The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the operation of membership criteria, which are applied against countries that wish to join the European Union (EU). More specifically, the importance of some criteria in comparison to others is considered. To answer this proposal, three questions are posed: What are the EU membership criteria? Are some criteria more important than other criteria? Does the EU treat candidate countries differently in applying the membership criteria? Three countries are used in this analysis, each country representing one recent enlargement round: Poland (2004), Romania (2007), and current candidate country Turkey. Both official documents, such as EU treaties, and unofficial documents such as statements from EU leaders are used to analyze the application of membership criteria. The method that is used in this thesis is idea analysis. The EU has both official criteria, which are found in the foundation treaties, and unofficial criteria, which are the public and political opinions among the candidate countries and current EU member states. It is suggested that none of the criteria are more important than others; a candidate country must fulfill virtually all the official and unofficial criteria in order to gain EU membership. Although all criteria must be met, the application of the criteria is uneven between candidate countries. The EU does not treat countries differently when it comes to the official criteria. However, when it comes to the unofficial criteria, Turkey is treated differently from Romania and Poland. There is greater resistance to Turkey’s future membership, making it much more difficult for Turkey to reach the stage of full EU membership.

<p>The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the operation of membership criteria, which are applied against countries that wish to join the European Union (EU). More specifically, the importance of some criteria in comparison to others is considered. To answer this proposal, three questions are posed: What are the EU membership criteria? Are some criteria more important than other criteria? Does the EU treat candidate countries differently in applying the membership criteria? Three countries are used in this analysis, each country representing one recent enlargement round: Poland (2004), Romania (2007), and current candidate country Turkey. Both official documents, such as EU treaties, and unofficial documents such as statements from EU leaders are used to analyze the application of membership criteria. The method that is used in this thesis is idea analysis. The EU has both official criteria, which are found in the foundation treaties, and unofficial criteria, which are the public and political opinions among the candidate countries and current EU member states. It is suggested that none of the criteria are more important than others; a candidate country must fulfill virtually all the official and unofficial criteria in order to gain EU membership. Although all criteria must be met, the application of the criteria is uneven between candidate countries. The EU does not treat countries differently when it comes to the official criteria. However, when it comes to the unofficial criteria, Turkey is treated differently from Romania and Poland. There is greater resistance to Turkey’s future membership, making it much more difficult for Turkey to reach the stage of full EU membership.</p>

Thesis advisor: Jennifer Erickson / This thesis examines institutional enlargement for both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Both organizations added new members to their ranks during the Cold War and in the post-Cold War era. During the Cold War, NATO and the European Community (EC) had informal membership criteria, but once the Cold War ended, the two institutions implemented explicit membership requirements. The research question centers on whether both institutions admitted new members that did not satisfy some of the membership criteria. I find that the two organizations both admitted new states that only partially complied with the criteria. In this thesis, I analyze why NATO and the EU added new member states even when these states' membership applications were incomplete. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science.

The following research report will look at a series of domestic factors that posed a threat to Bulgaria’s integration into the European Union in January 2007. In this light, this research report will evaluate the efforts that Bulgarian political leaders have taken to meet those existing domestic political challenges and thus assess Bulgaria’s progress towards meeting the political and economic criteria towards EU membership. This research study will be explained by the theoretical tradition of the multi-level governance approach, which assumes the involvement of supranational, national and sub-national actors in the processes of European integration.

Submitted by Ana Carla Almeida (ana.almeida@ucsal.br) on 2017-10-31T18:12:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAOJOSEWALMENDES.pdf: 1152832 bytes, checksum: 43c57c0209f578e56f1ae423e34c0b1d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rosemary Magalhães (rosemary.magalhaes@ucsal.br) on 2017-10-31T18:26:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAOJOSEWALMENDES.pdf: 1152832 bytes, checksum: 43c57c0209f578e56f1ae423e34c0b1d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-31T18:26:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAOJOSEWALMENDES.pdf: 1152832 bytes, checksum: 43c57c0209f578e56f1ae423e34c0b1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-17 / O presente trabalho faz uma análise comparativa entre a família matrimonializada do Código Civil de 1916 e as “novas entidades familiares”. Tem como objetivo apresentar a família constituída sob a vigência do Código Civil de 1916, com seus conceitos, critérios e fatores determinantes para a sua caracterização e estabelecer um paralelo com a família atual, demonstrando as transformações dessa família, que hodiernamente é pluralizada e multifacetada. O método utilizado foi a análise da legislação, revisão de literatura com pesquisa documental, bem como decisões jurisprudenciais. Os principais resultados foram determinados pela transformação significativa do conceito de família sob a égide do Código Civil de 1916 e do Código Civil de 2002 até os dias atuais. Conclui-se que, com o passar do tempo e a evolução da legislação, a família alçou um patamar não antes imaginado, com possibilidades de ampliar mais ainda seu conceito restrito e limitado de outrora para um conceito aberto, com foco principal no princípio da dignidade da pessoa humana, insculpido na Constituição Federal de 1988. / The present work makes a comparative analysis between the married family of the Civil Code of 1916 and the “new family entities”. It aims to present the family incorporated under the term of the civil Code of 1916, with its concepts, criteria and determining factors for its characterization and establishing parallel with current family, demonstrating the transformations of this family, which in our times is plural and multifaceted. The method used was the analysis of the legislation, review of literature with documentary, as well as jurisprudential decisions. The main results were determined by the significant transformation of the concept of family under the aegis of the Civil Code of 1916 and the Civil Code of 2002 to the present day. It is concluded that, over time and the evolution of legislation, the family has raised a threshold not previously imagined, with possibilities to extend even more its restricted and limited concept to an open concept, with a primary focus on the principle of dignity of the human person, inscribed in the Federal Constitution of 1988.