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On solidarity : its origins, legacy, and critique in social and political thought
No full textDefence date: 18 May 2023Examining Board: Prof. Dr. Andrea Sangiovanni, (King's College London, supervisor); Prof. Dr. Marion Fourcade, (University of California, Berkeley); Prof. Dr. Stefan Gosepath, (Freie Universität Berlin); Prof. Dr. Anton Hemerijck, (European University Institute)This dissertation is a set of three essays connected by the common theme of solidarity: the way solidarity emerged as a distinct concept and was mobilised for political ends; how its key sociological version was influenced by, and used in, a colonial context; and how liberalism has long worried about solidarity’s social and political uses and how we could respond to this concern. The first essay argues that the primary concept of solidarity proper — Léon Bourgeois’ doctrine of interdependence — was inspired by Louis Pasteur’s microbiological discoveries. I reconstruct and examine Bourgeois’ legalistic doctrine of social debt in the light of the biological episteme of the time, and show how it influenced public policy during the Fin de Siècle. The second essay argues that the common national view of solidarity distorts our understanding: Using the Durkheimian School as a historical lens, I show how this concept of solidarity emerged as tied to colonial ethnographies and reflected a civilisational divide at the turn of the century. I argue that a strand of sociological solidarity influenced French colonial administrators in promoting a developmentalist agenda, as well as international lawyers’ early visions of European unification. The third essay offers a post-foundational response to liberalism’s “fear” of solidarity as perpetually at risk of descending into authoritarian rule. I distinguish a positive and negative concept of solidarity — based on shared identity or in concerted action against adversity — and ground this distinction in a critical reconstruction of Isaiah Berlin and Hannah Arendt’s thought during the decolonization period. I posture that the account developed can avoid this liberal fear and is particularly useful for addressing injustice. The dissertation’s upshot is two-fold. First, if solidarity came to mean different things in its legacy, it was also mobilised for political ends. Second, to fend off its political dangers we have conceptual resources at our disposal which address the idea that solidarity is not about who we are, but what we do together
Pathways to external citizenship : the global extension of dual citizenship and voting from abroad
No full textPublished online: 05 September 2025The extension of dual citizenship and external voting rights overthe past decades has been widely observed. Both trendscontribute to the phenomenon of external citizenship, wherecitizens residing abroad hold rights to political participationirrespective of other transnational ties. Yet these trends havebeen studied in a disconnected manner. This is remarkable as theexercise of external voting requires nationals abroad to keep alegal link with the home country, while dual citizenshipacceptance is high on the agenda of politically mobilisedemigrant communities. In this paper, we make two originalcontributions. First, applying sequence analysis to a datasetcovering 194 countries over 61 years (N = 10,310), we identify fivedominant pathways in extending rights to dual citizenship andexternal voting: (1) norm setters, (2) dual citizenship only, (3)external voting only, (4) latecomers, and (5) norm resisters.Second, we analyse the correlates of these pathways with a focuson the predominant political regime type. Democratic regimesare not more prone to be norm setters that adopt both forms ofrights extension but are less likely to be norm resisters that donot adopt either. Partial norm extenders and latecomers are notsignificantly associated with a particular regime experience
Regulating non-personal data in the EU : law, governance and justifications
No full textDefence date: 14 December 2023Examining Board: Prof. Peter Frank Drahos (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Kathryn Henne (Australian National University); Prof. Martijn Hesselink (European University Institute); Prof. Martin Kretschmer (University of Glasgow)This thesis scrutinises the governance of non-personal data in the European Union. First, it shows that the fundamental dimension of data governance is data access, which is a relation of power of someone (an access granter) over something (non-personal data), and between an access granter and someone who seeks to access data (an access seeker). Large access seekers such as machinery manufacturers, OEMs and big techs restrict access to non-personal data by utilising private law modules such as IP standards, contracts, and TPMs. These form ‘unilateral data control’, and ultimately cause problems in terms of interpersonal and social injustices. The central inquiry driving the research is then how non-personal data should be regulated to address interpersonal and social injustices in data governance. To answer this question, it is shown that there exist various normative approaches to data governance, ranging from more market-friendly ones (eg libertarian, liberal-egalitarian, and welfarist data governance) to those emphasising human flourishing and political participation (eg communitarian, institutionalist, republican and critical data governance). Examining the EU data governance laws, the thesis then finds that they primarily focus on market completion. This perspective overlooks other rationales for regulation. Contractually constructed collaborative forms of data governance (such as data sharing pools, data commons, and data trusts) in smart agriculture, smart manufacturing, and the smart city, on the other hand, show that there exist practical ways to open up data access and increase participation and democratic representation for access seekers. Lastly, the thesis proposes a just data governance system for the EU. Its core components include treating non-personal data as a commons, valuing democratic participation in data governance, positing access rights for seekers, circumscribing data uses, and enhancing fair value distribution.Chapter 2 'Unilateral data control' chapter 3 '3. Theories of data governance' and chapter 6 'Just data governance: core components and principles' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier versions published as an article 'Resisting IP overexpansion : the case of trade secret protection of non-personal data' (2022) in the journal 'International review of intellectual property and competition law (IIC)' and an article 'An alternative to data ownership : managing access to non-personal data through the commons' (2021) in the journal 'Global jurist'
Persuasive politics : how parties convince in a fragmented landscape
No full textDefence date: 12 September 2023Examining Board: Prof. Elias Dinas (European University Institute); Prof. Arnout van de Rijt (European University Institute); Prof. David Broockman (University of California, Berkeley); Prof. Catherine de Vries (Bocconi University)This dissertation explores political persuasion in Europe against the backdrop of increased issue-based polarization. Leveraging two survey experiments, the first chapter shows that ambiguous appeals decline in effectiveness as voters attribute greater importance to issues. This suggests that during periods of increased polarization, mainstream political actors may struggle to form broad coalitions of voters with diverse preferences. The second chapter builds on this implication and discusses which persuasion strategies Green parties may use to appeal to a more diverse part of the electorate. It uses two survey experiments and a field experiment in collaboration with the German Greens. The third chapter uses a survey with Dutch party members and politicians to shed light on another consequence of increased issue-based polarization—the declining membership numbers of mainstream parties—and examines whether party members or politicians have a more accurate perception of voter positions. Findings indicate that party members, being less biased, may contribute significantly to improving the quality of representation. The final chapter builds upon this conclusion, using two field experiments to explore how parties might motivate their members to greater activism.Chapter 1 'Too important to ignore?' of the PhD thesis draws upon a published article 'Too important to ignore? : why ambiguity and broad appeals fail with rising issue salience' (2024) in the journal 'The journal of politics'
Planning for the aftermath of intervention : legitimacy, transition, and the design of United Nations missions
No full textDefence date: 9 May 2023Examining Board: Prof. Sarah von Billerbeck, (University of Reading); Prof. Richard Caplan, (University of Oxford); Prof. Kalypso Nicolaidis, (European University Institute); Prof. Jennifer M. Welsh, (European University Institute, supervisor)Transitions in the aftermath of international military interventions are precarious. Often, they have seen the onset or re-emergence of protracted periods of violence and instability. This thesis investigates how the United Nations (UN) has planned for these complex operational environments. In so doing, it examines how the UN’s legitimation attempts – that is, the intentional efforts on the part of UN officials to bring about, enhance, or reassert consistency between the UN’s behaviour and principles that are fundamental to its institutional identity – have shaped the planning and design of its post-intervention field operations. With a view to these research objectives, the theoretical and empirical analysis for this thesis precedes in three principal steps. First, the thesis draws on existing literature to theorise that in the aftermath of military interventions the UN’s legitimacy revolves around its compliance with two key institutional principles: the need to respect a local population’s right to selfdetermination and the imperative to operate with impartiality. In drawing on a qualitative case study analysis of the UN’s pre-mission planning efforts for two post-intervention field operations – the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) – the thesis demonstrates that UN officials were pre-eminently concerned with the UN’s compliance with these key organisational principles in these contexts of post-intervention transition. In building on this finding, the study investigates how the UN’s legitimation attempts shaped its planning and design of post-intervention field operations. In so doing, the thesis shows that when concerns for the UN’s compliance with the principle of impartiality took precedence, UN officials adopted policies that centralised governing authority under the auspices of the UN mission, while delaying the transfer of authority to local actors. By contrast, when concerns for the UN’s compliance with the principle of self-determination were preeminent, this predicated policy decisions that privileged the recognition of local actors and the transfer of leadership and authority to local interlocutors. On this basis, the study finds that the relative priority given to each of these legitimacy concerns had a tangible impact for the scope and nature of the UN’s post-intervention engagements by informing differing policy approaches and priorities. However, this study also finds that even when one of these legitimating principles was clearly prioritised in policy deliberations, UN officials engaged in concerted efforts to (re)interpret and (re)cast the other principle in such a way as to allow the UN to claim compliance with both key standards of institutional legitimacy
Overseeing supervision : Europol’s processing and exchanges of personal data
No full textDefence date: 16 October 2023Examining Board: Prof. Deirdre Curtin, (European University Institute); Prof. Joanne Scott, (European University Institute); Prof. Madalina Busuioc, (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Prof. Herwig Hofmann, (University of Luxembourg)This thesis explores the supervision of Europol’s processing and exchanges of personal data, and questions whether the supervisory arrangements are adequate to ensure the protection of personal data of individuals. Europol’s competences have recently been expanded in 2022 further emphasising its role as the EU criminal information hub. This entails for instance a strong network of partners, and high levels of collection, processing, and exchanges of data. “Agencies must be subject to an effective system of supervision and control.” – The Commission in 2001, in its White Paper, already noted this need for strong supervision over EU Agencies. However, since then, most academic work focused on their accountability or judicial review. This thesis draws from the previous literature in the field, to develop a theoretical framework of the concept of supervision. It argues that supervision is a process aimed at achieving other values, such as accountability. It is thus distinct from the notion of accountability, but also from judicial review and control. This theoretical framework is then used in an empirical evaluation of Europol’s processing of personal data, and of Europol’s exchanges of personal data in two situations: (1) in the hotspots in Greece; and (2) through the Schengen Information System. In my thesis, I argue that there is insufficient supervision over Europol’s processing operations, and a complete supervisory lacuna of the exchanges. I thus conclude with three policy recommendations. First, there is a need to increase the level of transparency in the supervisory relationship itself. This means stronger transparency from Europol, but also proactiveness by the supervisory authorities in this regard and more generally through investigations for example. Second, the supervision itself must be impactful and strengthened, for example by increasing ex ante supervision, and the follow-ups. Finally, it is key to introduce the supervision over the exchanges of personal data, to not leave them fully unsupervised. This thesis provides an in-depth analysis of Europol’s intelligence role and its supervision. It is a first cut that paves the way for further research in the area. Agencies, particularly within the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, are increasingly relying on data and data-sharing as integral to and a means of governing. Frontex, for example, has seen its intelligence role grow exponentially within the past years. This expansion of competence by EU agencies must go hand in glove with strong supervision and I provide several pathways for this
Essays in economics of education, labor, and gender economics
No full textDefence date: 18 September 2023Examining Board: Prof. Russell Cooper (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Alexander Monge-Naranjo (European University Institute, co-supervisor); Prof. Osnat Lifshitz (Reichman University); Prof. Lance Lochner (University of Western Ontario)This thesis contains three independent essays that focus on economics of education, labor, and gender economics. The first chapter, joint with Russell Cooper, studies the impact of education mismatch on labor market outcomes. Across our sample of OECD countries, there is evidence of mismatch in educational attainment, defined by a lack of assortative matching on ability in terms of education levels. Labor market outcomes are not independent of education mismatch. Our framework for analysis is a dynamic choice model, focusing on education and training decisions. The key model parameters are estimated using a simulation method of moments. From the structural estimation, the main factor explaining education mismatch is dispersion across individuals in the perceived value of education. The estimated model is used to determine both the magnitude of the output loss from education misallocation and the transfer needed to compensate those whose educational attainment is independent of their tastes. From simulations of lifecycle dynamics and counterfactual experiments, among four key countries, we find that education undermatch in Japan is sustained through labor market mechanisms while in Germany, Italy and the US, it is largely resolved in that these individuals are eventually employed at skilled jobs. Training plays a key role in these dynamics. In the second chapter, which is also a joint work with Russell Cooper, we document and exploit potential explanations to gender gaps in education and labor market compensation across the same group of OECD countries. In most of them, college attainment rates and college premium are higher for women, despite a wage gap. The paper explores potential explanations for these patterns. The first step of our approach is to estimate the parameters of a dynamic model of education choice and labor market outcomes that allows for information frictions. We then decompose gender gaps through a series of counterfactual exercises and find that they are driven mainly by gender differences in the average compensation at unskilled jobs. The estimated lower compensation for non-college educated women generates for them larger college premia and higher incentives to attend college relative to men. The outcome is that women have a higher college rate despite being paid less for both college and non-college jobs. For Germany and Italy, where the college premium is higher for men, the gaps are largely explained through taste shocks capturing the influence of family and peers. The third and final chapter focuses on isolating the role of statistical discrimination in explaining the gender gaps in education and labor market outcomes observed in the data, and in evaluating the effects of non-discriminatory labor market policies. Using a simplified version of the model presented in chapter 2, I show that gender differences in the informativeness of the labor market signal and in average compensation at unskilled jobs alone can generate moments and gender gaps associated to the education decision fairly close to those observed in the data. However, the model does a poorer job in matching moments related to labor market outcomes. I then use the model estimation from chapter 2 to examine the effects of a blind application policy experiment where employers cannot discriminate based on gender when forming their expectations about workers productivity. The findings suggest the wage gap would only be reduced in Japan and that changes in returns to college would decrease the college rate gap in Germany, Italy, and the US.-- 1. Labor Market Implications of Education Mismatch
-- 2. Evaluating Gender Differences in Education and Labor Market Outcomes
-- 3. Gender Gaps and Statistical Discrimination. The Effects of Non-discriminatory Labor
Market Policies
-- A. Appendix to Chapter 1
-- B. Appendix to Chapter 2
-- C. Appendix to Chapter 3Chapter 1 'Labor Market Implications of Education Mismatch' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Labor market implications of education mismatch' (2022) in the journal 'European economic review'
Unfulfilled potential : explaining liberal parties’ lack of support among right-libertarian voters
No full textDefece date: 15 September 2023Examining Board: Prof. Arnout van de Rijt (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Ellen M. Immergut (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Markus Wagner (University of Vienna); Dr. Jan Rovny (Sciences Po)In this thesis, I contend that the changing structure of voter preferences in recent decades has provided liberal parties with the potential to gain considerable electoral support, based on a combination of economically free-market and culturally libertarian policies. Such a policy agenda not only fits well with liberal ideological values held by a growing number of voters, but would effectively distinguish the liberal family from its major competitors. Yet while I find that many liberal parties (whom I term ‘social liberals’) occupy such ‘rightlibertarian’ positions, this has not resulted in an increase in support for these parties, as the voters that share these positions continue to support more ideologically distant alternatives. I argue that this apparent defiance of a spatial logic of voting can be put down to two key factors. Firstly, social liberals’ attempts to win support tend to be hampered by poor ‘valence’ images, relating to these parties’ perceived lack of governing competence and ideological clarity. Secondly, the right-libertarian voters themselves have developed strong partisan ties to other parties, ties which have endured in spite of decreasing ideological congruence as a result of right-libertarians’ relatively favourable socio-economic circumstances. While these factors have tended to undermine liberal parties’ chances of making significant electoral gains, however, I conclude by noting that the potential remains for social liberals to systematically increase their vote shares through demographic change and the eventual weakening of right-libertarians’ pre-existing partisanship
Économies du soin en contexte colonial : une histoire des hôpitaux dans la vice-royauté du Pérou, XVIème-XVIIème siècles
No full textDefence date: 25 September 2023Examining Board: Pr. Regina Grafe (European University Institute); Pr. Stephane Van Damme (ENS); Pr. Raphael Mandressi (CNRS); Pr. Sergio Serulnikov (Universidad de San Andrés)Tandis qu’en Europe la prise en charge des pauvres fait débat, dans les Andes, après la conquête espagnole, différentes manières de prendre en charge les pauvres et malades se confrontent. En menant une histoire des « économies du soin » dans la vice-royauté du Pérou au XVIème et XVIIème siècles, cette thèse participe à la compréhension des interactions entre système de santé, charité et régime colonial. Afin d’éclairer comment la prise en charge des malades pouvait participer à la production et reproduction de l’ordre colonial, les hôpitaux de la vice-royauté du Pérou sont mobilisés comme des observatoires des politiques de santé, révélateurs des changements et des continuités dans les relations sociales et économiques qui se tissent autour du soin dans la Monarchie espagnole polycentrique. Au cours de ces pages, cette recherche examine les projets hospitaliers, les politiques royales qui leur sont destinés ainsi que les acteurs du fonctionnement et du financement de ces hôpitaux à partir d’études de cas centrées sur le district minier de Charcas et les villes coloniales de Potosí et Chuquisaca (actuelle Bolivie). En s’achevant sur la prise en charge de ces institutions par les ordres religieux de Saint Juan de Dios et des Béthlémites à la fin du XVIIème siècle, cette étude interroge également les changements et les continuités dans les économies politiques du soin. Reflet de la dimension municipale de la colonisation, ce sont ainsi des projets d’hôpitaux que dessinent penseurs coloniaux, patriciens, administrateurs et religieux. Pour rendre compte de leur création, il apparait alors essentiel de ne pas se limiter au projet d’évangélisation à destination des population andines, car de nombreuses politiques sont porteuses d’un projet d’ingénierie sociale englobant aussi les populations espagnoles et leur manière d’exercer la charité. Si ces hôpitaux apparaissent dans leur quotidienneté comme des lieux de soins, s’appuyant sur des thérapeutiques aussi bien spirituelles que corporelles, cette recherche ne tranche pas la question d’un bio-pouvoir s’exerçant sur le corps des malades. En revanche, elle met en lumière un autre rapport entre reproduction sociale, domination coloniale, charité et institutions de soin en retraçant les flux et mécanismes de redistribution qui traversent ces hôpitaux. C’est également à travers les enjeux de juridictions et l’économie politique municipale qui les entourent qu’ils constituent des potentiels lieux de reproduction de l’espace politique impérial
Beyond the mother-child dyad : three studies on the role of "others" in improving child wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textDefence date: 17 March 2023Examining Board: Prof. Juho Härkönen (EUI, supervisor); Prof. Fabrizio Bernardi, (EUI); Prof. Ridhi Kashyap (University of Oxford); Prof. Øystein Kravdal (University of Oslo)This dissertation is composed of three empirical chapters contributing to our understanding of how individuals other than the mother can improve child health and survival. For these studies, I employ Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data on Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Overall, I find that individuals and/or factors at different levels of analysis (i.e., both at the micro- and at the meso-/macro-level) can contribute substantially to children’s wellbeing and survival. The first study shows that women’s community education is negatively associated with both infant and child mortality in several SSA countries, and countries’ human development does not moderate this relationship. The second study investigates the role played by different-lineage grandmothers on children’s nutritional status in selected SSA countries, further exploring how societal patriarchal orientation moderates this relationship. I find that, differently from other contexts, children who co-reside with paternal grandmothers are less likely to be stunted, in comparison with children co-residing with maternal grandmothers, and that societal patriarchal orientation does not explain this SSA peculiarity. Rather, this difference is explained by the fact that children who co-reside with maternal grandmothers are typically fatherless children and, that, as such, are negatively selected. The third study explores the relationship between parental educational dissimilarity and under-five mortality in SSA, employing Diagonal Reference Models, a more suitable methodological tool than the ones previously employed in the literature on the matter. Findings reveal substantively weak associations between both hypergamy and hypogamy (relatively to homogamy) and under-five mortality, with little cross-country heterogeneity. This suggests that maternal education influences child survival via different pathways than by influencing the mother’s position in the household. Overall, these results provide novel evidence on how and to what extent individuals other than the mother, among which other members of the community and other family members, can impact children’s survival in SSA