More than ten years ago, the European Union established the EU Counter Terrorism Strategy. The aim of the strategy was to ‘’combat terrorism globally while respecting human rights, and make Europe safer, allowing its citizens to live in an area of freedom, security and justice’’ (Council of the European …

The urgency of analysing the case of female genital cutting (FGC) increases due to the globalisation of today’s world, enhancing multicultural societies dealing with benefits and challenges with respect to cultural differences. Generally, FGC originates from and is promoted as a highly valued cultural …

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the foreign policy changes that the EU experienced due to the Iraq crisis. The increasing complexity of the global security environment has played an important role in the EU foreign policy evolution by challenging the EU’s effective management of …

This research analyses the situation of the Russian minority in Lithuania. Lithuania is a post-soviet country and a neighbour of the Russian Federation that has been feeling threats due to Russia´s actions in Ukraine and its overall policies for its near abroad and compatriots. As a country with a Russian …

In the first half of the 20th century, the individual life course was largely determined by ‘standard biographies’ (Du Bois-Reymond, 1998; Meijers & Wesselingh, 1999) whereby identity – the story individuals tell themselves and share with others about the meaning of their lives (Meijers & Lengelle, …

The main purpose of this research is to explore the effectiveness of the use of soft power of the Council of Europe (CoE), in safeguarding the rights of asylum seekers who face administrative detention in the Netherlands. The research focusses on the implementation of different human rights rules and …

The nation-state had a long history of success, but today it is failing its citizens on a global scale. Over the last hundred years, nation-states focussed on maximizing internal unity and jurisdictional sovereignty. Benjamin R. Barber’s ‘If Mayors Ruled The World’ is the central source of this thesis …

After the “Rose Revolution” in 2003, Georgia’s political elite announced its new policy direction to follow democratic and liberal beliefs norms, values and ideas. This has formed Georgia’s national identity, which, the country claims, has always been European. Georgia’s powerful neighbor country – Russia …

The Turkish Republic has a great history with major defeats and victories in its past. Since the fourteenth century Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire. During the following centuries, the Empire expanded and covered areas which are nowadays known as Europe, Asia and North Africa. The twentieth century …

Weinig mensen weten dat de Europese Unie militaire en civiele missies uitvoert. Oorzaak daarvan is het ontbreken van een Europese veiligheidscultuur. De militaire dimensie daarvan werd immers lange tijd afgedekt door de NAVO. Maar de laatste jaren is vooral de civiele dimensie (‘soft power’) van de …