The democratic deficit of the EU and the European political integration from a French perspective
Thesis - 14 pages - European union
The European construction has always evolved through crisis and this is probably due to its ambitious project and nature. However, it worked successfully until today because it has been occurring through a “step by step process”, to quote the Schuman Declaration. This...
The future of the state in a global context: Is the European Union a super state?
Thesis - 12 pages - European union
The organization of the world has been changing for the past few decades. Besides the nation sates, a lot of different forms of organization have been coming up. The development of international relations has brought about the need for organizations which enable cooperation between the national...
Is the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights a necessary and desirable development?
Thesis - 7 pages - Constitutional law
The Treaty of Lisbon came into force in 2009 and alongside it, a reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights (Charter) gave it legal standing. The Charter became one of the most defining documents the European Union has ever witnessed, or a mere piece of symbolic literature that is...
The contribution made to the concept of the supremacy of European Community Law by the judgment of the European Court of Justice
Essay - 5 pages - International law
The tension between European Community law (EC) and national law is arguably the most debated topic of constitutional law . The convention of Parliamentary supremacy is rooted within the British constitution as a fundamental limb of the separation of powers doctrine ....
What does the European Union's so-called 'democratic deficit' stem from, and how could it be tackled?
Essay - 6 pages - European union
One of the most important discussions in the modern-day European Union concerns the democratic deficit. The Maastricht treaty, which was signed on February 1992 by different European states, claims that the goal the EU is to create ‘an ever closer union among the peoples of...
The foreign policy implications that the treaty on the constitution of Europe signified for the EU in terms of giving it a legal personality
Thesis - 6 pages - European law
Whereas the consequences of the French and Dutch “no” to the referendums proposing the adoption of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe do not stop to rattle the European political class, the innovations it proposed are still dangling. Nonetheless, some major...
The party of European socialists and the identity of European social democracy
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
The question wether there is currently something that can be called the crisis of social-democracy is arguable: after all, social-democractic and socialist parties are still the counterpart of Conservatives and Christian-democrats, sharing alternaltively government responsibilities at national...
"The national influence on the European integration"
Essay - 7 pages - International relations
EU is regulated by a supranational institutional system, which still takes into account the national sensitiveness. Nevertheless, there is not a traditional strong supranational authority. Indeed, there is neither army nor police, and the decision making process is mainly based on consensus; and...
The European Union will never be fully democratic: discuss
Essay - 8 pages - European union
On 13th October 2005 was launched the Commission's “Plan D” for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate, which intends to “lay the foundations for the profound debate about Europe's future” in order to “mak[e] the European Union more democratic” . This strategy is a...
Should Turkey be admitted into the European Union ?
Essay - 14 pages - Political science
Although many people believe the debate regarding the admission of Turkey into the European Union (EU) is recent, it actually dates back to 1959, just two years after the signing of the Rome Treaty, which created the EU (see appendix 1). In July 1959, Turkey asked for an association...
Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State, Jurgen Habermas
Book review - 3 pages - Civil law
Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher and sociologist born in 1929, has propounded theory inscribed in the tradition of the significant theory and American pragmatism. He has written several pieces about communication, social identity, Europe and multiculturalism in the post-national...
Can the European parliament ever break out of the cycle of failing public interests and legitimacy?
Thesis - 5 pages - European union
In one of his speeches, Pat Cox, the President of the European Parliament said ‘Turnout across Europe [in 1999] was higher than in the last US Presidential Elections, and I do not hear people questioning the legitimacy of the presidency of the United States.'. Since 1979, indeed, the...
Describe the major differences in interests and perspectives of the member states of the European Union on Iraq and the US policy
Essay - 15 pages - International relations
The Iraq conflict uncovers difficulties for the member states of the European Union to find a common position in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. This essay describes the major differences in the interest and perspectives of the member governments on Iraq, and the US...
Does the EU need a European Identity? Why? Why not? Use concrete examples to support your line of argument
Essay - 5 pages - European union
In a European Union under construction, speaking about European Identity is essential. If it exists, it should be the expression of a dynamic link between Europeans. This identity is or would therefore be the creator of art and culture, a common political ethic,...
The European citizenship
Essay - 3 pages - European union
According to the European Commission, “citizenship of the Union is both a source of legitimation of the process of European integration, by reinforcing the participation of citizens, and a fundamental factor in the creation among citizens of a sense of belonging to the...
Two years after: What has the eastern enlargement brought to the European Union?
Thesis - 4 pages - European union
“The future of Europe never appeared so dubious. Neither did some of its possible futures appear so promising” affirms Jean-Paul Fitoussi in his book devoted to the problems of the conflict between the national interests and the requirements of convergence in Europe1. In fact, for the...
The integration of the European Union
Thesis - 6 pages - European union
On the 16th April, 2003, ten new members were signing the adhesion treaty to the European Union, in front of the Parthenon in Athens. The adhesion of these ten new countries, among which eight were ex-communist countries, represented a historic moment : the European unification...
Europeanization of politics and society: Domestic change and the question of a European Social Model
Essay - 5 pages - European union
Europeanization is an elusive concept because of the variety of meanings it refers to. Scholars such as Featherstone (2003, 6-12) often distinguish several usages according to various outcomes of European change, for instance the emergence of new forms of governance or the process of...
The European financial crisis and the future of the euro
Essay - 3 pages - European union
Europe has suffered from the recent subprime financial crisis, which has spread through the stock markets in all developed market economies. This crisis will bring these countries to an economic downturn, which will perhaps, allow them to take stock, and hopefully help them avoid repeating the...
The Swedish model and the European integration
Thesis - 8 pages - Political science
Sweden officially joined the European Union on January 1st, 1995. Since that time Sweden is part of the European Union, but it is said to be one of the most Euro-sceptical members of the Union. What are the causes for this strong Swedish Euro-scepticism? It is linked to the special...
Politics in the Western European states
Thesis - 6 pages - Political science
‘A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time ' . It is with these words that Alfred Wiggam describes the conservative ideology. This prevalent negative perception of conservatism explains that not many European parties claim themselves as...
The European Union
Tutorials/exercises - 11 pages - European union
The European Union, which formed under this name in 1992, currently consists of 25 nations and covers much of Western Europe. The European Union is an enormous organization that was initially created to maintain peace and security between European states through various...
Can any theory fully explain the process of European integration? If not, why not?
Essay - 13 pages - European union
European integration is a process which began with the birth of the European Coal and Steel Community the 18th of April 1952. This process was at first essentially economical, but the necessary structures needed for an economic integration led also to a political integration. This...
The European Union and the democratic deficit
Essay - 13 pages - European union
The Convention of the the European Council of Laeken in 2001, was put in charge of drafting a new treaty for Europe. The main objective of this draft Treaty was to clearly define: “how to bring citizens closer to the European aim, and to European Institutions, by...
European Union and Federalism
Essay - 4 pages - European union
In 1948, federalists formulated a project of United States of Europe at a Congress in La Haye. But they were defeated by unionists who wanted mere intergovernmental cooperation between European states. Nowadays, this continues to be a recurrent debate: is the European Union (EU) a...
Assessing the impact of parental marital status in relation to Irish child law: should Constitution be amended?
Case study - 10 pages - Constitutional law
“It cannot be contested that a person born outside marriage, is a human person, equal to one born within marriage” . In this statement, Justice Walsh points out the differential treatment between marital and non-marital children which is derived from the Irish Constitution. By...
Has European integration contributed to save or to undermine the nation state?
Thesis - 4 pages - European union
In 1882 Ernest Renan declared: “a Nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which, in truth, are really one, constitute this soul, this spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories, the other is the...
Implementation of European Law in a federal state: The Belgian case between coherence and autonomy
Case study - 9 pages - European law
‘Ultimately the impact of EU rules depends on the willingness and capacity of Member States authorities to ensure that they are transposed and enforced effectively and fully and on time' (Graver) . This statement from the European Commission in its White Paper on Governance deals...
The European identity issue: what most determines the European "we feeling"?
Essay - 11 pages - European union
“You don't fall in love with a common market” (EU Commission President Jacques Delors in The European, 3 November 1994). Here emerges one of today's most challenging issues for the European Union: the prevalence of market integration has created a political vacuum and...
Economic consequences of the last European union enlargement
Thesis - 20 pages - Economy general
The idea of a united Europe was once just a dream in the minds of philosophers and visionaries. Already in 1620, the Duke of Sully imagined "a body politics of all the States of Europe which could produce between its members an unalterable peace and a perpetual trade". In The 19th Century, Victor...
