This thesis departs from two arguments articulated by Jef Huysmans. First, security, as it is increasingly dispersed and part of every-day decision-making, undermines democracy in previously unprecedented ways. In order to under- stand security, scholars must look beyond insecurities framed as existential threats. They must equally adopt a fractional approach to democracy. Limits to democracy are increasingly found beyond democratic institutional frames of reference. In an empirical endeavour, this thesis builds on theoretical concepts by Huysmans and others in examining the Danish ghetto package as a cluster of securitising techniques. I make the argument that as the ghetto package entails more dispersed securitising techniques, it enacts limits to democracy.

<p>2020-05-28</p>

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Studiens syfte har varit att ta reda på varför det mångpartikulturen påverkar den politiska arenan i RD-Kongo. För att besvara frågan har studien använt sig av existerade teorier om partibildning i allmänhet och i DR-Kongo. Utifrån partiernas stadgar och kvalitativa intervjuer har studien kommit fram till många olika faktorer som påverkar mångpartikulturen i landet. Studiens resultat har visat att historiska-, institutionella-perspektivet, maktkamp och minskad partiidentifikation påverkar fenomenet. Politiskt spel och girighet har också visat sig ha påverkan på fenomenet. Etniska perspektivet och möjlighet att påverka har inte visat ha så stor påverkan. / <p>2020-06-04</p>

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The EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007 welcomed post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as member states of the union. This influx of new CEE member states not only changed the power dynamics of the EU, but it also highlighted institutional contrasts between the old fifteen member states (EU-15) and those from the CEE region. In recent years some of the CEE member states have also experienced what has been identified as ‘democratic backsliding’. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of civil society development in the EU, comparing the development of the new CEE member states to the old EU-15. In addition to comparing these two blocs, it also examines if states associated with ‘democratic backsliding’ show similar developmental trends. The analysis is based on civil society presence, access, and funding at the EU level drawing on data from the EU institutions as well as previous research. The main findings of the analysis support the idea that the CEE member states are developing civil societies more akin to those in the EU-15 to some extent. However, there is major intragroup variation within the CEE member states. This also holds true for the group of ‘democratic backsliders’. The main contribution from this thesis is that it provides a regional mapping of civil society in the post-communist EU states useable for further research. In addition, it highlights areas where more in-depth research should be focused on.

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When the Lisbon treaty entered into force in 2009 it marked the peak of a long period of institutional empowerment of the European Parliament (EP). In formal terms, the EP and the Council of the European Union (Council) now have equal power in most policy areas. Despite the remarkable transformation of the EP, its role in EU legislation remains understudied. This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the EP’s role in the Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP). It assesses whether the EP’s formal power is reflected in its de facto influence based on two criteria; 1) it should not be less influential than the Council, and 2) its influence should not be limited in substantive terms. Empirically, it covers 4,662 amendments proposed in the early negotiation phase of 30 randomly selected legislative acts. First, by conducting a one-sample t-test, it demonstrates that despite formal empowerment the parliament is still significantly less influential than the Council in EU legislation. Second, using binary logistic regression, it shows that EP’s influence is limited in substantive terms. The more extensive amendments the EP is attempting to introduce – the less influence it has. In addition to contributing to empirical research on the parliament’s role in EU legislation this thesis introduces a new way of quantitatively measuring legislative influence at the EU level. By creating a dataset comparing the institutions’ negotiation mandates with legislative outcomes, a more precise measurement of the institutions’ influence is provided.