Europeanization

This article investigates the encounter of EU-unionization with a domesticated practice of corruption in Bosnian higher education. Relying on primary data collected in Bosnia’s public higher education system, the study finds that the country’s corrupt higher education is in conflict with the Bologna-themed reforms that would arguably help harmonize Bosnia’s fragmented higher education. As it delineates factors that perpetuate corruption, the study, somewhat surprisingly, finds that the Bologna process—despite its partly failed adaptation in Bosnia—is still perceived as potentially transformative for the country’s corruption-prone higher education system. The study further looks into why that may be the case and explores a possibility of leveraging Bosnia’s intelligentsia abroad to lessen corruption in higher education.

GREEK NATIONALISM VERSUS EUROPEANIZATION:
FROM ETHNIC TO CIVIC NATIONALISM?
Gizem ALİOĞLU ÇAKMAK
ABSTRACT
Since its emergence in the 19th century, ethnic nationalism has had a
significant impact on both state policies and the social sphere in Greece. The Greek
Church and education system played a significant role in the consolidation of ethnic
nationalist understanding in society and the state apparatus. The constitution also
recognizes orthodoxy as an integral part of Greek identity, which makes nonOrthodox Greek citizens a secondary citizen. Also, Article 19 of the Greek citizenship
law, which was in force until 1998, divided Greek citizens into two categories:
“Greeks” and “non-Greeks”. Since the 1990s, this ethnic nationalist approach has
been criticized by Greece’s Western European partners and European institutions. In
the same period, Greece underwent a rapid Europeanization process and there were
positive developments in minority rights such as the abolishment of Article 19. This
study aims to analyze the impact of Europeanization in Greece on ethnic nationalism,
which is decisive at the state and social levels. In doing so, it is to analyze the
relationship between Greek nationalism and Europeanization within the framework
of Kohn’s classification of ethnic-social (civic) nationalism. This research aims to
answer the question of whether there is a shift from ethnic nationalism to a civic (inclusive) understanding of nationalism in Greece due to the Europeanization efforts since the second half of the 1990s.
Keywords: Ethnic Nationalism, Civic Nationalism, Europeanization, Minority
Rights, Article 19

In this study I examine the ways in which 'Europe' has been built as a mnemonic community based on a shared past. Numerous academics and practitioners have argued for the emergence of a 'European memory' - i.e. a shared narrative about the past as an instrument to strengthen a sense of common European identity across populations in Europe. Over the last 30 years EU institutions and political elites have been promoting this approach - i.e. the rebuilding of a divisive and dividing past into a shared memory - so extensively that we might speak of the emergence of an 'EU politics of memory'. Mainstream explanations on the transnationalisation of memory discourses and practices, however, do not highlight the role of collective memory in the process of Europeanisation (Assman 2014; Banke 2010; Calligaro 2013; de Cesari & Rigney 2014; Gensburger & Lavabre 2012; Pakier & Stråth 2010; Mälksoo 2009; Mink & Neumayer 2013; Neumayer 2018; Sierp 2014).

Europeanisation literature observes countries as being reactive to the rule transfer that in turn will lead toward the internalisation of new norms and development of new identities following interaction with the EU institutions and representatives (Börzel & Risse 2003). This dissertation, however, proposes an alternative understanding of Europeanisation. This understanding allows to take into account the possibility that countries not only respond to but also manipulate the process of transferring European rules and norms. For their own political gain they align themselves with EU memory politics. Croatia (an EU member state) and Serbia (a candidate member state) with their effectively shared past in post-1945 Yugoslavia and as former warring parties in the 1990s, are selected for in-depth analysis. The key argument is that both countries have exploited the EU's memory framework, albeit to a different extent, using the same tools and methods to affirm their mutually divergent ethno-national narratives of the past at (trans)national level.

In order to substantiate this argument, the thesis elaborates on historical institutionalism and draws from both rational choice and constructivist scholarship to study the relationship between collective memory and Europeanisation. It argues that constructivist models, which theorise a causal link between identity and Europeanisation, cannot fully explain the complexity of this relationship. This thesis develops an interpretive theoretical framework in which memory politics and Europeanisation are conceptualised as mutually constitutive and need to be studied at the level of mnemonic practices. This approach permits us to understand not only who remembers and how, but importantly what are the purposes assigned to political mobilisation of the past at (trans)national level.

The research conducted through this model highlights the normativity of discourses on European memory and shallowness of political 'dealing with the past'. It shows that memory politics is malleable as the meanings assigned to memorialisation bend to the purposes and objectives of a wide variety of memory entrepreneurs on both national and transnational level. This is illustrated in the case studies, which focus on official narratives concerning the Second World war, the Yugoslav wars and their legacies. The empirical analysis shows that Croatia and Serbia gradually, yet selectively converged with the imperatives of EU memory politics in the pre-accession period, using salient EU identity and memory markers to reformulate and reframe their domestic narratives of the past in order to support their EU bid. In the post-accession period, countries (Croatia) have been more intensively projecting domestic discourses by employing mnemonic practices and dominant memory canons onto the transnational level in order to pursue symbolic and political gains. Finally, through the comparison of national discourses in the EU discursive arena, the dissertation asserts that European memory, nevertheless, proves to be a highly contested and elusive concept.

Europeanization can be regarded both as a social phenomenon, designating the influence of supranational European Union (EU) policies on the domestic level, and also as a new field of knowledge on European integration processes. In sociology, the historical formation of discourses on Europeanization always included particular forms of critique on its very object of interest, the EU. The strong nexus of theory-building, empirical research and intellectual critique is particularly relevant for disciplinary traditions of sociology that regard critique as part and parcel of its scientific vocation. Applying a sociology of knowledge approach, this small study offers a reconstruction of sociological discourses on Europeanization and the forms of EU critique it includes, based on conference papers of the German Sociological Association from 1990 to 2018. Results of the study refer to historical contexts, structural conditions and cognitive problem choice and content of sociological critique on Europe. Results are useful both for getting a sense of conflicting, often complementary forms of critique in contemporary sociology of European integration, and for understanding some of the critical functions of the social sciences in society at large.

The aim of the paper is to examine the process of Greece’s Europeanization and provide an overall assessment based on economic, political and institutional terms for the period 1981-2009, namely from Greece’s accession to the European Community until the beginning of the economic crisis, one of the worst crises ever faced by a capitalist economy, which led to reforms, disproportionate measures and a socially critical condition.

Since the Helsinki Summit of 1999, Turkey has faced the impact of Europeanization in the context of regional policy and structural funds. This impact has challenged the long-established statist tradition of Turkish administrative structure and led to the need for a set of reforms in order to adapt its regional policy in line with European Union (EU) standards. In examining the polity effect of Europeanization in Turkey, the article evaluates the extent to which there has been a change in administrative relations between three different territorial tiers: supranational, national and subnational in the post-Helsinki era of 1999.

This article suggests that both territorial and symbolic borders ought to be treated as specific cultural forms enabling the exercise and practice of cross-border communication. The notion of active border is introduced as a nexus of the transnationalization of public spheres and identities in Europe. Active border is interpreted as a border that supports and produces both public criticism and social integration without generating antagonism toward those from "over borders." Contrary to active border, passive border entrenches stereotypical negative identities and cognitive fore-closures and is a significant hindrance in positive identities formation. The concept of active border contributes to the broad sociological context of Europeanization and transnational public spheres and identities formations in which questions about cultural change and plurality should be discussed. It tries to offer a novel interpretative perspective on processes of transnationalization in Europe and beyond. This article draws inspiration mainly from Edward Shils's typology of collective identities, Erik Erikson's concept of identity formation, and Gerard Delanty's typology of cultural encounters. In the current situation of the Schengen zone (Schengenland) project, Europeans need more than ever to understand and critically evaluate the transformation of borderlines between the member states. The European Union (EU) as a polity in the making derives its legitimacy both from the

In the context of local self-government, the Europeanization process includes the "top-down" component (i.e. changes in policies, actions, preferences and participants in local governance resulting from the negotiation and implementation of EU programs and policies), "bottom-up" component (i.e. transfer of innovative urban practices to a supranational arena for the purpose of incorporating local initiatives in pan-European policies and programs) and the horizontal component. This paper focuses on the horizontal Europeanization of local self-government, a process that can take place without the participation of European institutions or with their minimal, coordinative role. It is about cooperation, exchange of experience and best practices and finding innovative solutions through transnational networks of local units. Horizontal Europeanization includes lesson-drawing, policy transfer and policy convergence. The formation of transnational networks of local authorities creates a new dimension of the emergence of "foreign policy" and "paradiplomacy" of European subnational levels of government, primarily cities. The main research question is to determine the ways in which transnational networks of local units can contribute to the implementation of the European good governance principles. Namely, there is a general consensus on key components of good governance that has established principles for public administration shared by European States with different legal traditions and different systems of governance.

The topic of presented paper is the formation of the foreign policy consensus in the Slovak Republic after the establishment of an independent state in 1993. The text is focused on the construction of the "national interests" of Slovakia by the identifying of the relevance and consensual character of particular foreign policy priorities. The aim of the paper is to identify, in which extent the global financial crisis contributed to the re-definition of the identity of Slovakia in the international relations. The following foreign policy issues are analyzed: integration of Slovakia to the EU and NATO, the Slovak-Hungarian relations, the case of recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of the Serbia province of Kosovo, the bilateral relations of Slovakia and Russian Federation in the context of the military conflict in Ukraine since 2014 and the position of Slovakia to the refugee crisis since 2015. According to the main research findings, the global financial crisis and, subsequently, the new political and economic tensions in Europe had a significant impact on the formation of the foreign policy priorities in Slovakia. They contributed to the deep erosion of the foreign policy consensus present in the country´s domestic politics before 2010, when the first parliamentary elections after the emerging of crisis took place. 

While research has established the political impact of Europeanisation on candidate countries, the impact of discursive Europeanisation on cultural issues such as LGBT norms remains understudied. This article pursues this agenda by exploring the impact of Europeanisation on Turkey's domestic discourse on LGBT issues-specifically, whether Europeanisation has influenced the media discourse of LGBT issues in Turkey. Turkey presents an interesting case as its largely conservative society is in contrast with the EU in which LGBT acceptance has gained unprecedented traction. A media content analysis comparing Turkish media reports from the year of 2005 and 2010 is used to test this thesis. The study discovers that prospective European integration has influenced the LGBT discourses of Turkey over the study period; while the majority of reports on LGBT issues continues to be negatively represented, results show an improvement over the study period. The changes effectuated were statistically significant and suggest that LGBT and possibly other cultural norms may not be as resistant to discursive Europeanisation. This study also highlights how regional integration continues to be an effective avenue for inducing normatively positive change.

The EU-Turkey relations have been researched into multiple times and through different lenses. Turkey was granted candidate status in 1999 and accession negotiations opened in 2005. However, up till now only 16 chapters have been opened, while, given the dire circumstances, no other chapters are considered for opening. Why and how has this relationship reached a stalemate? The European Union’s main enlargement tool, namely conditionality, stands at the heart of the Europeanization literature, as the main defect for inadequate Europeanization. Nevertheless, as indicated by the de-Europeanization concept, conditionality alone, even defective, cannot be held accountable, when domestic incentives of political elites are not strong enough to bring about change. This paper examines how weak conditionality, lack of commitment within the European Union and Turkey’s identity as a candidate state in the 2000’s combined with the country’s unique characteristics and the authoritarian shift the state is experiencing in the post-2010 period have led to the eventual de-Europeanization of the Turkish Republic.

This article argues that a discursive-sociological approach to study Europeanization is particularly apt for understanding the dynamics of policy change in Europe. It does so by bringing closer the agenda of discursive institutionalism (DI) and gender policy analysis, drawing upon the recent sociological and discursive turns in the study of the domestic impact of Europe, and the long-term interest of gender policy analysis for discursive framings, norm diffusion, actors' interactions and EU soft policy instruments. Challenging the limitations of Europeanization studies that only focus on convergence , the article explores the contribution that both Schmidt's DI and discursive gender approaches make to the understanding of policy change in Europe. While seeing the two approaches as complementary in the study of Europeanization, the article discusses the added value of gender approaches for improving our understanding of policy change in Europe.