Ulrich Sedelmeier

Rachel A. Epstein

The European Union’s (EU) membership conditionality has been perceived as a highly effective means of influence on non-member states in the run-up to the 2004 and 2007 enlargements. According to the incentive-based explanation that dominates the literature, conditionality has been particularly effective when the EU offered a credible membership incentive and when governments did not consider the domestic costs of compliance threatening to their hold on power. This volume challenges much of the existing work on EU enlargement and postcommunist transition, however, by testing the conditionality thesis in the post-accession setting. Whereas a conditionality hypothesis would predict deteriorating compliance among the newest member states, several contributions here actually find the opposite. Enduring compliance among postcommunist states with the acquis, as well as with less formally institutionalized EU preferences for economic liberalization and minority protection, calls into question the role that conditionality plays in eliciting conformity. Simultaneously, support for the conditionality hypothesis in areas such as political party development and EU relations with Turkey and the western Balkans suggests conditionality’s effects vary across countries and issues. As the first study to systematically examine the relationship between international institutions and postcommunist states after enlargement, this volume provides new insights into how external actors exercise their power in domestic politics. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Postcommunist Europe after EU enlargement

International Influence Beyond Conditionality

Erik Jones

Paul M. Heywood

Martin Rhodes

Rarely has European politics been so tumultuous or difficult to predict. The global economic crisis and subsequent recession have had a profound effect on Europe's political, economic and social landscape, as governments have been forced to cope with almost unprecedented levels of public debt. A pan-European analysis is essential for those seeking to understand contemporary trends and developments. Developments in European Politics brings together specially commissioned chapters by leading authorities to give an up-to-date and systematic analysis of European political developments – in institutions, processes and policy – at both national and regional levels. It provides wide-ranging and clear analysis of the factors influencing European politics, from the Europeanization of national politics to the broader forces of globalization, immigration, climate change and international terrorism.

Ulrich Sedelmeier

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