European Politics and Society Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Programme MA Thesis Attitudes towards European Integration in the Western Balkans: Euroscepticism and Europhilia in North Macedonia Maria Paschalina Dimopoulou Abstract The progress in the integration of EU candidate member states is determined by the level of democratization they have achieved, the level of success in the transition to market economy, the rule of law development and the ability to fulfill the conditions obligatory for member states. The attitudes towards the prospect of membership range from fervent enthusiasm to severe skepticism, depending on the length of the process, the success or lack thereof in the institutional transformation, the compatibility of the European values with traditional norms and region-specific reasons. There have been many studies focusing on the Central and East European former candidate states, while contemporary research on the Western Balkan region is rather focused on the EU's enlargement fatigue and conditionality failure. This thesis attempts to examine the role of domestic media of a candidate state in shaping the public opinion and the possible role of the political parties using the media to project their agendas on integration. The case study of North Macedonia proves the positive connection...

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The European Neighbourhood policy is the union’s joint foreign policy framework for themajority of the nations in the Caucasus, Eastern European, Middle eastern and North african regions, which are divided into an eastern, and a southern region. One of the main goals of the policy is to foster democratic progress in the regions involved. This task has, however, proven to be a complex and difficult one which has seen mixed results. This study uses a frameworkbased on the theory of soft power to examine what strategy the union utilizes to achieve democratization in these regions. The use of a comparative approach allows the drawing of conclusions about the subject matter based on differences in the approach between the regions. The study found that a top-down strategy of democratization was utilized in the eastern region, while a grassroot, bottom-up approach was more prevalent in the southern.This study is thus a useful addition to the plentiful research regarding the Neighbourhood policy as its findings offer opportunities for further comparative study by highlighting that there are indeed relevant differences in the relationship of the EU to the two regions.

Lydie Kárníková Ideology in the Language of Media Diploma thesis 2011 Abstract The thesis scrutinizes the ways in which three Czech nationwide print media process the same news topics. Through analysis of three thematic discourses it studies the differences in approaching and presenting reality. The main focus lies in the argumentative and language aspects of the media texts with the aim to find implicit references on sets of values and beliefs typical for the perspective of the particular news media title and for the society in general. Implicit sets of values woven into the media contents have a form of an ideology: These ideological ideas can be very different across the society due to the number of opinion groups present within the whole society. In modern democratic countries with opinion plurality there are different ideological ideas neighbouring within the media market. The news as a genre does not allow expressing one's own opinion or approach explicitly: the news media thus embed their opinions into the structures of language. The core hypothesis of this thesis is the ability of language to create meanings. With the help of methodology that combines argumentative approach with analysis of syntactic and lexical modes of expressions the thesis tries to get into the language structure, looking for...

Ces travaux de recherche s’inscrivent dans le cadre de la théorie des représentations sociales. Il s’agit de mettre à jour la représentation du cyclomoteur chez les adolescents, ainsi que les modèles normatifs de références qui l’influencent, afin de mieux comprendre ce qui sous-tend les pratiques des jeunes usagers. En nous inspirant des travaux considérant la représentation sociale comme un système normatif, nous avons testé auprès d’un groupe d’adolescents conducteurs de scooter, l’influence de deux modèles normatifs; celui des parents et celui des pairs. Dans cette optique nous avons utilisé un questionnaire des choix alternatifs avec lequel nous avons testé plusieurs types de consignes de substitution. Il apparaît au fil de nos travaux que la représentation du cyclomoteur chez les adolescents est organisée autour de valeurs de groupe, et de transgressions valorisées par les pairs. Le cyclomoteur est perçu comme un outil d’émancipation vis à vis des parents et d’intégration au groupe à travers des usages ludiques plutôt que comme un moyen de transport au premier degré. Nous avons adapté des outils qui nous ont permis de montrer que les pairs constituaient le groupe d’ancrage normatif des jeunes mais que les parents impactaient la représentation sur des points précis et jugés comme non conditionnels. Les deux pôles normatifs apparaissent indissociables incitant les jeunes à sans cesse trouver des compromis entre eux au moyen d’une « négociation normative » (Gaymard 2003). La difficulté pour les jeunes réside dans l’équilibre à trouver au cours de cette négociation normative, certains principes non-négociables pour les parents allant à l’encontre d’éléments importants pour les pairs. Si la transgression, valorisée par les jeunes, apparaît comme le « billet d’entrée » dans le groupe, elle fait néanmoins l’objet d’une modulation selon ses formes et thématiques. / This research fits into the framework of the theory of social representations. The aim is to seek adolescents’ representation of the moped, as well as the normative models that influence it, in order to better understand what underlies young users’ practices. Drawing inspiration from works on social representation as a normative system we tested the influence of two normative models with a group of young moped riders, the models of parents and peers. To do so, we used an alternative choice questionnaire with which we tested several types of substitution instructions. It appears from our work that the representation of the moped among adolescents is organized around group values and transgression valued by peers. The moped is perceived as a tool of emancipation from parents and of group integration through fun practices rather than a basic means of transportation. We adapted a tool that allowed us to show that peers are the normative anchoring group of young people but that parents influence the representation on specific and unconditional points. Both normative poles appear inseparable leading teenagers to reach compromises between them thanks to “normative negotiation” (Gaymard, 2003). The difficulty for young people lies in finding a balance during this “normative negotiation” because some of the non-negotiable principles for parents remain important elements for peers. If the transgression valued by the adolescents appears as the “entry ticket” into the group, it is nevertheless subject to modulation according to its shapes and themes.

Be it the Algerian National Liberation Front, the African National Congress in South Africa or the continued struggle of the Palestinian people, the principle of self-determination is largely central to all projects of national liberation. This paper addresses what is arguably a deficient conception of self-determination by highlighting two factors that contributed to this deficiency. The first is the re-enforcement of dependency in self-determination projects by international institutions, primarily through the Mandate System. The second is a merit-based system of conditionality for the granting of independence, accompanied by a tendency to deformalize the law, relegating self-determination to an empty principle, the substance of which is decided by the negotiations’ context. The case of Palestine is used to demonstrate how those factors are adopted as central means in resolving the Palestinian self-determination problem, which in-turn leads to a deficient conception that does not account for the core content of the right.

Be it the Algerian National Liberation Front, the African National Congress in South Africa or the continued struggle of the Palestinian people, the principle of self-determination is largely central to all projects of national liberation. This paper addresses what is arguably a deficient conception of self-determination by highlighting two factors that contributed to this deficiency. The first is the re-enforcement of dependency in self-determination projects by international institutions, primarily through the Mandate System. The second is a merit-based system of conditionality for the granting of independence, accompanied by a tendency to deformalize the law, relegating self-determination to an empty principle, the substance of which is decided by the negotiations’ context. The case of Palestine is used to demonstrate how those factors are adopted as central means in resolving the Palestinian self-determination problem, which in-turn leads to a deficient conception that does not account for the core content of the right.

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.

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The effects of foreign aid in the process of economic growth in developing countries is a subject of intense debate. While its favorable effects in the struggle with poverty are undeniable, its determining factor for economic development has positions in favor and against. This article presents a review of the literature on foreign aid, focusing on the fundamental aspects to facilitate its analysis. Other aspects that are addressed are the main arguments used to support the granting and receiving of foreign aid towards a developing country, as well as those arguments that criticize its suitability. The final part includes some conclusions about the presented arguments. / Los efectos de la cooperación internacional en el proceso de crecimiento económico de los países en desarrollo es un tema de intenso debate. Si bien sus efectos favorables en la lucha contra la pobreza resultan innegables, su condición de factor determinante para el desarrollo económico tiene posiciones a favor y en contra. En este artículo se hace una revisión de la literatura sobre la cooperación internacional, concentrándose en los factores fundamentales para facilitar su análisis. Otro aspecto tratado son los principales argumentos utilizados para respaldar el otorgamiento y recepción de cooperación internacional hacia un país en desarrollo, así como aquellos argumentos que critican su conveniencia. La parte final incluye algunas conclusiones sobre los argumentos expuestos.