This study is an in-depth investigation into the Christian Democratic parties of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, focusing particularly on these parties during the 1990s. The primary intention is to give greater coverage to these oft-neglected parties through an account of political, electoral, programmatic and organisational developments. The research probes the position of the parties in the 1990s and analyses the extent to which the electoral decline of these parties after 1990 was the result of common factors as well as the role of nationally specific contextual variables. This is carried out through a consideration of the contraction of the social bases of Christian Democratic partisanship and detailed case-studies of the parties in the 1990s. The reactions of the parties to this decline are also analysed, looking specifically at strategic, programmatic and organisational changes. Historical background will also be provided by the opening chapters. Chapter two looks at Christian Democrats in the early post-war period, highlighting the rapid use of such parties and contrasting the lack of a unified Christian Democratic party in the Netherlands while chapter three investigates the reaction of the parties to the loss of national office and/or the emergence of electoral problems. In each case, programmatic and organisational adaptation occurred although as the chapter argues, by the end of the 1980s such efforts were very much marginal after the parties had re-established their position in government. Chapter four then examines the key social bases of Christian Democratic support and illustrates their long-term decline. It concludes that while such change need not necessarily result in electoral problems, there has been a decline of Christian Democratic partisanship in the electorate in the three countries. Chapters five, six and seven analyse the CDU, ÖVP and CDA in the 1990s. In each case, Christian Democrats found their position under greater threat than previously although the scale of their problems varied. Chapter eight scrutinises the development of Christian Democratic electoral programmes using the Comparative Manifestos Project dataset.

The thesis scrutinizes the effects of the Council Presidency on legislative decision making in the European Union Council of Ministers. The rotating Council Presidency has been one of most prominent topics of discussion in the debate on institutional reform. So far, however, a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the Presidency is missing. The thesis addresses two questions: 1. Does the Council presidency have an impact on legislative activity in the Council? 2. Does the Council presidency gain disproportional benefits from the policies agreed upon during its term in office? The methodology used in the thesis consists of an exploratory case study, secondary analysis of the Decision-making in the European Union (DEU) data set, and statistical analysis of an original data set covering legislative activity from 1984-2003. It presents evidence for an effect of the Presidency on both legislative activity and decision outcomes.

This thesis argues that establishing legitimacy, both in relation to the international community and in relation to local populations, is a critical precondition for the success of international missions in post-conflict situations. The argument is developed through a study of post-conflict institution-building in Kosovo. In 1999, when the Security Council established the United Nations Administrative Mission in Kosovo, the international community had a unique opportunity to develop conflict management mechanisms capable of responding to the contemporary challenges posed by ethnic conflicts. By acting under the United Nations umbrella, the international community could have sent a strong message to the deeply divided population of Kosovo: this mission had the ability to protect them and provide them with institutional structures capable of sustaining long-term economic, political and social peace and stability. Yet the international actors failed to do so. They failed to grant the Kosovo population the security they so dearly needed, and they failed to construct institutions appropriate to the challenges faced by the territory. This thesis argues that this occurred because of the international community’s inability to provide legitimacy for their actions and policies. As the different actors focused their attention on attempting to secure legitimacy vis à vis the international community, they failed to nurture the roots of the new political system they wished to establish by obtaining the support of Kosovo’s population as a whole. After developing a working concept of legitimacy, I analyse the degree and nature of legitimacy of the different international actors, and their policies at each stage that led to the establishment of a new political system in Kosovo. Through this analysis, I provide an explanation for the failure of the international community to offer a satisfactory and sustainable solution to the Kosovo issue.

This thesis starts from the following question: Why, after 16 years of receiving Structural Funds, do some regions still have difficulties in spending their allocated resources? Empirical evidence shows that Funds implementation rates have varied widely among European Union Objective 1 regions. The overall performance of Italian regions, in particular, has consistently lagged behind other countries. However, an investigation into individual Italian Objective 1 regions reveals that not all follow this general trend. Indeed, some regions have outperformed others remarkably. Why is this the case? I explore these differences and identify potential variables that may account for such regional variation. My central hypothesis is that differences in implementation are strongly dependent on the degree of administrative capacity that exists in the recipient regional government. Due to the deficiency in the existing literature of a clear definition of administrative capacity, I attempt to fill this gap by introducing a novel characterization that allows me to operationalize and measure the concept. The core of the methodology is an in-depth case study supported by field research based on personal interviews and documented questionnaires. I investigate two contrasting southern Italian regions, Sicily and Basilicata, measure their respective degrees of administrative capacity and provide evidence to suggest that this latter variable is positively correlated to Structural Funds implementation. Answering my first query has prompted a further question: if it is trite that the variation in implementation of resources between regions can be explained by different degrees of regional administrative capacity, then what is it that determines the degree of administrative capacity at the regional level? In studying this second question I further test the hypothesis that the level of administrative capacity is influenced by three key political factors: namely, political interference, government stability and political accountability.

This thesis develops an in-depth understanding of a specific case at the intersection of extreme right politics, marketing and language. More specifically, the research focuses on a Flemish extreme right party, the Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang which provides a rich site of enquiry for the analysis of political communications, marketing strategies and discursive processes. Critical discourse analysis of the verbal and visual elements of Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang publications reveals, on three levels, the strategic use of lexical, rhetorical and other linguistic devices to brand and differentiate the Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang from other political parties. The thesis demonstrates that the Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang manages to legitimate its political product by dismissing unfavourable features (such as racism and xenophobia), and repackaging them (as nationalist) for a wider audience as a ready-to-consume product that achieves electoral success. The main contributions of the thesis are fourfold. First, the research provides a marketing-related explanation of the success of the Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang. The pervasiveness of the Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang's discourse in Belgian politics makes the analysis of the party interesting in its own right. The critical discursive analysis reveals the underlying market-orientation of the party and the methods and techniques that the party uses to communicate and persuade. Second, this research demonstrates that marketing can be used to advance an ideological discourse that places consumption in a central position in people's lives. The application of critical discourse analysis thus provides a novel and valuable contribution to the understanding of political marketing. Third, the thesis sets the stage for furthering understanding of how marketing is deployed with increasing sophistication outside its traditional, commercial domain, and, more specifically, in politics. Finally, critical discourse analysis has an emancipatory goal in uncovering ideologies, and providing a voice to the silenced and the oppressed. This thesis is located firmly within that tradition with political reflexivity implicit throughout.

This thesis examines the methodology prevalent in the analysis of democratic transitions, focusing upon the case study of Spain. Although current literature provides a detailed description of actions taken by elite actors during transition periods and the resultant outcomes, it fails to adequately connect these two factors. This thesis seeks to address the gap in the current literature and to underline the necessity for an explanatory methodology to take into account an amalgamation of approaches. The case of Spain is drawn upon to highlight the importance of the connection between the role of elite actors and the constraints set in place by the system in which they operate. I argue that an awareness of the existing parameters, both institutional and societal, is critical for an assessment of possible action to be undertaken. The methodology of comparative politics provides the ability to ascertain where there exists a failing in current theoretical approaches and to address this problem through increased analysis. An increasingly comprehensive appreciation of the actions of individuals and the underlying forces that drive these actions deepens our understanding of transition processes as a whole. I would argue that this thesis has implications for future research and indeed, relevance in the actual practice of politics. An awareness of the connection between the individual and the overriding political system is paramount for our understanding of democratic transitions and for future investigation of such processes. In this way, the thesis underlines that the connection between the micro and macro interpretations of transitions is fundamental; not only to guiding systematic analysis, but also to ensuring that research does not remain in the confines of the theoretical but is relevant in the real world.

Recent reform agendas have emphasised a perceived need to bring the European Union (EU) institutions and the citizens of the member states and closer together, as a means of enhancing the legitimacy of EU governance. The debate on the future of the EU, the initiative which led to the signing of the constitutional treaty in October 2004, addressed the challenge of 'bringing closer' by incorporating civil society in to the treaty reform process. In this thesis I investigate the role played by transnational civil society organisations in helping to bring citizens and institutions closer together. I employ the notion of democratic linkage to describe and explain the downward-facing interactions between civil society organisations and ordinary citizens, which have sometimes been neglected, as well as their upward-facing interactions with elite decision-makers. Drawing upon data from qualitative interviews with 25 civil society organisations and six officials from various EU institutions I find serious discrepancies between the rhetoric of the EU institutions on bringing citizens closer, and the capacities and willingness of the civil society actors involved as well as the opportunities for doing so.

The term 'democratic deficit' often masks an unjustified presupposition that the EU should follow similar democratic practices to those found in national arenas. Attempts to replicate national democratic Institutions tend to lead to unsatisfactory solutions at the EU level. A legitimate and democratic Union may involve innovations for which there are no precedents in national experiences of democratic politics. In effect, this Thesis, "New Stories on the European Union's democratic deficit" reviews a range of theoretical discussions on democracy, legitimacy and European integration and suggests how these might be useful in framing practical proposals for institutional change at the EU level. These proposals envisage at the future direction and development of the EU towards a substantially democratic and legitimate Euro-polity under the conceptual and theoretical framework of a meta-national democracy. The term meta-national suggests from the very beginning that the EU is not a State or a Super-State, and consequently its democratic dimensions should be judged at a different level, the European one. Under this concept, the Thesis further proceeds with analysing the fundamental issues of a growing democracy which consists of: 1) a system of multi-level governance, and not a government; 2) an autochthonous civic-value driven demos; 3) channels of civic and political participation at all levels, individual and collective; 4) elements of EU constitutionalism; 5) an on-going process of accountability; 6) a constructive process of transparency and openness. This is only an indicative list of the many elements that can be generally attributed to the Union's continuing and growing democracy. They have particularly been selected as they involve recent changes and are currently supported by the White Paper on European Governance which in setting in motion a reform process responds to the author's expectations developed under the theoretical framework of a meta-national democracy. Finally, under that same conceptual framework, the Thesis comes to the conclusion that the EU is democratic and enjoys legitimacy. By opening up the policy-making process to enable more people and civil society organisations to become actively involved in the shaping and delivering of EU policies, it offers real opportunities for deliberation and participation. Patterns of access and interwoven levels indicate the existence of a system of multi-level governance which in turn embraces the notion of a `polity'. It promotes a new understanding of a European demos (a politically organised people) which is not based on ethno-national and cultural affinities but rather on commonly shared civic values. In terms of assuring a high degree of popular legitimacy, it provides for a Bill of Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which neatly combines the constitutional structure, based in the founding Treaties and the national constitutions of the EU Member States. It elevates openness and transparency to fundamental principles of Community law, yet, being of a nascent constitutional character. Lastly, it promotes greater accountability and responsibility for those involved in the legislative and executive processes of the EU policy- making.

Governance in the European Union is being transformed through the increased use of agencies to perform a range of functions in a variety of policy areas. The European Commission believes that agencies can add value but admits that their establishment has not been accompanied with a “common understanding” of their roles and purposes. In this thesis, I take the approach that such an understanding is best reached through examination of existing agencies. Focusing on the most common type of agency in the EU, i.e. Community Agencies, this thesis provides a four-level analysis. At the conceptual level, the thesis deals with the ‘agency’ concept. Drawing on public management literature, the empirical level involves classification of these diverse bodies. The contribution of the thesis at the theoretical level is to identify the key driving factors behind agency establishment; following a theoretical framework devised from new institutionalist theories I trace and analyse the establishment process of four case study agencies. The research reveals that to fully understand the establishment of agencies we need to draw on more than one strand of new institutionalism, as they can explain different aspects of agency creation. As a wider outlook the thesis reflects on the role of agencies, relating it to the wider academic debates on the ‘regulatory state’ and its implications for legitimacy.

This research project focuses on the impact of the EU's internal security policy on Turkey during its accession process. It investigates the conditions that determine the EU's success in effecting the changes in the internal security of Turkey. In order to limit the field of Justice and Home Affairs, the study selects the fight against Organised Crime, Terrorism and Drugs as its case studies. It takes Turkey's application for EU membership in 1987 as the starting point of the analysis and concludes in 2010. It tracks domestic change in Turkey by considering the adoption of the EU acquis, the development of its administrative capacity and the extent of internal security cooperation with the EU. The research aims to provide insight into the way the EU operates the external dimension of JHA towards applicant states, the conditions under what it exerts through influence of JHA, and the extent to which the EU shapes the internal security of Turkey during the enlargement process.