Europeanization And European Integration

After two decades of research into the impact of the EU on domestic politics and policies, this book explores the relationship between Europeanization and EU integration. It argues that Europeanization should be considered as a stage in the development of EU integration as well as questioning the notion of incremental Europeanization.

'The Politics of Europeanization' looks at the political aspects of European integration from the point of view of domestic politics. In doing so, it goes beyond the classic analysis of 'how policies are made in Brussels' and raises instead the question 'what is the power of Europe in national contexts?'. The questions at the heart of this volume are crucial both for our understanding of European integration and for their policy implications. What does Europeanization really mean? How can it be measured? How is the European Union affecting domestic politics and policies in member states and candidate countries? Is Europeanization an irreversible process? Does it mean convergence across Europe? How and why do differences remain? The contributors explain and question the 'power of Europe' by providing theoretical and empirical perspectives on domestic politics and institutions, government and administration, public policies, political actors and business groups. The volume contains a new research agenda for the nascent literature on Europeanization.

This book argues that a third wave of research on the EU is needed to adequately understand the increased interconnectedness between the European and national political levels. In particular, the book asks: how has Europeanization affected current modes of integration and cooperation in the EU? The authors argue that deeper integration in other areas requires a degree of input legitimacy that is currently lacking in the EU.

The book investigates the scope and limitations of the transformative power of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. The extension of EU enlargement policy to the region has generated high expectations that enlargement will regulate democratic institution-building and foster reform, much as it did in Central and Eastern Europe. However, there is very little research on whether and how unfavourable domestic conditions might mitigate the transformative power of the EU. This volume investigates the role of domestic factors, identifying ‘stateness’ as the missing link between the assumed transformative power of the EU and the actual capacity to adopt EU rules across the region. Including chapters on Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, leading scholars in the field offer up-to-date comparative analysis of key areas of institutional and policy reform; including state bureaucracy, rule of law, electoral management, environmental governance, cooperation with the International Court of Justice, economic liberalization and foreign policy. Looking to the future and the implications for policy change, European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans provides a new theoretical and empirical focus on this little understood area. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of EU politics, comparative democratisation, post-communist transitions and Balkan area studies.

Europeanization" is a term increasingly used in the social sciences to descibe the impact, convergence or response of politicians and institutions in relation to the European Union. This volume explores the concept in a variety of different settings in order to clarify its meaning.

This book explores the interaction of the EU in Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia in three key policy sectors – cohesion, border managements and the environment – and assesses the degree to which the European Union’s engagement with the democracies of South East Europe has promoted Europeanization and Multi-Level Governance. Although there is a tendency to view the Balkans as peripheral, this book argues that South East European states are central to what the EU is and aspires to become, and goes to the heart of many of the key issues confronting the EU. It compares changing modes of governance in the three policy areas selected because they are contentious issues in domestic politics and have trans-boundary policy consequences, in which there is significant EU involvement. The book draws on over 100 interviews conducted to explore actor motivation, preferences and perceptions in the face of pressure to adapt from the EU and uses Social Network Analysis. Timely and informative, this book considers broader dilemmas of integration and enlargement at a time when the EU’s effectiveness is under close scrutiny. The European Union and South East Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, public policy, and European Union governance and integration.

Die Bände dieser von Rainer Schützeichel (Universität Bielefeld) herausgegebenen Reihe befassen sich interdisziplinär mit aktuellen gesellschaftlichen und wissenschaftlichen Problemlagen. Aufgrund ihres modularen Aufbaus eignen sie sich nicht nur als grundlegende und umfassende wissenschaftliche Einführungen, sondern auch als Lehrbücher in der universitären Lehre.

Does the European Union change the domestic politics and institutions of its member states? Many studies of EU decisionmaking in Brussels pay little attention to the potential domestic impact of European integration. Transforming Europe traces the effects of Europeanization on the EU member states. The various chapters, based on cutting-edge research, examine the impact of the EU on national court systems, territorial politics, societal networks, public discourse, identity, and citizenship norms.The European Union, the authors find, does indeed make a difference—even in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. In many cases EU rules and regulations incompatible with domestic institutions have created pressure for national governments to adapt. This volume examines the conditions under which this "adaptational pressure" has led to institutional change in the member states.