CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Timus, Natalia |
|---|---|
| Title | The Influence of European Integration on Party and Party System Development in East European Neighborhood |
| Summary | The dissertation addresses the existing theoretical debates on the influence of European integration on party and party system change and aims at exploring the nature and the extent of EU involvement in domestic political transformation within East European Neighborhood (Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia). It advances a theoretical framework that combines IR and CP approaches based on two major variables: the type of EU involvement (direct versus indirect) and the degree of freedom of domestic political elites in transforming according to EU standards and requirements. The intervening variables from the European level are considered the degree of clarity of EU stipulations and EU material incentives. The number of internal veto players, party strategic behavior, and party-government relation are argued to be the major domestic intervening factors. The empirical findings show that European Union can exercise both direct and indirect influence outside its borders. Brussels can be directly involved in EEN party politics via two mechanisms: the adjustment of party-related laws to European stipulations (as stated in APs) and the compliance to EPFs’ affiliation requirements. Yet, the evidence shows that at the moment this type of influence is limited because of the vaguely defined EU requirements within the APs and reduced material incentives, particularly the absence of EU membership perspective, and the strength of liberal-democratic opposition forces. The thesis confirms that indirect European level influence is stronger in the case of EEN outsiders. Two mechanisms of indirect influence are examined hereby: the change in patterns of party interaction and coalition formation and the emergence of pro- and anti-European parties. While the empirical results show the lack of successful parties that establish their identity in their Europeaness, they also point to the existence of EU involvement in the change of party interaction by means of supporting the coalition of pro-European forces (e.g. ‘electoral revolutions’ in Georgian and Ukraine). However, EU leverage decreases considerably once the decisive points of political crisis are overcome and party strategic calculations are responsible for the final outcome of EU influence, constrained by partygovernment position and the strength of opposition forces. Finally, EU fails to contribute to the consolidation of EEN party organizations and party systems, which remain weakly institutionalized and characterized by a fluid political environment as well as instability and unpredictability in the patterns of party interaction. Overall, the dissertation represents an important academic contribution by providing original empirical data based on MRG manifesto content-analysis, expert surveys, and party leader interviews. Although the work is limited to the case of East European neighborhood, the advanced theoretical framework can be applied to the study of other EU outsiders, particularly within the post-Soviet space. |
| Supervisor | Enyedi, Zsolt |
| Department | Political Science PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/pphtin01.pdf |
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