This thesis investigates the historical geographies of the Pan-European Union, and its founder and leader Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, focusing in the main on the period from 1923 to 1939. A mixed-race Austrian aristocrat, philosopher and writer who made it his life’s mission to see Europe politically united, Coudenhove-Kalergi’s was a singular life, which he used to his advantage by weaving his life story into his political campaigning. The thesis opens by investigating the relationship between a life lived and a life told, and about the consequences for researchers attempting to recover his biography. The bulk of the thesis looks at the ways in which Pan-Europeanism both responded and itself contributed to shaping three broad sets of spatial and temporal ideas, each revolving around the notion of a supranational European polity. First, it confronts the way history was invoked both to bring into being a ‘literature’ that would add prestige to its arguments, and to craft a narrative arc that would add the force of apparent inevitability to its arguments. Second, it looks at the way in which Pan-Europeanism employed a form of spatial reasoning that shared many points of reference with the German school of geopolitik, despite a fundamentally incompatible view of international politics. And third, it analyses the Pan-European invention of ‘Eurafrica’ as a neo-colonial system that would offer a ‘third path’ internationalism that fell between the imperialism of the British Empire, and the Mandate-based theory of international governance advocated by the League. Each of these sets of ideas, I argue, persisted both outside the bounds of the Pan-European Union, and after its eventual marginalisation.

This study examines the place of the PDS within the German political system. By developing and employing a typology of regional parties this work illustrates that the PDS has been politically successful on account of its mobilisation of distinct territorial interests - in much the same way as other regional parties across the democratic world have done. The creation of a territorial divide along the former inner-German border has offered the PDS the opportunity to re-model its image and profile as the protector of eastern German specificity. The West German party system that expanded eastwards in 1990 has not been able to sufficiently channel regionally specific sentiment into the political process: and it is for this reason that a regional party has been able to stabilise itself in the eastern states. The PDS has taken advantage of a number of structural advantages (in terms of its regional heritage, leadership, its party organisation and so forth) in moulding and shaping a policy package that reflects the differing opinions, attitudes, values and beliefs of many eastern Germans. It is as a result of this that the PDS has been able to stabilise its position within the eastern German regional party system and to build a platform that offers it the opportunity of being a longterm actor in the German party system.

This thesis deals with member states' policy effectiveness in the European Union, using Luxembourg's capacity to get what it wanted in three crucial areas as a case study. Policy effectiveness is defined as the successful exercise of a member state's ability to include most of its policy preferences into the final legislation. The factors considered to influence policy effectiveness include the negotiation context, more specifically the decision-making procedure and time pressure. The distribution and intensity of other member states and holding the Presidency are also expected to play a role. Furthermore, individual-level factors such as experience, past relations or belonging to the same political family are rarely systematically included in research, but these are also included. Finally domestic politics, such as the approval procedure and institutional coordination are considered. The decision making process, especially within the Council, is still a black box to most scholars - a challenge which in this research is met by elite interviews with the negotiators involved, by process tracing and by document analysis. I empirically assess three cases where Luxembourg is reputed to have been policy effective: the creation of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in 1996, the reform of the same in 2005, and the payment of unemployment benefits to frontier workers (EC Regulation 883/2004). In terms of Luxembourg's policy effectiveness, I find the following: 1) that Luxembourg was highly policy effective in the creation of the SGP, due to Jean- Claude Juncker's double hat of Finance Minister and Prime Minister, as well as his expertise and his personal relations with other Heads of State. 2) In the reform of the SGP, that Luxembourg was not policy effective despite holding the Presidency; Juncker was President of the Eurogroup and still had that same double hat. The widely distributed and intense preferences of France and Germany combined to produce an agreement which Luxembourg did not favour, but had nevertheless helped to produce. 3) Finally, that, in Regulation 883/2004, Luxembourg was medium policy effective because of domestic constraints, a low distribution and intensity of preferences of the other member states and because of unanimity. All of my case studies show evidence of two developments in terms of decision-making processes: the shift of decision-making from public to informal arenas, and the involvement of the European Council in areas which are not formally within its competence. Indeed, the compromises found were proposed in the Council of Ministers after several key member states had seen and agreed to them beforehand. Incidentally, the evidence also indicates that the European Parliament did not influence the legislative outcome at all in these cases. These results suggest several practical guidelines for member states.

The subject matter of this thesis is the 1974-75 reorganisation of the French state broadcasting services which abolished the ORTF and the consequences of this reform for the relationship between the Government and broadcasting during the early years of the Giscardian presidency. The originality of the thesis lies in the fact that this reorganisation is placed in an explicitly political context, the election of the first non-Gaullist President of the Fifth Republic and the ensuing conflict between the Gaullist and Giscardian components of the governing coalition. The thesis also makes a significant contribution to the limited amount of academic literature on French broadcasting in general. Placed within the framework of the debate about the role of broadcasting in liberal democracies, the thesis examines the applicability of two antithetical models, the "fourth estate" and "state control" models, to the French broadcasting system since 1974. Neither is found to be satisfactory. Our detailed study of government-broadcasting relations since the reform demonstrates that the political executive, and within the executive particularly the President of the Republic, has at its disposal a variety of means through which to control those aspects of broadcasting in which it has an interest, ranging from determing the legal framework of the state monopoly to appointing political sympathisers to key decision-making posts. Neither the broadcasting staff, the management or the boards of governors of the separate companies set up by the 1974 reform has the freedom of manoeuvre necessary for broadcasting in France to be regarded as a "fourth estate." On the other hand, the "state control" model is too vague and monolithic, unable to allow for change except of a totally radical kind. On the basis of a wide variety of published and unpublished material and interviews with members of broadcasting management, staff, journalists, politicians and civil servants, this thesis shows that government-broadcasting relations in France have altered greatly in form and to a limited extent in substance since 1974. For example, the direct, overt controls which were so much of a feature of de Gaulle's presidency have given way to a reliance on indirect controls, particularly via partisan appointments within the broadcasting companies. This is especially the case with control over news output which has been largely internalised within the radio and television companies.

Commoners' use of the assize of novel disseisin, or recent dispossession, and the action itself are fundamental to the creation and evolution of English common law. The assize was issued by Henry II in 1166 for the resolution of property disputes and could be brought only before the royal courts, which had the effect of removing many such disputes from seigneurial jurisdiction. It was immediately popular and continued in everyday use for almost 300 years. The thesis considers commoners' approach to the action from the earliest accounts of their cases recorded in the Plea Rolls, which are extant from 1194, focusing upon unfree litigants despite their official exclusion from the assize, the poor, and women. It finds that they were attracted by, inter alia, the action's accessibility to all free men and women, however impoverished, its speed and reliability, and its use of writing to record the outcome of disputes. It was a time when the procedures of the nascent common law, the new opportunities it offered the populace, and literacy, were all in a state of flux. The cases show how and in what manner many humble people used the action to their advantage and also the reasons why others failed, indicating their view and understanding of their society.

The aim of this research is the consideration of the cultural heritage policies of European institutions (the European Union and the Council of Europe) and the impact of such policies on the national heritage policy of two member States (Greece and Italy). The analysis focuses mainly on the national and supra-national heritage legislation. The EU by means of policies and laws has gradually emerged as an important factor in the field of national heritage management. The impact of the EU in the fields of heritage terminology and legislation is a fact. New concepts concerning things 'national' are being directly 'imported' from the EU to its member States. The use of heritage in the political arena has a long history in nation States, with regard to issues of identity. By taking this one step further, the EU aims to construct a 'European' identity which will eventually replace the different 'national' ones. A historical narrative proves the logic behind EU action. The cultural heritage has been used by the EU throughout the years for a variety of political and economic purposes. The amendment of national laws and the introduction of EU concepts into national heritage law are results of an imposed change, not of legal evolution. The comparison of the two EU member States emphasises the complexity of issues involved in both the national and supra¬ national level. The conclusions aspire to arouse awareness of the powers that EU enjoys over national heritage legislation. The thesis also endeavours to highlight the power of law to create and construct public attitude towards the heritage, enhancing or denying claims for identity. It assesses the political will behind legal acts and policies with regard to the heritage. It addresses the attempt made by European institutions to create 'uniformity' in both laws and concepts related to heritage in a Europe of diverse heritages.

This thesis is an investigation of Britain’s negotiations of its EU budget rebate. It attempts to answer the main question of why Britain decided to reduce its rebate in the 2005 financial negotiation for the financial perspective for 2007-2013, instead of defending the rebate. What motivated Britain’s behaviours in the rebate negotiations? Drawing upon European integration theories, particularly Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI), this thesis challenges LI’s lack of explanation of the role of domestic political parties in shaping the formation of a national preference, member states’ behaviours in inter-state bargaining, and the role of the presidency of the Council in EU institutions. This thesis emphasises the role of domestic political parties in shaping member states’ approach on European integration which affects member states’ behaviours within decision-making. In Britain, the governing parties’ ideologies are not only a lens to evaluate European integration but also bring about intra-party factions and cross-party factions in shaping Britain’s approach. In contrast to LI’s explanation of member states’ behaviours, this thesis adopts the constructivists’ argument of a ‘logic of expected consequentialism’ and a ‘logic of appropriateness’ in order to explain Britain’s behaviours in financial negotiations and argues that the governing party’s attitude is a decisive factor for Britain in choosing its behaviour from the two logics above. In addition, with regard to the debate between rational choice institutionalists and sociological institutionalists on the role of the presidency of the Council in EU decision-making, Britain is able to choose its behaviour in the role of the presidency as decided by the governing party’s approach. When Britain has pro-European approach and its preferences are a central issue in blocking a financial agreement, it may be that the UK presidency’s appropriate behaviour makes extraordinary concessions on their preferences to secure deals that will enhance their reputation as presidency. Since the time of Britain’s initial membership negotiations, this behavioural logic has been evident in the EU’s budgetary decision-making. In the 2005 financial negotiation, the UK presidency’s pro-European approach recognized that its rebate was a central issue in blocking the negotiation. Consequently, after lengthy and difficult negotiations, the UK presidency decided to make a concession about the reduction of the rebate in order to achieve the financial agreement.

This dissertation studies political dynasties in democratic countries. Dynasties are common in all professions. However, for the profession of politics, in which succession depends no longer on dynastic succession but on running successful electoral campaigns, understanding how and why political power can be bequeathed is particularly important. Factors such as name recognition (the voter demand side) and political networks (the elite supply side) are potential explanations of the continued presence of dynasties in parliaments. This dissertation studies both the voter demand side and the elite supply side of the phenomenon. I first discuss the related literature on political dynasties, political selection, political quality, and the personal vote. Voting for dynasties can be rational, and the presence of dynastic legislators perfectly legitimate. Political dynasties may thrive in electoral systems that encourage personal voting, such as is used in Belgium. In a first paper, I show that in the Belgian 2010 General Election voters preferred dynastic candidates. Institutional changes may change such (dynastic) elite equilibria. In a second paper, we exploit the constituency-level variation in the franchise extension associated with the Second and Third Reform Acts in Britain. However, we find no effect of these reforms on the position of dynasties or the aristocracy in politics. Changes to the political career of legislators may also affect their chances of establishing or continuing a dynasty. The third paper studies dynasties in the UK House of Commons. I employ random variation in tenure length introduced by winning vs. losing a first re-election by a narrow margin. Surprisingly, I find no effect of tenure length on an MP’s chances of establishing a dynasty in the nineteenth century. However, selection into cabinet is more likely if the MP had a relative in the cabinet before.

This thesis investigates whether the European Union and its member states have been able to balance normative priorities – specifically the promotion of human rights – and material priorities – specifically economic interests – within the strategy of constructive engagement towards China embraced since 1995. In order to respond to this central question this thesis originally elaborates a liberal intergovernmental approach for the study of the promotion of human rights within the EU’s system of multilevel governance in external relations. Such an approach is applied to analyse the issues of consistency and coordination in the policies for the promotion of human rights in China elaborated by the European Community and three selected member states, namely Germany, France and the UK. The choice of the country cases serves theoretical and analytical purposes. At a theoretical level it allows consideration as to whether the EU’s overall policies were mainly influenced by the interests and policy preferences of the three selected member states, which had the most bargaining power and the highest stakes in China, as expected by liberal intergovernmentalism. At an analytical level, the choice of the country cases allows for consideration of whether the EC’s policies for the promotion of human rights in China were coordinated with those of the three selected member states, which had the most conspicuous development assistance policies towards China and whose approaches to human rights in the country were broadly representative of the other member states. This supports the assessment of the achievement, or otherwise, of a significant EU promotion of human rights through development assistance in China. From the study it emerges that the EC and its three selected member states have been unable to devise consistent and coordinated policies for the promotion of human rights in China. On the one hand these findings suggest that the EU and its member states have been unable to balance normative and material priorities in their relations with China. On the other hand this thesis illustrates that this was due to the influence of the material interests and policy preferences of Germany, France and the UK, thus supporting the expectations of liberal intergovernmentalism. These findings form an original contribution to the study of the EU’s promotion of norms because they suggest that the EU can promote human rights, as well as other norms, in a consistent, coordinated and ultimately strategic way, only if the member states with the most bargaining power and the highest stakes in a specific policy issue privilege normative interests over material ones. At the same time this thesis offers an original contribution to EU-China studies on human rights, as it suggests that due to the present interests of the most influential member states, the EU’s promotion of human rights should be reframed to address what Chinese authorities are willing to accommodate in the human rights field, namely give preference to the support of socio-economic rights, where a consensus among the EU’s member states can more easily be built.

This thesis seeks to explain why European Union (EU) member states choose to pursue their foreign policy objectives regarding Russia at the EU level or bilaterally. It explores the idea in the literature that national governments engage in ‘venue shopping’ to achieve national foreign policy objectives. The thesis examines the question of how EU member states engage with Russia by examining different policy case studies (energy relations, democracy and human rights promotion, bilateral disputes). It analyses member governments’ choice of policy route from two contrasting, but complementary perspectives, exploring both rational choice arguments from a 'logic of expected consequences' perspective (focusing on the anticipated costs and benefits of national governments' choice of policy route) and social constructivist arguments from a 'logic of appropriateness' perspective (focusing on the effects of EU membership and the socialisation of national representatives into the rules and norms of behaviour in the EU on the political elites' choice of policy route). With a systematic analysis of national governments’ choices across different policy issues it helps clarify the motivations underpinning the decision to pursue national foreign policy objectives at the European or the national level. It thereby contributes to filling a lacuna in the existing literature on EU-Russia relations and the extant research on member states’ foreign policies in the EU context. The contributions to existing scholarship that the thesis makes are: first, it demonstrates that the decision to cooperate, or act at the bilateral level, is not as clear cut as it is often depicted. I show that in most cases it is not a question of either-or. Member states frequently pursue cooperation at the EU level to achieve foreign policy objectives that they also pursue at the bilateral level. Second, I show that member states’ choices are predominantly influenced by their assessment of the utility of the European and the national route. There is considerably less evidence to suggest that the European level is being privileged as a result of a socialisation in the EU, so the length of membership, and thus the duration of national decision-makers' exposure to EU policy-making processes does not determine a member government’s choice and influences it only to a limited extent. Third, I show that the size/capacity of the member state they represent is but one factor influencing national governments in their choice of foreign policy route. Whether a state is large or small gives indications of a national government's likely choice, but it does not offer definitive insights into which policy route will be chosen on a particular issue. Fourth, I concur with existing research that argues that a distinction between policy issues in terms of their hierarchy (‘first order’ or ‘second order’) provides insights into member states’ likely choice, but I argue that it is necessary to not just focus on the policy domain, but also to differentiate within a policy domain between the pursuit of broader framework objectives that deliver benefits to all member states and those objectives on which individual states accrue gains in the absence of a common EU agreement with Russia. Fifth, this thesis highlights the importance of how member states perceive Russia - as a threat or as an opportunity – and the importance they attribute to maintaining ‘friendly’, ‘pragmatic’ relations for whether they cooperate at the EU level or opt for the pursuit of their individual relations with Russia at the bilateral level. Finally, on the basis of the findings from the three analytically and empirically significant cases I argue that member states’ choices are highly contingent and can only be explained by considering the interplay between the different factors that enter into national governments’ calculus regarding the utility of the EU route versus the bilateral pursuit of national foreign policy objectives.