Browsing by Subject "European Union"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Common and differing impacts of the European framework for the protection of national minorities with special consideration of Sweden and Poland
    (2012-12) Polanska, Katarzyna M.
    This study focuses on the similarities and differences in the ways in which the 27 European Union member states have approached these European level expectations and obligations. It finds that the continuing influence of particular national identities and nationalist aspirations in policy-making creates reluctance to adopt some minority protection measures and peculiarities in how states interpret the obligations. Evidence from the case studies of Poland and Sweden suggests that despite international obligations to grant additional protections to national minority groups, states simultaneously take measures to protect and preserve the dominant culture as well as promote the dominant ethnic identity, language, and culture. This rise in nationalist thinking might be especially true about countries that have experienced a sudden influx of immigrants in recent decades, such as Sweden, Spain, Germany or the Netherlands. This dissertation extends neoinstitutional theory by considering the effectiveness of the implementation of treaties and legislation as well as their formal adoption. It finds that along with a degree of institutional homogenization, there is a significant variation in both the interpretation of these international obligations and in national policy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Damned if They Go, Demand if They Stay: The Compounding Effect of Selective Misidentification, Marginalization, and Nation-State Politics on the "Intractability" of Romani Statelessness
    (2023) Hulmequist, Rumyana
    Romani statelessness is an intentional product of Western historical political processes, especially in the European context. It is therefore not intractable, as it may seem to be based on the decades of unsuccessful attempts at “integrating” Roma into the European Union’s society. Broadly, this paper illustrates distinct, Romani-specific social and cultural conditions that contextualize the complexities of Romani statelessness via a comparative analysis that demonstrates the negative impacts of selective misidentification, marginalization and nation-state politics both individually and jointly. Selective misidentification conceptually refers to an iterative historical process in which inconsistent labeling or perception of Roma, whether or not it is true, perpetuates and/or exacerbates disparate treatment and harms for Roma while benefiting or aligning with the desired social and political outcomes of others, especially the state. I consider selective misidentification broadly, referring to its various manifestations in both concrete and discrete forms. Concrete forms of selective misidentification such as in legal documentation of citizenship or property ownership, or discrete forms such as the politics of ethnic/racial identity and assimilation, are products of social, political, and cultural norms expressed and preserved through policy-making and implementation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Forced migration processes and global refugees at the borders of Europe in Ukraine
    (2014-08) Rechitsky, Raphi Konstantin
    As of 2013, nearly half of the world's refugees stay in camps adjacent to countries of origin, largely in the Global South. Yet it is those people on the move able to seek asylum near Global North countries that have become objects of control and exclusion. This dissertation explores this asylum paradox with an extended case study of refugee migration to Ukraine, asking why do refugees stay or move again from this buffer country to the European Union (EU). It does so by exploring the impact of social network formation, household resources, and international refugee policy on the capacity, motivation, and execution of either onward mobility or settlement. Using interviews and observation in three Ukrainian cities with urban refugees from 25 countries, triangulated with legal aid case files, this project shows that questions of social action, such as why people move, are best answered by taking seriously first person narrative research methodologies. Specifically, findings demonstrate (1) the security of social networks drives capacity to move or stay; (2) access to different resources influences exit, voice, or adaptation; and (3) refugees seek to settle or move on regardless of EU-funded humanitarian policy for their local integration. This study challenges the transnational paradigm in migration studies, bridging literatures on how migration is sustained with political sociology and refugee studies. The contribution links micro and macro levels in the sociology of migration, building on recent studies of migration trust networks, Bourdieu's view on the transfer of capital in everyday life, and the role of international institutions in the extraterritorial "remote control" of asylum.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Legal context and youth drug use: a multilevel analysis of the European Union.
    (2009-06) Vuolo, Michael Christopher
    Though it has produced a high quality body of research, the study of substance use has remained highly individualized in its focus. This dissertation adds a sociological understanding to that research. A review of theories within sociology, particularly neoinstitutionalism, and within criminology, particularly social disorganization and strain theory, points to the conclusion that both national legal culture and local structural factors should not be overlooked in studies of substance use. This approach is particularly fruitful in law and criminal justice, where much differentiation exists among nations in the enforcement of laws. Using hierarchical models, the following explores individual level substance use and opinions about drug policy using variation at three levels, taking into account individual characteristics, local context, and national legal culture. Two main findings emerge from these models. First, national level legal context plays a role in understanding individual level probabilities of substance use and opinions on drug policy, even after controlling for individual and local characteristics. Second, the effects of the components of theories on the ecology of crime, namely social disorganization and strain theory, depend on the characteristics of the individuals that are experiencing them. Both levels of these contextual effects more firmly root the study of substance use, and crime more generally, in debates within sociology.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Renewable Energy Innovation Policy: A Comparative Institutional Analysis of the European Union and the United States
    (2023) Giesting, Anna
    To avoid the most catastrophic effects of global climate change, countries around the world need to rapidly decarbonize their energy systems by deploying current renewable energy sources as well as the next generation of low-carbon technologies. Low-carbon energy sources are the products of innovation systems. The United States (US) and European Union (EU) have robust energy innovation systems that contribute to the development and deployment of renewable energy sources. Many of the institutions in the US’s energy innovation system date back to the 1970s when ambitions of energy independence were heightened by the energy crises of 1973 and 1979. Today, the US spends more on energy research and development than any other nation in the world. Throughout the decades, the US has developed innovative ways to accelerate the commercialization of renewable energy technologies. However, more still needs to be done to strengthen the ties between public research centers, private industry, and academia to foster a more collaborative and efficient innovation system. The EU’s energy innovation system is comparatively modern, having been developed primarily during the previous decade. The EU’s challenge has been to develop an innovation system that complements those of its member states. The EU has been able to reconcile this tension in part by making decarbonization a central tenet of its innovation system. Yet, the EU continues to struggle with the development and commercialization of disruptive next-generation technologies. Both the US and the EU should continue to examine how their multi-level governance structures can be better utilized to aid with the innovation of low-carbon energy sources.