The unbearable lightness of membership: Bulgaria and Romania after the 2007 EU accession

This paper focuses on the current political and socio-economic situation in the two most recent EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania. Overall, the post-accession period in both countries has been comparable to that in the East-Central European members that had joined the Union on 1 May 2004. However, there have been some significant differences in the post-accession path of Bulgaria and Romania, which set them apart from the rest of the EU-10, as well as among themselves. For instance, the problem of corruption has been a particularly salient theme for the political elites of both countries and it led to the paralysis of the cabinet in Romania during the first year of its membership and to the rise of powerful populist alternatives in Bulgaria. What has probably been even more distinguishing in the cases of Bulgaria and Romania is their apparent inability to swiftly deal with the political and social challenges emerging after accession, as well as to adequately respond to the process of Europeanization. The main reason for this has been the unfinished political and socio-economic transformation of both countries, accompanied by the consolidation of certain ‘reserve domains’, occupied by the former secret services and semi-mafia structures.     

Back to the future,forward to the past: Croatian politics of memory in the European Parliament

This paper discusses the way in which a post-conflict European Union (EU) member immediately after accession both shapes and adapts to EU memory politics as a part of its Europeanization process. I will analyze how the country responds to the top-down pressures of Europeanization in the domestic politics of memory by making proactive attempts at exporting its own politics of memory (discourses, policies, and practices) to the EU level. Drawing evidence from Croatian EU accession, I will consider how Croatian members of the European Parliament “upload” domestic memory politics to the EU level, particularly to the European Parliament. Based on the analysis of elite interviews, discourses, parliamentary duties, agenda-setting, and decision-making of Croatian MEPs from 2013 to 2016, I argue that the parliament serves both as a locus for confirmation of European identity through promotion of countries’ EU memory credentials and as a new forum for affirmation of national identity. The preservation of the “Homeland War” narrative (1991–1995) and of the “sacredness” of Vukovar as a European lieu de mémoire clearly influences the decision-making of Croatian MEPs, motivating inter-group support for policy building and remembrance practices that bridge domestic political differences.     

Monitoring,Money and Migrants: Countering Post-Accession Backsliding in Bulgaria and Romania

Using cross-national governance indicators and evidence from a recent Bulgarian survey, this essay examines political reforms in Bulgaria and Romania since EU accession and, in particular, the ‘backsliding’ hypothesis—that these countries have abandoned or reversed the reforms they introduced in order to qualify for membership of the European Union. It finds no systematic evidence either that these countries have been backsliding or that their trajectories differ significantly from their first-wave Central and East European neighbours, though governance reforms have slowed after accession. The second part of the essay focuses on the mechanisms responsible for the lack of significant backsliding, emphasising the role of continued conditionality through the safeguard clauses, EU funding and increasing linkage between new and old EU members, including opportunities for East Europeans to work and travel in Western Europe.     

Pressure,Favours, and Vote-buying: Experimental Evidence from Romania and Bulgaria

This article examines the mix of non-programmatic strategies used by politicians to gain voter support in contemporary Eastern Europe. We use a mixed-method design that combines survey-based experiments and qualitative research in a paired comparison of localities in Romania and Bulgaria. Our article documents that the mix of clientelistic strategies differs across localities with different turnover rates. In both Romania and Bulgaria, we find that the use of clientelistic strategies that politicise state resources is higher in localities with long-term political incumbents.     

Constitutional Dynamics in the European Union: Success,Failure, and Stability of Institutional Treaty Revisions

ABSTRACT

Despite high institutional hurdles for constitutional change, one observes surprisingly many EU treaty revisions. This article takes up the questions of what determines whether a treaty provision is successfully changed and why provisions are renegotiated at subsequent Intergovernmental Conferences. The article presents an institutionalist theory explaining success and renegotiation and tests the theory using all core institutional provisions by means of Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The causal analysis shows that low conflict potential of an issue is sufficient for successfully changing the treaties. Furthermore, high conflict potential of an issue and its fundamental change are sufficient for it to be renegotiated.     

Monetary regimes,economic stability,and EU accession: Comparing Bulgaria and Romania

This paper traces the origins of the different monetary regimes adopted in Bulgaria and Romania in 1996–97 and examines their performance during the EU accession. The findings indicate that the constraints of the currency board in Bulgaria shifted economic activity towards the private sector, while the discretionary policies in Romania turned public finances into both a contributor and a response mechanism to economic imbalances. While the prospects of EU accession initially enhanced the performance of the monetary anchors, the implicit insurance of EU membership increased moral hazard and led to a rapid rise in private and public debt. The paper also explores the historical parallels between the monetary regimes of Bulgaria and Romania in 1996–97 and 1925–1940.     

Two steps forward,one step back: Renewable energy transitions in Bulgaria and Romania

This article examines renewable energy policy in Bulgaria and Romania (2007–17) and the reasons behind the unexpected rapid growth in renewables followed by a policy reversal. While we find strong formal compliance with EU legislation regarding targets for renewable energy, an examination of institutional change and policy dismantling in both countries finds that this was not supported by a paradigmatic policy change or a transformation of the energy system. Veto players worked to dismantle renewable energy policy once targets were reached. We use insights from the intersection of socio‐technical systems and historical institutionalist literatures to explain policy dismantling in the energy sector. In doing so, we develop a socio‐technical account of renewable policy in Romania and Bulgaria. We show that this is related to the historically conditioned, path‐dependent processes of institutional change, where energy materiality shapes the parameters of political possibility and the costs of policy implementation.     

Regional Inequalities,Decentralisation and the Performance of Local Governments in Post-Communist Romania

The economic growth that has occurred in post-communist Romania has polarised society and greatly increased existing inequalities. The aim of this paper is to investigate regional disparities, to underline the role of governmental mechanisms in smoothing out territorial inequalities, and to examine the possible effects of regional economic disparities on the performance of regional administrations in delivering public services, in the light of the new regionalisation debate. The conclusion is that Romanian counties' institutional performance does not completely correlate with regional wealth; but regional disparities and the mechanisms used to smooth out inequalities have to be taken into account in the public debate concerning further decentralisation.     

Interwar fascism and the post-1989 radical right: Ideology,opportunism and historical legacy in Bulgaria and Romania

Do contemporary Bulgarian and Romanian radical right movements represent a legacy of interwar fascism? We argue that the key element is not that interwar movements provided legacies (of structures, ideologies, or organizations) but rather a symbolic “heritage” that contemporary movements can draw upon. The crucial legacy is, rather, the Socialist era, which in asserting its own definitions of interwar fascism created a “useable past” for populist movements. The Peoples’ Republics created a flawed historical consciousness whereby demonized interwar rightist movements could be mobilized after 1989 as historical expressions of “anti-Communist” — and, ergo, positive symbols among those of anti-Communist sentiment. Although radical right parties in both countries may cast themselves as “heirs” to interwar fascism, they share little in common in terms of ideology. Their claims to a fascist legacy is, rather, a factor of how their respective Socialist states characterized the past.     

The Educational Achievement and Employment of Young Roma in Bulgaria,Hungary and Romania: Increasing Gaps and Policy Challenges

This article investigates the educational attainment, employment and living conditions of young Roma adults in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania with the aid of national generations and gender surveys and other sources of information. It shows that in spite of a small improvement in the educational attainment of young Roma in comparison to the generation of their parents, the educational achievement and employment gaps have increased considerably during the post-communist period. The article also compares living conditions of the Roma with other population groups. It concludes with a discussion of policy challenges.     

Being here and there: migrant communities in Sweden and the conflicts in the Horn of Africa

Abstract

The largest migrant communities in Sweden come from Africa's most troubled region, the Horn. These are the Somali and Ethiop-Eritrean communities. This paper examines the not-so-obvious ways in which Ethiop-Eritrean and Somali communities in Sweden influence the political developments, particularly the conflicts at ‘home’. Many of these immigrants living in Sweden keep up with social and political developments in their countries of origin almost on daily basis and remain engaged, to a large extent, in the affairs of both their families and communities ‘out there’ while they ‘are here in Sweden’. This article therefore focuses on the particular forms of engagement that have either intended or unintended impact on the intractable conflicts in which the societies in these countries are engaged. I argue that ‘nostalgia underpins the immigrants’ sense of commitment to the affairs of their countries of origin, and therefore, providing moral and material support to warring groups derives the impetus largely from the affective dimension of migration.     

The European Union and its energy security challenges: engagement through and with networks

Energy security remains a vital issue for the European Union (EU), even more so in the wake of the events that unfolded in early 2014 in Ukraine. The EU's already fragile position in the international energy arena in terms of security of supply appears to be more uncertain than ever after its umpteenth fallout with its historic energy supplier, Russia. This situation is untenable and calls for swift and decisive action to adequately tackle the issue once and for all. The article looks at the creation of a single EU energy market through the integration of energy networks in the EU. This article then examines various ways to diversify its energy supply, whether through increasing the import of liquefied natural gas or through its relations with the Eurasian Union. It then explores the International Energy Charter as an example of the EU's engagement with transnational policy networks. It concludes that from energy transit, to technology transfer, to investment protection, energy and trade present interplays across various fields. Improvements can be made to the EU trading system to ensure greater energy security and more efficient energy markets.     

Estonia caught between East and West: EU conditionality,Russia's activism and minority integration

This article takes a subjective approach to studying norm compliance in order to determine how EU conditionality and Russia's activism have affected elite attitudes toward minority policies, majority–minority relations, and language use in Estonian society in the post-accession period. The results of a Q method study and semi-structured interviews with integration elites in spring 2008 reveal four distinct viewpoints. The study casts doubt upon the success of EU conditionality in Estonia by demonstrating that European minority rights norms remain contested and have not been internalized by a substantial portion of elites. In addition, the study points to an important role for Russia's activism in the development of a more inclusive society. Russia's activism actually works against minority integration by reinforcing pre-existing domestic norms that are not compatible with European minority rights standards and by aggravating tensions over history and language, which frustrate integration efforts. This article ultimately contributes to studies on the effects of international pressure on minority integration by pointing to the need for greater attention to the ways in which multiple actors at both the international and domestic levels structure the influence of EU conditionality.     

Mayors in Seven European Countries: Part I. Selection Procedures and Statutory Position

Abstract

Western European countries differ according to the ways in which they organise local government, not least in the manner in which mayors are selected and in the mayors’ statutory positions and responsibilities. The question is to what extent is mayoral performance affected by selection procedures and the statutory position of the mayoral office? In two exploratory articles, the results of a number of comparative empirical studies will be presented. In this first part the focus will be on the theoretical and methodological framework of the study, and on the variations in selection procedures and statutory positions. In the second part (to be published in the next issue of this journal) we will relate these findings to evidence on mayoral performance.     

Regulating Collaboration: The Legal Framework of Collaborative Governance in Ten European Countries

ABSTRACT

Many scholars have considered when and why collaboration between government agencies and societal actors occurs. This article argues that a simple but largely overlooked answer to these questions is that a formal legal or administrative requirement to do so is in place. Therefore, the objective is to substantiate whether there are legal requirements to collaborate and in what type of source and context this obligation applies in ten European countries. The main finding is that collaboration is underpinned by an extensive range of legal requirements in Europe, although imposing these requirements is generally not the main objective.     

‘Red Mobs’, ‘Yuppies’, ‘Lamb Heads’ and Others: Contacts,Informal Networks and Politics in the Czech Republic,Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania

This article addresses the use of contacts and informal networks in the political sphere in post-communist states in East Central and South East Europe. It tests two major hypotheses: (i) informality is functional and mainly a result of transition; and (ii) informality is embedded in the national culture and/or a leftover from communism. These hypotheses are tested on findings from 360 in-depth elite interviews. The article concludes that although informality is largely a response to problems and opportunities caused by transition, the manner in which it is expressed, to quite some extent, reflects the national culture and communist experience.     

Creating a Business School in Romania: Made in the USA,Delivered in Romania

Abstract

This article describes the establishment and maintenance of a successful Executive MBA program in Central Europe funded initially by USAID. The dynamics of a society in transition to a free market economy create special problems of management that require the capabilities of skilled managers. We argue that Executive MBA programs are efficient and effective vehicles for developing managers with the requisite skills. As new conditions occur in rapidly evolving legal and institutional environments, however, the curriculum and organizational structure has to be continuously adapted to these new challenges.     

Democratization through European integration: The case of minority rights in the Czech Republic and Romania

While scholars have tended to focus on domestic factors as most critical to the consolidation of democracy, the post-communist European Union (EU) candidate states have exhibited a unique confluence of domestic and foreign policies, due to their objective of EU membership. This article assesses and compares the impact of the EU on policy making in two diverse candidate states in their first decade of transition, focusing on minority rights protection as a fundamental requirement of both EU membership and a stable democracy. I find that the EU has played a principal role in the reform process and democratic consolidation of candidate states, even in the controversial field of minority rights. The degree and nature of the EU’s impact, however, has depended in part on the activism of the particular minority, EU interest and pressure, EU Member States’ own domestic policies, and the persistence of racism in society. Dr. Melanie H. Ram is a research associate at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University and Senior Program Officer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency USA Office. She has written extensively on European Union enlargement and democratic consolidation and reform in Central and Southeastern Europe, and is the author most recently of “Harmonizing Laws with the European Union: The Case of Intellectual Property Rights in the Czech Republic” inNorms and Nannies: The Impact of European Organizations on Central and East European States (2002). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, 30 August–2 September 2001, San Francisco, CA and at “Voice or Exit: Comparative Perspectives on Ethnic Minorities in Twentieth Century Europe,” Humboldt University, Berlin, 14–16 June 2001.     

Border communities: microstudies on everyday life,politics and memory in European Societies from 1945 to the present

Louis L. Snyder, Encyclopedia of Nationalism. New York: Paragon House, 1990, bibliography, XXII, 445 pp., $35.00

Pearson, Thomas S., Russian Officialdom in Crisis: Autocracy and Local Self‐Government, 1861–1900. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 284 pp.

Charles A. Ruud, Russian Entrepreneur Publisher Ivan Sytin of Moscow 1851–1934. Montreal &; Kingston: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1990.

George Jackson, editor, Dictionary of the Russian Revolution. New York, Westport, and London: Greenwood Press. 1989, xviii, 704 pp., $75.00.

Adam Westoby, The Evolution of Communism. New York: The Free Press, 1989, 318 pp., $22.95

Mark von Hagen, Soldiers in the Proletarian Dictatorship: The Red Army and the Soviet Socialist State, 1917–1930. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1990, index, xviii, 367 pp.

Marvin Sicker, The Strategy of Soviet Imperialism: Expansion in Eurasia. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1988, viii, pp. 172

Samuel Farber, Before Stalinism. The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy. New York: Verso, 1990, 288 pp.

Neil Fodor, The Warsaw Treaty Organization: A Political and Organizational Analysis. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990; xv, 235 pp., $45.00.

Henry R. Huttenbach, ed., Soviet Nationality Policies: Ruling Ethnic Groups in the USSR. London: Mansell Publishing Ltd., 1990; xvi, 302 pp.

Alexander Shtromas &; Morton A. Kaplan, eds., The Soviet Union &; the Challenge of the Future, Vol. 3, Ideology, Culture &; Nationality. New York: Paragon House, 1989, xxxix, 760 pp., index, $39.95.

Alfred Erich Senn, Lithuania Awakening. Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press, 1990, illustrations, index, 294 pp.

Robert A. Vitas, The United States and Lithuania: The Stimson Doctrine of Nonrecognition. New York: Praeger, 1990, 176 pp.

Pedro Ramet, ed., Catholicism and Politics in Communist Societies: Christianity Under Stress. Volume II. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1990; index, ix, 454 pp.

Martha B. Olcott (ed.), The Soviet Multinational State: Readings and Documents. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1990. xii and 605 pp.

Bohdan Nahaylo and Victor Swoboda, Soviet Disunion: A History of the Nationalities Problem in the USSR. New York: Free Press, 1990, 432 pp. Illustrated, $29.85

Erhard Stölting, Eine Weltmacht zerbricht. Nationalitäten und Religionen in der UdSSR. Frankfurt/Man, Eichborn Verlag, 311 pp., 29,80 DM

Vladimir Tismaneanu, In Search of Civil Society: Independent Peace Movements in the Soviet Bloc. New York: Routledge, Chapman, and Hall, 1990, index, x, 184 pp., $35.00

Murray Feshback and Alfred Friendly Jr., Ecocide in the USSR: Health and Nature Under Siege. New York: Basic Books, 1992, 376 pages, $24.00.

Philip R. Pryde. Environmental Management in the Soviet Union. Foreword by Zeev Wolfson. Cambridge, UK &; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991; preface, xx, 314 pp., maps, tables, photos, index and biblio. $49.50 cloth, $14.95 paper.

Ellen Frankel Paul, Ed., Totalitarianism at the ‘Crossroads. New Brunswick (US) &; London: Transition Books, 1990.

Jorgen Kühl, De tyske mindretal i Sovjetunionen ["The German minorities in the Soviet Union"] with a summary in German. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 1990; xxxi, 159 pp.

Samvel Shakhmuradian, Sumgaitskaia Tragedia v Svidetel'stvakh Ochevidtzev ("Sumgait Through the Eyes of the Victims"). Erevan: Armianskii Fond Kul'tury, 1989.

Stephen White, John Gardner, George Schopflin and Tony Saich, Communist and Postcommunist Political Systems, An Introduction. Third Edition. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990, xi, 357 pp.

Karl Kaser, Südosteuropäische Geschichte und Geschichts‐Wissenschafi: Eine Einführung. Wien &; Koln:Bohlau Verlag, 1990, maps, graphs, 308 pp.

Marko Pavlyshyn, Glasnost in Context: On the Recurrence of Liberalizations in Central and East European Literatures and Cultures. Berg European Studies Series. New York, Oxford, Munich: Berg, 1990, bibliography, index, xi, 182 pp, cloth.

Milo Kominek, I Pod Oblohou Je Peklo. Dokumentace. Second Enlarged Edition. Toronto: Moravia Publishing, In., 1991; 318 pp., $23.00.

Ralf Dahrendorf, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe in a Letter Intended to have been Sent to a Gentleman in Warsaw. New York: Random House, Inc., 1990; 163 pp., $17.95

István Deák, Beyond Nationalism, A Social and Political History of the Habsburg Officer Corps, 1848–1918. Oxford, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990; XII, 273 pp.

Trond Gilberg, Nationalism and Communism in Romania: The Rise and Fall of Ceausescu's Personal Dictatorship, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990, x, 289 pp.

Johann Böhm, Das Nationalsozialistische Deutschland und die Deutsche Volksgruppe in Rumänien 1936–1944: Das Verhältnis der Deutschen Volksgruppe zum Dritten Reich und zum rumänischen Stoat sowie der interne Widerstreit zwischen den politischen Gruppen. (Europäische Hochschulschriften: Series 3, Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften, vol. 223) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1985. 264 pp. maps.

Gale Stokes, Politics as Development. The Emergence of Political Parties in Nineteenth‐Century Serbia. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1990, 1 map, bibliography, index, 400 pp.

William Zimmerman, Open Borders, Nonalignment, and the Political Evolution of Yugoslavia. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987

Jack Wertheimer, Unwelcome Strangers: East European Jews in Imperial Germany. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, statistical tables, index, ix, 181 pp.,$42.00.

Alfred D. Low, Soviet Jewry and Soviet Policy. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, No. 281, 1990, xv, 216 pp., notes, bibliography, index, $32.00

Anthony Polonsky, ed., ’My Brother's Keeper?’ Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust. NY and London: Routledge, 1990, index, 242 pp.

Ronald Sanders, Shores of Refuge: A Hundred Years of Jewish Emigration. New York: Schocken Books, 1988. xiii, 673 pp.

Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn, The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990; xviii, 461 pp.

Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, index, 191 pp.

Stanislaw Baranczak, Breathing Under Water and Other East European Essays. Cambridge &; London: Harvard University Press, 1990; notes, index, 245 pp., cloth

Jan Kott, ed., Four Decades of Polish Essays. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press; xi, 396 pp., $49.95 ($15.95, paper).

Aurel Braun, Ed. The Soviet‐East European Relationship in the Gorbachev Era: The Prospects for Adaptation. Boulder, CO, San Francisco, London: Westview Press, 1990. XI, 249 pp., $20.00 (paper).