Europeanization Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Slovakia’s relations with the states of Eastern Europe not only have a bilateral impact, but contain geopolitical, security and economic dimensions as well. This article analyzes the domestic, bilateral and multilateral aspects of... more

Slovakia’s relations with the states of Eastern Europe not only have a bilateral impact, but contain geopolitical, security and economic dimensions as well. This article analyzes the domestic, bilateral and multilateral aspects of relations between Slovakia and Russia before and after the parliamentary elections of 1998, when Slovakia adopted a pro-Western course aimed at EU and NATO membership. The article also focuses on bilateral relations with Ukraine, where Slovakia is among the most active supporters of Ukraine’s future EU membership. The final sections analyze the Eastern policy of Slovakia – particularly within the framework of the EU’s Eastern Partnership and the Visegrad Group – as well as Slovakia’s relations with the new Eastern European partners, such as Belarus, Moldova and Georgia, as target countries of Slovakia’s “soft power.”

The European Union (EU) has closely correlated different aspects of the peace process in Bosnia with progress towards European accession. The ‘power of attraction’ of EU membership would presumably induce the Bosnian authorities to accept... more

The European Union (EU) has closely correlated different aspects of the peace process in Bosnia with progress towards European accession. The ‘power of attraction’ of EU membership would presumably induce the Bosnian authorities to accept the adaptation costs of political and economic transformation. However, the Europeanisation approach has not produced the expected results. The track record of the EU’s policies towards Bosnia represents a paradigmatic case of what would happen if almost nothing works as efficiently as in the case of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The article investigates the causes of EU policy failure in Bosnia and claims that the EU has not effectively responded to three challenges: 1) adjust the process to the needs of an ethnically divided post-war state; 2) preserve the credibility of accession conditionality, and 3) convey the proper messages on how to comply with EU rules. Therefore, the article argues for a more cohesive and consistent EU approach towards Bosnia.

This book falls within the limits of academic research, certified by the order of the Romanian Ministry of Education, no. 5766 / December 15, 2021. The book represents the author's doctoral thesis modified according to the format and... more

This book falls within the limits of academic research, certified by the order of the Romanian Ministry of Education, no. 5766 / December 15, 2021. The book represents the author's doctoral thesis modified according to the format and requirements of a book. It went through the academic process of double peer review and was recommended for publication.

The European Union’s transformative power, exercised not only on its member states, but also on the societies in its proximity, in particular those that contemplate the possibility of accession, has been interpreted at times under the... more

The European Union’s transformative power, exercised not only on its member states, but also on the societies in its proximity, in particular those that contemplate the possibility of accession, has been interpreted at times under the concept of Europeanization. These processes imply that the subjects of the EU’s influence adopt and internalize the norms and practices formulated by the Union. By requiring a reconsideration of the meanings of sovereignty and the adoption of certain rules for
interactions suggested by a foreign center of power, Europeanization can be considered as a hegemonic project.
The European Union as a whole operates with a broad conception of international security, leaving the concerns over its narrow, military meanings to the member states. As part of the influence it exercises through the Europeanization process, the EU identities
some nontraditional threats (trafficking, terrorism, migration, etc.) as relevant to
international security and formulates policies aimed to address them. The present paper
focuses on the influence exercised by the European Union in the Balkans, by attempting to highlight the specific nature of the hegemonic influence it exercises on Serbia and Romania.
Key words: hegemony, Europeanization, security, Balkans

The decade-long military intervention in Afghanistan had a strong effect on the transformation of western armed forces. This article examines one of the pathways of such military change, namely selective emulation. Taken aback by the... more

The decade-long military intervention in Afghanistan had a strong effect on the transformation of western armed forces. This article examines one of the pathways of such military change, namely selective emulation. Taken aback by the evolution of the fightings in Afghanistan, France, Germany and the UK looked for doctrinal or technical answers to the challenges they were facing on the ground within NATO (the structure and/or the member states). However, the importation of such solutions depends on each national political-military context, in particular the proximity with the United States, the existence of a strong local defense industry or a specific strategic culture. After the “Europeanisation without the EU” of the French defence policy in the 90’s identified by Bastien Irondelle, we now observe a “NATO-isation with NATO” of the three major European military powers’ defence policies, because of the Afghan campaign.

It is often said that Finland’s European Union (EU) membership in 1995 finally made it a ‘purely Western’ nation. This article theorises upon the membership debate by studying the geopolitical rhetoric used for and against EU membership... more

It is often said that Finland’s European Union (EU) membership in 1995 finally made it a ‘purely Western’ nation. This article theorises upon the membership debate by studying the geopolitical rhetoric used for and against EU membership from 1990 to 1994. It is argued that political studies of this kind should address arguments used in situations where competing actors try to persuade the public to support their own political goals and to increase their political power. In this context, national identity (i.e., competing interpretations of national history,
geographical affiliation, the national future and national interests) becomes a rhetorical resource for political elites. The EU membership debate that took place in Finland reveals how important geography was in the context of this identitypolitical dispute and emphasises the importance of political recognition in legitimising crucial political decisions*in this case, joining the Western European integration process.

This report reviews the unfolding of the future of Europe and external migration related narratives in Hungary, and the liberal/conservative dilemmas that Hungarian politicians proposed since 2015. Its particular scope is the Prime... more

This report reviews the unfolding of the future of Europe and external migration related narratives in Hungary, and the liberal/conservative dilemmas that Hungarian politicians proposed since 2015. Its particular scope is the Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speeches and how they were quoted by or referred to in the Hungarian media. The abrupt increase in the number of irregular migrant arrivals to Hungary prepared the conditions for Orbán to project the course that he foresaw for the conservative transformation for Hungary to transform Europe. After his victory in 2010 and 2014 at Hungarian general elections, Orbán presented his country as the vanguard for the conservative transformation that Europe also needed. In this respect, external migration from those countries where Islam was the majority religion presented Orbán the context whereby he could project the historical other for Europe as the future danger. The report is empirically focused first and foremost on Viktor Orbán’s speeches regarding external migration and Europe; introduce quotations from 25 speeches extracted from mostly Orbán’s as well as other Fidesz politicians. The report also looks at the conservative (Magyar Hírlap), centrist (hvg.hu), and liberal (Népszava) media outlets in Hungary in order to see how they have embedded narratives, slogans and tropes from these speeches.

The role of socialization and conditionality instruments in the process of Europeanization and EU's use of these instruments in its enlargement policy towards Eastern neighbors have been widely discussed in the European integration... more

The role of socialization and conditionality instruments in the process of Europeanization and EU's use of these instruments in its enlargement policy towards Eastern neighbors have been widely discussed in the European integration literature. However, few studies have dealt with the differentiated impact of these two instruments on the internal European integration coordination structures in Eastern Neighbors. The proposed paper aims at evaluating the impact of the use of socialization and/or conditionality-based instruments by the EU towards its Eastern neighbors on the formation and transformation of European integration coordination structures. The paper observes European integration coordination structures of CEEC countries in a comparative case study to examine how EU's use of conditionality and socialization instruments generates different responses with regards to formation and transformation of European integration coordination structures. We argue that conditionality stimulates formation and transformation of coordinating structures in Eastern neighbors, while socialization based instruments do not prompt such response.

After its transition to democracy and decolonization in the mid-1970s, Portugal’s main external focus shifted from Africa and the Atlantic to Europe. Yet past priorities continued to occupy an important place in the foreign policy of this... more

After its transition to democracy and decolonization in the mid-1970s, Portugal’s main external focus shifted from Africa and the Atlantic to Europe. Yet past priorities continued to occupy an important place in the foreign policy of this small state. Drawing on the literature on Europeanization, this paper examines the impact of European Union membership on Portuguese foreign policy by focusing on the case of Mozambique, one of Portugal’s largest former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. Pointing to some national adaptation, the findings highlight Lisbon’s important efforts to project its priorities onto the EU level and preserve some freedom of maneuver in relation to its ex-colony. This study brings a more in-depth and nuanced picture of the EU’s impact on Portuguese foreign policy than the one usually found in the existing literature. Moreover, it corroborates the usefulness of the concept of Europeanization to explore the specific European dynamics that influence and shape the national foreign policies of EU member states.

Pursuant to the same logic that prevailed when Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman reached out to Germany after the end of World War II, and in keeping with the promise made in the Preamble of the founding treaty, the EU reached out to Central... more

Pursuant to the same logic that prevailed when Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman reached out to Germany after the end of World War II, and in keeping with the promise made in the Preamble of the founding treaty, the EU reached out to Central and Eastern Europe after the end of the Cold War and offered integration. In recognition of the difficulties for the EU on the one side of absorbing a large number of countries without jeopardizing the functioning of the institutions, and the difficulties for the Central and Eastern European Countries ("CEECs") on the other side of transforming themselves into modern democracies with rule of law and functioning market economies, a number of pre-conditions for accession and a number of support schemes for the transformation were established. The present Article analyzes those pre-conditions that were supposed to promote the development of Rule of Law, as well as those schemes that were intended to support this development. It concludes tha...

Festschrift für Peter Gerlich. LIT, Wien, 2010. (Hg. gemeinsam mit Roman Pfefferle und Nadja Schmidt)

Poland's European Union accession afforded Polish trade unions membership of European-wide, umbrella trade union organisations. This essay evaluates the strategies Polish trade unions adopted to represent their interests following... more

Poland's European Union accession afforded Polish trade unions membership of European-wide, umbrella trade union organisations. This essay evaluates the strategies Polish trade unions adopted to represent their interests following Poland's accession to the European Union. It draws on a series of interviews and document analysis. In addition the essay seeks to gauge the extent to which Polish trade unions were ‘Europeanised’, understood in both the context of their adoption of European policy models and their ability to win support for their causes at the European level.

"During the 1990s, the Western Balkans have dominated academic attention as a region of violent conflicts and delayed transitions when compared to the smooth and peaceful transformations elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).... more

"During the 1990s, the Western Balkans have dominated academic attention as a region of violent conflicts and delayed transitions when compared to the smooth and peaceful transformations elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
However, the region’s reputation as Europe’s ‘trouble-making periphery’ promised to change at the turn of the 2000s, when the European Union (EU) expanded its concept of enlargement to include all Balkan countries left out of the previous wave of enlargement. The EU’s ‘unequivocal support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans’ (European Council 2003), coupled with a regiontailored enlargement policy – the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) – (Elbasani 2008; Noutcheva 2012) were widely promoted as the anchor of future
reforms. By that time, EU enlargement was held as a success story that contributed to creating peace and stability, inspiring reforms, and consolidating common principles of liberty, democracy as well as market economies, in the previous candidate countries in the East. The EU policy shift towards the
region, on the one hand, and increasing domestic demand for integration, on the other, have generated high expectations that enlargement strategy will work to discipline democratic institution-building and foster post-communist reforms in
the same way that it did in the previous candidates in CEE."

The paper focuses on the unique, role model characteristics of the Hungarian hybrid regime, the Hungarian political system's new incarnation forged in the past years' democratic backsliding process. Following the short review of the main... more

The paper focuses on the unique, role model characteristics of the Hungarian hybrid regime, the Hungarian political system's new incarnation forged in the past years' democratic backsliding process. Following the short review of the main hybrid regime literature and the key analyses putting the democratic quality of the Hungarian political system under the microscope, the paper argues that Hungary's European Union (EU) membership, the competencies of EU institutions, and the scope of EU law have played a crucial role in the development of the system's unique characteristics. Based on this argument, the paper qualifies Hungary as an "externally constrained hybrid regime". However, the EU does not only fulfil system constraining functions regarding the Hungarian regime, but performs system support and system legitimation functions as well. Ultimately, the changing scope of these functions, determined by the European integration's internal dynamics, influences first and foremost the Hungarian power elite's strategic considerations about the country's future EU membership.

This chapter reviews five meanings of “Europeanization”, proposes an operational definition of the concept (linking and contrasting it with the paradigmatic integration theories of neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism), and... more

This chapter reviews five meanings of “Europeanization”, proposes an operational definition of the concept (linking and contrasting it with the paradigmatic integration theories of neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism), and evaluates the utility of the concept in understanding European foreign policy-making from the interactions between member states and the EU institutions.

2014-2015 2 nd Semester Session 2B POLI1003 Making Sense of Politics Research Argumentative Essay Topic: Why are political parties important for a democratic society? What are the different political consequences of one party system,... more

2014-2015 2 nd Semester Session 2B POLI1003 Making Sense of Politics Research Argumentative Essay Topic: Why are political parties important for a democratic society? What are the different political consequences of one party system, two-party system and multiparty system?

Les sciences sociales sont périodiquement marquées par l’émergence, le développement, mais aussi le déclin de concepts à succès. Révolutions théoriques – voire paradigmatiques au sens de Thomas S. Kuhn – dans certains cas, ces... more

Les sciences sociales sont périodiquement marquées par l’émergence, le développement, mais aussi le déclin de concepts à succès. Révolutions théoriques – voire paradigmatiques au sens de Thomas S. Kuhn – dans certains cas, ces révolutions conceptuelles se révèlent à d’autres occasions n’être que de simples effets de mode ou des réactualisations plus ou moins heureuses de grilles analytiques anciennes . Dans ce dernier cas, l’innovation se révèle surtout sémantique. La genèse et l’essor de la notion d’européanisation s’inscrivent clairement dans ce mouvement de renouveau permanent des concepts et théories en sciences sociales, sans qu’il soit encore possible de prédire avec certitude la destinée scientifique de la notion. Issue du champ des études européennes, domaine particulièrement fécond en matière d’innovations conceptuelles, la notion d’européanisation s’est en effet imposée en quelques années à peine comme l’une des notions phares de la science politique, en particulier anglo-saxonne.

Četiri se glavna povijesna modela lokalne samouprave u Europi: francuski (napoleonski, južnoeuropski), njemački (germanski, porajnski), švedski (skandinavski, nordijski) i engleski (anglosaksonski), kojima neki autori dodaju i peti model,... more

Četiri se glavna povijesna modela lokalne samouprave u Europi: francuski (napoleonski, južnoeuropski), njemački (germanski, porajnski), švedski (skandinavski, nordijski) i engleski (anglosaksonski), kojima neki autori dodaju i peti model, srednjoeurop¬ski odnosno model bivših socijalističkih zemalja, u nekim elementima međusobno sve više približavaju. Komponente te tendencije harmonizacije lokalne samouprave u Europi identificirane u ovom radu su traženje novog legitimiteta, instrumentalizacija lokalne samouprave, ujednačavanje kruga lokalnih poslova, potpora razvoju, uključenost u rješavanje teških društvenih problema, racionalizacija, diverzifikacija financiranja, privatizacija, teritorijalna konsolidacija, regionalizacija, policentrične urbane mreže, višerazinsko upravljanje, redefiniranje vertikalne dimenzije lokalne samouprave, kvalitetno upravljanje procesima decentralizacije. Kritički se evaluira stanje hrvatske lokalne samouprave po tim komponentama i daju određene preporuke kako bi se sustav lokalne samouprave približio standardima hrvatskog Ustava i Europske povelje o lokalnoj samoupravi.
Ključne riječi: Europska povelja o lokalnoj samoupravi, Europska unija, europeizacija, harmonizacija, lokalna i regionalna samouprava – Hrvatska, razvojni trendovi

The Euro Area, the Schengen Area, and Airbus - the 'Anglosphere', the Franco-German 'motor' and Nordic cooperation – each illustrates how differentiation has become a pervasive feature of European integration. Which Europe? offers an... more

The Euro Area, the Schengen Area, and Airbus - the 'Anglosphere', the Franco-German 'motor' and Nordic cooperation – each illustrates how differentiation has become a pervasive feature of European integration. Which Europe? offers an authoritative and comprehensive examination of differentiated integration in its functional and territorial aspects. It focuses on its implications for both the practice and the theory of European integration. Is it strengthening or weakening the EU and its Member States? Are territorial identities being undermined or strengthened? Are new theories of integration required? In particular, this book looks at the relationship between the growth in use of differentiated integration and the widening of European Union membership, the broadening in its policy scope, and the deepening in integration.

EN : This master thesis aims to fill the gaps in the literature addressing the issue of the European influence over environmental public policies throughout the Western Balkans. It is focused on the analysis of the transformative role... more

EN : This master thesis aims to fill the gaps in the literature addressing the issue of the European influence over environmental public policies throughout the Western Balkans. It is focused on the analysis of the transformative role played by the European Union in Albania in the framework of the accession negotiations. Based on 17 interviews of Albanian civil servants, experts and environmentalists, this cross-disciplinary research combines public policy analysis with ecology, as well as European, Balkan, Communist and Post-Communist studies. We argue that (1) the European conditionality strategy exerts a pressure on the domestic level in order to increase the compliance of domestic policy principles, legal provisions, procedures, administrative structures with EU standards. However (2) this coercive Europeanization process is substantially impeded by the many routines and habits that domestic actors have inherited from the past. We then distinguish a new dynamic defined as a horizontal Europeanization: some of the Albanian stakeholders are spontaneously taking advantage of numerous resources made available by the EU with the aim of maximising their own political benefits. This thesis makes a contextualized and nuanced contribution to the sometimes very theoretical debate about the notion of Europeanization.
FR : Pour pallier au manque de travaux traitant de l’influence européenne sur les politiques publiques environnementales dans les Balkans occidentaux, ce mémoire se consacre à l’étude du rôle transformatif de l’Union Européenne sur son voisinage proche, l’Albanie, en matière d’action publique environnementale, et ce, dans le cadre du processus d’intégration européenne. Fondé sur les résultats de 17 entretiens conduits auprès d’administrateurs, d’experts et de militants écologistes albanais, ce travail transversal conjugue tant l’analyse des politiques publiques, les études européennes et balkaniques que les études post-communistes ou l’écologie. Ce mémoire montre que (1) la politique européenne de conditionnalité exerce une pression à l’adaptation sur les acteurs albanais, altérant principes d’action, procédures, réglementation, structures administratives, etc. Cependant, (2) ce processus d’européanisation coercitive est considérablement contrarié par le poids de l’histoire et des routines des acteurs nationaux. Emerge donc une nouvelle dynamique, l’européanisation horizontale, caractérisée par l’appropriation spontanée par certains acteurs albanais des multiples ressources offertes par l’UE pour maximiser leurs bénéfices politiques. Ainsi, ce mémoire contribue de manière contextualisée et nuancée au débat parfois trop théorique consacré à la notion d’européanisation.

On 23 January 2013 Prime Minister David Cameron gave a speech1 on the future of the United Kingdom (UK) in the European Union (EU), announcing that an in-out referendum will be held in 2017 if another Conservative government is elected in... more

On 23 January 2013 Prime Minister David Cameron gave a speech1 on the future of the United Kingdom (UK) in the European Union (EU), announcing that an in-out referendum will be held in 2017 if another Conservative government is elected in the next elections. The Prime Minister stated that this 4-year time lapse is to be used by British citizens in order to get better informed on the question: “What is it exactly that we are choosing to be in or out of?”2. This question was not put in a value-free context, since his speech was not impartial in depicting the European Union. On the contrary, it framed the EU issue with a set of assumptions that automatically ruled out some options (such as the possibility that British citizens share with other Member States’ citizens an idealised view of the EU), while strengthening others (such as the essentialised, irrevocable “island nature” of Britons).
Considering the importance of British political discourse on the EC in shaping the public mental set and opinion3, and therefore voters’ position on the promised referendum, this essay focuses on the assumptions on “Englishness”4 and “Europeness” implicit in Cameron’s Speech, which is analysed in comparison with the political discourse of Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990) and Tony Blair (Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007). The argument is that British political discourse on the EU is characterised by both elements of change and of continuity that, although analytically separated, merge into each other. In order to recognise them, the British political discourse is analysed from two perspectives: its use and its content.

Integration policy has been shown to have implications beyond acculturation and adaptation of refugees to the host society, extending to social cohesion and peaceful coexistence. While most studies focus on state-centred structural or... more

Integration policy has been shown to have implications beyond acculturation and adaptation of refugees to the host society, extending to social cohesion and peaceful coexistence. While most studies focus on state-centred structural or ideological variables in explaining integration policy across countries, variation between local-level policy practices illustrate there is more to integration policy than national level-factors. Following the literature on the local turn in integration studies, the proposed study aims to look beyond the national level explanations and common accounts for local level variation, such as income level or ideological orientation. Instead, less investigated factors are identified based on two district municipalities of Istanbul (Sultanbeyli and Şişli) in an attempt to illustrate the multi-level character of their similar immigrant integration policies. Upon discussing the national and local policy contexts for refugee integration, policy processes of these two distinct municipalities will be unpacked to find what they have in common, using a ‘most different systems’ comparative design. Based on in-depth interviews with local-level policy actors, this study unveils potential reasons for their highly inclusive integration policy grounded in their multi-level networks.

This article introduces the dossier 'Spatializing Transnational History: European spaces and territories'. It examines the intersections between transnational history and the so-called 'spatial turn' in social sciences, and points at... more

This article introduces the dossier 'Spatializing Transnational History: European spaces and territories'. It examines the intersections between transnational history and the so-called 'spatial turn' in social sciences, and points at future directions in historical research. It reviews two main different methodological approaches to the problem of space in transnational, comparative and global history and examines recent contributions on the history of territory. Finally, it introduces the contributions to this dossier, which approach the history of modern Europe from a number of transnational and spatial perspectives. The dossier argues that incorporating a combination of spatial approaches, ranging from the examination of transnational spaces, to the interplay between different scales of analysis, and to the historicization of territoriality, into the practice of transnational, comparative and global history may contribute to a deeper, wider and more complex understanding of 'Europe'.

Europeizace představuje teoretický koncept, který je znám a rozvíjen v České republice téměř dvacet let. Tato publikace jistým způsobem uceluje dosavadní poznání konceptu, přičemž se zaměřuje na teoretické uchopení fenoménu jako metody... more

Europeizace představuje teoretický koncept, který je znám a rozvíjen v České republice téměř dvacet let. Tato publikace jistým způsobem uceluje dosavadní poznání konceptu, přičemž se zaměřuje na teoretické uchopení fenoménu jako metody použitelné pro výzkum v oblasti politologie a práva. Monografie obsahuje osm výzkumných otázek, které jsou formulovány tak, aby vedly k prozkoumání mechanismů a různých pojetí europeizace. Byť je výzkum veden jako exploratorní teoretická případová studie, v řadě částí jde nad rámec exploratorního charakteru a obohacuje poznání o vlastní výzkum. Publikace je členěna do osmi kapitol, které postupně odhalují různé dimenze fenoménu. První kapitola se zaměřuje na rozmanitost pojetí europeizace a srovnání podstaty definic nejvýznamnějších autorů. Kapitola má za cíl zjistit, co je europeizací. Druhá kapitola se zaměřuje na působení europeizace na národní úroveň, která je v rámci teorie nejvíc rozpracována. Jelikož tento proces má významnou právní dimenzi, je této dimenzi věnována samostatná kapitola představující rozmanitost přístupu v rámci právní vědy. Čtvrtá kapitola se zabývá reakcí státu a společnosti na europeizaci s důrazem na některé negativní efekty, které europeizace může vyvolat. Pátá kapitola rozvíjí pohled “dovnitř státu” a zkoumá vliv europeizace na politické strany, zájmové skupiny a občanskou společnost. Zvláštní kapitola je věnována také europeizaci veřejné správy. Zatímco předchozí dvě kapitoly se zabývaly europeizací s důrazem na její adresáty (aktéry), sedmá kapitola řeší europeizaci politik v kontextu policy analysis, kdy demonstruje vysokou uchopitelnost teoretického konceptu. Poslední kapitola se věnuje europeizaci mimo EU, která působí prostřednictvím odlišných mechanismů, než je tomu v případě členských nebo kandidátských zemí. Po přečtení publikace čtenář získá dobrý přehled o vhodnosti a využitelnosti konceptu europeizace pro analýzu, jakožto se seznámí i s některými úskalími tohoto konceptu a dosavadním zpracováním tématu v českém i zahraničním prostředí.

This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach beyond New Institutionalisms in Integration theories. The objective is to review the concept of EU integration as a resource for... more

This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach beyond New Institutionalisms in Integration theories. The objective is to review the concept of EU integration as a resource for Europeanization, democratic culture, and institutions rather than a political consequence from the economic spillover. Referring to levels of sociological knowledge, ontology is assumed as the foundation of epistemology, which directs to empirical observations. The empirical grounding is then provided by considering significant interdisciplinary areas of Integration Theories and communication studies by adequately acknowledging existing literature on how Europeanization is conceptualized and by anchoring theoretical framework to events of societal mobilization in three nonmember states with European integration prospects. In the conceptual modeling of the article, cognitive concepts related to Integration Theories are used to help the reader understand and test the subject of Europeanization through the Norbert Elias model of integrating disciplinary perspectives and micro-macro level and theory-method-data. By relating the smallest parts (such as words in an actual discourse) to the largest wholes (such as general theories, social institutions, historical periods, and civilizations), the explanatory logic concludes that in representative democracies with autocratic tendencies, Europeanization is conceptualized as something to struggle and fight for rather than an automatic outcome. The effort to bring historical evidences from the ground through media reports and direct testimony of the events, in a comparative approach, aims to provide a more complete framework on recent events occurred almost contemporarily. The cases of the Albanian “November Movement,” Ukrainian “EuroMaiden,” and Turkish “Gezi Protests” are chosen for their assumed and proven similitude of new political actors such as civil society, protesters, investigative and social media, and human rights international organizations or observers present in domestic environment. The article demonstrates the role played by assumptions, emotions, and instincts in building theoretical perspectives of European integration in both economic and political terms. On the other hand, it recommends that the interchanging of the New Institutionalisms as suggested by Hall and Taylor may be the appropriate approach to understand local events and the influence played by the sociopolitical context in Integration Theory and the concept of Europeanization.

Working from an interdisciplinary perspective that draws on the social sciences, legal studies, and the humanities, this book investigates the causes and effects of the extremities experienced by migrants. Firstly, the volume analyses the... more

Working from an interdisciplinary perspective that draws on the social sciences, legal studies, and the humanities, this book investigates the causes and effects of the extremities experienced by migrants. Firstly, the volume analyses the development and political-cultural conditions of current practices and discourses of “bordering,” “illegality,” and “irregularization.” Secondly, it focuses on the varieties of irregularization and on the diversity of the fields, techniques and effects involved in this variegation. Thirdly, the book examines examples of resistance that migrants and migratory cultures have developed in order to deal with the predicaments they face. The book uses the European Union as its case study, exploring practices and discourses of bordering, border control, and migration regulation. But the significance of this field extends well beyond the European context as the monitoring of Europe’s borders increasingly takes place on a global scale and reflects an internationally increasing trend.

Giriş: Kadife Devrimler ve Orta Avrupa'da değişim ve dönüşüm süreci 1989 yılı, hem dünya politikası için, hem de Avrupa coğrafyasının güvenlik çıkarlarının tanımlanması açısından bir dönüm noktası olarak ele alınmaktadır. Yirminci... more

Giriş: Kadife Devrimler ve Orta Avrupa'da değişim ve dönüşüm süreci 1989 yılı, hem dünya politikası için, hem de Avrupa coğrafyasının güvenlik çıkarlarının tanımlanması açısından bir dönüm noktası olarak ele alınmaktadır. Yirminci yüzyılın büyük bir bölümüne egemen olan ideolojik nitelikteki kutuplaşmanın ortadan kaybolması, her ne kadar seksenli yıllardaki siyasal gelişmeler çerçevesinde beklenilen bir olgu olarak değerlendirilse de, Orta ve Doğu Avrupa ülkelerinde iktidar değişikliklerine yol açan ve "kadife devrimler" adıyla anılan değişim rüzgârlarının bu kadar hızlı esmesi beklenmiyordu. Otoriter eğilimli merkezi hükümet yapılarından liberal ve demokratik rejim denemelerine geçiş süreci, özellikle Orta Avrupa coğrafyasında 1989 yılında başlamıştı. Nitekim bu değişim rüzgârları, iki yıl içinde de Soğuk Savaş döneminin başlıca kutuplarından birisini de etkileyecek ve dünya politikasında iki kutupluluğun tamamen sona erdiği, ancak daha karmaşık yapıların ve devletdışı aktörlerin varolduğu yeni bir düzen anlayışının ortaya çıkmasını sağlayacaktı; Varşova Paktı'nın ortadan kalkması, SSCB'nin dağılması ve Avrasya coğrafyasında kimlik arayışlarıyla bağımsızlıklarını tanımlama çabasındaki yeni cumhuriyetler, bu yeni uluslararası düzenin içinde Doğu Avrupa coğrafyasının ötesindeki belirsizlikleri birer endişe konusu olarak dünya politikasının gündemine oturtmaktaydı. 1989 sonrasında uluslararası sistemdeki değişim süreci, Orta ve Doğu Avrupa ülkelerinde birçok farklı dönüşüm söyleminin ve yönteminin benimsenmesine yol açmıştı.

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Recenzent: Mgr. Richard Stojar, PhD. Koordinátor konferenčného zborníka: Ing. Tigran Aleksanyan Text prešiel jazykovou úpravou. © NARMSP, Bratislava, 2010 ISBN 978-80-88957-52-2 Všetky práva vyhradené. Žiadna časť tohto konferenčného... more

Recenzent: Mgr. Richard Stojar, PhD. Koordinátor konferenčného zborníka: Ing. Tigran Aleksanyan Text prešiel jazykovou úpravou. © NARMSP, Bratislava, 2010 ISBN 978-80-88957-52-2 Všetky práva vyhradené. Žiadna časť tohto konferenčného zborníka nesmie byť použitá v písomnej podobe bez uvedenia jeho zdroja.

What makes up a capital city? In this first comprehensive look at the architectural and urban visions for a European capital, Hein examines how these visions compare to the reality of the three headquarter cities for the European Union:... more

What makes up a capital city? In this first comprehensive look at the architectural and urban visions for a European capital, Hein examines how these visions compare to the reality of the three headquarter cities for the European Union: Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Brussels. Tracing the history of the EU and its creation of the new political entity of the polycentric capital, Hein explores the impact that European unification has on visionary projects and the transformation of EU member cities. Widely researched, the book also brings in architectural projects that have remained largely unknown until now. Using architectural and urban history as a lens, Hein examines the past five decades of European unification. Also analyzed for the first time are the debates, plans, projects, and constructions-both realized and failed-that accompanied this process. Looking to the future, Hein asserts that the task of these three capital cities is to balance the needs of a collective Europe with national, local, and-increasingly-regional demands.

"After a concise introduction into Todorova's assumptions and approaches concerning the phenomenon of "Balkanism", I am going to examine whether the concept, which is linked to the Balkans as a historical region, can be applied to the... more

"After a concise introduction into Todorova's assumptions and approaches concerning the phenomenon of "Balkanism", I am going to examine whether the concept, which is linked to the Balkans as a historical region, can be applied to the seemingly neutral geopolitical EU-term Western Balkans. In the consequence, we have to shed some light on the enlargement process of the EU as such, and how it is adapted for the respective countries. Then some key documents from 2010 will be inspected, especially the conclusion papers by the European Commission addressed to the European parliament, which examine the overall progress of the countries who wish to join the EU. These documents, together with opinion communiqués and some general information, form the analytical corpus of this paper. In the consequence, a synthesis and comparison follow, where the results of the document analysis are faced with the critical Balkanism concept. Maybe we can detect a similarly negative insider-outsider discourse at hand like in the case of Turkey's EU aspirations [Madeker 2005: esp.
179-80], which is simultaneously overshadowed with emotional and historical-affective reasons instead of mere political, economic or judicial arguments against soon EU membership."

This article argues that a discursive–sociological approach to study Europeanization is particularly apt for understanding the dynamics of policy change in Europe. It does so by bringing closer the agenda of discursive institutionalism... more

This article argues that a discursive–sociological approach to study Europeanization is particularly apt for understanding the dynamics of policy change in Europe. It does so by bringing closer the agenda of discursive institutionalism (DI) and gender policy analysis, drawing upon the recent sociological and discursive turns in the study of the domestic impact of Europe, and the long-term interest of gender policy analysis for discursive framings, norm diffusion, actors' interactions and EU soft policy instruments. Challenging the limitations of Europeanization studies that only focus on convergence , the article explores the contribution that both Schmidt's DI and discursive gender approaches make to the understanding of policy change in Europe. While seeing the two approaches as complementary in the study of Europeanization, the article discusses the added value of gender approaches for improving our understanding of policy change in Europe.

Why and how did a peaceful process of democratic change overcome a state socialist regime in the Soviet Union that had long demonstrated its willingness to use force in defense of the status quo? Why did Mikhail Gorbachev not follow... more

Why and how did a peaceful process of democratic change overcome a state socialist regime in the Soviet Union that had long demonstrated its willingness to use force in defense of the status quo? Why did Mikhail Gorbachev not follow Winston Churchill’s famous refusal to preside over the demise of the imperial system that he was chosen to lead? This article rejects claims that these changes resulted simply from the instrumental (and increasingly desperate) initiatives of politically conservative elites motivated by concern about the Soviet Union’s economic decline and lack of strategic competitiveness. Instead, it focuses on the effects of ideas about human rights that were embedded in European institutions and disseminated throughout the Soviet Union by a transnational network of human rights activists and other dissidents.

This article investigates the family backgrounds of aristocratic participants in the First Crusade. Through an examination of these it explores the ways in which their decision to join the crusade was influenced by the examples of the... more

This article investigates the family backgrounds of aristocratic participants in the First Crusade. Through an examination of these it explores the ways in which their decision to join the crusade was influenced by the examples of the previous generation of conquerors, the participants in the invasion of Sicily in 1061, the expedition to England in 1066 and the conflicts on the Iberian peninsula. In this way it opens a discussion about the motives and
expectation of the First Crusaders. It argues that dreams of conquest and the desire to match an older generation’s martial and political achievements may have been as important a factor in motivating crusaders as religious ideals.

The European Union’s (EU) impact on the political systems of its member states as well as countries within enlargement and neighborhood policy has been broadly analyzed, particularly in the context of the democratization process. However,... more

The European Union’s (EU) impact on the political systems of its member states as well as countries within enlargement and neighborhood policy has been broadly analyzed, particularly in the context of the democratization process. However, there have been some political changes in recent years that justify the question of whether we still can talk about the continuation of Europeanization and democratization or have started to observe a disruption of these processes, or even their reversal. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the phenomena of de-Europeanization and de-democratization, looking at the current political changes in selected “new” member states or candidates for EU membership (Hungary, Poland, and Turkey) to better understand the core problems of their democratization processes and, at the same time, the obstacles to effective Europeanization.