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The process of Europeanisation initiated in Turkey following the 1999 Helsinki summit witnessed a loosening of state control over the Patriarchate of Constantinople under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In parallel with the AKP's reforms geared towards EU membership, the Patriarchate's activities became more transnational in their character, especially with regards to its organisation and influence over religious affairs within the Christian world. This contribution traces change and continuity in Turkish policy towards the Patriarchate under the AKP government. Key differences between the AKP government's stance on the Patriarchate and those of its predecessors are noted, with specific reference to prospects of EU membership and the strategy that has been devised by the AKP to that end. Specifically, the contribution shows that Turkey's bid to join the EU initially presented important leverage over Turkey, allowing the Patriarchate to reassert its transnational character. However, diminished prospects of EU membership together with a gradual return of nationalist sentiment now present an important challenge for the Patriarchate in its efforts to maintain transnational character and influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have identified stateless nationalist and regionalist parties (SNRPs) as ardent supporters of Europe. This support has been explained as a result of positive developments in supranational integration that convinced these actors that Europe could facilitate the achievement of their territorial demands. Other work, however, leads to an expectation that SNRPs that mobilise within island regions that are geographically distant from the European centre of power (Brussels) will adopt more Eurosceptic positions. This article aims to test these competing hypotheses about the positioning of SNRPs on Europe. It does so by examining the attitudes of SNRPs in two island regions in the Mediterranean: Corsica and Sardinia. The findings suggest that SNRPs in both places cannot be adequately categorised as either Europhile or Eurosceptic. The article examines the role of several context- and actor-specific factors in shaping the complex positioning of island nationalists in Corsica and Sardinia on the issue of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broad objective of this article is to explore the interaction between nationalism and Europeanisation, and the impact of this interaction on constitutionalism at the level of EU member states, using Hungary as a case study. The country reasserted its identity as a kin-state after regime change in 1990, with the relationship between ethnicity/national identity and political community repeatedly taking centre stage in political life and in the field of citizenship legislation. At the same time, the country actively pursued integration into the EU, including a constitutional amendment allowing accession. Despite the potential implications of joining a supranational political entity for the definition of political community, the two parallel processes remained largely disconnected in the political discourse and the broader debate on constitutionalism in the EU has found less resonance in domestic politics than controversy over citizenship and national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeanization -- as the process of standardization of public policies in order to provide a common ground for the new modus operandi in politics and of the polity itself -- requires an overall reshaping of the political discourse in the acceding countries during the process of EU accession. This means the reshaping of the basic political concepts and political paradigms under way in one country. Security is one of the main concepts upon which the existence of a polity is based. The way in which security is conceived determines the political strategy, political tactics and political activities pertinent to the goal set up and formulated in a security concept. Croatia, as an acceding country, needs to refurbish its basic political values, and security certainly falls within this frame. Croatia adopted its National Security Strategy in 2002 and this security concept was an obvious product of concrete circumstances, experiences and political discourse of the time. As the author asserts, the concept of security laid down in this security strategy belongs to an obsolete frame of mind, arising from a traumatic decade of ethnic wars, nationalism and a controversial transition. Croatia has emerged from the post-conflict traumatic experience and the period of an authoritarian transition, in which the adaptation to new values was slow and turbulent. The National Security Strategy of the Republic of Croatia reflects these contradictions and controversies in its society and its international environment. This work claims that the national security concept of Croatia relied greatly on the classical approach to state security and did not reflect the latest development in the field of strategic thinking. As an example, the author points to the gap between the Croatian national security concept and its basic values and the concept of human security, as laid down in the UNDP basic documents on human development. In addition, it did not reflect the concept of cooperative security that requires from a nation to work in an international context in order to avoid transnational threats. Croatia needs the Europeanization of the security discourse and the reformulation of a new National Security Strategy, pertinent to its membership in the NATO and in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis is the property of Klaipeda University, Institute of Baltic Region History & Archaeology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)