The Evolution of EU Membership Norms

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-84
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Empirical Basis ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Over Time

This chapter traces the emergence, contestation, and evolution of membership norms within the European Union and its institutional precursors from the 1950s to the present. The genealogy demonstrates that these norms have changed significantly over time, contrary to the assumptions of many scholars and the claims of many EU pronouncements in recent decades. EU norms limited membership to non-Communist states (1957–1961), parliamentary democracies (1962–1969), and liberal democracies (1970–2005), but consensus then broke down and has not been re-established. The chapter thus establishes an empirical basis for investigating in later chapters how prevailing membership norms have shaped the community’s decision-making on the eligibility of particular aspirant and candidate states.

scholarly journals The evolution of political networks: Evidence from the Council of the European Union

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narisong Huhe ◽  
Daniel Naurin ◽  
Robert Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Network Evolution ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Unique Combination ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Over Time

We test two of the main explanations of the formation of political ties. The first states that political actors are more likely to form a relationship if they have similar policy preferences. The second explanation, from network theory, predicts that the likelihood of a tie between two actors depends on the presence of certain relationships with other actors. Our data consist of a unique combination of actors' policy positions and their network relations over time in the Council of the European Union. We find evidence that both types of explanations matter, although there seems to be variation in the extent to which preference similarity affects network evolution. We consider the implications of these findings for understanding the decision-making in the Council.

Public Policies

2020 ◽  
pp. 509-525
Author(s):  
Joan Subirats ◽  
Ricard Gomà
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Policy Style ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Operational Aspects

The objective of this chapter is to trace and present the main characteristics of the public policy system in Spain, incorporating policy change over time, as well as the policy style that has characterized its different stages. The transition between Francoism and democracy generated significant continuities and discontinuities both in the decision-making processes and in the actors’ system. The full incorporation into the European Union also involved significant changes in content, processes and networks. Finally, the impacts of the 2007 crisis and the effects of globalization and technological change also generated significant disruptions that will also be incorporated. The chapter will distinguish the conceptual, substantive, and operational aspects of the public policy system in Spain, as well as the main elements of the multilevel government. This aspect is especially complex in the Spanish case, given the combination of Europeanization of policies and the very remarkable regional decentralization generated by 1980.

Rethinking Europe, Rethinking Regions

2021 ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
European Governance ◽  
The Future

The question of the limits of Europe as a political community has been one of the most persistent questions in European debates. This question cannot be answered with simple references to Europe’s physical geography, its cultural values and practices, the formal rules of the European Union, nor the commercial or security interests of its member states. This chapter offers concluding observations on the book’s findings and their implications. It first summarizes the book’s quantitative and qualitative findings regarding the evolution of EU membership norms since the late 1950s and their contribution to EU decision-making on the enlargement of the community during this period. It then considers the study’s general lessons for our understanding of regions and regional integration. And finally, it combines normative critique and historically-informed speculation in a discussion of salient issues in the future of European governance.

The Limits of Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The World ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
Over Time

This book offers a new approach to the dynamics of regional integration, engages the debate over the geographic and normative limits of Europe, and challenges the conventional wisdom on the enlargement of the European Union. It demonstrates that membership norms that change over time have been more influential than economic or security interests in shaping EU decisions on which states are eligible to join the community and which are not. It includes a genealogy of EU membership norms since the late 1950s, a triple analysis (cross-tabulations, logistic regression, and qualitative comparative analysis) of all EU decisions on membership eligibility, and detailed process-tracing of EU decision-making over decades on the membership eligibility of Greece, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine. The findings challenge taken-for-granted understandings of the course of European integration and what it means for a state to be ‘European’. The argument is directly relevant to how regional communities in other parts of the world decide on their own geographic and normative limits.

scholarly journals Coalition of states for influence in the European Council. Brexit - a step towards decisional balance in the European Council?

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-130
Author(s):  
Gavrilov Doina
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Decisional Balance ◽  
European Council ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe EU decision-making process is one that has changed over time with the Treaties, with the extension, modification of EU policies and the areas where the EU is acting. In addition to the above, in 2016 we have one more reason to add to the changing of the decisional process “-Brexit”- a political turnaround that stimulates new changes at the decision-making level and raises questions about the future of the European Union. Federalists claim that these events will lead to a strengthening of the Union, and euro-skeptics claim that this is a step towards breaking the Union. Two years after the Brexit started, the European Union continues to remain a prominent actor in the international arena, but another question is being raised: “Will EU institutions act on the same principles? Or will there be changes in the decision-making process?”. In this article, we will analyse the state coalitions in the decision-making process, and the role of Brexit in forming coalitions for establishing a decisional balance in the European Council. Following the analysis of the power rapport in the European Council, we refer to small and medium-sized states that work together closely to counterbalance the decisions of the big states, and the new coalitions to achieve their goals in the new political context.

11. Social Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 254-274
Author(s):  
John Bachtler ◽  
Carlos Mendez
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Eu Legislation ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Over Time

Social policy in the European Union (EU) is characterized by a fundamental puzzle: integration has happened despite member-state opposition to the delegation of welfare competences. While the policy has developed in small and modest steps, over time, this has led to a considerable expansion of the policy remit. Negative integration pushed by judicial decision-making is often regarded as a main driver for social integration. Positive integration through EU legislation is, however, just as defining for EU social policy, and politics is very evident when EU member states negotiate social regulation. More recently, the policy has been marked by deep politicization.

Limited institutional change in an international organization: the EU's shift away from ‘federal blindness’

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaël Tatham
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Integration Project ◽  
Over Time

The European Union (EU) has been through many institutional transformations since the start of the integration project in the 1950s. While much of the literature has focussed on the more dramatic changes, less attention has been paid to instances of more limited institutional change. This article maps out and then accounts for the limitedness of the EU's departure from its original ‘federal blindness’ vis-à-vis regional actors. Theories of institutional change would lead one to expect that, as integration and regionalization heightened, endogenous pressures for change would trigger greater reform than that observed. Using a novel formula to estimate the EU's aggregate regionalization levels over time, the article demonstrates that it peaked between 1986 and 2003 but has since dropped to a level below that of the 1950s. Such a finding not only corrects a widespread assumption about regionalization levels in the European polity, but also provides an explanation for the pace and scope of the observed change as well as predictions about its future sources.

The Quality of Democracy after Joining the European Union

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Zielonka
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Public Space ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
European Court ◽  
Cultural Orientations

Joining the European Union (EU) has changed the nature of democracy in the new member states. The EU's membership has complicated the structure of democratic decision making by making it more multilayered and multicentered. EU membership has enhanced the powers of nonmajoritarian institutions such as the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and various regulatory agencies. National parliaments tend to be less powerful democratic players after a country joins the European Union—and even before, as the EU accession process has shown. EU membership has also broadened the democratic public space. As a consequence, democratic decision making within the European Union has to accommodate a more diversified set of interests and cultural orientations. Providing citizens with greater access to the European decision-making process seems to be most urgent in the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe, whose citizens feel particularly detached from this process. The article tries to suggest some ways of achieving this.

The Law & Politics of Brexit: Volume II

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Financial Settlement ◽  
The Eu

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit. Building on a prior volume, it overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019. It also examines the key provisions of the Brexit deal, including the protection of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, and the financial settlement. Moreover, the book assesses the governance provisions on transition, decision-making and adjudication, and the prospects for future EU–UK trade relations. Finally, it reflects on the longer-term challenges that the implementation of the 2016 Brexit referendum poses for the UK territorial system, for British–Irish relations, as well as for the future of the EU beyond Brexit.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksander Lust
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The West ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Economic Expectations ◽  
The Eu

In referenda held in 2003, over 90% of Lithuanians supported joining the European Union (EU), while only two-thirds of Estonians did. Why? This article shows that Lithuanians and Estonians had different economic expectations about the EU. Most Lithuanians hoped that EU membership would help Lithuania overcome its economic backwardness and isolation. By contrast, many Estonians worried that the accession would reinforce Estonia's underdevelopment and dependency on the West. I argue that these expectations reflected the two countries' strategies of economic reform. Lithuania sold state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to their managers and continued to trade heavily with Russia, which slowed down the modernization of its economy. Estonia sold SOEs to foreigners and reoriented its trade rapidly from Russia to the West, which hurt its traditional sectors (particularly agriculture) and infrastructure.

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