The Council of Ministers is arguably the most powerful of the EC's institutions, yet its operation still awaits an authoritative analysis. To date, research into the operation of the Council has tended only to deal with aspects of its structure, rather than analysing it as a complete body. Furthermore, there has been little theoretical appreciation of its internal operation, as research has tended to rely on existing methods of analysing EC policy-making. Therefore, a new methodological approach seems to be required which will address this lacuna in EC literature. Whilst the Council of Ministers legislates, it also negotiates. It would seem appropriate then to design a new approach that draws on both policy analysis and negotiation theory. The analytical framework used material drawn from interviews, and both primary and secondary written sources, to evaluate the day-to-day workings of a number of technical councils that constitute the Council of Ministers. Although there is an information deficit on the work of the Council, the flexible design of the framework allowed valuable insights into its operation. The findings gave some indication of the dynamics of the interactions between member states, which provides a better understanding of EC policymaking. The Council of Minister's character is influenced by member states. Their attitudes seem to have a strong effect upon the operational mechanisms of the various technical councils The Council may be an EC institution, but it is also the forum in which member states negotiate, preferring the diplomatic, consensus approach to prescriptive voting methods.

This study focuses on the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of the external relations of the European Union (EU). It sets out to examine, in particular, the position of human rights within the framework of EU foreign policy. While questions of human rights sparked a wide-ranging academic debate and resulted in enhanced levels of public scrutiny over the last decade, the research presented in this dissertation attempts to fill a significant gap in scholarly attention. It does so by offering a critique of the theoretical approaches towards, and the practical manifestations of human rights promotion initiatives in the context of EU policy interaction with countries in Asia. Evidence from previous work, included as part of this dissertation, suggests that the incremental growth of human rights competencies and agendas within the EU's legal and political systems was reflected in a number of areas of concrete EU external activity, such as the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Development Policy, relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries and the EU's New Asia Strategy. This dissertation attempts to demonstrate how, in the context of a Constructivist perspective within International Relations Theory in general, and EU-Asia relations in particular, the EU can be conceptualised as a value-guided, 'ethical' polity, grounded in a constitutional framework of Treaties. As a result of this, the Union introdued a more pronounced human rights dimension to its dialogue with Asia. The evidence indicates that, in respect of its Asian partners, the EU implemented human rights strategies in a number or formats and with varying degrees of success. The study scrutinises, in particular, the Commission's 'strategy papers' on Asia and the Asia-Europe Meetings (ASEM). In addition to findings analysed in previous work, this study demonstrates that the resulting debates about 'rights' and 'values' can be related to wider discourses derived from normative theory and surrounding issues of culture and identity. In the Asia-EU dialogue, arguments over human rights contain the potential to be both an enabling dynamic for, and an inhibiting agent of, a more intensive EU-Asia political and cultural dialogue. The study places a particular emphasis on EU human rights promotion policies towards the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Indonesia and Burma (The Union of Myanmar). It identifies and appraises three distinct EU policy approaches ranging from incentives based and coordinated measures to a more coercive and punitive diplomatic arsenal.

This thesis examines the role of the European Community in the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. From their first dealings up until 1968 – when official relations were established – and beyond, the Community and Yugoslavia never achieved a stable relationship that would have come into its own with the outbreak of the Yugoslav crisis in the early 1990s. In this respect, economic, political and social dimensions characterizing cooperation between the EC and the SFRY are analyzed to illustrate the developments between the two parties. The outbreak of the Yugoslav crisis was a completely new phenomenon for Brussels. Although admittedly unprepared, EC officials stated that ‘the hour for Europe has come’. This eleventh-hour intervention, however, opened the door to certain non-state actors who became involved and, more importantly, affected the decision-making at EC level leading to the policy of recognition of Slovenia and Croatia as independent states, and thus the demise of the Yugoslav federation. The thesis focuses on the activism of diaspora communities, the media and the Catholic Church. As far as the diaspora communities are concerned, their activism was most significant in Austria, a country that enjoyed an outstanding reputation within the European Community at the time. The Carinthian Slovenes used their position within Austrian politics to promote the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. As to the Western media, their reporting of the Yugoslav crisis, with its sympathy for the independence of the two republics, was accepted as a reliable source of information, a view confirmed by statements from Brussels. Finally, the Catholic Church also expressed sympathy for Slovenia and Croatia: the fact that the two SFRY republics were Catholic was reason enough for the Vatican to campaign for their independence at EC level.

Author Cocitation Analysis (ACA), multidimensional scaling (MDS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA), has been used to analyze and visualize the invisible college of the journal European Union Politics. The concept invisible college was first introduced in the fifteenth century, through the creation of the “the Royal Society of London”, and it was reintroduced in the 1960:ies and the 1970:ies by scholars such as Price and Crane. It is said to have been interpreted in as many ways as there are authors who have used it. Here it has been used synonymously with the term citation network. To show changes over time in the invisible college and in its research themes and trends, citation data from two separate periods of time have been compared; 2003-2004 and 2007-2008. The analysis shows a shift in the invisible college on the actor level –such as changes in density, actors’ positions in the network - and changes in the research agenda towards public opinion research and integration research. Connected to these trends is the theme of “Eurosceptism” – which had a breakthrough after the first period of analysis. This seems to follow the development of the researched object itself (the European Union). The invisible college of European Union Politics has been understood to be relatively young, as is the journal and the field of European Union Politics.

This research study investigates the emerging representation of the brand Poland in the context of implementation of destination branding to the practice of country promotion. The main emphasis is put on the role of meaningful practices undertaken by international and domestic tourism managers and policy makers in constructing and reconstructing the representation of Poland in the broad context of the country‟s EU membership. The researcher does this by studying the examples of national and destination branding practices as well as the levels of understanding and appreciation of destination and national branding among people working in key organisations responsible for tourism and destination promotion both on the Polish domestic level and the level of relevant EU institutions. As national and destination branding is a relatively new phenomenon, specific focus is put on the critical analysis of the perceptions held about it among high ranking officials. The researcher pays particular attention to the power held by tourism in mediating identities of nations and destinations and the role that place branding plays or could play in this equation. The researcher focuses her study on two distinct but nevertheless connected locations: Brussels as a power and knowledge hub of the European Union and Warsaw as the power and knowledge hub of Poland. For reasons of methodological fit this interpretative study relies upon qualitative methods conducted via an emergent research design. Therefore the study is not driven by an up-front hypothesis, but is conducted via qualitative research bricoleurship approach. The research study concludes that although destination and national branding is universally familiar to the experts in the field of tourism and promotion, power holders and decision makers are lagging behind in understanding, appreciation and implementation of these new tools. This is particularly reflected in the case of Poland where first attempts at devising and implementing a national branding strategy were made but failed to be implemented due to budgetary and decision-making constraints at the level of power-holders. A striking conclusion is that in the case of Poland, the main causes of this lack of implementation of a national branding strategy are the very values and virtues that such a strategy might seem to promote. Nevertheless, the researcher observes a growing understanding and appreciation of the long-term benefits of a well designed and implemented branding strategy and its potentially great impact on tourism among the relevant decision-makers both in Brussels and in Poland.

The master's thesis International impact of Catalonia independence efforts aims to analyze what is the international impact caused by Catalonia's efforts to separate from Spain. It does so by establishing theoretical framework of Conflict theory and internationalized conflicts. Within this framework, the Catalonia's case is examined. The thesis provides wide and extensive background on Catalan independence in order to understand how independence efforts in Catalonia emerged and evolved. The thesis also explains the means which are used by Catalan representatives in order to promote the independence internationally. Brief comparative examples of other regions within Europe are provided (with one notable mention outside of European continent) which seek for independence, as some of the features are common for all of them. Later on, the thesis features analytical part in which international impacts of Catalonia's strive for independence are examined. Those include e.g. effects on the European Union, other separatist regions, and more. Important explanation is offered about possible economic consequences with the usage of quantitative data. The thesis in its final stage applies conflict theory on Catalonia's case. It also uses all the before explained historical background. It concludes with assessment...

This work analyzes the possibility of using financial resources from European Union{\crq}s funds for benefit of tourism development in Ústí nad Labem region and the range of their present application. It evaluates, according to shortened programme period, the role of district authorities and chosen municipalities as applicants for grants and supporters to other applicants. Attention is also paid to relationships between municipalities and tourist information centers, which are important subject in the process of passing information to tourists and visitors.