The EU’s Trade Relations with China (1975-2008): <p>A Linkage Power at Work?<p><p>(Summary)<p><p>The central aim of this thesis is to improve our understanding of the EU’s power, in particular in its external trade relations/negotiations. Our hypothesis is that the EU is a distinctive kind of linkage power, defined as an actor relying on linkage as a crucial modus operandi in its external relations. We explored how, to what extent and in which distinctive ways the EU is such a linkage power. <p>Our analysis was based on three logically interrelated concepts – power resources, linkage and linkage power. Linkage refers to a leveraging strategy, with an aim of packaging relevant power resources, so as to increase leverage in bargaining, or more generally attain a policy objective. I identified seven types of linkages that the EU used: political-economic issue linkage, economic-economic issue linkage, conditionality, contextual linkage, linkage with a third party, cognitive linkage and synergistic linkage. Linkage can hardly work without proper power resources. The latter, as Dahl (1970) defined, refers to all the resources-opportunities, acts, objects etc – that an actor can exploit in order to affect the behaviour of another. So, linkage is a bridge between power resources and impacts – meaning affecting or changing the behaviour of another party. By putting linkage and power together, we created a new term – “linkage power”, referring to a power based on linkages. The EU, the US, China or any other power can all be such labelled, though these actors may diverge in power resources, linkage strategies and the variables affecting linkage effectiveness. When applying such an analytical framework to the EU, we gave particular attention to the implications of the EU’s sui generis nature on its linkage power.<p>Our case study is the EU’s trade relations with China (1975-2008), which were punctuated by two critical historical junctures – the Tian’anmen Square Incident in 1989 and the EU-China Textile Crisis in 2005. In 1975, The EEC’s successful strategy by linking political issues (Europe-China balancing the Soviet Union and recognising China’s sovereignty over Taiwan) with economic issues (signing the EEC-China Trade Agreement) played a crucial role in securing the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EEC and China. Different types of linkages were then applied to the EEC’s negotiations with Beijing on the 1978 Trade Agreement and the 1979 textile agreement, which effectively prompted the Chinese side to agree to the EU’s terms.<p>Immediately after the 1989 Tian’anmen Square Incident, the EC imposed economic sanctions with an aim of coercing China to accept Western world’s human rights conditions. This linkage did not last long or pay off due to divergent political and economic interests among the Member States and the EC’s institutional handicaps (foreign policy competence was largely in the hands of Member States, collective foreign policy action was non-binding), and soon de-linked.<p>Having realised that confrontational approach did not work well, the EC/EU and its Member States started to change their China policies in 1993-95. The period of 1993-2004 witnessed the EC/EU’s power through partnership. The strategic partnership was seen as a complex of different pairs of issue linkages, ranging from political-strategic issues to economic and human rights issues. The partnership, once established, had fostered new linkages and consolidated old ones. China’s WTO accession was seen as a once-in-a-century opportunity for the EU to exercise linkage through conditionality, so as to extract market access concessions from the Chinese side. Moreover, by linking with China could the European Commission garnered international support for advancing the Galileo project within the Union and ward off some of the US pressure in 2003. <p>The Year 2005 was singled out since an unprecedented trade row on textiles broke out, confronting the EU against China’s export prowess resulting from globalisation and China’s WTO accession. Linkages were used as a predominant strategy to help the EU to persuade and press the Chinese side firstly accept voluntary export restrictions and then share the burden of allowing the blocked textiles in European ports to be released. In 2006-08, the trade deficit problem emerged, coupled with a series political spats between Europe (France and Germany) and Beijing on the Tibet issue. As the EU-China honeymoon was over, the Commission toughened its approach towards China. Although linkage was again used to redress the trade deficit, its effects were not satisfactory, as the EU power resources were eroded. <p>Our conclusions are (1) linkage is a crucial modus operandi in the EU’s internal bargain and its external relations with China; (2) Linkage was generally effective vis-à-vis China, but with variations, either over time or across different linkage types; (3) The EU is a sui generis linkage power, resulting from its institutional characteristics and heterogeneity of interests among the Commission and Member States. We find that the EU’s increased institutionalisation (both regional and bilateral) and competences generally facilitated its use of linkage strategies. The EU’s sui generis structure and its internal interest divergences have mixed implications on its linkage effectiveness. On one hand, the EU’s linkage power was weakened accordingly. But on the other, the Commission could tactically make use of some Member State government’s row with Beijing and advance its own economic agenda (such as the EU-China High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue, HED). Moreover, our research also confirmed Andrew Moravcsik’s argument that issue linkage is more easily made within an issue-area than across issue-areas. But we differ from him on the reason behind that. We find that this was largely attributable to the EU’s pillar structure and competence divisions. <p>The theoretical contributions include: (1) Linkage power provides a distinctive prism to look into the EU’s concrete strategies in internal bargains, and external commercial negotiations. Linkage serves as a crucial strategy for the EU to handle its relations with a far-abroad country like China, including establishing diplomatic relations, negotiating trade deals, forging strategic partnerships and holding high-level dialogue. (2) Giving some insights to the EU’s actorness. We find that the EU, though institutionally not a unitary actor, was somehow able to present its power to the extent like a sovereign state on some occasions using linkage strategies. (3) Contributing to the understanding of the EU’s means to spread its governance model. We find that the EU’s norm-setting goals have often been achieved through non-normative ways – such as interest exchange and trade-off, and other deliberate ways of persuasion and even coercion, mainly based on linkage. (4) Shedding light on the interactions between the Commission and the Member State governments and on the Commission’s autonomy in external trade relations. <p> Two future directions of research have been identified: (1) comparative studies: the EU’s linkage practices vis-à-vis the US, Russia and middle powers, or other actors’ linkage strategies vis-à-vis China; (2) post-Lisbon linkage strategies used by the EU. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis focuses on the industry wage differentials, rent-sharing and the gender wage gap. I empirically investigate: i) the interaction between inter-industry wage differentials and the gender wage gap in six European countries, ii) how rent sharing interacts with the gender wage gap in the Belgian private sector and iii) the existence of inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, through the unobserved ability hypothesis.<p><p>The first chapter is devoted to the analysis of the interaction between inter-industry wage differentials and the gender wage gap in six European countries, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. To do so, we have relied on a unique harmonised matched employer-employee data set, the 1995 European Structure of Earnings Survey. As far as we know, this paper is the first to analyse with recent techniques, on a comparable basis, and from a European perspective: i) inter-industry wage differentials by gender, ii) gender wage gaps by industry, and iii) the contribution of industry effects to the overall gender wage gap. It is also one of the few, besides Kahn (1998), to analyse for both sexes the relationship between collective bargaining characteristics and the dispersion of industry wage differentials. <p>Empirical findings show that, in all countries and for both sexes, wage differentials exist between workers employed in different sectors, even when controlling for working conditions, individual and firm characteristics. We also find that the hierarchy of sectors in terms of wages is quite similar for male and female workers and across countries. Yet, the apparent similarity between male and female industry wage differentials is challenged by standard statistical tests. Indeed, simple t-tests show that between 43 and 71% of the industry wage disparities are significantly different for women and men. Moreover, Chow tests indicate that sectoral wage differentials are significantly different as a group for both sexes in all countries. Regarding the dispersion of the industry wage differentials, we find that results vary for men and women, although not systematically nor substantially. Yet, the dispersion of industry wage differentials fluctuates considerably across countries. It is quite large in Ireland, Italy and the U.K. and relatively moderate in Belgium, Denmark and Spain. For both sexes, results point to the existence of a negative and significant relationship between the degree of centralisation of collective bargaining and the dispersion of industry wage differentials.<p>Furthermore, independently of the country considered, results show that more than 80% of the gender wage gaps within industries are statistically significant. The average industry gender wage gap ranges between -.18 in the U.K. and -.11 in Belgium. This means that on average women have an inter-industry wage differential of between 18 and 11% below that for men. Yet, correlation coefficients between the industry gender wage gaps across countries are relatively small and often statistically insignificant. This finding suggests that industries with the highest and the lowest gender wage gaps vary substantially across Europe.<p>Finally, results indicate that the overall gender wage gap, measured as the difference between the mean log wages of male and female workers, fluctuates between .18 in Denmark and .39 in the U.K. In all countries a significant (at the .01 level) part of this gap can be explained by the segregation of women in lower paying industries. Yet, the relative contribution of this factor to the gender wage gap varies substantially among European countries. It is close to zero in Belgium and Denmark, between 7 and 8% in Ireland, Spain and the U.K. and around 16% in Italy. Differences in industry wage premia for male and female workers significantly (at the .05 level) affect the gender wage gap in Denmark and Ireland only. In these countries, gender differences in industry wage differentials account for respectively 14 and 20% of the gender wage gap. To sum up, findings show that combined industry effects explain around 29% of the gender wage gap in Ireland, respectively 14 and 16% in Denmark and Italy, around 7% in the U.K. and almost nothing in Belgium and Spain. <p>In conclusion, our results emphasize that the magnitude of the gender wage gap as well as its causes vary substantially among the European countries. This suggests that no single policy instrument will be sufficient to tackle gender pay inequalities in Europe. Our findings indicate that policies need to be tailored to the very specific context of the labour market in each country.<p><p>The second chapter examines investigates how rent sharing interacts with the gender wage gap in the Belgian private sector. Empirical findings show that individual gross hourly wages are significantly and positively related to firm profits-per-employee even when controlling for group effects in the residuals, individual and firm characteristics, industry wage differentials and endogeneity of profits. Our instrumented wage-profit elasticity is of the magnitude 0.06 and it is not significantly different for men and women. Of the overall gender wage gap (on average women earn 23.7% less than men), results show that around 14% can be explained by the fact that on average women are employed in firms where profits-per-employee are lower. Thus, findings suggest that a substantial part of the gender wage gap is attributable to the segregation of women is less profitable firms. <p><p>The third and final chapter contributes to the understanding of inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, taking advantage of access to a unique matched employer-employee data set covering the period 1995-2002. Findings show the existence of large and persistent wage differentials among workers with the same observed characteristics and working conditions, employed in different sectors. The unobserved ability hypothesis may not be rejected on the basis of Martins’ (2004) methodology. However, its contribution to the observed industry wage differentials appears to be limited. Further results show that ceteris paribus workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in more profitable firms. The instrumented wage-profit elasticity stands at 0.063. This rent-sharing phenomenon accounts for a large fraction of the industry wage differentials. We find indeed that the magnitude, dispersion and significance of industry wage differentials decreases sharply when controlling for profits.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

/ / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Cette thèse constitue une analyse de contenu des critiques contre l'Union européenne exprimées par plusieurs acteurs politiques et sociaux de gauche en France et en Allemagne, au cours des débats sur le projet de Constitution européenne. Elle s'intéresse plus particulièrement aux idéologies sous-jacentes à ces critiques. Pour comprendre le sens de ces arguments, les comparer entre eux et les classer, certains idéaux-types ont été élaborés sur quatre dimensions (politique, socio-économique, identitaire et stratégique). Cette recherche a permis de combler une lacune importante dans l'analyse des acteurs dits "eurosceptiques", à savoir, l'étude des idéologies animant ces courants. L'essentiel de la littérature se concentre en effet surtout sur l'explication de l'euroscepticisme et, lorsqu'elle aborde leur idéologie, c'est pour construire des taxinomies excessivement globales. La thèse explore aussi en conclusion certaines pistes d'explications de ces résistances à l'UE en essayant d'aller au-delà des visions stratégiques, culturalistes et institutionnalistes, dominantes dans ce domaine, et en insistant davantage sur les dimensions idéelles et structurelles.<p><p>//<p>This doctoral dissertation analyses the content of the critiques made by some left-wing social and political actors in France and Germany against the current EU. The study focuses on the debates that surrounded the project of European Constitution and more specifically on the more general ideologies underlying these arguments. In order to understand, compare and classify these critiques, idealtypes have been elaborated on four dimensions (socio-economic, political, identity-related and strategic). This research fills a gap in the literature analysing so-called "eurosceptic" actors by concentrating on the ideas conveyed by these currents. Indeed, most of this literature mostly tries to explain this phenomenon. And when it addresses the issue of ideology, it is only to build too far-reaching categories. The conclusion also aims at exploring possible explanations of theses resistances to the EU beyond the traditional theories, based on strategic agency, culturalism and institutionalism, and insisting more on the role of ideas and material structures.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study analyses the possible impact of the European Union (EU) on the development of the relations between business interest groups and the government in Turkey, more precisely on the interventions of the business interest groups in domestic policy-making. Hence it deals with the links between the progress of the relationship between Turkey and the EU and the development of domestic interest group activity in Turkey. <p><p>The progress of Turkey’s relations with the EU enhanced the visibility of the Turkish Peak Business Organizations (PBOs) in representing Turkish business interests in Brussels. Moreover, the evolution of the activities of the PBOs, provides a broader understanding of the developments of the general characteristics of the relations between the government and business interest groups in Turkey. Hence the investigation focuses on the major Turkish PBOs.<p><p>We examine the relations of Turkish PBOs with the EU, essentially, on the basis of the observation of their transnational actions within the EU as well as their participation in financial and technical assistance programmes of the EU and in the joint institutional structures of the association regime between Turkey and the EU. By analysing these two dimensions we assess the repercussions of the socialization of the Turkish PBOs on their strategies of action in dealing with European Affairs, on discourses they adopted regarding domestic policy-making and on their organizational structure and policy agenda.<p><p>We elaborate our topic with reference to the Europeanization concept, which covers the examination of the consequences of the European governance on national systems. Through the Europeanization concept we observe the correlation between the progress of the Turkey-EU relations and the ongoing process of change in the patterns of interventions of the Turkish business interest groups in domestic policy-making. <p> / Doctorat en sciences politiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

La présente recherche se réunit quatre questions générales et cruciales : 1) La place de la Convention européenne des Droits de l’Homme en droit Géorgien; 2) La conformité de la législation géorgienne avec la Convention Européenne des Droits de l’Homme; 3) Les relations de la Cour Constitutionnelle de Géorgie et de la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme; 4) L’impact des décisions de la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme sur la Géorgie. Sur toutes ces questions, contrairement aux Etats de l’Ouest de l’Europe, il existe peu d’information et/ou d’ouvrages sur la Géorgie, ce qui a rendu notre tâche longue et délicate. Il convient en effet de rappeler au lecteur de l’Europe occidental que la Géorgie est un Etat en développement. La Géorgie, située entre la Turquie et la Russie, pendant toute son histoire a été obligée de s’orienter vers une politique de défense. L’histoire de la Géorgie indépendante recommence après la chute de l’URSS en 1991. La Géorgie a adhéré au Conseil de l’Europe en 1999, mais les processus de l’européanisation du droit national commencent à partir 2004. La Convention Européenne des droits de l’Homme est un mécanisme efficace pour la protection des droits de l’Homme et les activités de la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme suscitent un vif intérêt en Géorgie. Cependant, dans des relations juridiques, y compris devant le tribunal, l’application des standards européens des droits de l’Homme n’est pas un objectif en soi. Il faut que les juges, avocats, procureurs et les représentants d’autres professions juridiques garantissent, au cours de leurs activités, le respect des standards des droits de l’Homme existants.Dans le cadre de la présent recherche, on examinera l’influence de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l’Homme sur le Droit Géorgien a partir de la ratification de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l’Homme en 1999, jusqu’au 28 février, 2014 en deux directions : 1. Le statut de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l’Homme dans le Droit Géorgien (PARTIE I) et 2. La Géorgie face à la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme (PARTIE II). / The given research unites four main questions: 1. Place of European Convention on Human Rights in Georgian Law. 2. Conformity of Georgian legislation with the European Convention on Human Rights. 3. Conformity of Constitutional Law judgments with the standards established by the European Court of Human Rights. 4. Judgments of European Court of Human Rights against Georgia.In connection to all these questions there is very little information and work in Georgia, which has made us study them better – on the ground of actuality of the given questions. We’ve considered discussing to the West European reader that Georgia is a developed country. It is located between Turkey and Russia, during its whole history it had to be orientated on the self-defense policy. History of Independent Georgia starts in 1991 by destruction of the Soviet Union. In 1999 Georgia became a member of the European Union, but National Law in Georgia and Europeanization process of State Institutions started in 2004. Human Rights European Convention represents an effective standard of Human Rights, accordingly activities of European Court of Human Rights causes great interest in Georgia. Despite all these in the legal circles, between them use of Human Rights European standards have become obligatory in the courts. It is needed that the judges, advocates, procurators and representatives of other legal professions have to actively use the existed standards of Human Rights Protection. In the framework of the given research we will investigate influence of European Convention on Human Rights with Georgian Law and starting from ratification of European Convention by Georgia – since 1999 – till February 28, 2014 included in two directions: 1. Place of Human Rights European Convention in Georgian Law (part I) and 2. Georgia against European Court of Human Rights (part II).

La présente thèse a pour objet l’étude du régionalisme. Ce dernier se réfère ici à des régions mondiales constituant une dimension médiane entre le niveau étatique et le système mondial. Notre analyse porte donc sur les nouvelles expériences régionales qui ont émergé dans le contexte de la globalisation néolibérale et de la post-guerre froide. Le régionalisme est analysé en tant qu’objet des relations internationales et l’étude de cas choisi est celui du régionalisme latino-américain, et plus précisément le Marché commun du Sud (MERCOSUR). Une importante partie des travaux consacrés à l'explication du régionalisme partent d'une approche essentiellement endogène accordant une attention distraite aux déterminants exogènes. Pour comprendre la nature du nouveau régionalisme, il faut le situer dans une perspective globale qui tient compte de l’interrelation entre les niveaux national, régional et global. Bien que le régionalisme renvoie à des logiques internes propres, le phénomène est fortement conditionné et façonné par l’extérieur du fait qu’il évolue en interaction directe et constante avec le monde économique et politique international, et qu’il fait l’objet de politiques menées par des acteurs dominants de l’arène mondiale. Les déterminants extérieurs sont donc essentiels pour comprendre l’évolution du régionalisme. Dès lors, la thèse se propose de répondre à la question suivante :comment et en quoi la nature et l’évolution du régionalisme se trouve façonnée par le cadre exogène et comment ce dernier interagit avec les facteurs d’ordre interne ?Pour répondre à cette question il convient de resituer le MERCOSUR dans le cadre du triangle atlantique (Amérique du Sud/Union européenne/Etats-Unis) qui lui-même doit être placé dans le contexte plus large de la globalisation néolibérale. / Doctorat en sciences politiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The aim of the thesis is to understand why European countries show a very different picture of female employment (in their fertile ages) which is not the case for men of the same age. We shed light on the various positions of countries in this framework of earner-carer models, in analysing policy designs, policy outcomes and policy determinants. That is, respectively, family policy indicators, employment of mothers and childless women, gender role attitudes and their interacting effect with policies and employment outcomes. We have used a wide range of primary or secondary quantitative and qualitative data to carry out our comparative analysis, mixing approaches, techniques and methods, from micro-econometric models to macro-level harmonised indicators, supplemented with a case study. The dissertation is divided in three parts, each focusing on one question: (i) Are there complementarities or distinctions between types of family policies across Europe, as regards gender equality and dual-earner friendliness, and how can we compare different policy settings as they are found to be very heterogeneous? (ii) To what extent can institutional settings explain cross-country differences in female employment outcomes, and especially those of mothers, in a context of decreasing fertility? (iii) Do individual preferences counteract (or reinforce) the policy impact on employment in connexion with the prevalence of traditional gender role attitudes? Results show that the institutional variation across countries explains a great deal of differences in female employment, especially for mothers. If policies are not supportive of the dual-earner model, even those women who have a stronger preference for labour market attachment face obstacles that reduce their employment opportunities in the presence of young children. However, even in countries where a somewhat dual-earner friendly model is favoured, our detailed analysis of policy instruments reveals that gender equality is still far from being achieved.