External Actors and Regime Change

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milada Anna Vachudova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
East Central ◽  
Substantial Role ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Post Communism ◽  
External Actors

This article explores how the study of post-communism has transformed comparative politics by adding a substantial role for external actors to existing theories of democratization. The big, overarching finding is dramatic: external actors can, under certain conditions, tip the balance in favor of democracy by offering strong rewards to elites, conditional on complying with tough requirements. External actors can also influence the performance of the state—and how the state treats its citizens. The main causal player is the European Union. This simple finding is consequential for all three major strands of democratization theory. The article goes on to explore how the leverage of the European Union has shaped the trajectories of political change in the new and credible future EU members in East Central and South Eastern Europe. The great variation among existing and candidate members can be largely explained by different domestic conditions, even though there are many areas where the EU’s use of its leverage could have been improved.

The Community Trap: Liberal Norms, Rhetorical Action, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union

2001 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eastern Enlargement ◽  
Bargaining Process ◽  
Rhetorical Action

The decision of the European Union to expand to Central and Eastern Europe is a puzzle for rationalist intergovernmentalism. This approach to the study of European integration accounts for most of the preferences of the state actors and many characteristics of the intergovernmental bargaining process but fails to explain why it resulted in the opening of accession negotiations. I introduce the mechanism of rhetorical action in order to show how the supporters of enlargement succeeded in overcoming the superior material bargaining power of their opponents. Through the strategic use of arguments based on the liberal norms of the European international community, the “drivers” caught the “brakemen” in the community trap and, step by step, shamed them into acquiescing in Eastern enlargement.

Studying Contemporary Europe

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Wallace
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Review Article ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Opening Up

The study of contemporary Europe has attracted growing attention in mainstream political science and international relations. Both studies of the European Union and cross-country comparisons of various political phenomena in different European countries are beginning to enrich our understanding of the process and limitations of integration. This growth of interest has also been stimulated by the opening up of central and eastern Europe which has encouraged scholars to address the issues of transformation using the tools of comparative politics. In addition, studies of Europeanisation are now being more systematically related to broader international developments and to the process of globalisation. British scholars, and British-based scholars, are making important contributions to the debates in political science and international relations. This review article traces some of the strands of this development.

Introduction: The State of Democracy 20 Years on

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Rupnik ◽  
Jan Zielonka
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
The State ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Eu

The countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) embarked on a democratic transition in 1989 were proclaimed consolidated democracies when they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Today most of the new democracies are experiencing “democratic fatigue” and some seem vulnerable to an authoritarian turn. The EU, seen as the guarantor of the post-1989 democratic changes, is experiencing an unprecedented economic, financial, and democratic crisis with the combined challenges of technocracy and populism. The article explores the different approaches to the study of democracies in ECE, their specific features and vulnerabilities, and tries to provide an interpretation of the premature crisis of democracy in ECE in a broader transeuropean context.

The EU's Transformative Power in Albania

2022 ◽  
pp. 229-243
Author(s):  
Lutjona Lula
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Green Light ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Accession Process

South-Eastern Europe has always been a vital region with continuous socio-political changes. After the fall of communism and the wars that accompanied the disintegration of Yugoslavia, countries in the region turned towards the European Union. Upon signing the SAA, the countries of the Western Balkans, such as Albania, have had a green light to move forward in the EU's pre-accession process. As Albania works toward membership, how do domestic political actors in Albania (not) change their with agendas according to EU requirements? This chapter will address the puzzle of the transformative power of EU's conditionality in main political parties in Albania.

Camille C. O'Reilly (ed.), Language, ethnicity and the state. Vol. 1, Minority languages in the European Union. Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. v–x, 183; and Camille C. O'Reilly (ed.), Language, ethnicity and the state. Vol. 2, Minority languages in Eastern Europe post-1989. Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. v–xii, 228.

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Lukas D. Tsitsipis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Positive Element ◽  
The State ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Collective Work

This is an exceptionally interesting collective work put together by Camille C. O'Reilly in two volumes, the first focusing on minority languages and problems of nation and ethnicity in western Europe, and particularly in the European Union (EU), and the second taking as its main focus languages and nationalizing discourses in eastern Europe. A large part of the discussion in vol. 2 concentrates on issues related to the fate and ongoing processes of nation formation, citizenship, linguistic ideologies, and minority languages in the successor states of the former Soviet Union. In both volumes, some chapters focus more narrowly on language, whereas others give emphasis to macro processes of a political nature. And, of course, no article in the collection is indifferent to the politics of minoritization, ethnic-national boundaries, and the restructuring of the European national map as a whole. Thus, variation in theme and method of analysis should be considered as a positive element of this endeavor, even though the overall treatment is neither exhaustive nor radically critical, as I will argue below.

scholarly journals Photovoice as a Research Tool of the “Game” Along the “Balkan Route”

2021 ◽  
pp. 197-215
Author(s):  
Karolína Augustová
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Research Tool ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Displaced People

AbstractMigratory pathways across the borders of South Eastern Europe have been commonly recognised within public and policy discourses as the ‘Balkan Route’ (Frontex, 2018; UNHCR, 2019). Yet those pathways do not follow one linear route across the official border checkpoints of former Yugoslav states – Serbia and Bosnia, to the European Union – Croatia and Hungary (Obradovic-Wochnik & Bird, 2019; Stojić & Vilenica, 2019). As often encountered by displaced populations, the journeys consist of perpetually moving onward and being pushed backward across diverse European towns, highways, mountains, forests, rivers, minefields, and camps, necessary to cross to reach western or northern Europe. Displaced people stranded in Serbia and Bosnia generally call their border crossing attempts the ‘game’; the term that conveys the daily mobility struggles, violence and deaths.

Russia - European Union: The continuation ofthe sanctions standoff

2017 ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
M. Klinova ◽  
E. Sidorova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Current Data ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Year 2013

The article deals with economic sanctions and their impact on the state and prospects of the neighboring partner economies - the European Union (EU) and Russia. It provides comparisons of current data with that of the year 2013 (before sanctions) to demonstrate the impact of sanctions on both sides. Despite the fact that Russia remains the EU’s key partner, it came out of the first three partners of the EU. The current economic recession is caused by different reasons, not only by sanctions. Both the EU and Russia have internal problems, which the sanctions confrontation only exacerbates. The article emphasizes the need for a speedy restoration of cooperation.

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