In this dissertation, the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty to Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) in order to address and improve the coherence of the EU's external action are examined. In order to understand the coherence problem that existed in the EU's external action before the Lisbon Treaty …

The objective of this study is to contribute towards understanding how welfare and justice discourses become apparent in institutional conversations where social workers involved in child protection have dual professional identities: that of helper and of gatekeeper. In this article we analyse a specific …

This thesis is on institutional communication, and focuses in particular on interactional processes between social workers and prospective adoptive parents in assessment procedures for adoptive parenthood. These assessments are conducted in the Netherlands by the Child Protection Board (hereafter CPB). …

Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' …

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as modern pedagogical perspectives have created new possibilities to facilitate and support learning in higher education (HE). Emerging technologies bring opportunities to reconsider teaching and learning. New ideas and concepts about …

In this study we examine how suitability for adoptive parenthood is assessed and displayed in interactions between social workers and prospective adoptive parents. In particular, we have analyzed relationship questions that are put to couples with and without an observation from the social worker. The answers …

In this thesis it is investigated how climate change will influence transboundary water collaboration in Africa. Transboundary water basins tie all African countries together, that is why all water management is in fact transboundary water management. Due to the fact that climate change is an extreme …

The past century has been a century characterized by human suffering and conflict. The establishment of the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II has brought the pressing issue of human rights to the attention of the international world. However, the UN’s reluctance to act on occasions of …

This paper examines the long anticipated European Union accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the establishment of an actual launch of the process enabling such accession after so many years from the time it was first proposed. Further, it goes on to examine the different mechanisms …

Sub-national authorities [SNAs] have seen a great development in their influence in the European up from the 1980s, due to several processes at work in Europe. Multi-level governance [MLG], a theory derived from studies on European Integration, explains for instance the changing interaction between different …