1,020 research outputs found
The Transformative Power of Europe Reloaded - The Limits of External Europeanization
With the borders of the European Union (EU) moved eastwards, students of Europeanization have been awarded yet another real-world experiment. This paper explores to what extent existing Europeanization approaches travel beyond the EUâs border to its South Eastern and Eastern neighbours, which are marked by bad governance with regard to both the effectiveness and democratic legitimacy of their domestic institutions. The first part outlines key insights of the literature on Europeanization West regarding the outcomes and the mechanism of the domestic impact of the EU. Then, I summarize the main findings of research on Europeanization East focusing on factors that have limited or at least qualified the domestic impact of the EU in the ten Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries in comparison to the EU 15 (those that were members before the 2004 enlargement). This paper discusses to what extent the concepts and causal mechanisms need even further qualification when applied to countries, such as the European Neighbourhood Countries (ENC), that are neither willing nor necessarily capable of adapting to Europe and that do not even have the incentive of EU membership to cope with the costs. I will argue that the EU is unlikely to deploy any transformative power in its neighbourhood as long as it does not adjust its accession tool box to countries the EU does not want to take on as members. The paper concludes with some considerations on the policy implications of the EUâs approach of move closer but donât touch which has started to creep into its relations with the Western Balkans and Turkey.EU-South-Eastern Europe; EU-South-Eastern Europe; governance; democracy; Europeanization; Europeanization
Comparative Regionalism - A New Research Agenda
After the end of the Cold War, students of International Relations observed an expansion of inter-state activities at the regional level. Regional and sub-regional groupings appeared to gain momentum as the way in which countries cooperate and should cooperate to pursue peace, stability, wealth and social justice. The surge and resurgence of regionalism has triggered the proliferation of concepts and approaches. The focus of this paper will be on processes and structures of state-led regionalism driven by the delegation of policies and political authority to regional institutions. Based on this understanding of regionalism, the existing literature will be reviewed with regard to three general questions. These questions do not only require research across regions but also allow developing a common research agenda to accumulate knowledge generated about specific regions. First, what are the outcomes of regionalism? How can we describe and compare the results of the delegation of policies and political authority? Second, what are the drivers of regionalism? Why do some governments choose to delegate policies and political authority while others do not? Finally, what are the internal effects of regionalism? How does the delegation of policies and political authority impact back on the domestic structures of the states involved?regional development; Europeanization; Europeanization
When Europeanization Hits Limited Statehood. The Western Balkans as a Test Case for the Transformative Power of Europe
The EU seeks to transform the domestic structures of the Western Balkan countries in order to foster peace, stability and prosperity in the region ridden by war and ethnic conflict. Unlike in case of the Mediterranean and Newly Independent States, the EU has even offered its South Eastern European neighbors a membership perspective. Whether the golden carrot is big enough, however, to draw the Western Balkans closer to Europe, is still an open question. Croatia has made sufficient progress to successfully conclude accession negotiations in the years to come. The EU rewarded domestic reforms in Macedonia and Montenegro with granting them candidate status, which Serbia is likely to receive in the near future. Albania, by contrast, appears to be more reluctant to engage in the changes necessary to get even with Macedonia and Montenegro. Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, finally, are seriously lagging behind and have not even applied for membership. Can Europeanization approaches account for the differential impact of the EU in the Western Balkans? The paper argues that problems of limited statehood have seriously curbed the transformative power of the EU in the Western Balkans - despite their membership perspective. Not only has the EU exerted less pressure for adaptation on Western Balkan governments. Weak state capacities and ethnic conflicts have reduced both their willingness and capacity to implement the acquis communautaire. Given its lack of experience in state building, the EU is ill-equipped to address these problems. This results in a serious dilemma. On the one hand, the EU has offered the Western Balkans a membership perspective to stabilize the region and overcome problems caused by weak and contested statehood. On the other hand, it is the limited statehood of Western Balkan countries, which undermines their compliance with EU norms and rules.EU-South-Eastern Europe; EU-South-Eastern Europe; Europeanization; Europeanization
Identity politics, core State powers and regional Integration: Europe and beyond
This article concentrates on the path from the development of collective identities to the integration of core state powers. Firstly, we focus on the European experience. We argue that the identities of political, economic, and social elites have been crucial for the evolution of European integration. With regard to mass public opinion, European integration has been made possible by a consensus of EU citizens with inclusive national identities. Most recently, the politicization of EU affairs in many member states has been driven by populist forces mobilizing minorities with exclusive nationalist identities. Secondly, we discuss the extent to which insights from Europe have travelled to other regions of the world. Elites involved in regionâbuilding almost always develop identity narratives linking their national experience to the respective regions. Moreover, there is evidence that the difference between inclusive and exclusive nationalist identifications has also travelled beyond Europe
Can Euroscepticism Contribute to a European Public Sphere? The Europeanization of Media Discourses about Euroscepticism across Six Countries
This study compares the media discourses about Euroscepticism in 2014 across
six countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark). We
assess the extent to which the mass media's reporting of Euroscepticism
indicates the Europeanization of public spheres. Using a mixed-methods approach
combining LDA topic modeling and qualitative coding, we find that approximately
70 per cent of print articles mentioning "Euroscepticism" or "Eurosceptic" are
framed in a non-domestic (i.e. European) context. In five of the six cases
studied, articles exhibiting a European context are strikingly similar in
content, with the British case as the exception. However, coverage of British
Euroscepticism drives Europeanization in other Member States. Bivariate
logistic regressions further reveal three macro-level structural variables that
significantly correlate with a Europeanized media discourse: newspaper type
(tabloid or broadsheet), presence of a strong Eurosceptic party, and
relationship to the EU budget (net contributor or receiver of EU funds).Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, 2 appendice
International Relations Theory and European Integration
Europeanization; multilevel governance; institutionalism; institutionalisation; policy analysis
Europeanization Subverted? The European Unionâs Promotion of Good Governance and the Fight against Corruption in the Southern Caucasus
In order to foster peace, stability and prosperity in its near abroad, the European Union has invoked the European Neighbourhood Policy that seeks to transform the domestic structures of the Newly Independent States in the post-Soviet space thus building a ring of friends that share European norms and principles of democracy, rule of the law, market economy, and good governance. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that the EUâs capacity to hit across its borders and to realize its reform agenda seems limited. Moreover, most neighborhood countries appear to be stuck in transition and suffer from serious problems of both weak state capacity and defect democracy. Hence, EU efforts may also bear the danger of unintended and negative effects on the domestic structures of states, as its policies and institutions do not only empower liberal reform coalitions, to the extent that they exist in the first place, but can also bolster the power of incumbent authoritarian and corrupt elites. This paper intends to capture this dark side of Europeanization (Schimmelfennig 2007). It thus conceptualizes ENP as a political opportunity structure that provides opportunities and constraints to both supporters and opponents of the European Unionâs reform agenda. Which of the two ultimately get empowered depends not only on the EUâs capacity to push for reforms but also on the pull of domestic actors.neighbourhood policy; EU-South-Eastern Europe; EU-South-Eastern Europe; governance; Europeanization; Europeanization
Move Closer! New Modes of Governance and Accession to the European Union
This paper explores the role of new modes of governance in the EUâs attempts
to impact upon states which are not (yet) members or which became members in
the 1980s. More specifically, it summarizes the findings of comparative case
studies on the involvement of non-state actors in the implementation of EU
policies and EU primary Law in different types of states, âweak statesâ in
particular, including Southern European member states, CEE candidate countries
and associated states in the former Soviet Union and Northern Africa. The
paper shows that new modes of governance can help bring countries closer to
Europe. However, they do so only if both state and non-state actors have
sufficient capacities and trust each other. Given that these conditions are
often absent in accession and neighborhood countries, we should caution our
expectations in new modes of governance and focus on less innovative means,
such as capacity-building
the Western Balkans as a test case for the Transformative Power of Europe
1\. Introduction 2\. Hitting its Borders: The Domestic Impact of Europe on the
Western Balkans 2.1 What Does it Take? Factors Mediating the Transformative
Power of Europe 2.2 Limited Statehood and the Western Balkans: The Missing
Link 2.3 Statehood and Progress towards EU Accession 2.4 The EU as a State-
Builder? 3\. Conclusions LiteratureThe EU seeks to transform the domestic structures of the Western Balkan
countries in order to foster peace, stability and prosperity in the region
ridden by war and ethnic conflict. Unlike in case of the Mediterranean and
Newly Independent States, the EU has even offered its South Eastern European
neighbors a membership perspective. Whether the âgolden carrotâ is big enough,
however, to draw the Western Balkans closer to Europe, is still an open
question. Croatia has made sufficient progress to successfully conclude
accession negotiations in the years to come. The EU rewarded domestic reforms
in Macedonia and Montenegro with granting them candidate status, which Serbia
is likely to receive in the near future. Albania, by contrast, appears to be
more reluctant to engage in the changes necessary to get even with Macedonia
and Montenegro. Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, finally, are seriously lagging
behind and have not even applied for membership. Can Europeanization
approaches account for the differential impact of the EU in the Western
Balkans? The paper argues that problems of limited statehood have seriously
curbed the transformative power of the EU in the Western Balkans - despite
their membership perspective. Not only has the EU exerted less pressure for
adaptation on Western Balkan governments. Weak state capacities and ethnic
conflicts have reduced both their willingness and capacity to implement the
acquis communautaire. Given its lack of experience in state building, the EU
is ill-equipped to address these problems. This results in a serious dilemma.
On the one hand, the EU has offered the Western Balkans a membership
perspective to stabilize the region and overcome problems caused by weak and
contested statehood. On the other hand, it is the limited statehood of Western
Balkan countries, which undermines their compliance with EU norms and rules
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