Department or Program
Politics
Abstract
This thesis examines the role of the European Court of Justice in aiding Europe’s integrationist project with regards to law. Since the 1960s, the Union’s acknowledgement and protection of fundamental rights have evolved considerably; it has transitioned from a supranational polity in which guaranteed rights were shrouded in normative ambiguity and forming only “the general principles of Community law,” to that of a polity in which fundamental rights came to occupy their own sphere of influence, as the 2009 legal ratification of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms indicates. This thesis is specifically concerned with examining the degree to which the Court’s evolving human rights jurisprudence has served as a positive, integrative force in the ongoing construction of the E.U. It leverages neo-functionalism as a paradigm to explain not only how the Court’s rights-based adjudication enhances European integration, but also as a means of examining to what degree and under what conditions it does so. As such, this thesis analyzes various rights-oriented legal case studies, and it examines their outcomes from the analytical expectations of neo-functionalism as a means of gauging their integrative effects.
Level of Access
Open Access
First Advisor
Richter, James
Date of Graduation
Spring 5-2016
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Recommended Citation
Dolgicer, Elizabeth Sarah, "Applying the Neo-Functionalist Paradigm to Assess the Integrative Consequences of the European Court of Justice's Human Rights Jurisprudence" (2016). Honors Theses. 188.
https://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/188
Number of Pages
176
Open Access
Available to all.