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Frontex at the epicentre of a rule of law crisis at the external borders of the EU
Get PDFPublished online: 27 May 2024Next to the rule of law ‘crises’ within Member States, a new facet of this rule of law crisis is emerging at the external borders of the EU, and sees the EU border agency Frontex as its epicentre. This article illustrates the multiple facets of this crisis which concerns Frontex's functioning and activities, discussing a form of ‘agency capture’ that occurred under the mandate of the former Executive Director and a legal framework ensuring limited monitoring and transparency on operations. Subsequently, the article delves into the constitutional meaning of the rule of law for an agency such as Frontex, both for its significance on relations between authorities and individuals and for the interplay between the rule of law and accountability. The article concludes by calling for a rethinking of the accountability instruments in place, to constrain more effectively the exercise of discretion by agencies.European Commission-European Union's Horizon 2020 programme, Grant/Award Numbers: Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement, 891762 (2020-2024).This article was published Open Access with the support from the EUI Library through the CRUI - Wiley Transformative Agreement (2024-2027
Policy legacies and cueing in the European Union during COVID-19
No full textPublished online: 23 February 2026How can government elites influence public support for EU crisis policies? Policy legacies (memories of ‘deeds’, i.e., policy interventions of the EU) are one such crucial channel, but so far we have little evidence of their effects. By contrast, the literature has marshalled solid evidence on cueing (‘words’, i.e., how politicians talk about the EU influences citizens’ policy attitudes). We look at a crucial policy which may have a lasting legacy: the adoption of the pathbreaking NGEU package during COVID-19. We operationalise policy legacy with past policy satisfaction and by priming individuals with information about the positive and negative effects of the policy. We operationalise cues by randomly assigning individuals to conditions where they are exposed to messages from their national government. Overall, we observe a negativity bias for both policy legacies and cues, underlining the fragility of positive legitimacy-building efforts through both policy legacies and cues. While the effects of cues and legacies may compound, they do not seem to depend on each other. Concerning effect heterogeneity, EU trust and attitudes towards EU integration moderate the effect of cues and legacies but not left–right political ideology. Finally, cue effects are also stronger in creditors states
Building Canada’s competitive edge : a review of case studies to inform development of an integrated skills strategy
No full textHuman capital is central to national competitiveness in the 21st century, yet Canada’s fragmented skills development system limits its ability to respond to rapid labour market shifts. This paper reviews international case studies — Ireland, Germany, Australia, Singapore, India, and the US (Virginia and Ohio) — to highlight integrated approaches that align education, labour market policies, and industry needs. Successful models feature tripartite governance, robust data systems, employer engagement, and sustainable funding mechanisms. The EU’s new Union of Skills demonstrates how large jurisdictions can overcome fragmentation through coherent governance, shared investment, and portable qualifications. Conversely, Canada risks falling behind with its current lack of national skills strategy or coordinated regional strategy. Lessons from global practices underscore the need for coordinated federal, provincial, and territory level action; industry partnerships; and lifelong learning pathways to close skills gaps, enhance mobility, and strengthen competitiveness in strategic sectors such as clean energy, digitalisation, and advanced manufacturing
Fiscal inflation in the UK
No full textPublished online: 17 February 2026We employ a model that allows for unfunded fiscal shocks to study inflation and real activity in the UK. Unfunded fiscal shocks are not backed by future fiscal adjustments and are instead stabilized with inflation. In an estimated quantitative model, we find that fiscal inflation was high in the 1960s and 1970s, but came down in the early 1980s. Brexit marked a turning point with a significant increase in unfunded spending and fiscal inflation. Following the pandemic, fiscal inflation has risen steadily due to rapidly growing government spending, which has contributed to greater persistence in inflation. Monetary and fiscal policy coordination has been instrumental in achieving both a soft landing and bringing inflation to target for the UK economy in the post-pandemic period
External differentiation as a strategy of system maintenance : EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans
No full textPublished online: 16 September 2024Despite the stalling of enlargement countries’ accession to the EU, these coun-tries have been recurrently involved in EU policies. There is, however, littleknowledge about their participation in EU policies short of membership. Thisarticle conceptualises such participation as a manifestation of external differen-tiated cooperation. It offers a theoretical approach accounting for the unfold-ing of external differentiated cooperation in EU interactions with enlargementcountries as a strategy of system maintenance. External differentiated cooper-ation, the article argues, serves as a strategy for the EU to address increasedmutual dependences with enlargement countries triggered by crises-inducedshocks to the EU system of regional integration. By examining EU-WesternBalkans’ interactions from 2014 to 2023, the article shows that the EU and itsrelevant actors have resorted to external differentiated cooperation to ensurethe functioning of the EU system of regional integration against the backdropof member states’ reluctance towards EU enlargement
The protean and control powers of the four European Unions : the EU’s external natural gas policy
No full textDefence date: 23 November 2022; Examining Board: Prof. Ulrich Krotz, (European University Institute); Prof. Federico Romero, (European University Institute); Prof. Stefan Schirm, (University of Bochum); Assistant Prof. Richard Maher, (University College Dublin)This thesis explains the four modalities in which the European Union projects its power in its external gas policy by drawing from the theory of protean and control power formulated by Katzenstein and Seybert (2018b, 2018d). Therefore, this study adds to the scholarship on the EU’s foreign policy by developing the concepts of the EU’s power and contributes to a better understanding of the EU as an international actor. The central argument of my dissertation is that the EU acts externally in four forms, conceptualized as four EUs: Geoeconomic Power, Occasional Geopolitical Power, Constrained Underachieving Power, and Broker of the Strongest. Therefore, this thesis poses three questions: How do control and protean power affect which of the EUs is acting externally? Why do the EUs act to different degrees of effectiveness in the external gas policy? How does the dynamic among the four EUs work? To answer these questions, I examine the EU’s external gas policy from 2006 until 2021 by breaking it down into thirteen cases. In the analytical process, I applied a Foreign Policy Analysis to extract four models and then examined models with explanatory factors. In the thesis, I came to the following conclusions. First, each of the EUs is shaped by a combination of protean and control power and possess relevant properties: Geoeconomic Power is formed by control power, Occasional Geopolitical Actor by protean power, and both Constrained Underachieving Power and Broker of the Strongest are molded by combinations of those two. Second, the EUs acting predominantly as control or protean power exercise the most effective power projection. Yet, the EUs representing other combinations of powers produce mixed or ineffective results. Third, in terms of the dynamic among the EUs there is a strong influence of protean power in shaping the coexistence of the four EUs
Political deepfakes are as credible as other fake media and (sometimes) real media
No full textPublished online: 13 March 2025There is widespread concern that political “deepfakes”—fabricated videos synthesized by deep learning—pose an epistemic threat to democracy as a uniquely credible form of misinformation. To test this hypothesis, we created novel deepfakes in collaboration with industry partners and a professional actor. We then experimentally assess whether deepfakes are distinctly deceptive and find that deepfakes are approximately as credible as misinformation communicated through text or audio. However, in a follow-up discernment task, subjects often confuse authentic videos for deepfakes if the video depicts an elite in their political party in a scandal. Moreover, informational interventions and accuracy primes only sometimes (and somewhat) attenuate deepfakes’ effects. In sum, our results show that while deepfakes may not be uniquely deceptive, they may still erode trust in media and increase partisan polarization
Parenthood effects on career outcomes : does fertility timing matter?
No full textDefence date: 15 December 2022Examining Board: Professor Juho Härkönen, (European University Institute, supervisor); Professor Klarita Gërxhani, (European University Institute); Professor Marie Evertsson, (Stockholm University); Professor Zachary Van Winkle, (Sciences Po)Even though gender equality in the labour market has improved in recent decades, parenthood induced income inequalities are still present. Moreover, income disadvantages accumulate over time, leading to income disparities in old age as well. To optimise the direct and indirect income effects associated with parenthood, individuals may wish to postpone having children. However, literature on the monetary effectiveness of parenthood postponement is still relatively limited. This dissertation contributes to the literature by examining (1) whether motherhood postponement moderates the negative wage effects associated with parenthood and whether any such effects vary cross-nationally; and (2) whether fatherhood timing moderates the fatherhood wage effects and whether the effects differ across institutional settings. Furthermore, (3) it predicts gender income inequalities in retirement and investigates stratification by education and family status therein. An analysis of longitudinal survey data from Germany and the United Kingdom revealed that the motherhood penalty increases in the United Kingdom and decreases in East Germany as childbirths are delayed to later career stages. No moderating effect of childbirth timing on the motherhood penalty was discovered in West Germany. Concerning men, in West Germany, the fatherhood premium is higher among men who postpone parenthood, whereas no timing effects have been found among East German and British men. In the third study, predicted pensions for German men and women who will retire by the year 2032 show that the overall gender pension gap will somewhat decline, however, the stratification therein will increase. The gender pension gap will close between all childless individuals irrespective of their educational attainments. In the meantime, the gender pension gap will remain virtually unchanged between the highly educated women and men in East and West Germany and the less educated women and fathers in East Germany. Overall, mothers will remain the most disadvantaged social group
Settling Palestine : logics of Israeli (in)direct governance of the occupied west bank since 1967
No full textDefence date: 07 September 2022Examining Board: Prof. Philipp Genschel, (European University Institute, Supervisor); Prof. Olivier Roy, (European University Institute); Prof. Seth Anziska, (University College London); Prof. Diana B. Greenwald, (The City College of New York)Settling Palestine: The logics of Israeli (In)direct governance of the West Bank since 1967 In June 1967, after Israel’s dramatic victory in the Six-Day War, the Israeli army occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Syrian Golan Heights. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, the other territories were not annexed. Instead, they remained under military occupation and were slowly settled by diverse and heterogeneous groups of Jewish Israeli citizens. The dissertation argues that there is a profound difference between capturing territory in war and occupying it in peacetime. By necessity and design, Israel's military occupation is built on indirect governance, with Jewish settlers serving as intermediary agents of the Israeli state. The longstanding Israeli occupation has reinforced the image of Israel as a strong state capable of enforcing its authority over the territory under its control. The dissertation reveals how many Israeli governments have been plagued by operational, reputational, and institutional capacity deficits that have hindered their attempts to govern the new territories effectively and to reign in Palestinian resistance directly with the Israeli army and other state agencies. To overcome these deficits, Israeli governments have mobilized different types of settlers who had the partial or complete capacity required by the state of Israel. In return, the state has become increasingly dependent on the administrative, logistic and security services provided by settlers on the ground and on the recruits they provide for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at a time when Israel was experiencing a decline in the numbers of non-settler Israeli citizens joining the military and when the increasing integration of the Palestinian population and territories into Israel's de facto and judicial sovereignty was expanding its responsibility in the eyes of the world and hindered the use of lethal violence by the army. State dependence increased the bargaining position of the settlers and gave them increasing influence in Israeli politics. These changes destabilized the initial indirect governance arrangement. Settlers constantly adapted these arrangements in order to twist them in their favour. The central question posed by the dissertation is: Why and how does the Israeli state mobilise settlers? And how have the reactions of settlers shaped state and society in Israel? The answer is provided by seven chapters which reconstruct state-settler interactions through selected episodes of Israeli occupation in the period 1967–2020. 6 The thesis is structured into seven chapters. The first chapter introduces the research question and sketches the main argument. Chapter two explains case selection and fieldwork methodology. Chapter three provides a broad ranging review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Chapter four presents a historical overview of the early decades of the occupation. It analyses the politics of the settlements, the indirect governance arrangements that emerged between the government and the religious Zionist sector, the implicit contract underlying these arrangements in terms of deficits in government capacity and settler competences, as well as the convergence and divergence of interests. Chapter five analyses the establishment of ‘illegal’ outposts in the 1990s and their subsequent transformation into permanent settlements. After the Oslo Accords’ Memorandum on new settlements, the Israeli authorities have rebalanced their emphasis away from establishing new settlements through ‘delegation’ towards establishing ‘illegal outposts’ with their subsequent silent ‘conversion’ into ‘legal’ settlements. The last empirical chapter 6 examines the indirect governance of violence. It analyses the arrangements to deal with indirect violence adopted by the Israeli government and the national-religious sector and the changes these arrangements underwent over time. Issues include soldiers’ refusal to follow orders in evacuating settlers on the grounds of their religious convictions and settler violence targeting the Israeli army, especially in the aftermath of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Chapter seven concludes with a short summary of the argument and possible extensions. The thesis builds on a theory-guided process-tracing approach (TGPT). It is based on over fifty in-depth interviews with current and former IDF officers, state officials in the Civil Military Administration, soldiers, politicians, diplomats and settlement residents and their representatives. The thesis engages with theories of settler colonialism, indirect governance, religious radicalism, and military sociology. It constitutes an innovative study of the Israeli settler movement and its historical evolution from the perspective of indirect governance and is one of a few studies focusing on radical right social movements in a non-Western political context
Europeans making sense of the Levant : French and British merchants in Aleppo in the late eighteenth century (ca. 1770-1805)
No full textDefence date: 1 April 2022; Examining board: Prof. Ann Thomson (European University Institute); Prof. Giancarlo Casale (European University Institute); Prof. John-Paul Ghobrial (Oxford University);
Prof. Bernard Heyberger (EHESS)How did the French and British in Aleppo, in the European society of Aleppo, but also with travellers and the local population, make sense of the Levant and its inhabitants at the end of the Eighteenth Century? I want to reconstruct the intellectual environment that the French and British inhabited as Europeans in Aleppo and their thoughts and ideas about the government, the country, and the people among whom they lived. Considering the sheer extent of the sources (mostly correspondence) left by them, this is ‘a narrow path through a broad field’ as one supervisor once called it. In the overwhelming majority of their letters the French and British at Aleppo did not spell out their views and thoughts about the city they inhabited, but rather wrote about commercial or administrative matters. However, it is the advantage of this approach that precisely by looking at documents that are not “ethnographic” in nature, one can see how the French and British expressed their thoughts in their everyday interactions and how the language and expressions they used betrayed the view they had of themselves, as Europeans in the Levant, and of the people and country surrounding them. Of course, personal accounts or descriptions of the city and region of Aleppo written by its European inhabitants are very valuable sources that I will use as well. The protagonists of this study were a rather small but tight community of British and French merchants. Most documents were produced by a handful of individuals, which allowed me to follow their debates closely. Focusing on one place and a relatively short period of time, the last three decades of the Eighteenth Century, this study is not comparative. While the British and the French differed in some of their views and ideas, I found that they largely constituted one European community in Aleppo which coincided in the majority of opinions explored in this thesis. I thus analyse them together but point out differences when they are significant