative case studies on the State Chancellery reports and comparisons on correlations and donors. The empirical results therefore show a lack of progress in the judiciary sector explained in the discussing conclusion through a reference to the importance of strict conditionality from donors to recipient countries.

In a setting of rising global challenges, transnational issues, and a deadlocked debate on European integration in the aftermath of the British Brexit referendum, this thesis presents the pan-European political movement and party as a novel approach of a cosmopolitan European generation taking their fate in their own hands. Consequently, the study investigates the characteristics of the ideological foundations of the emergence, vision, and strategy of the pan-European political movement Volt Europa.In a qualitative single case study using semi-structured interviews and participant observation at its core, the thesis aims to present a pan-European political movement to fellow scholars. The occurring questions are what visions this new movement has for the future of the EU and how it intends to contribute to achieving these visions. Framed by a literature review on related aspects of European constitutional law, the paper uses Habermas’ Discourse Theory and its Cosmopolitan features to solve the puzzle. Thereby, taken-for-granted theoretical frameworks based on the interaction of nation-states are challenged, and an omen of a single European demos is discovered.The study finds that Volt Europa suggests policies already presented by scholars but have yet to be implemented by politicians. Moreover, it considers that Volt Europa contributes to European Public Sphere as a movement but is spread over only some of the EU proportionally. Accordingly, theory and empirics suggest significant importance to a European Public Sphere. In this, Volt acts as a political party influencing legislation and transnational NGOs influencing the public debate and raising global awareness.

Tidigare studier har noterat att svenska folkets motstånd mot fördjupad europeisk integration kan härledas från deras värnandet av välfärdsstaten. Ytterligare studier har funnit att prioriteringen av vissa mänskliga värderingar leder till att individen värderar välfärdsstaten i högre utsträckning. Denna undersökning gör ett försök att bredda förståelsen för hur prioriteringen av vissa mänskliga värderingar kan påverka individen att antingen ha en gynnsam eller ogynnsam syn på välfärdsstaten, och som därmed påverkar individernas stöd för fördjupad europeisk integration. Detta görs genom att använda Schwartz värderingsteori för att initialt skilja mellan Self-transcendence värderingar och Self-enhancement värderingar och analysera deras direkta effekt på stödet för fördjupad europeisk integration. En andra analys görs för att mäta de indirekta effekterna av mänskliga värderingar, kanaliserad genom attityder till välfärdsstaten, på stöd för fördjupad europeisk integration. Data för denna undersökning består av sekundärdata från ESS omgång 9 och använder ett urval av svenska respondenter på N=1474. / Previous studies have noted that swedish opposition to further European integration can be derived from their emphasis on and the importance they place upon the domestic welfare state. Further studies have shown that the prioritization of certain human values will lead the individual to regard the welfare state in a higher respect. This paper will make an attempt to broaden the understanding of how the prioritization of certain human values can influence the individual to have a favorable or unfavorable view of the welfare state, and therefore effect the individuals' support for further European integration. This is done by utilizing Schwartz value theory to initially distinguish between Self-transcendence values and Self-enhancement values and analyze their direct effect on support for further European integration. A second analysis is performed to measure the indirect effects of human values channeled through attitudes to the welfare state on support for further European integration. The data for this paper consists of secondary data provided by ESS round 9 and uses a selection of swedish respondents with a N=1474.

Ignorées à l’origine par le droit de l’Union européenne, les collectivités locales s’inscrivent pourtant dans les enjeux de l’intégration européenne et s’imposent en qualité de « quasi-sujet » du droit de l’Union européenne.A l’échelle de l’Union européenne, les collectivités locales sont associées de plus en plus à l’élaboration et à la mise en oeuvre des politiques de l’UE. Cependant, leur action reste dépendante des cadres étatiques qui édifient des limites institutionnelles à une participation plus accrue. L’Etat demeure l’acteur institutionnel par excellence.En dépit de ces obstacles, les collectivités locales parviennent à élaborer des stratégies pour influer sur le processus décisionnel en utilisant une diversité de canaux formels et informels.Enfin, elles participent directement à la mise en évidence d’un territoire de l’Union européenne. L’ingénierie locale constitue alors un atout pour l’avenir de l’Union, qui consciente des différences et de la diversité de son territoire, adapte ses politiques et ancre de plus en plus sa démarche dans les préceptes de la Multi level governance (ou gouvernance multi-niveaux). L’émergence de ce modèle de gouvernance est censée pérenniser les acquis et la poursuite de la construction européenne, tout en respectant les traditions constitutionnelles nationales.Ainsi, l’objet de cette thèse est d’envisager les rapports complexes entre l’Union européenne et les collectivités locales. Cette étude ouvre alors sur des perspectives territoriales nouvelles intéressant directement l’Union européenne et inspire une réflexion sur le rôle de ces pouvoirs infra-étatiques dans une Union qui s’inscrit aussi dans un monde globalisé. / For a long time, the European Union has not known about the local and regional authorities.However, local and regional level is a real asset to the Union. They become some almost subject of the European Union.Indeed, local and regional authorities currently have significant powers in key sectors such as education, environment, economic development, land use planning, public services and social policies. They implement the European legislation. Therefore, they also help ensure the exercise of European democracy and citizenship.Despite some significant advances in terms of recognizing their role in the European process, their actions are controlled by their national’s institutional architecture. And as the Union respects the constitutional autonomy of the Member States, which order their relations with regional and local authorities in different ways, it is really complicated to organize relations between European level and local and regional level.In spite of these impediments, the local authorities succeed in establishing strategies in order to be closely involved in shaping and implementing European strategies.Finally, the local authorities also take part into the construction of a European territory.Indeed, the diversity of the local and regional situations shows that it could be a chance. European policies have to be set up to the disparities and the local level is involved into the European decision making process.By another way, the recognition of the key role played by local and regional authorities in the European Union is developing a multilevel vision in the relations between the European actors. If the member States stay the institutional speaker of the European process, their local authorities succeed in integrating the European level. The multi level governance (MLG) has attracted the European Union. The MLG should coordinate action by the European level, the member states and local and regional authorities.This thesis shows the complicated relations between the European Union and the local authorities. Territorial perspectives and new objectives and tools should drive the European Union towards a better democratic integration

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.