Europeanization theories and the development of European Union intellectual disability non-discrimination policy

Europeanization theories and the development of European Union intellectual disability non-discrimination policy Public Deposited

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Sladen, Jennifer Ann
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Political Science

Abstract

This thesis examines the extent to which certain conditions (economic and human rights ties, established/coherent social movements, and court cases) mentioned in Europeanization theories explain non-discrimination policy development, utilizing a qualitative case study of European Union (EU) intellectual disability (ID) policy. I find that 1) economic ties explain initial but not widespread ID-related and ID-focused policy development; 2) human rights ties have positively impacted the development of EU ID-related/focused policies but this impact does not imply policy definition; 3) the relationships between social movements (as opposed to social movement coherency) have resulted in both furthering and stifling EU ID policy development; and 4) the lack of previous implementation of non-discrimination directives (particularly regarding legal incapacitation) and the use of an historically and policy inappropriate definition of disabilities has stifled the positive effects of court case prevalence on ID policy development.

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