This dissertation reevaluates the collapse of the USSR and the reform project of “perestroika” that preceded it from the perspective of Tajikistan. As one of the most peripheral republics in the Soviet Union, Tajikistan found its economy and society shaken to the core by the economic and political reforms passed between 1985 and 1991. Tracking the development of Soviet reform legislation in Moscow and its implementation in Tajikistan, this dissertation shows how perestroika was intimately linked to the breakdown of economic order and social ties that occurred during the final years of the USSR. Rejecting narratives focused on rising nationalism and long-suppressed regional frustrations, this dissertation outlines how Moscow-designed marketizing reforms were the main driver of strife in the Tajik SSR. As the economy disintegrated, so did the fabric of society: by February 1990 Tajikistan’s capital was subsumed by riot, and by May 1992 the entire country was aflame with civil war. By reorienting the history of the Soviet collapse to a peripheral republic that was engulfed by economic disorder and sectarian war, moreover, this dissertation problematizes the established historical discourse about the end of the USSR. Rather than the wave of democratization and free speech seen from the perspective of Moscow and Eastern Europe, for many millions of Soviet citizens the collapse of the USSR was a deeply frightening and violent event. Crime rates rose across the former USSR; local conflicts sprung up; wars flared in more than one republic. Much more than an outlier, Tajikistan was simply one extreme along this spectrum, and its experience of economic collapse leading to civil war complicates simple arguments about how glasnost led to the peaceful end of the USSR. This dissertation demonstrates that economics remained at the heart of the Soviet collapse and the violence that followed.

The thesis investigates the role of governance networks in advancing sustainable energy transitions in the cities of Europe. By doing so, it aims to provide insights about the practical applicability of the Transition Management framework in different urban settings. Exploring this issue is timely as well as important due to parallel processes of the rising profile of cities in transition governance; and the perceived need in city authorities to develop new governance mechanisms to support low-carbon transitions on the urban scale. The main contribution to knowledge is the empirical evidence provided for the context-dependency of the connections between technological change required for urban low-carbon energy transitions and organisational change in local governance arrangements. The findings' consequence for theory is that the implicit assumptions built into Transition Management about the functioning of collaborative governance networks limit its applicability in different cities. The evidence collected through the study also highlights problems with scaling down the Multi-Level Perspective to the urban scale. The findings are derived from a comparative study of three cities from across Europe with diverse characteristics in terms of historical sustainability agenda development, locally relevant rationales for transitions, and patterns of organisational fragmentation and power-distribution in local governance arrangements.

The thesis investigates the development of women's employment policy in Italy in the decade 1996-2006 with specific focus on the European Structural Fund Programme (ESF) 2000-2006. The Italian case is considered in a comparative perspective. Therefore, albeit the research is centred on a single-country study, Italy is identified as a welfare state that belongs to the Mediterranean type, according to the relevant literature. The case study focuses on the different experiences of Basilicata and Apulia in creating public policy promoting female employment, as revealed by the evaluation of their different experiences in the 2000-2006 (ESF) programme and the subsequent 2007-2008 twinning project which resulted from this. The case study examines a specific policy activity in Italy, the 2005 Voucher Grant Scheme of the Basilicata Region, in comparison with the experience of the Apulia Region. In fact, the Basilicata Scheme won the "EU Best Practice Model" award. The thesis investigates whether, using the concept of 'policy' as defined by Colebatch, policy was developed in the Basilicata Voucher Grant Scheme whereas policy was not developed in Apulia's similarly intended scheme. Colebatch argues that for policy to be constituted as policy in practice, rather than as the mere idea of it, it must have three "attributes" and "distinctive elements". These attributes are: a) authority, b) expertise and c) order. Their respective distinctive elements are: a) hierarchy, b) instrumentality and c) coherence. When these criteria are met, then a chosen government course of action can be framed as a process generating policy. The thesis demonstrates that these criteria were met in the Basilicata Region, but not in Apulia. The thesis thereby also probes and confirms the value of Colebatch's constructivist theory of public policy.

Since the end of the Cold War, the political development and democratisation of the post-communist countries to the east of the EU has drawn considerable attention from academic scholars. Initially, this was characterised by optimism, with scholars praising the EU for exporting institutional democracy through its mechanism of conditionality. This research, however, has given little attention to the micro-level foundations of the process. Yet the recent increase in Euroscepticism and anti-democratic, extremist tendencies have pointed to the importance of individual attitudes, even leading academics to argue that a democratic backsliding is taking place in Central and Eastern Europe. This thesis intends to re-examine the case of the EU's transformative power, focusing specifically on its micro-level impact on the political attitudes of citizens and elites. The research question thus asks: to what extent does the EU have a transformative power on political attitudes? The thesis consists of three research papers that use quantitative and qualitative methods to examine EU influence on two types of actors, the general population and bureaucratic elites, focusing on two types of attitudes: support for democracy and support for the EU. The overall findings show that the Union does have a micro-level impact on attitudes both at the elite and citizen levels, though this is contingent on the nature of the relationship with the EU, as well as individuals' support for the Union. In the first paper, the thesis demonstrates that the EU can affect attitudes towards democracy among the post-communist population, although this is contingent on the state's association with the Union: when this is simply economic or political, the effect is positive; however, when the association involves integration as a candidate or member state, a rise in Euroscepticism among the population can in fact lead to lower levels of democratic support. This finding shows that Euroscepticism has an important role in altering the EU's transformative influence on individuals in states integrated within the EU. Indeed, the consequences of this could be highly significant, especially when it comes to political and bureaucratic elites whose daily job affects the politics and policy of their countries. As a result, the second paper examines the EU's effect on the attitudes of civil servants working in the national bureaucracies of the new member states. Using international socialisation theory, the paper shows that civil servants generally tend to support the EU, and this is higher among officials whose daily work brings them into contact with it. In addition, the analysis further explores the scope conditions that facilitate socialisation, revealing that both the quantity and quality of contact with EU-related issues - in terms of prolonged exposure as well as interpersonal contact - matter in explaining the sources of variation in levels of support. Lastly, to examine more closely how bureaucrats see the EU, the third paper uses a more in-depth qualitative study to explore the perceptions of Brussels-based diplomats on the economic, political and security dimensions of the Union. Through a comparative analysis, the paper once again shows that the state-level relationship with the EU can affect the perspectives formed by elites. Using original interview data, the research develops a typology of four types of "perspectives of the EU", based on two dimensions: expectations from the EU and evaluation of the EU. The paper's main argument is that the state-level relationship between the Union and the home country can greatly affect how elites representing those states perceive the Union. The main contributions of the thesis relate to a deeper understanding of the EU's individual-level transformative power, through a discussion of its objects (citizens and elites), its mechanisms (direct and indirect), its scope (internal and external) and its outcomes (attitudes towards democracy and the EU). First, it demonstrates that the EU has a real and measurable effect in changing the perceptions of both citizens and elites in post-communist states. Second, it highlights that its impact works both through indirect mechanisms of a state-level political association, as well as direct mechanisms of international socialisation. In addition, it also reveals that Euroscepticism can act as a moderator, turning the EU's positive democratising effect into a negative one, thus bringing together the literature on the transformative power of Europe with research on attitudes towards the EU and Euroscepticism. Third, it demonstrates that the EU has a transformative power both internally and externally, including non-accession third states. Lastly, it shows that the EU's transformative power can influence attitudes towards democracy and the EU. Ultimately, the overall findings show that the Union has an impact on the attitudes of both elites and citizens, though this is contingent on the nature of the relationship with the EU, as well as individuals' support for the Union.

The thesis discusses the trajectory of the Belgian socialist thinker and activist Hendrik de Man (1885-1953) between 1914 and 1936 ca, with particular attention to his endeavours to renew Western European social democracy after the Great War. The first half of the thesis deals with de Man’s theoretical evolution. Having become convinced of the inadequacy of orthodox Marxism as a conceptual framework for the Left while serving as soldier and diplomat during WWI, de Man sought to overcome the split between reformism and revolutionary socialism by developing an ethical conception of socialism outlined in the book Zur Psychologie des Sozialismus (1926) and, subsequently, by elaborating planism, a democratic socialist ideology supposedly more in tune with the socio-economic conditions of the 1930s. The second half of the thesis focuses on efforts to put de Man’s ideas into practice. Due to his mounting desire to have impact on the social democratic movement, de Man became increasingly involved in politics and, in late 1933, launched the Belgian Labour Plan with the aim of bolstering the Belgian Labour Party and containing the spread of fascism. Planism won support from many young socialists all across Europe but was also met with suspicion and outright hostility by wide segments of the social democratic establishment, including prominent leaders such as Emile Vandervelde and Léon Blum. Eventually, de Man accepted to compromise on the full implementation of the Labour Plan and sought to accomplish the same goals by serving as Minister, without success. By examining his failure as well as the difficulties experienced by his followers in France and Britain, the thesis highlights the limits that Western European social democratic parties set to their own ideological renewal during the interwar period.

Being a politician has become a profession for many. With the development of the European Parliament (EP) into an influential institution at the European level, building a career in the EP has become an interesting option for politicians. This thesis studies the different career paths of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and explores how these career paths and MEPs’ ambitions have an impact on their participation in the legislative process and thereby the way they represent citizens. This thesis is based on three empirical research papers. The first paper identifies two career paths that MEPs might follow, in addition to the three others which are generally used, and links these to the activities of MEPs in parliament. I find that an MEP’s career path and ambitions are relevant in explaining certain legislative behaviour across member states and party groups. The second paper looks at the career ambitions of MEPs and finds that MEPs’ career paths are also the result of expressed ambitions by politicians themselves, despite their dependence on party leadership and the second-order nature of EP elections. MEPs looking to pursue a career in the EP are more actively involved in the parliament’s activities. This higher level of participation and acquired policy influence is rewarded when MEPs stand for re-election. The third paper looks at the group of MEPs who become lobbyists after their time in parliament. Building on what is known from Washington, this paper finds that being on a powerful committee, from a smaller political group and having a longer tenure make it more likely that an MEP becomes a lobbyist. The findings across the three papers support the idea that the career paths and ambitions of politicians provide an important explanation when trying to understand an MEP’s willingness to invest resources in the EP’s legislative process.

‘Entirely oblivious to the events unfolding on the “other shore,” Europe tolerated that the Mediterranean, her sea, would turn into a graveyard,’ (Cacciari 2016: viii) These words from the Italian philosopher Massimo Cacciari’s 2016 study on Europe and Empire indicate to us how Europe today still suffers from a “historical emphysema.” This thesis addresses the question of how these pulmonary difficulties of Europe are related to the process of a history in which the name of Europe comes to be related to and even identified with what is called “spirit.” As is well known, Europe has been conceived as ‘no more than a geographical accident, the peninsula that Asia shoves into the Atlantic’ (Sartre 1988: 292). However, the thesis argues that another definition of Europe, even if intimately bound up with its geography, comes to the fore as the spirit of Europe. In order to bring to light the “spiritual geography” of Europe, I focus primarily on two strands of the twentieth century philosophical inquiry into the notion of “Europe;” one by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger and the other by the French poet and thinker Paul Valéry. The argument is that what these two thinkers achieve in their thought testifies to the history of an ambiguous relation between Europe and spirit. For both thinkers Europe appears as such only as it is shaped and reshaped by this spiritual relation, one which Europe today retains in its absence, that is, in its spiritlessness.

Europe’s greatest challenges emanating from the Mediterranean Sea are irregular migration and maritime terrorism. These challenges have received great attention from the European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and beyond. In light of this, the EU and NATO as traditional and regional actors have adopted various approaches, initiatives and maritime operations to cope with these challenges. These operations include, among others, Operation Sophia for counter-migration and Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) for counter-terrorism. This thesis explores the current development of maritime security operations to combat terrorism and the migration crisis, and analyses how these initiatives play a role in security community-building process in the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, the thesis examines the application of the security community framework in maritime security through the enactment of maritime practices. The thesis provides a detailed analysis of the activities, actors and forms of cooperation constituting the EU and NATO’s practices to address maritime challenges in the Mediterranean Sea. This thesis adopts qualitative research methods to examine the expansion of the security community in the Mediterranean Sea by analysing the case studies of NATO and EU’s counter-terrorism and counter-migration initiatives. It examines the maritime policies, initiatives, and operations implemented by NATO and EU since 9/11 to combat these threats. Based on the repertoire of practices, the case studies examine the extent to which the security community is evidenced within the maritime activities. Findings from the case studies evidence the process of security community building, including through the practice of cooperative security and partnerships. In the conclusion chapter, the future research agenda for maritime studies and security community research is also explored. Ultimately, this thesis offers nuanced insights into the dynamics of security community research, contributing to the development of the framework into maritime security studies.

The present thesis makes a twofold contribution to the existing literature. Firstly, it shows that clientelism complements cartelization, providing parties with stability in condition of weak mass mobilization. Secondly, it traces the specific mechanisms through which cartel parties channel public resources, within the institutional setting of the post-communist Europe. It provides an important extension to the cartel party literature in the context of new democracies. The main finding of this project is that cartel parties can survive and achieve stability through clientelistic distribution of benefits, both within, and outside their organisations. Furthermore, I find that cartelization generates a new model of clientelism, as public resources (e.g. procurement contracts) are also used to finance the party organisations, not only the clients. Through the in-depth case study of Romania, we can see that when political parties have little time to develop territorial networks and mobilization capacity, clientelism becomes an effective tool for establishing roots in society. The context of post-communist countries presents distinctive conditions for clientelistic linkages and the cartelization process. Multi-party systems in these countries have reappeared simultaneously with the institutions of the democratic state. Consequently, party-state interpenetration has been more profound, building upon previous legacies, as well as the permissive transitional circumstances. The present thesis analyses the following sequences of clientelistic exchanges: (1) internal party selection – patrons within the party organisations, (2) party patronage – political interference in public institutions, (3) politicization—political appointments in key positions of the Central Government (i.e. Senior Civil Servants), and finally (4) preferential resource allocation—public funding channelled through party networks. In addition to the chapters devoted to each of these clientelistic mechanisms, the thesis also contains a comparative chapter overseeing the challenges and opportunities for clientelism and cartelization in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

This research uses a transactions costs approach to examine recent developments in the public sector organisational arrangements. It explores the extent to which transactions costs or other factors drive the institutional choices that legislators make about policy implementation. The area of application is the adoption of 'new public management' (NPM) reforms in Catalonia for the governance of the public health care sector in the period from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The methodology used combines qualitative and quantitative approaches in the analysis of data from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources used here include thirty-eight in-depth and semi-structured interviews with key informants, non-published internal reports from major organisations and an annual survey of all health providers carried out by the Department of Health and Social Security of the Catalan government. The secondary sources include official publications and relevant academic journals and books on the subject. The study analyses both the policy formulation process leading up to a particular institutional design and the nature of the further implementation process in the Catalan health sector. First, policy precedents are identified and the resources and interests of the policy elites analysed as a basis for understanding the output of the reform formulation in 1990. Second, the analysis shows how transactions costs considerations shaped the stances taken by legislators and influenced the final institutional design. Third, a number of subsequent implementation short-falls are traced to some efforts at minimising transactions costs which turned out to be incompatible with NPM postulates. The analysis shows that the impact of politics, that is, the repeated interactions among policy elites controlling complementary resources, shape the way in which transactions costs and other considerations are approached in both policy formulation and implementation processes. A central theoretical lesson drawn from this research is that although transactions costs are difficult to measure, they are useful heuristic tools for analysing the rationale driving decision-making processes on institutional design. However, both the theoretical definition of transactions costs and their actual impact on decision making are mediated by power relations, that is, by politics.