The study explored when, under what conditions, and to what extent did European integration, particularly the European Union’s requirement for democratic conditionality, contribute to democratic consolidation in Spain, Poland, and Turkey? On the basis of a four-part definition, the dissertation examined the democratizing impact of European integration process on each of the following four components of consolidation: (i) holding of fair, free and competitive elections, (ii) protection of fundamental rights, including human and minority rights, (iii) high prospects of regime survival and civilian control of the military, and (iv) legitimacy, elite consensus, and stateness. To assess the relative significance of EU’s democratizing leverage, the thesis also examined domestic and non-EU international dynamics of democratic consolidation in the three countries. By employing two qualitative methods (case study and process-tracing), the study focused on three specific time frames: 1977-1986 for Spain, 1994-2004 for Poland, and 1999-present for Turkey. In addition to official documents, newspapers, and secondary sources, face-to-face interviews made with politicians, academics, experts, bureaucrats, and journalists in the three countries were utilized. The thesis generated several conclusions. First of all, the EU’s democratizing impact is not uniform across different components of democratic consolidation. Moreover, the EU’s democratizing leverage in Spain, Poland, and Turkey involved variations over time for three major reasons: (i) the changing nature of EU’s democratic conditionality over time (ii) varying levels of the EU’s credible commitment to the candidate country’s prospect for membership, and (iii) domestic dynamics in the candidate countries. Furthermore, the European integration process favors democratic consolidation but its magnitude is shaped by the candidate country’s prospect for EU membership and domestic factors in the candidate country. Finally, the study involves a major policy implication for the European Union: unless the EU provides a clear prospect for membership, its democratizing leverage will be limited in the candidate countries.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to characterize the development of Austria after World War Two, to chart its progressive integration into Europe and to evaluate its present position in the European Union. The first chapters of the thesis describe the economic and political development of Austria from 1945 to 2000; attention is paid to the gradual integration of Austria into the European Communities. Furthermore, the thesis concentrates on the development of Austria after 1995. It analyses the economic impact of its entry into the EU as well as its present position in the Union. It also discusses selected themes such as the first and second Austrian presidency of the EU, sanctions on Austria, the Austrian approach to the eastern enlargement of the EU and the Austrian citizens' view on the EU. It shortly addresses the contemporary relations of Austria and the Czech Republic.

My theses scope is description of the Spanish relationship to European Union from the first integration tendencies after the WW II till the preferential agreement ratification in 1970. I will try to analyze part of the Spanish economic history within the context of west-European integration. This period precedes the political transformation of autocratic Spain to modern democracy. These democratic cabinets were able to aspire seriosusly to fully-fledged European Union membership. In my opinion it is not possible to view political transformation as a start-up for democratically elected governments to setup new relationships with EU but it is necessary to understand it as an important condition which is part of a long-term process of Spanish convergence to west-European integration. In my theses I primarily concentrate on the economic development but I mean that it is important to mention the political situation as well.

This thesis deals with the European Free Trade Association and its gradual integration into the European Union. Both EFTA and the EU were founded in post-war Europe with the objective of economic prosperity through mutual cooperation of the Member States, this later resulted in mutual cooperation between the two units and the progressive incorporation of EFTA into the EU. The first chapter discusses the development context for EFTA and the EEA upto 2001. The second chapter analyzes the impact of the revision of the memorandum on the relationship between Switzerland and the other EFTA members, the level of cooperation achieved in the EEA, and Switzerland's current relationship with the EU. The third chapter outlines the possibilities of further development of EFTA and the EEA countries and summarizes the current attitudes of individual members of EFTA towards furtherdeepening of their mutual relations.

Based on the gravity model by Baier and Bergstrand (2001), we use a static and dynamic panel data approach to estimate the relative contributions of income growth, income convergence, and the reductions in tariffs and trade costs to the growth of intra-EU trade over the period 1960 to 2000. The results suggest that income growth was the major force, accounting for approximately two third of total growth. Trade liberalization still had a sizeable effect, accounting de facto for the rest of growth, while income convergence played only a minor role. Reductions in trade costs had no significant effect on the growth of intra- EU trade. The results turn out as robust against several robustness checks and the use of alternative estimators. / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

Insufficient theorizations about identification result in flawed conclusions about how actors in the international arena construct themselves and the Other. With references to fallacies of previous identification studies, the thesis at hand therefore argues for the necessity to contemporize research approaches. It asks the question “how could identification research in International Relations be improved?”. Based on a micro-level survey and interviews, the thesis can show how discourse, as well as inadequate conceptualizations and operationalizations, produce limited understandings of identification. The thesis recognizes several pitfalls that identification research must seek to avoid, for example: the uncritical acceptance of, and contribution to, dominant discourses, the reduction of identification into dichotomous categories, as well as the aiming for clear-cut, essentialist operationalizations. Research shows that identifications are ambiguous, fluid and contextual. Hence, identification research must embrace and encompass these traits in theorizations about the international system.

This study examines the impact of the European Union and the programmatic and policy changes in two Irish political parties, the Green Party and Sinn Féin. The Europeanization concept is the theoretical basis of the study and it is operationalized by the use of EU salience. The study is carried out by content analysis of national and European election manifestos prepared by the parties during the 2009–2020 time period. The findings showed an increased salience on the European Union in national election campaigns by both parties, and in the European Parliament elections by Sinn Féin. A process of Europeanization has taken place in both parties regarding foreign policy and issues related to external relations. The Green Party showed an increased emphasis on the European Union regarding environmental issues. This study contributes to the research on the European impact on national political parties and the increased importance of European level politics in the national systems.

Cette thèse porte sur les relations entre l’Union européenne et le Conseil de l’Europe de 1948 à 2014. Liées par un objectif commun d’une union politique entre les peuples d’Europe, ces deux organisations européennes entretiennent dès leur genèse des liens où coopération et concurrence se côtoient à des degrés différents en alternance. L’objectif de cette étude est donc d’analyser la nature de ces relations, la condition et la manière dont elles se mettent en place. Elle permet ainsi de réaliser une comparaison des deux organisations autour de paramètres politique, institutionnel et matériel. Il s’agit aussi d’apporter un regard nouveau sur l’histoire de l’intégration européenne : en s’élevant au-dessus d’une analyse intrinsèque de l’histoire de l’UE, l’intégration européenne est alors appréhendée par rapport aux interactions de l’UE avec le Conseil de l’Europe. / This thesis focuses on the relationship between the European Union and the Council of Europe for the period 1948- 2014. Having as their common objective a political union among the people of Europe, these two European organisations have alternated since their creation between cooperating stance and competitiveness.Therefore, the aim of this research study is to analyse the nature of these relationships, casting light on the conditions and the way in which these were put in place. The thesis makes a structured comparison of the two organizations regarding the relevant political, institutional and material parameters. It also aims at providing a fresh look at the history of European integration: by going beyond an intrinsic analysis of the history of the EU, European integration is thus understood in relation to the interactions of the EU with the Council of Europe.

Les quatre articles de recherche qui composent cette thèse étudient le partage de ressources fiscales utilisées pour produire des biens publics communs ou des transferts pour améliorer la stabilisation macro-économique. Dans le premier chapitre, on considère un problème de centralisation optimale avec des juridictions qui ont des préférences hétérogènes pour les biens publics et une base mobile pour les financer. On adopte un modèle théorique avec une structure fédérale et un continuum de biens publics afin de porter plusieurs conclusions normatives sur le degré optimal de centralisation. La contribution du deuxième chapitre est de considérer un modèle de concurrence fiscale où les biens publics sont potentiellement caractérisés par des effets de déversement entre juridictions. On démontre que la coopération totale peut être atteinte si les effets de déversement dans la production de biens publics sont suffisamment grands pour l’emporter sur les incitations à demeurer un pays non-coopératif avec des taxes faibles. Dans le troisième chapitre, on construit un modèle DSGE de la zone euro (avec un cœur et une périphérie) avec des rigidités nominales, financières et sur le marché de l’emploi. Un modèle de référence où les politiques sont uniquement nationales, comme c’est le cas aujourd’hui, est établi pour le calibrage et celui-ci reproduit des observations empiriques pour la zone euro. Ensuite, on introduit une assurance chômage commune afin d’étudier ses propriétés stabilisatrices. Le quatrième chapitre analyse comment une capacité fiscale ciblant directement les ménages peut améliorer la stabilisation lorsque les taux d’intérêt sont au plancher égal à zéro. / The four research articles composing this PhD dissertation study the sharing of fiscal resources used to provide common public goods or transfers to contribute to macroeconomic stabilization. In the first chapter, we consider an optimal centralization problem with jurisdictions that have heterogeneous preferences for public goods and tax a mobile base to finance them. We adopt a theoretical model with a federal structure and a continuum of public goods to draw several normative conclusions from the study of the optimal degree of centralization. The contribution of this second chapter is to consider a tax competition model where public goods potentially exhibit cross-border spillovers. We show that full cooperation can be attained if spillovers in public good provision are high enough to remove the incentives to remain a low-tax non-cooperative player. In the third chapter, we build a DSGE model of the euro area (with a core and a periphery) with nominal, labor and financial rigidities. A baseline model where policies are only national, as it is the case now, is set as the reference for calibration which reproduces key empirical observations for the euro area. Then, we implement a common unemployment insurance and study its stabilization properties. The fourth chapter focuses on how a fiscal capacity targeting directly households can improve stabilization at the zero lower bound.

The Western Balkans have been gripped by turbulent policies and relations in the region for the past 25 years. The Republic of Serbia, as a country responsible for many of the armed conflicts of the 1990s, is today a country that is largely conducting accession negotiations with the European Union towards membership. However, what is being questioned is what are the relations of that country with its neighbors today? Are there problems of identity politics in regional relations and what can they say about the integration process of Serbia into the EU? By dual application of theories of social constructivism and neoliberalism, this thesis conceptually determines both the diagnosis of regional problems and possible solutions. Also, by applying qualitative content analysis, the research was provided in understanding the context of qualitative data in order to make the most effective connection with the theoretical concepts. Overall, the research reveals that identity problems are still of the major factors of instability in relations between Serbia and neighboring countries and the narrative is still identity based. Also, what the research showed as a possible solution to accelerate EU integration and stabilize regional relations reflected in neoliberal institutionalization within the Open Balkan initiative.