For a number of years, scholars and analysts have been trying to capture the process, content, and context of the role played by various international actors, and in particular the European Union (EU), in former communist countries. In this respect, the notion of “Europeanization” has become a shorthand for the complex dynamic of adapting state administrations, promoting economic stability, and encouraging social participation in decision-making. However, the conceptual ramifications of this term have remained fuzzy and unproblematized and, thus, have curtailed its explanatory potential, as well as its utility as an analytical model.
In the literature to date, Europeanization has been largely defined as a process of convergence on European norms through (1) the implementation of legally binding rules of international behavior in the domestic sphere of the candidate states; (2) the transformation of the objective interests of accession countries; and (3) the concomitant alteration of their subjective values and identities. It is to the benefit, therefore, of this outstanding volume edited by Frank Schimmelfennig and Ulrich Sedelmeier that it opens up both the subject of Europeanization for better understanding and theorizing, as well as explaining its application to the experience of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
The point of departure for the volume is the domestic impact of EU rules. All the contributors to “The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe” concur that the “EU effect” in the former communist countries of CEE is pervasive, but the way in which it is exercised is unclear. The editors point out that such failure to grasp the process of Europeanization results from dominant debates that highlight the functional effects of institutions, which have tended to befuddle the conceptual clarity of the framework of Europeanization. Therefore, from the outset, Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier have provided an instrumental definition of the notion of Europeanization, which they define simply as the “process in which states adopt EU rules” (P. 7). Hence, the focus of the volume is on the institutionalization of EU rules and procedures at the domestic level – i.e. the alteration of the domestic political practices of CEE states according to EU standards. In order to make sure that their proposition does not get occluded, the editors explain that they understand institutionalization as the observable exhibition of “rule-conforming patterns of domestic rules and procedures, behavior, and discourse” (P. 8). In this respect, the volume delineates a theoretical research agenda for the study of the impact of the EU on the accession countries and examines its analytical contentions in several comparative case-studies. In this way, it also adds analytical rigor to the study of enlargement conditionality.
The main analytical contribution of the volume is the suggestion of an “external incentives model” (P. 3) that underwrites the practices of Europeanization in CEE. Generally, this model follows the external rewards and sanctions that the EU adds to the cost-benefit calculations of accession states. Its pattern is accentuated by logic of consequences, according to which “the EU sets the adoption of its rules as conditions that the CEE states have to fulfill in order to receive rewards from the EU” (P. 10). The proposition of Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier is that, as indicated by the external incentives model, a government adopts EU rules if the benefits of EU rewards exceed the domestic adoption costs (P. 12). Hence, the implication is that if the external incentives are to work – i.e. have effect on the domestic practices of accession countries – they have to be set as conditions for reward. Crucially, however, Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier qualify that the influence of the EU depends on the context in which the EU uses its incentives (P. 210). In this respect, the editors conclude that it is the highly asymmetrical relationship between insiders and outsiders in the enlargement process that offers the EU a degree of power it does not enjoy either vis-а-vis its member states nor vis-а-vis other international actors. Thus, the adoption of EU rules in the context of accession conditionality can be perceived as a fairly straightforward process for the socialization and adaptation of CEE states. In particular, this is the case because the dynamic of enlargement does not involve negotiation of the content of the Brussels-promoted procedures, but only their explanation to candidate-states (which then have to implement them domestically).
“The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe” conducts eight comparative case studies that evaluate the proposed external incentives model of Europeanization against alternative explanations, such as those provided by the social learning approach and the lesson drawing model. In spite of such juxtaposition, the editors maintain that these contending analytical frameworks should not merely be perceived as contradictory, but also as complementary. The range of comparative analyses presented in the volume covers issues such as liberal democracy, minority rights, administrative reform, regional policy, the movement of persons, the restructuring of the banking sector, and environmental and social policy. Benefiting from such a diversity of topics, the corollaries of the contributors have managed to avoid the quicksand of bias and lop-sidedness of many country- and issue-specific explorations. Moreover, it needs to be mentioned that the individual installments in this volume present a coherent and consistent research agenda for approaching the issue of Europeanization. This only attests to the superb editorial work done by Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier.
The main methodological inference from the comparative case studies is that they find little support for sociological institutionalist or constructivist approaches to the study of Europeanization, which emphasize the effect of identity and ideational change. Instead, they suggest that the international socialization of CEE states by the EU (and other international actors) corroborates the pattern of the rational choice approach. It highlights the redistribution of resources as “the main mechanism of domestic change” (P. 225). Therefore, measuring the impact of EU rules and procedures in applicant states reflects the size of the net benefits from accession to candidate countries themselves. These conjectures underwrite the propositions of the individual case studies.
The volume opens with a prescient inquiry into the EU’s political conditionality and its impact on three non-member states: Slovakia, Turkey, and Latvia. In this investigation, Frank Schimmelfennig, Stefan Engert, and Heiko Knobel argue that the likelihood of rule-adoption has varied primarily in relation to the size of the adoption costs. In a nutshell, the high credibility of EU rewards and the low governmental adoption costs are the requirements that seem to hold the key for the successful political conditionality of candidate states. Similar confirmation of the external incentives model of Europeanization underscores Guido Schwellnus’s examination of the minority protection rules in Romania, Hungary, and Poland. His study draws attention to the contested nature and meaning of minority protection, not least because the EU has not developed minority standards that are to be applied to existing member states. Consequently, there is a discrepancy between the internal and external application of the minority norm by the EU (P. 51). Schwellnus emphasizes, therefore, that in the instances where the EU-rules are unclear and contested, the advice and presence of experts from Brussels tends to direct the decisions of CEE policymakers toward EU standards (P. 65). In the following chapter, Antoaneta Dimitrova adopts a similar line of reasoning by arguing that the administrative reform in candidate states fluctuates in time depending on the credibility of the threats of exclusion and the promises of inclusion. In this respect, her analysis concludes that the influence of the EU on rule-adoption in CEE is contingent upon both the credibility and the conditionality of membership. Likewise stressing the significance of the external incentives, Wade Jacoby develops a “two-cut” research design for the study of regional and health policy in the Czech Republic and Hungary (P. 91). His research depicts a complex picture of the process of Europeanization. In particular, Jacoby emphasizes the context of the domestic political arena in candidate states as a significant conditioning (and constraining) variable of the EU’s ability to transform the policymaking of CEE states. In this respect, Heather Grabbe explores how various inconsistencies (both in terms of framing and application) in the Brussels-promoted rules affect the Europeanization of accession countries (P. 112). She investigates this issue in relation to the way in which the EU procedures have influenced the regulation of the movement of people in CEE countries. Grabbe maintains that the process of Europeanization involves calculations of material interests, which at the same time involve alterations in the logic of policy-behavior of candidate states that is driven by the absorption of EU-rules (P. 134). A similar emphasis on the role of external incentives underwrites Liliana Andonova’s assessment of environmental policy reform in the Czech Republic and Poland. Her longitudinal analysis claims that in the area of green legislation, the procedure of rule-adoption has followed the dynamics of an “interest-driven strategic bargaining” (P. 135). The contention is that the conditionality of EU accession unveils the preponderance of external incentives and constraints, which suggest that the domestic transformations in CEE have been underwritten by an instrumental logic of consequences. Subscribing to a similar line of argumentation, Beate Sissenich demonstrates that by specifying the conditions and mechanisms for the prevalence of institutional influence, it is possible to study the domestic effect of external agents. More specifically, her investigation traces the transfer of EU social policy to Poland and Hungary. The instances from those two countries demonstrate that the ambiguity of external demands tends to limit the ability of the EU to exert acquiescence with its rules. In the final case study, Rachel Epstein draws attention to the problems posed by the insufficient absorption capacities of CEE states. In her analysis of the transformation of Polish economic policy, Epstein asserts that it is the mechanism of rule-transfer that underwrites the EU’s ability to exact compliance with its rules. Lastly, “The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe” brings together the inferences of the different case studies in a perceptive evaluation by Adrianne Heather, who compares the suggestions of the external incentives model of Europeanization advanced by the contributors with the mainstream literature on the Europeanization of the EU member states (P. 199). Such assessment is useful both for illuminating the differences and exploring the similarities in the two dynamics. However, it is also well-timed in terms of theory-building and for suggesting potential analytical roadmaps for further research.
In this respect, the volume edited by Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier presents a judicious and thorough analysis of the Europeanization problematique, in particular as it has been discussed in the context of EU conditionality toward CEE. It convincingly argues that the impact of Brussels-promoted rules and procedures has been the product of the size of the net benefits of EU accession to the candidate states and the credibility of the membership prospect (P. 226). In this respect the volume would be of benefit both to scholars and students of international affairs and, in particular, those interested in the EU’s role in external relations as well as its enlargement process. In effect, the framework and level of analysis exhibited by “The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe” makes it invaluable both for the purposes of teaching and theorizing the mechanisms of EU-enlargement. One only hopes that this volume will inspire research of the same superb caliber.