Building States Without Society
Building States Without Society

Author: Beate Sissenich

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9780739112236

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Focusing on the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, Building States without Society highlights the real limits of cross-national rule transfer even when power is uneven between rule-makers and rule-takers. Tracing the role of labor and other non-state actors in transferring rules, Beate Sissenich shows the persistent relevance of national politics, specifically state capacity and interest organizations. Social network analysis demonstrates that even in a highly integrated Europe, state borders continue to structure communications.

Hungary on the Road to the European Union
Hungary on the Road to the European Union

Author: László Andor

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2000-04-30

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 0313094985

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In November 1997 Hungarians voted in favor of membership in NATO, primarily as a step toward membership in the European Union and integration into Western society. Andor examines the changes in Hungarian social, political, and economic life after the collapse of communism in Central Europe. He analyzes the difficulties, both internal and external, to making that transition. In the early 1990s, public discourse was dominated by the enthusiastic slogans proclaiming Hungary's return to Europe. Things can only get better was the prevailing feeling surrounding the dismantling of the state socialist system and the construction of the new parliamentary democracy. From the very early years of transition, however, Hungarians faced large-scale and unexpected hardships in their changing lives which made them the most disappointed nation in Eastern Europe by 1993. In the second half of the 1990s, the policies of the Socialist-Liberal coalition, and particularly the positive developments in the enlargement process of NATO and the EU, restored the belief in a rapid and successful accession to the major Western economic and security organizations. But, as Andor indicates, the beginnings of negotiations about entry into NATO and EU will be merely the starting point of difficulties arising in both economics and politics. A thoughtful and cautious look at a changing Hungary that will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and policymakers involved with Central Europe and contemporary European politics and economics.

Managing European Union Enlargement
Managing European Union Enlargement

Author: Helge Berger

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9780262025614

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Leading international economists assess the effects of the 2004 expansion of the European Union. In May 2004 the European Union will undergo the largest expansion in its history when ten countries -- Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia -- become members. The number of new members and their diversity make this "big bang" enlargement particularly challenging. Not only do these countries vary widely in language, culture, and geography, but also their per capita income is less than half that of existing members. EU officials believe that expanded integration will serve the EU's objectives of peace, stability, prosperity, and democracy; but the less abstract questions of costs and benefits of enlargement are more complex. Each of the chapters in this CESifo volume addresses a different aspect of EU expansion. The contributors, all leading international practitioners and scholars, consider such topics as the effect of euro zone expansion on European Central Bank monetary policy making; using the euro as an external anchor for a national currency; worker migration and income differentials; the Swiss experience with immigration policy in a direct democracy framework; detailed sector analysis using a computable general equilibrium model of the world economy; investment and job creation and destruction in incumbent member countries; and the asymmetric effects of enlargement on high- and low-income incumbent countries. Taken together, the chapters provide useful guidance in shaping the EU policies of the future.

European Union Enlargement
European Union Enlargement

Author: Michael Schwarzinger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-29

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1351311107

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European Union Enlargement offers an intense and detailed analysis of the almost ten-year process of preparing and negotiating the accession of Eastern, Southeastern, and Central European countries, as well as Mediterranean countries to the European Union. In the end, ten joined in 2004, with two more to follow in 2007. European Union Enlargement was written by two diplomats who were directly involved in that process. Sajdik and Schwarzinger relate their first-hand experience of proceedings that occurred behind closed doors. They detail how the vision of adding some countries gradually developed into the concrete policy intended to enlarge the European Union. A special chapter explains the Accession Process as well as the Union's strategy that prepared the candidate countries, in legal and economic terms, for membership. The authors describe in detail the complex negotiations that occurred from 1998 to 2002. These include activities of EU member states as well as the European Commission with respect to the candidate countries. They further offer a brief analysis of future possibilities of EU-accession by Balkan nations and Turkey. A number of topical chapters deal with particular key issues involved in the process: free movement of workers, agriculture, financing of the enlargement, transport, and nuclear safety. Other chapters deal with the enclave of Kaliningrad as well as the Stability and Association Pact for South East Europe. In addition to providing key information about the process, this volume is also a case study of European policies and diplomatic practice. The enlargement negotiations from 1998 to 2002 were the most complex ones the European Union had ever conducted. In consequence, this work gives insight into the working methods of both the institutions in Brussels and of the representatives of the member states that made them a success. It will be of interest to those concerned with European politics, international organizations, and area studies.

Driven to Change
Driven to Change

Author: Antoaneta L. Dimitrova

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780719068096

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Will joining the European Union help achieve prosperity, stability and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? This book addresses this question by analysing how the European Union has approached this enlargement. Specifically, the book shows how, in its enlargement to the East, the European Union has tried to guide the post- communist states of Central and Eastern Europe towards new institutions and changing rules. In addressing the little explored link between post-communist transformations and enlargement, the book presents the effects of enlargement governance extended by the EU on domestic processes of reform and transformation. With its rich empirical overview of the reform challenges to various sectors, the author presents various scenarios of the interaction of EU rules with post communist reform. In contrast to other books on enlargement, this one relies on the perspective of scholars from Eastern Europe to illustrate the importance of the accession process to reform.