This thesis aims to study obstacles which Turkey faces regarding EU accession. The main focus will be at the historical context and background information to clarify Turkey-EU relationship and institutional aspects such as; the Copenhagen criteria will be analyzed. Interaction between identity politics and Turkeys Europeanization project will be examined by analyzing arguments regarding this issue. The historical context is important for realizing in how Turkey's negotiation process is affected and how the process is evolved. By examining this, a more transparent understanding is going to develop in the issue of why Turkey never will be able to identify itself with the EU. Analysis regarding why Turkey as a secular state develops into an increasingly Islamized state is highlighted. Answers must be given to whether Turkey can be interpreted as a "bridge" between East and West and where we can place Turkey in the spatial context.In relation to this process, it`s important to notice that changes in Turkey from the Euro-friendly attitude it once had has gradually turned to the more Euro-skeptic position. One of the several reasons to Euro-skepticism may be the ongoing economic growth. This, as many other factors contribute to the self-confidence, which in turn affects internal arguments about a new era of the so-called neo-ottomanization. By presenting arguments related to the process, it will be made clear how Turkey increasingly clarifies its position within the civilizations. The thesis will present that there is a trend towards Islamization which the AKP government gives impetus for. The intention is to see if the era with the AKP government will push Turkey to democracy or even more of an Islamization. This paper will point out the actual intentions of AKP and its politicians. It will clarify their ideas about a possible EU membership, Europeanization and integration. This process will be illustrated by using Samuel Huntington’s theoretical perspective by the "Clashes of civilizations" as inspiration throughout the thesis. In the part of empirical analysis, debates and arguments is cited and examined, with a critical idea analysis and also structured with argumentation analysis.

The main aim of this thesis is to analyze EU-Western Balkans relations with regard to the prospective EU membership of the Western Balkans, and to make an analysis of the EU&rsquo / s Western Balkans enlargement strategy and the scope of membership conditionality imposed on the Western Balkans from post Dayton period (1995) to present (2006). This thesis examines how the EU membership conditionality worked in the Western Balkans&rsquo / preparatory stages for pre-accession, and to what extent it is different from the CEE enlargement process. Lastly, considering the discussions on rediscovered absorption capacity and the commitment of EU for further eastward enlargements after the CEE enlargement of 2004, it is looked into whether there has been a shift in EU&rsquo / s Western Balkans strategy. This thesis argues that the dominant factor determining the dynamics of the EU-Western Balkans relations are preferences, priorities and internal dynamics of the EU. The comparison between the CEE&rsquo / s and Western Balkans&rsquo / EU integration process reveals that EU tailored a long term and flexible enlargement strategy with increasing conditionality within SAP framework for the Western Balkans. Hence as long as the EU does not feel a sense of urgency straining the stability and EU integration of the region, a motivation for presenting an immediate enlargement platform will not emerge. In this sense, after the CEE enlargement, EU rediscovered its absorption capacity as a main membership condition and further differentiated the regional countries in terms of their own merits in fulfilling EU&rsquo / s conditionality and standards.

The Jaguar Baby vessels belong to a large corpus of Late Classic Maya pictorial ceramics dubbed Codex-style pottery and originating from archaeological sites, such as El Mirador and Nakbe, in the north-central area of Peten, Guatemala, where they were made for a brief period shortly before and/or after the turn of the eighth century AD. Through strategic juxtapositions of images and words, the vessels convey the story of a rain god and a death spirit who, in the darkness between the sun’s setting and dawn, sacrifice an infant, a jaguar, or an infant with jaguar traits on a mountain in the midst of water, as an offering during the conjuring of an elderly deity. New evidence from a fragmentary Codex-style vessel recovered from the site of Calakmul in the southern half of Campeche, Mexico, suggests that the sacrifice is part of a pre-accession ritual serving to endow royal heirs with the ability to conjure, which, in turn, was integral to assuming the throne. / text

Since the 1990&rsquo / s, interest in the European Union (EU) gender equality policies has increased among feminist scholars and activists. In this context, studies focusing on equal pay for work of equal value, equal treatment in education, and access to employment, among others have been undertaken and different dimensions of the EU gender equality policies have been a subject of much debate. This thesis is an effort to critically review the potential of these policies vis-&agrave / -vis their capacity to bring about gender equality in the EU Member States and examine their implications for Turkey as a candidate country. The fundamental argument that underlines this thesis is that the EU gender equality regime, which is mainly concerned with equality in the work place, falls short of effectively responding to the complexities of gender inequality within diverse women&rsquo / s experiences and socioeconomic settings. In Turkey, women&rsquo / s organizations have used the EU accession process to demand major legislative reforms. As a result, it can be said that &lsquo / equality before law&rsquo / is now more or less achieved in Turkey. However, in practice, gender inequality is a pervasive problem in all spheres of life. In the area of employment serious gender v pay gaps exist and unemployment rate of Turkish women is on the rise. Women also face discrimination in other areas of concern such as in access to education and political participation and they encounter multiple forms of violence in both public and private spheres of life. In view of the diversities of women&rsquo / s experiences both in member as well as candidate countries of the EU, the thesis concludes that if the EU is to be a viable project in truly bringing about gender equality it needs to move beyond economics to include social goals within its core policies as well.

Pasture plants already adapted to acidic soil conditions are required as part of an integrated approach (with lime amelioration) to managing acid soils on the Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the usefulness of Austrodanthonia species for this purpose. The material evaluated in this study was collected during a previous survey of the distribution of Austrodanthonia on the Central, Southern and Monaro Tablelands of New South Wales. It was hypothesised that the genus Austrodanthonia has a wide range of tolerance to acid soils. A series of experiments that provided information on the growth and physiology of Austrodanthonia in relation to soil acidity, with a view to the identification and eventual domestication of the most promising plant material have been conducted through pot, hydroponics and field investigations. Firstly, soils were acidified or limed to obtain a range of soil pH and Al concentrations. This experiment showed that adding aluminium sulfate and calcium carbonate followed by washing excess salts with water is a simple, rapid and convenient method for adjusting soil pH for pot experiments. The pH of the amended soils remained relatively unchanged eight months after treatment. The experimental set-up also resulted in a wide range of soluble Al (2-52 mg/kg) across the soils. The relative Al-tolerance of 183 accessions from 15 Austrodanthonia species was tested in a pot experiment using a range of soil pH. Emergence, survival and growth of all accessions were drastically reduced by high soil acidity (pH 3.9, P < 0.001). About 11% of plants emerged at pH 3.9, whereas at pH 4.4 and 5.3, ~72% of plants emerged. Accessions exhibited large variation within and between species in their tolerance to soil acidity. From the species/accessions tested, 49 accessions from eight species were selected for further study (on the basis of being more acid tolerant). Hydroponic experiments conducted in the glasshouse evaluated: (i) formulation of nutrient solution with a stable pH, (ii) effectiveness of the formulation using tap water and deionised water and (iii) estimation of free ion activities of Al and Mn in the nutrient solution and their effects on Austrodanthonia growth. These experiments showed that a NO3-N/NH4-N ratio of 9:4 is the most appropriate ratio to obtain a stable pH 4.0 without affecting plant growth; that there was little difference between tap water and deionised water on the ionic effects of Al and Mn, and plant-size did not play a role on accession survival and that accessions of Austrodanthonia could grow well within a wide range of pH (3.5-5.5), Al (50-250 �M) and Mn (100-2000 �M). Growth of Austrodanthonia accessions declined under high acidity (pH < 3.5) and Al (300 �M), but tolerated high concentrations of Mn (2000 �M). Root-tips stained with hematoxylin grouped accessions in a similar way to the pot and hydroponic experiments for most of the accessions tested. The intensity of root staining with hematoxylin and the differential distribution of Al in the shoots and roots provided an indication that different tolerance mechanisms may be involved with Austrodanthonia accessions. It appears that both exclusion and internal mechanisms may operate for Al- and Mn-tolerance. A field experiment was conducted at Carcoar (33037�S, 149013�E, elevation 800 m) using gradients in soil pH and Al available on-site to grow selected accessions of Austrodanthonia. The accessions exhibited a range of responses to soil acidity. The accession responses to acidity from the pot and hydroponic experiments were similar to those obtained in the field, especially where Al was present as a low Al-challenge. Overall, this study shows that Austrodanthonia exhibits a wide range of acid tolerance between species and accessions within species. Among the species tested, A. duttoniana and A. fulva appeared to have the greatest commercial potential, because of their productivity and acid tolerance. The variability that exists in the accessions may be exploitable in breeding and selection programs for improved cultivars.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-08T14:47:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 948195 bytes, checksum: efbb887c45c8f1e0b02cd95a33df3cee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The tuberculosis (TB) constitutes a problem and challenge of worldwide public health, even with a profile of curable disease, seen that the drugs for the treatment, in a large way, it is noted as effective against the bacillus, although the difficulties for its control, comes back for the organizational constituents of health services and the own human behavior. There are evidences that the abandonment rate of the treatment is still high. In the city of João Pessoa was registered, in 2011, 41 cases of abandonment. Then, for a reduction of the abandonment cases of TB treatment, and a increase of the high rates for cure in João Pessoa it is necessary that exist strategies and elements that strengthen and potentialize the accession to the treatment to increase the cure rate of the disease. This way this study objected to analyze the discursivity of people that are already affected by TB about the experience of illness, treatment and care. The sample was composed by 8 users that were discharged from the hospital because of TB cure in 2011 in João Pessoa, being the beginning at the end of treatment in AB; It was utilized as support method in operationalization of process of this research, the qualitative approach associated to the health narrative; The used technique for data achievement was the interview in deep, that occurred in the months of August and September 2012; The empirical material was organized trough the construction of narratives after the interview transcription, and organized by the technique of Discourse Analysis of French Line. The interviewed user s discourses of illness experiences revealed that the elements that strengthen the accession to treatments go beyond from what the medicine applies; It is needed to have a view about singularity of the sick person, and this one have to be given by health professionals, so that accession points can be strengthen; It is concluded also the amplitude of the importance of narrative in the field of health, not just as qualitative method of research, but as a assistance technique for the professionals go beyond to know the symptoms of the disease, trying to historcize the illness, capturing its meanings in multiples senses. / A tuberculose (TB) constitui um sério problema e desafio da saúde pública mundial, mesmo com um perfil de doença curável, visto que as drogas para tratamento, de forma ampla, constatam-se como efetivas contra o bacilo, no entanto, as dificuldades para o seu controle, volta-se aos constituintes organizacionais dos serviços de saúde e o próprio comportamento humano. Há evidências que a taxa de abandono ao tratamento ainda é elevada. No município de João Pessoa foi registrado, no ano de 2011, 41 casos de abandono. Então, Para que haja uma redução dos casos de abandono do tratamento da TB, e um aumento das taxas de alta por cura em João Pessoa, é necessário que existam estratégias e elementos que fortaleçam e potencializem a adesão ao tratamento para aumentar a taxa de cura da doença. Assim sendo, este estudo objetivou analisar a discursividade de pessoas que já foram afetadas por TB sobre a experiência de adoecimento, tratamento e cuidado. A amostra foi composta por 8 usuários que obtiveram alta por cura da TB no ano de 2011 em João Pessoa, tendo o início o desfecho do tratamento na AB; Foi utilizado como método de suporte na operacionalização do processo desta pesquisa, a abordagem qualitativa associada à narrativa em saúde; A técnica empregada para obtenção dos dados foi a entrevista em profundidade, que ocorreu nos meses de agosto e setembro do ano de 2012. O material empírico foi organizado através da construção de narrativas após a transcrição das entrevistas, e analisado pela técnica de análise Discurso da linha Francesa. Os discursos das experiências de adoecimento dos usuários entrevistados, revelaram que os elementos que fortalecem a adesão a tratamentos vão além do que a medicina aplica; É preciso haver um olhar sobre a singularidade do próprio doente, e esse deve ser lançado pelos profissionais de saúde, para que pontos de adesão sejam fortalecidos; Conclui-se também a amplitude da importância da narrativa no campo da saúde, não apenas como método qualitativo de pesquisa, mas como uma técnica assistencial para os profissionais, irem além de conhecer os sintomas do agravo, buscando historiar a doença, captando seu significado em seus múltiplos sentidos.

This thesis elaborates the character of Bulgarian Republic development over last years in the view of current situation, which is remarkably influenced by the global financial and economic crisis. The core of this thesis is to map the difficult path for Bulgaria's membership in the European Union, its entry into these structures and the subsequent development during the first 3 years of membership. Finally, I review the present position of Bulgaria in the EU and evaluate the overall benefits for Bulgaria joining the European Union and whether the country was able to complete the necessary reforms and deliver on promises, which it made before the accession to the Union.

This diploma thesis deals with Croatia, the newest member of the European Union. Within the theoretical foundations it focuses on the European integration, describes the development of the European Union and introduces the entry conditions for the candidate countries, it also characterizes the basic macroeconomic concepts, which are being used further in the work. The second part of this work presents the long journey of Croatia towards European membership, with a focus on problem areas of the accession negotiations. The main part of the work is an analysis of the economic and political situation, firstly in the period before and then after the country's accession to the EU. After that the changes which this event represents for Croatia and the European Union are evaluated. Finally, an evaluation of the country's preparedness for potential entry into the euro area is submitted along with the arguments for and against the adoption of the single currency.

The master thesis "Germany's European policy in the Western Balkans on the example of Croatia's accession to the EU" deals with the role of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Europeanisation of the countries of the Western Balkans in order to achieve stability in the region and peaceful resolution of the conflicts. Germany's main objectives in its European Policy in the Western Balkans have been to restore democracy, liberal economic market, rule of law, resolution of the refugee problem, protection of minorities, protection of the human rights and regional cooperation. The stabilisation of the Western Balkan should be achieved by its integration with the West: EU and NATO. Germany is intensively present in the Western Balkans since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Through its active involvement in the crisis of Kosovo, Germany strengthened its leadership role and responsibility within the EU. At the same time it also strengthened its position in the Western Balkans by its political, economic and humanitarian engagement. The focus will be on the description and interpretation of the motives of Germany's involvement in the integration of the Western Balkan in the EU. The aim of the thesis is to interpret the steps Germany took as a strong advocate of the EU- accession by the example of Croatia's...

The present thesis analyzes possible determinants shaping attitudes of selected relevant political parties from the EU27 Member States to the potential Turkish accession to the European Union. Bilateral relationships between the EU and the Turkish Republic have been evolving multifariously and long-windedly. However, the question of the direct Turkish participation in the EU's project remains unresolved, and still resonates across all stakeholders. The phenomenon of the eventual Turkish joining is a very topical issue. In particular, the views of the political parties on this particular problem are studied, since these subjects operate with an exclusive position in representative democracies. They symbolize the necessary interconnection between the state and society. Moreover, in the context of the eventual EU enlargement to Turkey, they will likely discuss its confirmation in parliamentary procedures, or they will mobilize voters and form their attitudes in the case of ratification referenda. The present thesis distinguishes between two main groups of explanatory variables. In regarding to the accepted theoretical framework, these are supposed to explicate the views of the selected political parties on the eventual Turkish enlargement qualifiedly. Particularly, the ideological and (general)...