Between 1989 and 2004, the EU's conditionality for membership transformed Central and East Europe. The EU had enormous potential power over the whole range of domestic politics in the candidate countries. However, the EU was able to use that power at a few key points in the process leading to their accession. The EU's long-term influence worked primarily through soft power and through voluntary rather than coercive means. During the membership preparations, the EU built many different routes of influence into the candidate countries' domestic policy-making through 'Europeanization'. The Central and East Europeans voluntarily took on the Union's norms and methods, guided by the European Commission, in a massive transfer of policies and institutions. However, the EU missed important opportunities to effect change as well. The EU's Transformative Power explores in detail how the EU used its influence to control the movement of people across Europe, through both coercive use of conditionality and voluntary methods of Europeanization.

In 2004, the European Union undertook an unprecedented addition of ten new countries. This will fundamentally change the EU, and the Union has already had a dramatic impact on the development of the new member states. The EU's Transformative Power presents a detailed analysis of how the EU has shaped countries of Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of communism.

Despite all efforts to create a political union capable of improving European citizens’ quality of life, there are several barriers to the European Union’s (EU) expansion to the Balkan Region. The EU enlargement and expansion to the Balkan Region is one of the Union’s greatest challenges and political objectives in recent years. In the turmoil of economic, social, and sanitarian crises, where is the space to debate the enlargement of the EU? Challenges and Barriers to the European Union Expansion to the Balkan Region presents the EU’s structure, the process of enlargement, and the challenges related to the Balkan region. This book addresses critical issues and challenges in the EU and the emerging trends for the EU’s future. Covering topics such as enlargement policy, integration, NATO, and political challenges, this book is a valuable resource for post-grad students of political science and international affairs, faculty of higher education, researchers, academicians, politicians, world leaders, and policymakers.

Das Buch behandelt die Einwirkung der EU auf den polnischen Staat seit dem polnischen EU-Beitritt. Autoren aus Rechts- und Politikwissenschaften analysieren EU-induzierte Transformationsprozesse, die im Rechtssystem Polens, dem Parteiensystem sowie mehreren Politikfeldern stattfanden. Untersucht werden unter anderem Änderungsprozesse in der polnischen Gerichtsbarkeit, der Interessenvertretung und in den Parteien sowie in mehreren Politikfeldern wie z.B. der Antiterrorpolitik, Klimapolitik, Außenpolitik und Gleichstellungspolitik. Mit Beiträgen von: Ireneusz P. Karolewski, Monika Sus, Robert Grzeszczak, Stanislaw Konopacki, Jolanta Maj, Anna Bachmann, Anna Paczesnika, Agnieszka K. Cianciara, Ewa Wójtowicz, Andzej Ceglarz, Andrzej Ancygier.

It is generally assumed that regional integration leads to stability and peace. This book is a systematic study of the impact of European integration on the transformation of border conflicts. It provides a theoretical framework centred on four 'pathways' of impact and applies them to five cases of border conflicts: Cyprus, Ireland, Greece/Turkey, Israel/Palestine and various conflicts on Russia's border with the EU. The contributors suggest that integration and association provide the EU with potentially powerful means to influence border conflicts, but that the EU must constantly re-adjust its policies depending on the dynamics of each conflict. Their findings reveal the conditions upon which the impact of integration rests and challenge the widespread notion that integration is necessarily good for peace. This book will appeal to scholars and students of international relations, European politics, and security studies studying European integration and conflict analysis.

Europe's transformations is the unifying theme for this collective work that brings together leading academics and policy makers from across Europe and beyond. When the geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting, the sustainability of the Western economic model is under serious challenge and internal divisions in Europe are deep, we aim at looking at the major issues in a 'big picture' perspective. We draw lessons from the way Europe has responded or not to changes both within and without in multiple crises in recent years, try to understand what is at stake and consider alternative policy proposals. All the contributors have a long and widely recognized knowledge and experience of a wide range of issues of European integration and Europe's role in the world. They cross academic and professional boundaries and bring different perspectives as top analysts and policy makers, including two former prime ministers and a former US ambassador to the EU. They come together as friends, colleagues, and former students of Loukas Tsoukalis celebrating his scholarship and overall contribution to the European public sphere. The volume is divided into three main parts. The first deals with issues of democracy and welfare. The second part deals with major changes in the European balance of power and the balance between institutions. The third part examines changes in the global system and Europe's present and potential role in it.

The book investigates the scope and limitations of the transformative power of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. The extension of EU enlargement policy to the region has generated high expectations that enlargement will regulate democratic institution-building and foster reform, much as it did in Central and Eastern Europe. However, there is very little research on whether and how unfavourable domestic conditions might mitigate the transformative power of the EU. This volume investigates the role of domestic factors, identifying ‘stateness’ as the missing link between the assumed transformative power of the EU and the actual capacity to adopt EU rules across the region. Including chapters on Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, leading scholars in the field offer up-to-date comparative analysis of key areas of institutional and policy reform; including state bureaucracy, rule of law, electoral management, environmental governance, cooperation with the International Court of Justice, economic liberalization and foreign policy. Looking to the future and the implications for policy change, European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans provides a new theoretical and empirical focus on this little understood area. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of EU politics, comparative democratisation, post-communist transitions and Balkan area studies.