Europeanization post-accession: rule adoption and national political elites in Romania and Bulgaria

摘要

Romania and Bulgaria’s inability to fully meet membership criteria has questioned the European Union’s ability to influence domestic reform post-accession. This article investigates stalled Europeanization post-accession due to the dilution of the external incentive model, and the reassertion of domestic structures, through an interplay between formal, behaviuoral and discursive adoption. The findings show that the implementation of post-accession Europeanization was delayed by Brussels’s reluctance to substantiate their threats and the national political elites’ ability to stifle implementation by relying on techniques of ‘smoking-mirrors’. The article applies discourse and historical analysis. By focusing upon the period 2007-2011, it considers the efficiency of post-conditionality mechanisms of compliance.View full textDownload full textKeywordsEuropeanization, post-accession, Romania, BulgariaRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2012.661226