Whatever happened to the Europe of the regions? Revisiting the regional dimension of European politics
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: While EU policy has certain influence on the regions within the EU member-states, it might also have some impact on the process of regionalization in the neighboring non-member countries.The questio n is whether Europeanization goes beyond the EU's members and candidates?The external factors influencing the process of regime transition -the rise of international regions, trans-border economic co-operation -is of long-term rather than of short-term nature.While the domestic policy factor should be taken into account, the role of the external environment, particularly of the process of European integration, also plays an important role in the process of democratization.The regional transnational cooperation in Europe may become one of the leading driving forces of the integration process.It presents a particular interesting and challenging study once it is dealt with from a cross-continental, European-Asian, perspective.Philosophically, Europeanization stands for a wider concept of Western European civilization and philosophy, cultural and creative values and achievements compliant with the high standards of quality artistic production, capitalist methods of production, industrial and postindustrial methods of social organization, a strong tradition of knowledge creation and scientific research, an educated population, values like tolerance, solidarity, liberty. 1 Functional interpretation of Europeanization as a concept implies the existence and enlargement of the EU.It also means "meeting the membership criteria of the EU", which are liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. 2 Article 49 of the TEU says that any European state that respects the principles which are common to the present member states -liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law -may apply to become a member of the Union.The studies of European integration (EI) can be broadly subdivided into "bottom-up" and "top-down" approaches.The former analyzes the European institution-building process as a dependent variable, looking for its causes and actors, the member-states.3 The latter approach analyzes the impact of European integration and Europeanization on domestic political and social processes of the member states and beyond.4 As Risse underlines, "This move studying 'top down' processes is desperately needed in order to fully capture how Europe and the European Union (EU) matter." 5 This study follows the second approach and asks the question: How does Europeanization affect non-EU members and non-candidate states?The works of Cowles, Caporaso, Risse, define Europeanization as the "emergence and the development at the European level of distinct structures of governance, that is, legal and social institutions associated with political problem s olving that formalizes interactions among the actors, and of policy networks specializing in the creation of authoritative rules."6 Morlino adds to this definition the "development of networks of interactions among domestic and supranational actors to initiate and unfold the decision making process during the input base" and the "gradual and differentiated diffusion-penetration of values, general norms, and specific decisions from those European institutions into the domestic politics, that is, into the working domestic institutions, decision-making processes and domestic policies at different levels."7 Finally, the "top down" approach also describes Europeanization as processes and mechanisms by which European institution-building may cause change at the domestic level.8 First, it is assumed that there exist a set of "pressures for adaptation" exercised by the EU institutions.Second, Europeanization is also viewed as the stimulation and creation of 1 Nada Svob-Dokic, Europeanization and democratization: The Southern European Experience and the Perspective for New Member States of the Enlarged Europe.Paper Contribution to the CIRES Conference "Europeanization and Democratization" Florence, Italy, 16/06/2005 -18/06/2005 2 Article 49 of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU)
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W150897635