This paper highlights one of the major benefits of qualitative comparative methodology as applied within a “small-N” research design, namely its potential use for specifying the scope conditions of (theoretically competing) causal mechanisms. It is argued that the identification of...

This collection of articles examines some of the legislative cornerstones of the emerging EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice in light of the research question whether the relevant decision-making processes in the Justice and Home Affairs Council may best be understood from a Rationalist or...

This study accounts for the emergence of a supranational biometric control regime in Europe. The empirical focus lies on the institutionalization of Eurodac, an automated fingerprint identification system covering asylum seekers and "illegal" immigrants. Who promoted the idea of setting up an...

This case study of the evolvement of the so-called Dublin II Regulation on asylum demonstrates the role of Council-specific informal rules and procedures in facilitating intergovernmental agreement. The paper addresses a Rationalist "puzzle", namely the question why the Justice and Home Affairs...

This paper accounts for the so-called Biometric Passports Regulation of the European Community. Formally adopted by the Council of the European Union (EU) in December of 2004, the Biometric Passports Regulation prescribes the compulsory biometric “enrollment” of all EU citizens applying for...