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This article delves into the intricate relationship between contested state- hood and European Union (EU) integration, explicitly focusing on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Since the early 1990s, amidst the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the EU’s enlargement efforts, BiH has grappled with challenges to its statehood, which have impeded its alignment with EU requirements. Despite being universally recognised as an independent state, BiH faces internal contestation, evident in its consociational constitutional framework and the divergent nationalist narratives among constituent groups. Moreover, while BiH maintains external sovereignty, it coexists with significant international oversight, complicating its path toward EU integration. The EU’s expansion into internally contested states like BiH necessitates a nuanced approach considering the entanglement of Europeanisation and de-Daytonisation processes. This article emphasises the complexity of BiH’s governance landscape, where internal dynamics and external influences converge, creating formidable obstacles to sovereignty assertion and governance efficacy. To surmount these challenges, BiH must address internal divisions, foster inclusive governance mechanisms and balance external supervision and internal autonomy. In shedding light on how contested statehood influences the EU’s role and policies, the article discusses the concept of ‘complex sovereignty’, particularly relevant to BiH’s context.

This paper deals with the sluggish Europeanisation efforts of the current political elites of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A typical explanation for the lack of progress would be the complex structure of consociational democracy of the specific Bosnian confederation. The authors, however, claim that the structural obstacles could have been bypassed given the real will of political elites of all three nations to cooperate. The authors examine the role of the structure of the peculiar political system in comparison with the influence of the agency of Bosnian elites on the integration process. The empirical analysis focuses on the situation after the general elections in 2018. The authors discuss the contrast between the official declarations of consistent support for a European future with the real political performance of the various Bosnian party elites. These elites often misuse the institutional settings of the political system to block reforms. They also prefer the politics of obstruction to cement their leading positions within their constituent nations. More than a quarter century after the Dayton Peace Treaty and adoption of the Constitution, the lack of genuine intrinsic motivation to pursue Europeanisation has remained the main reason for the reluctant rapprochement of Bosnia to the European Union.

Three decades since the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism, some of the Balkan nations are not following yet the lessons for building sustainable peace and functioning democracies according to their aspirations (at least in a declarative way) for association with the liberal democracies of the European Union (EU). Rather, the Balkans’ history is transforming into a story of importing the habits and principles from the communism period in a paradoxical way of establishing the illiberal democracies followed by controversies and defects in the process of state-building. More than a decade, the Balkans, from one side, is transformed into a zone of periphery with a focus of the European determination for the support of the institutional reform through the process of integration, but in parallel, it is being self-formatted into a zone of self-isolation of the Balkan nations. This article will discuss the transition paradigm of the Balkans through functional analysis of aspects related to the rhetoric of Balkan countries in the discourse of the criteria of the European integration project; the dimension of the Balkan ancient myth with the new additional attribute of self-isolation; the insisting of the Balkan political elites for catapulting to the European project; and as well as the dynamics of the transition, internal and European integration of the Albanians and other nations of the Balkan region in the general

The article investigates the interrelationship between Lithuanian civil service reform initiatives and administrative Europeanisation processes by identifying the role and approaches of Lithuanian parliamentary elites in the process of the implementation of reforms during the period of membership in the EU. The research was based on the qualitative content analysis of primary sources, the records of the Lithuanian Government activities, and the qualitative analysis of the secondary sources including research literature and other documents and records, semi-structured qualitative interview. Research gives an opportunity to estimate the level of institutionalisation of pro-European values amongst parliamentary elites and their contributions to the implementation of administrative Europeanisation. According to the research findings, administrative Europeanisation agenda is not a priority for Lithuanian parliamentary elites per se, however, pro-European attitudes are fixed.

The topicality of the neighborhood Europeanization through ENP is undoubtful, particularly due to the fact that the Republic of Moldova has taken a claimable European integration direction and is striving to fulfill the requirements stipulated in the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. The paper aims to provide an overview of both the theoretical aspects by defining and explaining the concept of Europeanization and the background of ENP and how these concepts are practically realized in the attempt to achieve the Europeanization of the Republic of Moldova and understand what bottlenecks should be tackled in order to make a better use of this policy in its pursuit of the European goal. A special attention is allocated to the assessment of the citizen perceptions about EU in general and EU-Moldova relations in particular, common beliefs that have been created among citizens with reference to the EU and the role of the EU as a key player in the Eastern Neighbourhood in general and Europeanisation of the Republic of Moldova. A survey was applied on 173 respondents. Results show that in general Moldovan citizens have a positive belief about the EU, are aware about the EU financial support Moldova received so far and consider EU as a reliable partner from which Moldova has a lot to learn in terms of democracy, law supremacy, human rights and economic development.

In the light of domestic coordination processes in federal states, this article deals with the interplay of domestic governmental and non-governmental actors in the development of a German position for negotiations in the EU youth policy field. The qualitative single-case study is embedded in the evaluation of the German implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (2010-2018). It focusses on the roles, mutual perceptions, conflicts, and resulting action strategies of the different actors involved in the domestic coordination processes. In doing so, the article adds to the debate on Europeanisation and domestic coordination processes in federalist states by facilitating an understanding of the extent to which differing framework conditions of a specific policy field at the domestic and EU-Level can influence domestic policy coordination and its bottom-up processes. The analysis reveals a discrepancy between the intentions of the actors to work together based on a multi-level governance approach, and a reality in which the Federal Ministry assumes a gatekeeper function. The problems following this discrepancy can be explained on the one hand by different perceptions and expectations the actors have towards the coordination process and on the other hand by a lack of a youth policy culture of debate. The article shows how these problems lead to different action strategies by the domestic actors and the use of different pathways to bring their interests to the EU level. Simultaneously, the findings show that these different strategies of action can successfully lead to a stronger German position, provided these pathways are used in a coordinated manner. The analysis shows that a domestic coordination process involving both governmental and non-governmental actors from different levels working together on an equal footing by using a multi-level governance approach, can only function in federal policy cooperation processes when the actors focus on content-related discussions rather than formal forms of cooperation.

This article examines the developments around the application of the Twinning modality in Serbia, from 2004 to 2019, its sectoral distribution and impact, and the frequency of EU member states’ participation. Besides providing an accurate state-of-play, it attempts, for the first time in the literature, to map the influence of member states in Serbia’s EU accession process through their participation in Twinning projects. Findings show that, in the given period, more than half of the Twinning projects dealt with the justice and home affairs and agriculture policy areas. This is in line with the importance attributed to those sectors in EU and Serbian strategic documents. The article focuses on a macro-analysis of such projects in Serbia, revitalising their link with the wider Europeanisation process. More specifically, the identification of specific aspects of the Europeanisation process takes place through Radaelli’s approach. Furthermore, political and economic relations between Serbia and EU member states, which are viewed as Europeanisation facilitating factors and goals, are also discussed, e.g. through bilateral trade and the influx of Foreign Direct Investments.

The end of the Cold War resulted in an unprecedented geopolitical situation in Europe, presenting a challenge to the security in the continent and the integration achieved so far. The only solution to this geopolitical problem was the integration of the post-communist Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) into the European Union (EU). The CEE countries therefore had to undergo deep societal reforms, while simultaneously pursuing a new foreign policy agenda away from the orbits of Russia. The EU was perceived as a solution to all existing problems. The results of the research conducted in Bulgaria, presented in this article, demonstrate that preparation for meeting the membership criteria which on the surface seemed to correspond to the aims of the transition, substituted the due structural reform. Thus, the EU accession instead of being an instrument for achieving sustainable long-term goals, became an end goal in itself, as if it would be an international testimony of a successful transition. The reforms carried out became a formality, were partial and superficial, and therefore reversible. As a result, the rule of law is deteriorating, and we can observe a facade democracy.

As part of former Yugoslavia and non -members of the Eastern Bloc, Slovenia and Montenegro enjoyed a special status and relationships with the European Communities (EC) before most other socialist countries. Economic and social interactions with the EC and its member states thus formed part of Slovenian and Montenegrin life even during socialism, particularly after Yugoslavia signed special agreements on trade relations with the EC in the 1970s and 1980s. In this respect, Europeanisation as ‘practical’ integration with the EC was closely linked with liberalisation processes concerning the economy, society and politics along with democratic transition processes that began in the late 1980s. When Slovenia joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 following a relatively smooth integration process, Montenegro was still holding EU candidate member status, after having officially started its accession negotiations in June 2012. The article analyses selected development and integration aspects of Slovenia and Montenegro, their relationship with the EU, together with their similarities and differences. The aim is to highlight developments in both countries and determine whether Slovenia, as an ex -Yugoslav republic and EU member since 2004, may serve as a good example for Montenegro to follow while pursuing European integration.

BEven though the European Union’s policy for regional development addresses higher education institutions, there is little research on the relationship between EU regional and higher education (HE) policies. To account for the role of EU regional policy instruments such as the European Territorial Cooperation programmes, i.e. Interreg, in fostering EU HE policy, this paper adopts a theoretical framework that unites assumptions of top-down and bottom-up Europeanisation. Two cooperation initiatives, located in the Greater Region and around Lake Constance, reveal the impact of Europeanisation on cross-border cooperation (CBC) among HE institutions. The data of 34 semi-structured interviews conducted with various stakeholders at the locations of the two initiatives and in Brussels demonstrates that Interreg alters actor constellations and interests in cross-border contexts. When conceived as an opportunity structure, Interreg may foster the CBC efforts of HE institutions. Given that Interreg also displays a constraint, HE institutions attempt to contribute to both EU regional and HE policy development.

EU transformative power is put into question and constantly challenged by the political actions of leaders in the Western Balkans. Although the political elites in this region have internalised a pro-European discourse, they are still guided and governed by authoritarian logic and practices colliding with the EU’s governing model. The paper analyses precisely this relationship between the EU and internal politics, namely, the transformative power/powerlessness of the EU towards the aspiring countries for membership in a single dimension; namely, justice. The paper reviews the reforms developed and the effects they have produced in the justice system in a calculation relation: costs and benefits. In this logic, this paper analyses costs and benefits of the internal elites of the Western Balkans, representing a classic oxymoron. On the one hand, pro-EU discourse is superficially used and, on the other, substantive actions are far from the EU’s governing model. The central argument emphasises that the reform process in the region has turned into a repetitive system of itself and destined to fail right from the beginning. So, we see a loss in reforms and plunging into a vicious circle, whereby each time elements increase and intensify but deteriorate one another, inevitably leading to the deterioration of the situation and producing multidimensional corruption.

The article presents the conceptualisations that constitute the theoretical basis of a new study pursuing sociological understanding of some major social changes which have affected Polish cities in recent years. Poland has increasingly aligned itself with European countries in terms of political, socio-economic and cultural development. New flows of international immigration, meaning new individuals choosing Poland as the country where to work and settle, are making Polish cities more diverse and complex, both in a material and in a cultural way. The new research focuses on the role of foreigners as actors of urban diversification in Poland, analysing features of globalising cities, processes of Europeanisation, migrants’ discursive categorisation and anchoring. The article is conceived as a selection of critical problematisations.

Abstract The geopolitical condition in Eastern Europe brings about a new dynamic of governance. The neighbourhood matters for the EU, even more so after the 2000's enlargements. This paper analyses the Europeanisation dynamics in the Republic of Moldova as a case for a critical view of the EU's modern external governance to the Eastern borders.

Discursive approaches to Europe usually focus on elite discourses and target a narrow political understanding of Europe. Against the backdrop of rising Euroscepticism and the known elite-mass divide on issues of European identity, it seems important to shift the focus toward non-elite discourses on Europe. Given that club football is largely Europeanised (player markets, continent-wide club competitions and broadcasting of matches), we analyse how fans of the English Premier League club Manchester United discursively construct ‘Europe’ in relation to their sport. Our main research question aims at identifying how identifications of fans have been unconsciously Europeanised in the wake of an ongoing Europeanisation of the game. We explore online discourses on rivalry, competition and player transfers in club football as these areas are strongly influenced by the interplay of national and European inclinations. Preliminary results of our qualitative content analysis demonstrate that Manchester United fans, inasmuch as their club ‘goes Europe’ on a frequent basis, have developed transnational perspectives on football. Distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are not predominantly based on nationality, even though they remain complex. However, European orientations (not the European Union as such) seem to play more of a prominent role than commonly assumed.

International economic relations are increasingly governed by trade agreements that give rise to regional associations. In this context, main socio-economic paradigms expand and, as a result, processes such as Europeanisation in the case of European Union emerge. A key foundation of Europeanisation is the adoption of regulation according to EU acquis by ascending member and partner countries. Besides the prospects of massive adoption of regulation and application of related enforcement, an important mechanism for paradigm expansion is the implementation of culture change in the regulation framework. The paper discusses Europeanisation in the light of the theory of institutional culture change as a planning and public policy instrument. The impact of institutional cultural change is examined in the context of regulation, by using as a special case the competition framework. The advantages and difficulties of promoting competition culture are discussed in an international context and with regard to transition economies subject to Europeanisation, taking developments in Moldova as a case-study. The main finding is that culture change implementation must be incorporated into the strategic planning of regulatory authorities to mitigate the risk of possible policy erosion or bottlenecks.

The present paper aims to overview the most relevant conceptualisations on Europeanisation with the goal to contribute for the better ontological and epistemological understanding of the notion. The meta-analysis was done in a framework concerning two main features of the selected concepts: first, how they interpret Europeanisation, as an explanans that explains other factors, or as an explanandum that is explained by different variables; and secondly, on which level(s) – macro, meso and/or micro – these concepts identify the core specificities of the notion. The main findings are presented through a theoretical differentiation of three generations of studies on Europeanisation. The first one is a more functionalist, constructivist and normative approach that mainly focuses on the macro-level aspects; the second generation is rather institutionalist, generally structuralist, and it prefers the meso- and micro-level; while the third period seems to shift to a more agent-based micro-level discursive, post-structuralist direction, while constructivist studies are rising in number as well.

What impact has the creation of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) had on national feminist Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in France and Belgium? To find this out, I examine how the national CSOs’ coordinations have adapted their practices, discourses, strategies and internal organisation to be part of European Civil Society. Drawing on 40 interviews and two internships within both French and Belgian EWL intermediary coordinations, I put forward an actor-based sociological perspective focusing on three causal paths in order to explain the findings derived from comparing the Europeanization of the CSOs in France and in Belgium. If identical effects of this Europeanization were identified in both coordinations, the French coordination appears to be more proactive on EU issues and more EWL-orientated than the Belgian. These two distinctive outcomes can be explained by three factors: cultural, organisational and individual. While cultural factors explain some long-term Europeanization outcomes, factors to do with actors’ individualities also highlight the mutability of the Europeanization process.

Based on sociological institutionalism and approaching neutrality from a political perspective, this article investigates domestic political debates on neutrality in Austria, Sweden and Finland. The aim was to answer the question how their concepts of neutrality were reconceptualised in relation to European norms of peace, democracy, liberty, human rights and rule of law during their EC/EU membership applications. In the Austrian case, neutrality was framed to be compatible with membership due to its same embedded normative aspects as the European norms. However, despite similar norms, Swedish neutrality was not argued to be adaptable to the European norms because of the notion of national autonomy and exceptionalism associated with neutrality. Finally, Finnish neutrality, first and foremost conceived and develop ed out of security concern, was not redefined with reference to European norms as such, but rather considered a security tool to be abandoned once the threat from the East disappeared in order to get fully integrated with the Western Europe. This article comes to the conclusion that neutrality is not merely a matter of security, but also embedded with cultural dimension, resulting in different reactions with European norms, hence different interpretations of neutrality. This would in the future have a certain implication on those countries’ roles in the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

In 2000, the European Union (EU) extended the membership perspective to the Western Balkans; however these countries have taken different political paths towards EU accession at different speeds. The population census is one of the conditions for EU accession and part of the eighteenth acquis chapter on statistics. This article seeks to explain the variation in census-taking in the 2010 census round in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia considering two Europeanisation mechanisms: (a) the conditionality and (b) the legitimacy of the EU regulations in the area of census-taking. While conditionality assesses the cost-benefit calculation between the EU rewards/pressure and domestic adoption costs, legitimacy analyses whether the EU census regulations will be accepted based on their perception of appropriateness. Congruence analysis will be used to compare the effectiveness of the Europeanisation mechanisms on the censuses in the countries under investigation. The study concludes that in Croatia legitimacy had the most impact, whereas the cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia can be better explained by conditionality. Therewith this study contributes to the recent findings that conditionality as well as legitimacy matter for research on Europeanisation.

The research on the impact of the European Union on its candidate countries has been traditionally framed within the concept of Europeanisation. But the term, notwithstanding two decades of usage, still lacks clarity in its attributes and its referent. Moreover, the statehood of candidate countries has emerged as a prerequisite for its effectiveness, providing no answer for cases of limited statehood and limited Europeanisation. The concept of member-state building, which refers to the EU’s purpose of building functional member states while integrating them, may help reframe the academic discussion on the impact of the EU on candidate countries, particularly in limited statehood contexts, by complementing it with insights from the literature on state building. Deriving from an understanding of sovereignty as responsibility, member-state building highlights the paradoxes of simultaneous state building and European integration, given their competing logics of sovereignty concentration and sovereignty diffusion. To solve the dilemma, nevertheless, member-state building has one further resource. By exploiting the lack of a single blueprint and the possibility of different solutions for institutions to be compatible with EU requirements, member-state building can also foster domestic ownership and legitimacy, thus evading the trap of imposed international state building

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European Parliament (EP) elections fall within the category of second-order elections: because these types of elections do not lead to the formation of government there is less at stake and, consequently, voters behave differently when casting ballot. However, since the behaviour of voters in elections cannot be perceived in isolation from the behaviours of political parties and media, the question then arises if media (and political parties) also perceive that there is less at stake and hence they behave differently. To this aim, this article analyses the news media coverage of the 2004 and 2009 EP elections in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (N = 5672) and, at the same time, integrates the second-order election theory with the behaviours of the media. Moreover, the article provides unique comparative evidence of news coverage of national parliamentary (N = 5435) and EP elections in both countries. The results indicate that media across the EU only marginally cover EP elections and particularly less than national first-order elections and that coverage of EP elections is dominated by domestic EU political actors. The findings are discussed in the light of existing literature on EP elections, the existence of Europeanised public spheres and EU’s legitimacy as well as democratic deficit.

This paper builds on the Europeanization literature to explore the impact of EU membership on Portuguese foreign policy towards Angola. The analysis is centred on trade issues, focusing on Portugal’s accession negotiations and the reform of the Lomé Convention. Portugal is a small and open economy, with a colonial past in Angola. Trade is one of the most integrated policy areas of the EU, which has long and highly institutionalised relations with Africa. Preliminary results point to great evidence of Europeanization understood as national adaptation to the EU. However, the projection of Portuguese priorities onto the European level also received some support. History, cultural links and the presence of strong national interest groups appear to have limited the EU’s impact on Portuguese preferences. Such findings give support to studies stressing the need to adequately account for domestic conditions, even in highly integrated EU policy areas and for smaller member states.

While expectations were high for Bulgaria’s EU membership, it has been marked by numerous domestic challenges. This article explores the application of the principle of partnership in Bulgaria in programming EU funds for 2007-2013 as a litmus test for the capacity of the civil society and the preparedness of the state’s institutions for full-fledged membership. The article displays evidence that unsuitable adaptation and the remnants of the previous institutional establishment filter the EU leverage in the country. Furthermore, the article maps the role of civil society organisations in the process and identifies the main challenges and opportunities for their inclusion.