Methodological approaches to the Europeanization in EU new member and candidate states

Maleshevich A.V.,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, anastasia.maleshevich@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 1147867 | ORCID: 0000-0001-6894-3978 | RESEARCHER_ID: AHC-4463-2022

Article received: 2021.09.16. Accepted: 2022.06.14

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2023.01.11
EDN: ZSIUIR

Rubric: Theory and methodology of political studies

For citation:

Maleshevich A.V. Methodological approaches to the Europeanization in EU new member and candidate states. – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No. 1. P. 147-158. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.01.11. EDN: ZSIUIR

Abstract

The article reviews the existing methodological approaches to the domestic impact of European Integration which constitutes the research field of Europeanization. The enlargement of the European Union posed a question on its transformative power beyond the then-existing borders. This framework implies Central and Eastern European countries that are now considered as new members and the actual candidate states from the “Western Balkans” region. Analytical focus is based on the proposition that above-mentioned states, as opposed to the old EU members, experience strict conditionality during the accession process. One-sided imposition of rules reflects the power asymmetry and leads to the necessity to comply with conditionality principles of European Integration regardless of whether they are in line with domestic institutional structure or sensitive aspects of national identity. Another similarity of new member and candidate states is their socialist legacy which of itself contradicts the EU’s normative set. It is argued that the dominance of new institutionalism approaches to analyzing the EU integration impact on domestic politics, policy and polity of the countries in the different phases of accession is problematic. Principal limits of such approaches, including their constructivist versions, are attributed to the positivist epistemology that is not being put into question. Recent developments have revealed the importance of resorting to social identities in explaining compliance or non-compliance issues but still this category is being used in the framework of actors’ behavior. At the same time, the impact of European integration on the content of identities as discourses is almost completely ignored. Poststructuralist perspective is regarded as highly promising methodological tool to understand the Europeanization in the context of power asymmetry.

Keywords

Europeanization, European integration, conditionality, constructivism, new institutionalism, national identity, discourse analysis.

Full Text

References

Archer, M. (1982). Morphogenesis versus structuration: on combining structure and action. The British Journal of Sociology, 33(4), 455-482. https://doi.org/10.2307/589357

Bieber, F. (Ed.) (2003). EU conditionality in the Western Balkans. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.

Borzel, T. (2002). States and regions in the European Union: institutional adaptation in Germany and Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Borzel, T., & Risse, T. (2000). When Europe hits home: Europeanization and domestic change. European Integration Online Papers, 4(15). https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.302768

Borzel, T., & Risse, T. (2003). Conceptualizing the domestic impact of Europe. In K. Featherstone, & C. Radaelli (Ed.), The Politics of Europeanization (pp. 55-79). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bulmer, S. (2008). Theorizing Europeanization. In P. Graziano, & M. Vink (Ed.) Europeanization: New Research Agendas (pp. 46-58). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bulmer, S. (2009). Politics in time meets the politics of time: historical institutionalism and the EU timescape. Journal of European Public Policy, 16(2), 307-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760802589347

Caporaso, J. (2008). The three worlds of regional integration Theory. In P. Graziano, & M. Vink (Ed.) Europeanization: New Research Agendas (pp. 23-34). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Checkel, J. (2001). Why comply? Social learning and European identity change. International Organization, 55(3), 553-588. https://doi.org/10.1162/00208180152507551

Checkel, J. (2006). Constructivist approaches to European integration. ARENA Working Papers, 6.

Cowles, M., Caporaso, J., & Risse, T. (Ed.) (2001). Transforming Europe: Europeanization and domestic change. London: Cornell University Press.

Diez, T. (2001). Europe as a discursive battleground: discourse analysis and European integration studies. Cooperation and Conflict, 36(1), 5-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/00108360121962245

Džankić, J., Keil, S., & Kmezić, M. (Ed.) (2019). The Europeanization of the Western Balkans. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Featherstone, K., & Radaelli, C. (Ed.) (2003). The politics of Europeanization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Freyburg, T., & Richter, S. (2010). National identity matters: the limited impact of EU political conditionality in the Western Balkans. Journal of European Public Policy, 17(2), 263-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760903561450

Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Goetz, K., & Hix, S. (Eds.) (2000). Europeanized politics? European integration and national political systems. London: Frank Cass.

Grabbe, H. (2002). Europeanization goes East: power and uncertainty in the EU accession process. In K. Featherstone, & C. Radaelli (Ed.), The politics of Europeanization (pp. 303-328). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Graziano, P., & Vink, M. (2013). Europeanization: concept, theory, and methods. In S. Bulmer, & C. Lesquene (Ed.), The Member States of European Union (pp. 31-54). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Graziano, P., & Vink, M. (Ed.). (2008). Europeanization. New research agendas. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230584525

Haas, E.B. (1958). The uniting of Europe: political, social, and economic forces, 1950-1957. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Hoffmann, S. (1966). Obstinate or obsolete? The fate of the nation-state and the case of Western Europe. Daedalus, 95, 862-915.

Hooghe, L. (1996). Cohesion policy and European integration: building multi-level governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hughes, J., Sasse, G., & Gordon, C. (2004). Europeanization and regionalization in the EU’s enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe: the myth of conditionality. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jacoby, W. (2004). The enlargement of the European Union and NATO: ordering from the menu in Central Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Knill, C., & Lehmkuhl, D. (1999). How European matters: different mechanisms of Europeanization. European Integration Online Papers, 3(7). http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/1999-007a.htm

Ladrech, R. (1994). Europeanization of domestic politics and institutions: the case of France. Journal of Common Market Studies, 32(1), 69-88. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.1994.tb00485.x

Lavenex, S. (2004). EU external governance in “Wider Europe”. Journal of European Public Policy, 11(4), 680-700. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350176042000248098

Lindberg, L. (1963). The politics of European economic integration. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Manners, I. (2002). Normative power Europe: a contradiction in terms. Journal of Common Market Studies, 20(2), 235-258. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5965.00353

March, J., & Olsen, J. (1998). The institutional dynamics of international political orders. International Organization, 52(4), 943-969. https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898550699

Moravcsik, A. (1993). Preferences and power in the European community: A liberal intergovernmentalist approach. Journal of Common Market Studies, 31(4), 473-524. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.1993.tb00477.x

Olsen, J.P. (2002). The many faces of Europeanization. Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(5), 921-952. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5965.00403

Radaelli, C. (2000). Whither Europeanization? Concept stretching and substantive change. European Integration Online Papers, 4(8). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=302761

Radaelli, C. (2002). The domestic impact of European union public policy: notes on concepts, methods, and the challenge of empirical research. Politique Europeenne, 1(5), 105-136. https://doi.org/10.3917/poeu.005.0105

Radaelli, C., & Pacquier, R. (2008). Conceptual issues. In P. Graziano, & M. Vink (Ed.), Europeanization (pp. 239-252). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Radeljić, B. (2013). Europe and the post-Yugoslav space. Routledge. 2013.

Schimmelfennig F., Sedelmeier U. (Eds.) (2005). The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe. Cornell University Press.

Schimmelfenning, F., & Sedelmeier, U. (2004). Governance by conditionality: EU rule transfer to the candidate countries of Сentral and Eastern Europe. Journal of European Public Policy, 11(4), 669-687. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350176042000248089

Sedelmeier, U. (2011). Europeanization in new member and candidate states. Living Reviews in European Governance, 6(1), 1-52. https://doi.org/10.12942/lreg-2011-1

Stone Sweet, A., & Sandholtz, W. (1997). European integration and supranational governance. Journal of European Public Policy, 4(3) 297-317. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501769780000011

Vachudova, M. (2014). EU leverage and national interests in the Balkans: the puzzles of enlargement ten years on. Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(1), 122-138. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12081

Vink, M. (2003). What is Europeanization? And other questions on a new research agenda. European Political Science, 3(1), 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2003.36

Wendt, A. (1999). Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wiener, A., & Diez, T. (2009). European Integration Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gromoglasova, E.S. (2010). Concept of Europeanization in Western political studies. Moscow University Bulletin of World Politics, 4, 27-43. (In Russ.)

Latkina, V.A. (2013). Europeanization as a socio-political phenomenon. International Trends, 11(1), 49-62. (In Russ.) EDN: RVERLJ.

Content No. 1, 2023