No description available.

Zugl.: Giessen, Univ., Diss., 2005/2006

Univ., Diss.--Freiburg, 2001. / Literaturverz. S. 339 - 367.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

No description available.

Zugl.: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss., 2007

Thesis (doctoral) -- Universität zu Köln, 2006. / Includes bibliography (p. vii-xix).

During the past few years cooperation between the EU member states has expanded considerably in areas such as justice and homeland affairs. International cooperation in criminal justice has become more important as borders between EU countries has been lifted and because of this, various criminal groups have also had more opportunities to commit crimes cross borders. The Italian mafia groups in particularly have been operating in almost every country in Europe and have exploited the possibilities offered by the EU. The increase of organized crime in Europe has created a demand for EU to step up their actions against the organized crime. The purpose of this essay is to investigate exactly how the significant EU is has been in battling organized crime in Italy. The study is a case study based on the work importance of the EU in the fight against organized crime in Italy. The main research questions of the paper are: How does the Italian government work to fight organized crime? How does the EU work to fight organized crime?Italian government use the EU to fight organized crime in Italy? What does the EU do to fight organized crime in Italy? To what extent is this cooperation effective? This investigative report concludes that the EU has over the years established many different action plans, directives and organizations. All of which the Italian government has chosen to implement. The result of this has been that Italy’s opportunities to battle organized crime has improved and they are today seen as a role model for the other member states on how to battle organized crime in cooperation with the EU.  the EU does not have much importance for Italy’s fight against organized crime. ToHowever, to be able to play a more important role the EU needs to establish clear guidelines and formal agreements on how to battle organized crime on an international level.

<p>Abstract</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse Europol. The research questions are:</p><p>- How would increased powers for Europol impact on the cooperation between Europol and police authorities in EU-member states?</p><p>- Which one of the two theories transactionalism and neofunctionalism can best create an understanding of Europol and its integration with the police of the member states?</p><p>In so doing the study applies a qualitative method.</p><p>Europol is the European Police Office and it was established through the Maastricht treaty in 1992 with the purpose of making the integration between police of the EU member states more efficient. In order for Europol to make integration between the police of member states more efficient it can be suggested that it needs for Europol to develop into having executive powers.</p><p>One conclusion of this study is that Europol is an important tool for integration in the EU but there are at least three issues that are influencing the level of effectiveness in the integration work between the police of the member states; possible mistrust, that Europol has no executive powers and that it is voluntary for member states to participate in assisting Europol with information. Another conclusion is that Europol can be understood through an integration perspective when transactionalism and neofunctionalism are complementing each other.</p>

While the limited number of scholars in the field of EU intelligence cooperation tend to have a rather state-centric view and focus on the normative (trust) or the functional (efficieny) dimension of intelligence cooperation, this study contributes to the field by focusing solely on the institutional structure of Europol. The purpose of this study is to examine why the Europol established the European Counter Terrorism Centre and why it is not addressing the interconnectedness between terrorism and organized crime. In order to address these questions, the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism has been applied and the notion of path dependency plays a vital role.  The study rests on a qualitative single case study design and the disciplined configurative-model is used to fulfill the research objective. The researcher traces the process in a historically chronological order and uses pre-existing materials in order to uncover explanatory findings. The study concludes that the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism and the notion of path dependency can explain the research problem and the research questions. The findings prove that Europol is a highly reactive institution in terms of its counter-terrorism arrangements and that historical perceptions play a significant role and inevitable leads the institution onto a path dependent track.