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Food security is a complex issue that requires a multidimensional response to be achieved and, therefore, requisites the participation of stakeholders from different policy areas. At the international level, the food security governance counts with the participation international regimes with overlapping initiatives that collective aim to achieve global levels of food security. Moreover, at the European level, the context in which the Common Agricultural Policy also contains overlapping agendas that, based on their understanding of the food problem, frame their interests. This dissertation explores the interconnections between policy frames in the Regime Complex for Food Security and their manifestation within 2014-2017 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) framework. By examining the policy frames, this Master’s Thesis identifies overlapping patterns that influence policy outcomes at both levels. Considering that food security is a complex issue, it necessitate comprehensive solutions that encompass various initiatives and the involvement of different stakeholders. Drawing on existing literature, this thesis goes beyond isolated analyses of the CAP and the Regime Complex for Food Security by examining their similarities and differences. Based on regime complex and policy frame theory, the question guiding this research is: “To what extent the Regime Complex for Food Security influence the policy frame fragmentation of the 2014-2017 Common Agricultural Policy?. The research provides a comprehensive understanding by reviewing the evolution of food security in the literature and explores the theoretical framework of the regime complex and policy framing literature applied to food security. Lastly, the analysis highlights the key findings, and the conclusion presents overall findings and reflections on potential areas for future research.

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This thesis investigates how the process of Europeanisation manifested in the adoption process of the European Disability Strategy (2010-2020) on higher education in Austria and Ireland. In this context, it will zoom in on the dependent variable ‘time of adoption’, where it will investigate the factors that led to Ireland, in contrast to Austria, taking almost three years longer to translate the EDS-CRPD principles into a national framework. It will employ a methodological approach relying on content analysis of government reports and legislative documents, most of them originating from the DOTCOM database. Its findings confirm the hypothesis that both Austria and Ireland were subject to a Europeanisation process, but followed different trajectories in translating the EDS objectives into their national policies. Four independent variables – (1) legal (mis)fit, (2) administrative capacity, (3) stakeholder engagement, and (4) enforcement mechanisms – were discussed in the analysis. In the first place, the variable of ‘legal (mis)fit’ confirmed the hypothesis that the adoption occurred more swiftly when a substantial legislative tradition was already present. Austria had a greater total of preexisting legislative acts, which can be explained as a consequence of a strongly top-down policy culture, in contrast to Ireland where changes were addressed on lower levels and thus did not always reach a stage where they were formulated as policy. Furthermore, ‘administrative capacity’ is often adduced in the literature as the principal variable in explaining a large time difference in policy transposition. This research, however, did not replicate this conclusion. Although there were various marginal differences between Ireland and Austria, the significant time difference needed to be ascribed to other variables. The results for ‘stakeholder management’ remained partly inconclusive. Although both countries relied on input from the education sector and civil society, a barrier to research was presented by the limited information which was available for the Austrian case, in contrast to the detailed description of the open call procedure in Ireland. Future research may reflect in greater depth on whether the more exhaustive description of the Irish case does in fact reflect a more intense cooperation in reality. If so, it would confirm the hypothesis that the transposition process is lengthened by the involvement of a multiplicity of actors and sources of input. However, there is need for interviews with Austrian civil servants to corroborate this assumption, as the conclusions allowed by the evidence that is available at the current moment must remain inconclusive. A final variable is the presence of enforcement mechanisms, particularly with regard to coordination during the adoption process itself. This thesis confirms the hypothesis that good coordination – which is necessary for such an intersectional policy domain – results in a swifter translation into national frameworks. In the case of Austria, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection was designated as the coordinating organ at the very beginning of the adoption phase, while in Ireland the Equality Division, Department of Justice and Equality was only appointed at the end of 2014 for this task.

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Some three and a half years after the first discussion that took place within the format of the Conference on the Future of Europe, this work sets out to reveal how the “macro-public” has perceived the European Citizens’ Panels held as part of the Conference. In particular, it maps out perceptions of legitimacy through the systematic qualitative analysis of online sources ranging from experts to laymen, and everyone in between. After identifying ways in which mini-publics have been used in policy-making, a model is introduced that helps operationalize external perceptions of legitimacy. This model serves as a lens through which three dimensions of legitimacy - input, throughput, and output legitimacy - are assessed by systematically exploring a total of fifteen elements that comprise them. While the individual elements paint an overall mixed picture, the analysis reveals that particularly the input and output dimensions of legitimacy of the ECPs were perceived negatively. Moreover, it was precisely in these dimensions that the overwhelmingly negative contribution of comments on social media tilted the overall perception towards a lack of legitimacy. Despite the throughput dimension’s positive perception, the verdict of the conference as a whole is thus still negative, with this thesis outlining suggestions for key improvement. However, due to a number of critical aspects in the analysis, one should be wary of attributing too much meaning to these outcomes. Instead, this work could serve as a frame of reference to policy-makers trying to improve deliberative democracy, or even as a blueprint for scholars that wish to apply the same model to a similar academic context elsewhere.

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This study explores why the EU scrutinizes India’s approach towards cross-border data flows. India as of 2023, has no data protection law. Its government seeks to develop a data protection regime distinct from that of the EU, US or China. Generally, the EU limits cross-border data flows to countries that do not have data protection legislation deemed adequate in comparison to its own. Overall, the GDPR has inspired the content of data protection laws in countries around the world but few countries have GDPR adequate laws. Existing theories stop short of answering what motivates the EU’s efforts at exporting its rules. A theory on the EU’s regulatory export power, called regime vetting may be able to help answer such questions. This theory conveys that the EU vets the regulations of a country with the prospective to either restrict or widen access to the EU market. I proceed to empirically test regime vetting on the case of India. I build three hypotheses to answer why the EU uses regime vetting on India’s cross-border data flows regime: 1) protect - to prevent further regulatory divergence 2) promote – to promote its standards through relational tools due to a lack of regulatory leverage and 3) regulate – to find an agreement to facilitate cross-border data flows through relational tools. Three expert interviews were conducted and a podcast on data protection standards between the EU and India was transcribed for the analysis. Furthermore, the analysis was supplemented by official documents, mainly from the EU institutions and the Indian Government. The analysis yields that the EU practices regime vetting on India’s cross-border data flows regime in order to protect the safety offered by the GDPR within the EU in light of the unpredictability of India’s evolving data protection regime. The EU also promotes the GDPR through its foreign policy as it lacks regulatory leverage over India. It could not be confirmed that the EU wants to regulate in India through its relational engagement with the country. India seems intent on developing a data protection law that strikes a balance between that of the EU and the United States. Priorities for India seem to be national security and the facilitation of commerce. In the discussion, it is revealed that the EU’s use of assertive regime vetting on cross-border data flows differs in each country case. Countries who already have adequate laws can have their adequacy status reviewed and revoked. A country without an adequate law may have more leeway in deciding how it will deal with cross-border data flows. Moreover, it appears that, if the EU is not able to further restrict market access, that it has little leverage in promoting its standards. Since Indian companies can transfer data between companies located in the EU, through Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs), the EU is probably not in a position to restrict data transfers more. For that to happen, Indian companies and their European partners would have to start ignoring SCCs and BCRs. Regime vetting could be more useful in explaining what happens with countries that already have adequacy. Importantly, data protection standards around the world are influencing each other. Just as the EU is influencing India’s developing standards, India is influenced by American interests. The EU is not the sole regulator but one of many mutually influenceable actors.

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The refugee crisis has become a significant worry for the European Union and its member states, especially since 2015 when the refugee and immigration arrivals increased rapidly. Greece, as a major entry point for refugees and migrants, has been at the centre of this complicated situation. This study is an attempt to look at how the Greek media framed the refugee crisis in 2015 and 2019. Additionally, it attempts to study whether there was a difference in framing between the centre-left newspaper To Vima, in contrast with the centre-right newspaper. This study examined 240 online articles in the months of October, November, and December, a period selected due to increased refugee and immigrant arrivals in the country. To Vima and Kathimerini were the newspapers that were used as the main source of material. The selection of these newspapers offers an objective examination of the topic since its political orientation varies from centre-left to centre-right. To continue, the main frames that were used were based on the study of Van Gorp (2005), which are the victim and the intruder frame and presenting the beneficial impacts and the negative implications in the economy and society respectively. Moreover, this study utilized eight frames from Philo et al (2018): ‘’Asylum seeker as victim’’, ‘’ Role of the West’’, ‘’Benefits of immigration’’, ‘’We take too many’’, ‘’Increased insecurity’’, ‘’Burden on welfare’’, ‘Deportation gap” and ‘’Abuse of asylum system’’. The first three frames fall under the victim frame while the rest belong to the intruder frame. The analysis of the articles offered significant findings related to the above research questions. The study reveals that over time, the media shifted its portrayal of refugees and immigrants from victims to intruders. Furthermore, the study presents that the centre-left newspaper To Vima had a higher prominence of the victim frame in comparison to the centre-right Kathimerini. It is important to note that the research underscores the portrayal of the refugee crisis by the Greek media within various media frames. The media's coverage of the refugee crisis framing has the potential to influence public opinion either in a positive way by promoting empathy and support for the refugees and immigrants or in a negative way by presenting them as a threat to security concerns. Consequently, the fact that has the possibility to have widespread impacts on public opinion, sentiment, and political ideology should not be ignored but expanded with further research. Moreover, there are prospects for advancing future studies by extending the time frame and counties under study – thereby enhancing our understanding of this phenomenon. A comparative analysis of the framing of the refugee crisis in Greece with that in other EU member states could provide a broader perspective on regional variations and shared themes.