No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

For Turkey, Europe was the model for modernization since the era of Kemal Ataturk. Turkey's relations with Europe started with the Ankara agreement and the opening of the custom union. Since then, the country has strived for integration with the community. The Commission rejected Turkey's application in 1989 while stating for the first time that political reasons affected this decision over concerns about the Cyprus issue. The integration of new members highlighted the shift of Europe towards political considerations. Turkey was rejected again as a candidate at the Luxemburg summit. The following Helsinki summit accepted the candidacy for Turkey but now the country must comply with the political criteria. Turkey has made great progress towards integration. However, the demands imply that Turkey must make strong decisions that might contradict the country's long standing powers' politic approach. Moreover, the criteria raise security concerns in a country were security is an aspect of its psychology. The implementation of a such strong decision needs a calmer democratic environment. Turkey's further impediment results from such an absence. Thus, Turkey's real impediment is democratic deficiency. Therefore, Turkey needs a little more time to better align itself with the democratic values of the European standard before its integration, which appears possible considering the pace of reforms and the strategic weight of the country. / Major, Hellenic Air Force

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis analyzes key factors in Poland's decision-making concerning the European Union's European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). It reviews the development of Polish policy concerning the ESDP and the main considerations that have guided Polish assessments in this regard. Poland's position as a member of NATO and as a candidate for membership in the European Union and other factors affecting perceptions of the ESDP in Poland are discussed to throw light on the controversy associated with Poland's participation in the ESDP and to clarify possible implications for the future. With Poland's admission to the EU in May 2004, Warsaw will have an opportunity to contribute to ESDP formation and implementation. However, Poland will probably remain committed to maintaining NATO's primacy and cautious regarding concepts of transforming the EU into an autonomous military power, especially with respect to collective defense. / Lieutenant, Polish Army

Recently secularization has been reinterpreted, by Vattimo, as that which metamorphoses religion in order to make it possible for the day and age one lives in. In this thesis, I argue that New Religious Movements (NRM) represent a secularization of religion in the sense that they reinterpret the “text” and adjust it to the needs of the adherents of that particular movement. Since the Enlightenment, secularism has been understood as that which is not religious. Separation of church and state took place at times peacefully and at times violently. An example of the latter is the Soviet Union where secularization was imposed upon the people regardless of their religious beliefs. While the early Soviet state was at war with the Orthodox Church, a NRM—Pentecostalism—has thrived and spread like fire across the Soviet nations. My research question is: How did the Pentecostal movement succeed in establishing itself in the Soviet Union, given the hostile environment where the state tried to secularize the society? To answer this question I look at: (i) the Pentecostal movement’s establishment in the Soviet Union, and (ii) the sociopolitical and cultural elements that provided the fertile ground for the movement. In order to situate this event within the historical times, namely late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’ understandings of religion and secularization, I offer a literature review of secularization theory as understood by Weber, Durkheim, Berger, and Vattimo among others. I analyze various social events throughout the history of Christianity in Russia in order to understand that which prepared the ground for this religious movement. I give a comprehensive analysis of Pentecostalism in the Soviet Union by analyzing primary sources from the movement’s view of themselves as well as the Soviet view of the Pentecostals in particular and religion in general. Lastly, I show how Pentecostalism was a form of secularization and how, in fact, the Soviets and the Pentecostals were working towards the same goal—secularism, only through different means. / Graduate / 2018-04-20 / 0322 / 0344 / 0724 / scolnicalex@hotmail.com

Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

This thesis examines the implementation of EC company law Directives relating to the formation and capital of public companies in three Member States, namely the UK, France and Germany. In each of the chosen areas the thesis first examines the relevant EC provisions in detail and discusses their objectives. It then assesses the correctness and effectiveness of their implementation in the national systems of the UK, France and Germany by evaluating not only the formal compliance of their laws with the Directives concerned, but also their actual compliance in terms of their interpretation and enforcement by the national courts. Where non-compliance is detected, use will be made of the principles of direct effect and of interpretation (the so-called indirect effect) as established by the European Court of Justice and amendments of the existing regime will be proposed. The thesis is divided into four parts. Part One of the thesis serves as a starting point and discusses the EC harmonisation programme. Part Two deals with the formation of public companies. It concentrates on four areas: pre-incorporation contracts, corporate capacity, formation of companies and disclosure, and nullity of companies. Part Three and Four consider the raising and maintenance of capital in public companies. Part Three looks at the power to allot new securities, the statutory pre-emptive rights of the shareholders and the payment for share capital. Part Four discusses share reacquisitions and the related rule prohibiting a company from giving financial assistance for the purchase of its own shares, and it examines the law relating to dividends and reductions of capital.

No description available.

One of the most significant features of the Third Pillar, which came into being as part of the Treaty of European Union, is the so-called 'implementation gap' between the expectations and aspirations of the member states in this area and the empirical reality. This regularly features in the standard literature on the Third Pillar, yet there has been little detailed research done to either measure or determine the root causes of such an occurrence. Rather than simply accept that such a 'gap' exists, this thesis attempts to measure the implementation gap in two distinct areas of internal security co-operation. These are two of the most under-researched areas within the Third Pillar, namely the development of the European Police Office (and related elements of police cooperation) and progress in the related area of a European counter-terrorist framework. A model of 'perfect implementation' has been devised utilising tests from three distinct schools of decision-making - foreign policy analysis, the implementation school (which has its own distinct subset of literature) and European decision-making. By applying tests in relation to the establishment of objectives, the question of leadership, the scale of the 'sacrifice' made and a detailed analysis of the legislative output of each area, the thesis measures how close the reality is to the ideal. In terms of the nature of objectives, an examination of the clarity and consistency of such aims will be determined at two levels. The overall 'metapolicy' of the Third Pillar - the creation of 'an area of freedom, security and justice'- is compared to the current enlargement process, in order to determine both the meaning of such a concept and to ascertain where the priorities of the member states actually lie. Certain terms used within the European Union and replicated within the literature, such as describing such areas as 'matters of common interest', will be analysed to determine their meaning and their applicability to the empirical reality. As a result, and complimenting the 'Good Governance' initiative of the European Commission, which aims to determine the appropriate level for each of the competencies of the EU, the legitimacy of the European level of decision-making will be examined in each area. In terms of determining the root causes of the 'implementation gap', the solution most commonly offered - both by practitioners and in the secondary literature - relates to the process of communitarisation, which has already begun for the areas such as immigration and asylum and judicial co-operation on civil matters. Yet, in the case of the two case studies examined in this thesis - European police cooperation and the European counter-terrorist framework - communitarisation is not forthcoming, with little mention made of the post-Amsterdam elements of the Third Pillar in the draft Treaty of Nice. As such, the control factor of the institutional framework of the European Union does not apply as directly in either case study. Both have shared the same institutional structure since the inception of the Third Pillar, a structure that is likely to remain untouched by the process of enlargement. Therefore, there is a need to look beyond the potential panacea of communitarisation for other potential explanations as to why greater progress has been made in one area as opposed to the other.