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This article investigates the transnational labor politics associated with the Europeanization of wage policy, based on process tracing of Irish minimum wage regulation reforms over the past two decades. The policy struggle in Ireland started as an employer-led domestic challenge to market-embedding regulation and was then affected by two EU interventions on wage policy: one with a de-regulatory orientation (during EU-IMF conditionality) and one with a re-regulatory one (with the approval of the EU minimum wage directive). Findings show that differences in collective action undertaken by employers and trade unions to influence wage policy at the national level can be explained by the intersection of each actor's preferences toward market-constraining or liberalizing labor regulation and their access to supranational (EU-level) institutions and support. This analysis contributes to debates on how transnational opportunity structures can alter labor's and employers' local power resources and strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMost research on planning systems in Europe focused on North and West Europe, with limited interest in Central Europe and even less attention to ‘post-socialist’ Europe. This study examines the recent reform of spatial planning in Ukraine by developing a new model of institutional change. Based on the empirical findings, supported by the results of an adapted ESPON-COMPASS questionnaire, we argue that Ukraine has undergone a fundamental transformation of the planning system. The research contributes to the theoretical debate on international comparative planning research by establishing a new approach to studying institutional change in planning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our increasingly digital world, cyberconflict poses a significant challenge to global security, prompting the emergence of an academic field dedicated to its study. Understanding the trajectory, evolution and dominant characteristics of cyberconflict studies is vital for scholars and policy-makers alike. By means of a thorough analysis of articles from the 125 top political science and International Relations journals, we illuminate the field's conceptual and methodological landscape. Our findings uncover a notable Europeanization of the field and a shift towards more rigorous methodologies, particularly experimental designs. While early research focused primarily on conceptual development and strategic topics, the contemporary field of studies exhibits a broader scope and greater diversity of scholarship. While the field has progressed beyond its nascent stages, it has yet to reach its full potential. We address several potential issues facing its growth and relevance. Firstly, there is a lack of global representation among researchers and in the incidents studied. Secondly, embracing interdisciplinary approaches is crucial for addressing newly emerging issues effectively. Thirdly, the diversification of research identities within the field of cyberconflict studies in the US and Europe must be bridged to foster collaboration and exchange of ideas. To overcome these challenges, adopting a pragmatic middle-ground approach is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores EU sectoral integration in the Eastern Neighbourhood. It shows that extant approaches to explaining EU meso-level engagement with third countries – differentiated integration and functional cooperation – fall short of capturing all dynamics at play. Drawing on the literature of 'Europeanisation,' it develops a novel conceptual framework for the study of EU sectoral integration entailing four avenues – rules, institutions, practices and knowledge – and two features – local ownership and cross-fertilisation. Through an in-depth empirical study of Frontex-Moldova relations, the article demonstrates that engagement in border management remains below the threshold of differentiated integration by precluding institutional inclusion but reaches beyond functional cooperation through combining integration concerning practices and knowledge. Furthermore, unlike differentiated integration, it allows for local ownership, and contrary to functional cooperation, it enables cross-fertilisation, even if these features are absent from the macro-level cooperation context. Thus, the article contributes to the refinement of the theoretical framework of European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment has become a routine feature of school life, internationally. Little is known, however, about the consequences for young people of assessment and grading in physical education (PE) – a subject often associated with physical recreation. This paper explores young Norwegian's perceptions of assessment and grading in PE from a sociological perspective. In doing so, it contemplates the penetration of neo-liberal discourses as part of wider processes of globalization and Europeanization in school PE in Norway. The study utilizes data generated by 31 focus groups involving 148 youngsters from the 10th grade (15–16-year-olds) in eight purposively sampled secondary schools in Norway. Norwegian PE teachers continue to use tests in order to set grades in PE. The upshot is that students' enjoyment of and engagement in PE, as well as their self-identities and self-esteem, can be compromised by apprehension towards assessment and grading. These processes seem likely to undermine or even erode the potential sociopsychological benefits of PE for some young people by reinforcing the impression that the subject is fast becoming just one more outcome-oriented subject on an academic treadmill. In this regard, the ascendancy of neo-liberalism – associated with the twin challenges of globalization and European integration – appears to merely reinforce the hegemony of competitive individualism within PE in Norway, as elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents and analyses the campaign behind the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘No Profit on Pandemic’ which challenged patents for COVID-19 vaccines. Albeit unsuccessful, we argue that the campaign offers a unique opportunity to study the transnationalisation of European contention during the ‘emergency critical juncture’ of the pandemic. We situate the campaign within (1) the broader Europeanisation of health governance and (2) the wider ‘Access to Medicines’ movement to point to the political obstacles and discursive opportunities for anti-patent mobilisation over the period. We conclude that, despite the discursive opportunities offered, the campaign failed to break through the political push-back and the industry opposition. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on health activism, in general, and progressive social movements during the pandemic, in particular, and hopes to shed some light on the global politics of public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides insights from a 1-year-long collaboration of four cities, a university of applied sciences and the regional authorities of South-Holland (Netherlands) on how to increase awareness of European (funding, knowledge-sharing, influencing) opportunities for local and regional administrations. Increased Europeanisation can bring significant opportunities for cities and regions, while a lack of awareness amongst directors and decision-makers in local and regional authorities can hinder the ability of these organisations to capitalise on these European opportunities. On the basis of the community of practice a toolbox with 13 practical lessons was developed, and this article provides practical strategies for unlocking the European potential of cities and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present some ideas on the tools and financing of a truly supranational industrial policy in the European Union (EU). We begin by reviewing the evolving rationales for and attitudes towards industrial policy, and highlight the growing acceptance of a pro-active role of the State in the economy as a response to external challenges of global scale and transformative impact. At this historical juncture, a polycrisis and a permacrisis are reshaping globalisation, fuelling rivalries and interventions aimed at increasing autonomy and sovereignty over strategic assets as well as to facilitate the green transition. The EU can institutionalise a permanent European industrial policy through the establishment of instruments characterised by a pure European public good nature. We suggest a framework fund on the model of NextGenerationEU package, featuring the 'Europeanisation' of the Important Projects of Common European Interest and better designed centrally managed programmes. We underline the importance of linking the design of industrial policy with the discussion of the EU's own resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Modern Science is the property of Alcide De Gasperi University of Euroregional Economy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Once part of the French colonial empire, the Sahel region played an important role in France's Africa policy. All French presidents had their specific approach towards the region. Emanuel Macron, with his 2017 speech on the Sorbonne even claimed that the Sahel is not just important for France but the European Union as a whole. But the Europeanisation went hand in hand with serious French commitment too. Since Bamako's invitation France had a significant military presence in the region, which may have transformed over time, but remained in the region. However until 2022 the status quo remained similar, lines of fragmentation became more and more visible. The coup epidemic, and growing Russian influence in the Central Sahel affected French interventions too, leading to a large scale withdrawal from the region. The present paper attempts to capture these changes in the relations between France and the Central Sahel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local actors can defend public value by mobilizing resistance coalitions against threats from higher spatial scales. Drawing on existing scholarship on resistance movements and public value creation, this paper proposes a theoretical framework for understanding how local actors can protect public value from threats of rescaling driven solely by hegemonic discourses and presents a strategy that we call "playing the scales." Our case study analyzes a Local Action Group's resistance to a state-imposed and EU-framed regulation that threatened local forms of value creation on the Croatian peninsula of Pelješac. Employing a longitudinal participatory approach, our findings outline the strategy of playing the scales, which involved three key tactics: gathering relevant knowledge from various scales; crafting an alternative narrative; and leveraging this narrative across scales to reshape the dominant organizational logic. The study contributes to the understanding of public value creation by showing how it can be defended by resistance coalitions that are capable of playing the scales. It also sheds light on alternative dynamics of rescaling that, rather than oppositional resistance to higher scales or attempts to scale up micro-practices can also be driven by trans-scalar alliances that inscribe the interests of local communities into dominant discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the strive for self-determination and European integration, Kosovo’s elites have been keen to suppress the Ottoman and Yugoslav heritages and memories in support of a Euro-Atlantic future. As Prishtina’s residents fight an ongoing ‘battle for public space,’ long-forgotten places that have fallen into oblivion become sites where alternative narratives can emerge, engaging various generations in contesting dominant historical narratives. This is the declared objective of the Urban Arts Biennale MANIFESTA which was hosted in Prishtina in the summer of 2022, bringing together international artists, academics and activists with the aim of reviving and claiming forgotten public spaces and investigating the narratives surrounding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the European Union over the years has significantly advanced our understanding of the domestic impact of EU policies. However, notable blind spots persist regarding the broader impact of EU legislation on national policy portfolios and its interaction with domestic policy-making. To address this gap, we introduce a novel analytical concept that adopts a macro-perspective to scrutinise the impact of EU policy-making on national policy portfolios and their trajectories over time. We analyse EU-induced change dynamics through three dimensions of national policy portfolios: policy efforts, policy innovation, and policy design quality. Applying our framework to clean air policy across 13 EU countries over 38 years, we find ambiguous effects on national policy-making. Our findings reveal that while the EU’s role in clean air policy has expanded, it simultaneously has constrained innovative potentials within national portfolios and challenged design quality, substituting rather than complementing national policy efforts. We contribute to the state of the art by providing a novel conceptual framework on the macro dynamics of multi-level policy-making, offering theoretical arguments on the expected effects of EU influence, and presenting empirical evidence of these dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music and Performing Arts is one of the fields Georgia can pride itself on internationally. While the country is in transition as it officially embarks on its long path to European Union membership, this study explores the process of Europeanization of higher music education in Georgia. Authors analyze how higher music educational institutions employ European projects for organizational change at a grassroots level and to what extent and in what way supranational and national policy instruments influence the outcome at the local -- institutional level. This study categorizes Georgia's higher music education sector into three major stages since the country regained independence in 1991 and uses structural, institutional, and organizational approaches for analysis of collected data. The findings suggest that significant challenges remain despite emerging European support in the cultural area and active cooperation between major stakeholders in the sector and their European counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's war on Ukraine has generated a new chain of insecurities in Europe: energy and food crises, new migration flows from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, military threats sharpened by Russia's invasion are triggering a spatial and territorial reshuffling of Europe's Eastern flank. In this context, regional dynamics within and across the Eastern frontiers of Europe have undergone a succession of path-breaking transformations ranging from overt support to the Ukrainian war effort to decoupling from the Russian economy and an unprecedented boost to expanding the European Union's security architecture. However, one of the most important effects of the war is the growing gap between two regional models which might be dubbed normative (Europeanization within the EU- and NATO-led European normative space) and post-colonial (exemplified by different Russia-centric projects within the post-Soviet space). The original contribution of this special issue is to address the conceptual connections between security, borders and national identity to discuss the evolving European landscape. While we do not explore the military side of the war, we focus on the nexus of (in)security and bordering practices to capture how a combination of geopolitical changes, economic dynamics and human dimensions of war has created new borders and reshaped existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2024 TESG Forum revisits Anssi Paasi's 2001 article Bounded Spaces in the Mobile World: Deconstructing 'Regional Identity'. This work expanded Paasi's ideas on the institutionalisation of regions by highlighting the interplay between the social construction of regions and the changing regional identities of individuals and communities in the context of Europeanisation. The article places Paasi's theoretical work on how regions emerge as bounded spaces in the whirlwind of a rapidly globalising world. In exploring the relation between regions and identity, Bounded Spaces in the Mobile World reveals tensions between fixity and mobility. Revisiting this important paper 20 years later makes us realise how the world around us has changed. The tension between mobility and fixity remains but in different imaginaries and power constellations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines how anti-coal groups – national and international environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and influential think tanks – conduct a counter-hegemonic struggle to Europeanize the coal exit process in Turkey. By undertaking intellectual leadership in Turkey's growing authoritarian political-economic space, anti-coal groups proactively have shaped the discourse on the coal phase-out debates within civil society. To delegitimize the official hegemonic frame promoting coal for energy independence, supply security, and rapid economic development, they have appealed to the European Green Deal as a powerful discursive tool to create necessary consent for a coal exit in Turkey. Based on the Europeanization perspective complemented with the Gramscian insights that enabled the consideration of the power relations and vested interests within energy transition, the study reveals that the anti-coal groups have conducted a counter-hegemonic discursive struggle for the Europeanization of Turkey's policy of coal exit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, it is appropriate to talk about cooperation between Ukraine and EU member states in matters that are functional for their legal systems. The first is the protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens; providing asylum to refugees from other countries; adaptation of legislation on the regulation of relations in the field of migration, both legal and illegal; fight against illegal employment; and others. It was found that the administrative law of Ukraine is developing in complex political-economic and sociallegal conditions. Therefore, the use of European experience in the field of administrative and legal regulation of social relations in Ukraine should not imply mindless copying, which can negatively affect society and the state. The topic of the research should be the creation of national methodological recommendations on quality indicators of individual branches of law in accordance with the quality standards of legislation and law of the countries of the European Union. The introduction of European approaches to the regulation of social relations at the administrative and legal level in Ukraine must be balanced and adapted so that there is no negative impact on the development of society and the process of state formation. At the same time, the comparative legal study and rational use of foreign experience in the development of administrative law allows to significantly expand the so-called "legal field", enriching it with the experience of foreign countries. The current conditions for the development of administrative law in Ukraine depend on globalization, which affects all spheres of life, affecting the development of unified legal values and democratic principles of European administrative law, and the national administrative law system of individual European countries. In fact, there are two parties of subjects endowed with the corresponding rights and obligations in the field of administrative-legal relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the intensification of the national movement, it becomes essential to delve into the authenticity and origins of one's culture, whose historical path is at odds with imperial Russian and Soviet propaganda. The idea that many cultural processes of modern times have their roots in the European past is the key to a proper future, historically natural for Ukraine. The purpose of the research is to examine the development of children's musicals during the period of Ukrainian independence, identifying the specific features of the genre that developed on the stages of Ukrainian music and drama theatres and were embodied in film adaptations. The research is based on the method of systematic analysis and comparative method. The nuances of the genesis and development of the Ukrainian children's musical are identified through genre and style art and musicological analysis. This research examines the cultural genesis of children's musicals during the period of independent Ukraine. It highlights these musicals as evidence of the intensification of multi-genre processes in the Ukrainian stage and artistic industry. The study concludes that children's musicals of the last few decades represent a synthesis of ideological and aesthetic features of the national school with international elements, showcasing a unique interaction of the past with the present. Based on scientific research, the research presents a hypothesis about the Ukrainian children's musical as a derivative of European musical and dramatic genres (e.g. rock opera) and considers the renewal of audience demand and the reorganization of the musical and acting repertoire, which are caused by the entry of a new genre into the Ukrainian arena. The practical significance of the research lies in identifying the specific features of the genre and defining the main mistakes of independent Ukrainian cinema, which will be useful for specialists in Ukrainian musical theatre in developing new examples of the genre according to the nuances of its development in Ukraine, and for scholars who will develop the field of research on Ukraine's cultural achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the European Company (SE), the first supranational company form. The focal question is its impact on the development of transnational employment relations. We show that only a minority of SEs has set up SE Works Councils and we discuss the reasons for this non-compliance. Board-level employee representation (BLER), the other form of voice, is even less common. We compare both concepts and reveal that the SE's contribution to the development of transnational employment relations remains limited. By placing the SE in a broader perspective, we conclude that it fits the general pattern of limited progress towards 'Europeanization'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic regional policies are increasingly expected to tackle significant spatial disparities, promote territorial justice, and ensure equal opportunities, thereby supporting various aspects of sustainability. This article focuses on the case of Bulgaria, serving a dual purpose: it outlines the emergence and evolution of contemporary regional policy in the country and measures the extent and dynamics of socio-economic inequalities at different territorial levels. The conceptualization of a comprehensive regional policy framework following the socialist era was largely driven by top-down Europeanization impulses, which catalysed political debates on the transformed roles of the regions and the necessity for effective decentralisation. However, despite years of domestic regional policy implementation, socio-economic inequalities in Bulgaria remain substantial, with certain peripheral regions notably trailing behind. The comprehensive assessments conducted in this study include primarily descriptive statistics, regression and correlation analyses, time series analyses, and classification/categorization of territorial units. They indicate significant spatial heterogeneity and the prevalence of pronounced 'centre-periphery' patterns, which pose a serious threat to the long-term sustainable development of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A burgeoning empirical literature on attitudes towards Europe shows that highly educated individuals are more likely to hold pro‐European dispositions than non‐highly educated individuals. The literature provides structural and cultural accounts for this relationship. The structural account highlights that formal education contributes to earning higher incomes and attaining an upper‐class occupation, which are conducive to pro‐European dispositions. The cultural account instead highlights that formal education instils universalist and non‐traditionalist values in individuals, which are conducive to pro‐European dispositions. This is the first article to assess the relative predictive power of these two approaches. Using structural equation models, Rounds 8–10 of the European Social Survey and three indicators of pro‐European dispositions, this article examines whether socio‐economic location measured by income and upper‐class occupation or commitment to human values measured by universalism and traditionalism mediates this association. All in all, the structural approach receives stronger support than the cultural one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The course and status of the process of Europeanization of public administration in Albania Material and methods Analysis of existing data in the form of available research results, legal and strategic documents, scientific and expert studies Results Thanks to the mechanisms of unification and standardization, changes implemented at the EU level become part of the national order, leading to uniform solutions operating in all EU Member States. Albania is moderately prepared in the area of public administration and is progressing towards the standardization of public administration. Conclusions EU countries operate in a common administrative space, which forces, on the one hand, formal and legal standardization, and on the other hand, the creation of specific administrative cultures, taking into account the local specificity of each member country. Therefore, two processes can be distinguished, running in parallel and interdependently. One of them is a systemic, institutionalized process of modernizing public administration, referring to the implemented EU and national policies. The second, normatively and culturally conditioned social awareness, determined by the social variability of the surrounding world. The processes of EU enlargement, Europeanization of national administrations and administrative convergence are dynamic, and their systemic results concern the quality of administrative institutions, national or regional traditions, organizational culture and geopolitical aspects.

In recent decades, the administrative and competitive structures of men's elite club football in Europe have undergone a profound transformation toward Europeanization. As a result, football fans are increasingly exposed to European influences. These dynamics shape fans' perceptions of and orientations toward Europe and contribute to constructions of collective identities. Because football is a highly mediatized sport, fans' exposure to European influences and their constructions of identity are highly dependent on the representation of Europe in football media. To analyze this, we conducted a quantitative analysis of text-based online news media. Using selected German media outlets, we examined the extent and the patterned variation of media representation of Europe in football news articles. Our results indicate a highly selective media environment focused on a limited set of countries with high sporting relevance and a presence of German national-team players, while other countries rarely enter the media discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I investigate the attempts of the European Union to promote and entrench the rule of law standards in the Western Balkans countries. I examine the failures of legal reforms in key policy areas, such as the regulations of judicial independence, the legislative branch of government, vetting and suppression of corruption, that prevent progress in achieving the rule of law standards. I demonstrate how a narrow focus on the judiciary and its performance has harmed the standards. I propose a more specific focus on socio–economic reforms that, at first glance, appear less relevant to the rule of law. These are: higher education reforms, digitalization, decarbonization, and better targeting of anti-corruption measures. More focus on these areas allows a refocusing from a narrow conception of rule of law to other good governance reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades, Local Action Groups (LAGs) have gained significant relevance as territorial development polities. Initially established in the 1990s under the LEADER programme, EU-funded LAGs were lauded for their ability to engage local stakeholders, promote proactivity, and build capacity for designing and implementing Local Development Strategies (LDS). With the introduction of the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) policy initiative in the 2014–2020 Community Support Framework, the geographical scope of LAGs expanded beyond rural and coastal to include urban areas. However, there is a standing critique regarding the role and impact of LAGs in creating spatial-temporal fixes, addressing local issues through innovative governance arrangements, and facilitating multi-level interaction and territorial rescaling. This paper focuses on the Lisbon Metropolitan Area to critically examine these aspects amidst ongoing Europeanisation dynamics and a soft turn in planning theory and practices. Specifically, we scrutinize LAGs’ strategic territorial rationale, cultural adherence, institutionalization, and the intra – and inter-politics of their governance arrangements. The findings indicate limitations in governance rescaling due to the instrumentalization, over-centralization, and standardization of LAGs by external powers, which hinder their potential role and impact as territorial development polities and agents of state re-articulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates Georgia’s ongoing Europeanization process, a well-established topic in contemporary research. The study, on the other hand, focuses on the highly complex and largely unexplored field of labor relations, which has been in constant motion since the signing of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union in 2014. The article explores the development of the Occupational Safety and Health Policy as a unique case study, showing the Georgian government’s partial commitment to meeting its obligations under the Association Agreement. This commitment has raised the Occupational Safety and Health Policy to a critical component of public policy-making, paving the way for considerable changes in labor relations across the country.

On March 29, 2022, the Parliament of Georgia passed the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights, with its primary provisions taking effect on June 1, 2022. By enacting the Law, Georgia has largely fulfilled its commitment under the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) to implement EU directives governing consumer protection into its national legislation. However, it is essential to recognize that this reform marks just the initial phase of approximation. Challenges persist, especially in relation to European directives concerning the regulation of the digital marketplace. This article aims to provide a concise overview of the reform facilitated by the adoption of the new Law. Moreover, given that only one year has passed since the implementation of the Law, there remains a lack of practical experience or judicial precedent to assess its positive or negative impacts. Academic studies in this direction are also lacking. Consequently, the discussion in this article primarily centers on the novelty and challenges presented by the Law in the light of EU directives.

The paper explores the role of the European Union (EU) in the war in Ukraine, from the run-up of the war to its impact on the EU's future structure and functions, within Europe and globally. It begins with an account of the condition of the EU before the war, which it describes as overextended and stagnant with respect to the EU's proclaimed finalité, the "ever closer union of the peoples of Europe." Next, it recounts the use of the EU in early American attempts to include Ukraine in the East European enlargement of NATO, with EU membership as a reward for Ukrainian Westernization. To the EU leadership, this presented an opportunity to revive older, by then largely failed attempts at supranational unification and centralization, by offering to the United States to serve as its transatlantic base for its Ukrainian strategy. Following this, the paper explores the consequences for the EU and its stronger member states of the impending American withdrawal from the Ukrainian war theater, as the US turns to its conflict with China. The final section discusses the conditions under which Europe, the European states, and the EU can hope for some kind of strategic and political autonomy in the emerging new New World Order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the Europeanization of West German associations of Wehrmacht veterans in the 1950s. Using archival sources concerning the foundation of a European veterans' umbrella organisation, the article argues that the veterans' attempts at political reassertion in the post-war decades cannot be understood without accounting for their European dimension. Indeed, the veterans considered their European outreach to be a core pillar of their 'politics of honour', which manifested itself mainly in the agitation for the war criminals in Allied custody. Thus, aiming to establish themselves as effective and legitimate interest representatives, the veterans Europeanized. This process was consciously modelled after the ongoing process of integration while simultaneously exhibiting distinct characteristics stemming from the veterans themselves. The article tracks the veterans' transnational interactions, their competitive dynamics in West German associational politics and the veterans' associational interests to explain their specific form of an alternative Europeanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of neoliberalism has produced varied effects on cities ranging from rapid growth to gradual disempowerment. Instead of considering neoliberal urbanization as a fixed, predetermined process, I discuss the possibility of leapfrogging in urban repositioning. Particularly, I examine Eskişehir's repositioning process in response to disempowerment, placing particular emphasis on the "spatial fix." Rather than being passive recipients of neoliberalization, local ruling elites might develop political agency to not only counter but also capitalize on disempowerment. To overcome financial and political constraints vital for the spatial fix, Eskişehir's mayor leveraged multiscalar networking strategies and symbolic revitalizations at particular historical conjunctures. Accordingly, Eskişehir's municipality, ruled by the center‐left opposition party, sought to redefine the city as a stronghold of secularism with the claims of Europeanization and modernization. They introduced the "Eskişehir model" as a contrasting narrative to the ruling AKP's urban vision rooted in Islamist‐nationalist agenda. These mechanisms reveal that ideological‐political clashes at the national level can serve as windows of opportunity for local ruling elites to counter disempowerment. As the ethnographic research shows, these mechanisms had leapfrogging effects not only on repositioning and fostering political power but also dissembling existing inequalities, disparities, and segregation beneath the celebrated Eskişehir model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The road to Europeanization for the Greek state and society was a bumpy one: it carried people on the move to Western Europe and back, together with hopes, dreams, money and ideas. This article shows that Greece’s quest for development alla Europeana passed through the Gastarbeiter migration and return. It was manifested in outspoken and subtle ways of transformation in social attitudes connected with urbanism and consumerism. Transnationalism and social remittances are my two interpretative schemes to approach horizontal Europeanization, termed here Suitcase Europeanization, emphasizing migration’s role in the transfer of practices and ideas about Europe before the country’s official accession to the European Economic Community. The primary sources used are contemporaneous social scientists’ works, Greek and foreign. Both scholars and policymakers showed a keen interest in the region’s mutation from a predominantly rural area to a laboratory of change and urban transformation, envisioning European standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Town twinning comes with great expectations. Pursued after the Second World War as an instrument of reconciliation on the European continent, they are supposed to strengthen political and social cohesion in Europe. However, classic partnerships are undergoing changes. While some have died, others are used for new forms of cooperation. Is town twinning an outdated format? How can we capture and explain why some twinnings are very much "alive" while others "die"? Based on qualitative case studies in eight German cities, we identify institutional, actor-related and policy-related factors that contribute to the success or failure of town twinning as a form of horizontal Europeanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts over the independence of judiciary as one of the European Union's core democratic values is one indicator of democratic backsliding among its member states. Based on the Europeanization framework, we compare this conflict in German, Polish and Spanish print media and Twitter from 2019 to 2021. In the countries that are strongly affected by the value conflict, Poland and Spain, Europeanization is less evident. In contrast, the German discourse shows a high degree of Europeanization. We demonstrate that the print media is strongly elite-centric, while Twitter shows a higher actor visibility and inclusivity. However, we also identify important country differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies of the formal adaptation of parliaments to the European Union (EU) have dominated legislative scholarship in the last two decades, there is a growing interest in the substantive impact of the EU on legislative production and parliamentary behaviour. We contribute to this research agenda by exploring the effects of Europeanisation on the national parliament of one democratically backsliding EU member state, Hungary. Comparing periods marked by Europhile and Eurosceptic parliamentary majorities between 2004 and 2018 shows that governmental attitudes towards the EU are not reflected in parliamentary law-making and that parliamentary attention is mainly influenced by the level of Europeanisation of the policy field. This shows that backsliding governments do not generally oppose greater integration and underscores the necessity to distinguish between rhetorical Euroscepticism and Eurosceptic legislative action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the European legal framework for environmental protection, in particular through criminal law. Given the societal need to reconcile technological development with the protection of natural resources and the environment in general, this is a highly relevant issue. The aim of this article is to describe and examine the current European legislation in the field of the environmental protection through criminal law, employing descriptive, analytical and synthetic methods. The article first discusses the history of environmental policy in public international law and European law, where initially the legal instruments of criminal law were not used. Subsequently, the author examines the current legal framework and, finally, considers its future. In the last parts, the article addresses the secondary law of the European Union, namely the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of the environment through criminal law of 2008 and the new Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the criminal law protection of the environment of 2024. However, other decisions, directives and case law relevant to the issue are also covered. Overall, this is a unique article mapping all the essential legal instruments in the field of European environmental protection through criminal law. The author highlights the importance of protecting the environment through criminal law, but also emphasises the necessity of applying one of its basic principles, i.e., ultima ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Doxa Comunicación is the property of Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo - CEU and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The EU currently promotes a radical transition towards a green, digital and more inclusive economy, which for its realization relies on the European Investor State's financial architecture. As the transition generates losers, not only winners, instruments like the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) are designed to provide a compensatory function. However, our research shows that it might miss its mark of 'leaving no one behind'. JTM is a fascinating extension of European Investor State as it seeks to service the losers through investments rather than compensations. Firstly, JTM mirrors the vision of the InvestEU program and doubles down on industrial transformation and strategic investments that rely substantially on private sector involvement. Secondly, as a process, the JTM requires local stakeholder coordination and national institutional capacity – both of which can pose additional challenges to newer member states without enhancing local capabilities. Thirdly, based on the process design, much like other EU programs, JTM has a level of complexity that leaves beneficiaries highly reliant on technical assistance. As such, investment gaps in the newer member states might be extended, and not compressed by the current compensatory financial tools of the EU. Using an in-depth case study method, we develop a multi-dimensional evaluation of the Just Transition process in the most affected region of the Jiu Valley in Romania. Through an original local stakeholder mapping, we find that while the local and national authorities have the highest influence in determining the Just Transition process in Romania, they are also very much distrusted by other local actors. Our findings reveal that it is not just the often-cited weakness in institutional capacity, but also that of poor stakeholder consensus that impede the strategic planning and implementation of new EU investment tools at the level of targeted beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Eastern enlargement in 2004, the EU has paid exceptional attention to strengthening civil society organizations (CSOs) in new member and candidate states, including Turkey. While the EU's contribution to Turkish CSO empowerment is ambivalent in general, women's organizations have benefitted from the opportunities connected to the accession process. However, since 2007, the AKP government has been hesitating to further the EU-membership project. Distancing at the state level has also resulted in the weakening impact of the EU on civil society. We argue that de-Europeanization can be observed in securing financial and technical assistance, weakening normative power of the EU, and changing perceptions towards internationalization and Europeanization. Moreover, distancing from international donors has resulted in changing nature of the relationship between CSOs and local donors, both state and private. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Europeanisation of national political parties is often considered a crucial element in the democratisation of the EU. Yet, party Europeanisation has remained limited. The traditional argument explaining this is that the low political relevance of European affairs creates limited incentives for party organisations to Europeanise. But what happens in a context where Europe ìs politically relevant? Denmark, with its high parliamentary and public scrutiny of European affairs, provides us with such a case, allowing a view through the looking glass on whether and how national political parties Europeanise in a Europeanisation-friendly context. This article finds that Danish parties Europeanise rather differently from what has previously been found elsewhere, focusing strongly on internal cohesion, to the detriment of transnational cooperation. As such, empirically scrutinising a long-standing theoretical argument, this article adds much-needed nuance to the debate on party Europeanisation, its causes and relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction to the special issue on 'The Europeanisation of identities through everyday practices', we argue for a more thorough shift towards everyday practices, lifeworlds and leisure-time activities as important terrains for research into (ultimately also politically relevant) identifications among Europeans. Doing so entails the idea that the Europeanisation of identities might unfold in a more subliminal manner, and might hence be anchored less in policy changes and people's positionings towards political issues in a narrower sense. In contrast, mindsets, aspirations and frames of reference might undo a more unconscious transformation due to various activities in lifeworldly, cultural, leisure time-related, and even private spheres. Drawing on a multitude of fields (e.g. cultural heritage, university cooperation, everyday routines in the border region, arts, sports and gaming) as well as varying approaches and different methodologies, this Special Issue aims at demonstrating that ever more Europeanised identities might emerge from multiple sources and activities, which are not obviously tied to political agendas and frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the impact of European Union (EU) funds on corruption in the EU ex-communist countries by following a panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The panel includes 10 former EU communist countries, over 2007–2019. The key findings reveal that an improvement in the EU funds paid and their rate of absorption can reduce the level of corruption in the long-run in the recipient EU ex-communist countries. This is due to better monitoring of EU funds paid compared with national resources, and a more efficient and fairer channel of EU funds absorption. In parallel with the EU funds, corruption can be controlled in certain conditions by the degree of economic development, size of government, level of democratisation and religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses attitudes around the projection of the EU among Latin American elites, namely the determinants of support for a Free Trade Agreement between the two regions and the trustworthiness of the EU government. We take as data elite surveys conducted in 15 Latin American countries (2014–2019) and consider sociodemographics, ideology, support for democracy, views of foreign powers, exports to the EU, and electoral democracy. Results show that ideology and support for democracy are key determinants of support for an interregional FTA, and that the trustworthiness of governments in the US, China, and Spain covary with attitudes toward the EU. The latter (trust in the government in Spain) proves to be the main driver and, furthermore, its impact is conditional on the economic strength (observed as exports) of the EU: wherever the EU is not a strong economic actor in Latin America, trust in the Spanish government does nothing but improve the image of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which factors influence bilateral counterterrorism (CT) cooperation between EU Member States? Although scholars have studied European CT, the question still needs to be answered. This paper addresses the issue by introducing a new theoretical framework that combines CT and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) literature. As citizens' threat perception increases, governments are pressed to act. Overall, centrist cabinets tend to rely more on cooperation agreements; likewise, pushed by threat perception, left-wing executives also recourse to international cooperation. I tested this framework on a newly collected dataset, which comprehends bilateral CT agreements signed among EU Members from 2002 to 2017. As such, this paper fosters studies on EU CT, focusing on a less debated issue: bilateral cooperation between EU Member States. The results support the initial hypotheses, disclosing a robust influence of threat perception and cabinet ideology on the number of bilateral CT agreements signed. Furthermore, they show that the perception of the threat is more influential on cooperation than the actual impact of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a bottom-up perspective, cleavage theory links the socio-economic trends existing in the political community with the shape acquired by party politics. Globalization and European integration impacted European society, creating novel socio-economic divides and bringing new social, cultural and economic issues into the political discussion. The impact of the novel cleavage over the pre-existent societal socio-political fractures acquires a central role in the study of European Union politicization. Deploying critical discourse analysis (CDA) and discourse-historical approach (DHA), this study aims to comprehend how the emergence of a novel cleavage has influenced the discourse of the mainstream European parties. The manifestos of the European Christian democratic, socialist and liberal parties from the last three European Parliament elections are analyzed to assess the contemporary relevance of the left-right political competition in a scenario characterized by the salience gained by transnational issues and the electoral success of populist elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agreements on Next Generation EU (NGEU) and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021–2027 (MFF 2021–2027) are extraordinary milestones for the EU integration process. Not only do both regulations have important redistributive effects within a defined timeframe, but both regulations shape the hierarchy of objectives and instruments of EU budgetary policies. This is particularly true for cohesion policy, which has been characterised as the model of EU multilevel governance (MLG). Drawing on historical institutionalism and Peter Hall's classification of policy change, this text examines the dynamics of change in MLG. In particular, this research looks at the timing and scope of changes in EU cohesion policy since the 1980s. We ask whether or not the adoption of NGEU and the MFF 2021–2027 is likely to represent a critical juncture for the MLG and to what extent both regulations modify objectives and instruments of cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Euroscepticism tends to portray parties opposing European integration or criticising the European Union (EU) as a family of Eurosceptic parties (either hard or soft). Recent literature, however, offers empirical evidence on the ambivalence and diversity of the EU critique. What is still unclear are the reasons behind the chameleonic nature of Euroscepticism and the implications that this may have for the EU critique and the changes proposed about EU policy or institutions. The present article addresses this question exploring the role of EU crises to capture the changing nature of Euroscepticism and suggests that it is related to contextual pressures on the political debate around the EU. The paper develops this argument and illustrates it through the analysis of the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany, covering the EU crises of the last decade, including the recent period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine invasion. Drawing on a corpus of party manifestos and speeches between 2013 and 2022, this study shows that there are three main frames used by the party to criticise the EU. It also concludes that these frames involve distinct political implications for the EU critique and the alternative proposals presented by the party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), despite being regarded as the most developed integration project in the post-Soviet area, has faced different hurdles in acquiring international recognition. Especially, the EU, the EAEU's Significant Other, has been reluctant to formally recognize it, in spite of close ties with EAEU member states as well as of its own self-image as a supporter of regional integrations. This paper focuses on this puzzle and examines how the EU has been discursively explaining its non-recognition of the EAEU at the institutional level. Based on the analysis of EU-articulated narratives since 2010, the paper reveals three dominant representations of the EAEU in the EU discourse: (1) Russia's geopolitical project; (2) a protectionist union; and (3) a dysfunctional union. These narratives have been used by Brussels to create the EAEU's image as a threatening Other, thus justifying why the EU cannot formally recognize the EAEU and officially engage with it. The paper also identifies five different stages of the EU's discursive representation of the EAEU since 2010, when its tone and content varied. The paper concludes that such non-recognition from the Significant Other still limits the EAEU's international agency despite its increasing interest in cooperation with non-Western actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) has developed cultural policy initiatives that seek to promote cultural Europeanization with the purpose of constructing European identity narratives and facilitating citizens' sense of belonging to Europe and the EU. The article focuses on the citizens' perspective to cultural Europeanization through ethnographic research on one central action in the EU cultural policy, European Heritage Label (EHL). We analyse the interviews conducted in selected EHL sites with Central and East European (CEE) citizens who were visiting the sites as well as with cultural heritage practitioners working at three EHL sites located in CEE countries. We ask how the practitioners and the visitors engage with European identity narratives and elaborate their European belonging. We especially scrutinize how everyday encounters and experiences, such as mobility, shape identifications with 'Europe' and perceptions of what is 'European'. The interviews are interpreted in the theoretical framework of 'being' and 'becoming' European. This framework indicates a centuries-long liminal position of the Central and Eastern Europe. It enables us to scrutinize CEE citizens' sense of belonging to Europe in an intersection of dual Europeanization, i.e. cultural Europeanization and 'Europeanization' of the CEE countries to overcome this liminal position and become 'true' Europeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How has the Europeanisation of football at the level of governance (due to for example the effects of the Bosman ruling and the formation of the UEFA Champions League) – influenced the identities of football fans? This paper explores how such structural Europeanisation in football is influencing identifications among fans. Based on an analysis of articulations in selected online message boards, we distil the positioning of fans towards 'Europe' in football, and the factors which shape it. We control for three main avenues of impact: the club level, the league level, and the societal context. Our inquiry is based on a set of paired comparisons of fan scenes for football clubs in four different European countries. Results show that the factor carrying the most explanatory power is the club's participation in European-level competition. Although this broadly confirms a 'contact hypothesis' – according to which the more fans are exposed to cross-border contacts, the less relevance they attribute to aspects of national belonging – significant variations of how frequent exposure to European-level competition translates into more Europeanised perceptions do exist. For European identity studies, the work corroborates that a lifeworld arena such as football can foster Europeanised identifications, albeit not in a uniform manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]