European Studies : Europeanization

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I've got to leave behind first the maqasid shariah but I wish to continue it once I am done with few assignments. Man!!! I hate assignments but that is the requirement for the course. I am going to talk about Europeanization. 

Introduction

Europeanization refers to few phenomena related to Europe and patterns of change :

I. The process in which a notionally non-European subject (be it a culture, a language, a city or a nation) adopts a number of European features.

II. Outside of the social sciences, it refers to the growth of a European continental identity or polity over and above national identities and polities of the continent.

III. It refers to the process through which EU political and economic dynamics become part of the organizational logic of national politics and policy-making.

Definitions

Europeanization has been generally referred as "being more European like." Specifically than this, it has been defined in many ways. 

Earliest conceptualization of this term was made by Ladrech (1994, 69). He defines Europeanization simply as an incremental process of reorienting the shape and direction of politics to the extent that European Community (EC) political and economic dynamics become part of organizational logic of national politics and policy making. 

It emphasizes what is known as the 'top-down approach' to Europeanization with change emanating from the impact of the Union onto the national policy. The state is viewed as reactive towards changes in the Union.

Another definition that needs to be taken into acoount is of Radaelli. He describes that Europeanization is : "A process involving a) construction b) diffusion c) institutionalization of formal and informal rules, procedures, policy paradigms, styles, 'ways of doing things' and shared beliefs and norms which are first defined and consolidated in the EU policy process. Then, they are incorporated in the logic of domestic (national or sub-national) discourse, political structures and public choices."

From a "bottom-up" approach, Europeanization occurs when states begin to affect the policy of the EU in a given area.

A more nuanced analysis posts that the institutional interaction of policy actors at the various levels of European governance leads to the redefinition of national, regional and other identities within a European context where the multiple levels of governance in Europe are not seen as necessarily in opposition to one another. 

An elected representative can, for example, see his loyalties and responsibilities as lying with Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Europe or with Amsterdam, Netherlands and Europe, for unitary states. Some scholars for example Samuel Huntington argue that citizens of European states increasingly identify themselves as such, rather than Portuguese, British, German, French, Italian and etc. 

An obvious area of change is in the institutions of Europe; the enlargement of the EU and the gradual acquisition of authority over the national member governments in numerous areas is creating a centralized European polity. The Economic and Monetary Union of the EU would be an example for this. In this case, the nations using the Euro have passed control of their monetary policy to the European Central Bank.

Another perspective of Europeanization is the "horizontal approach." This approach takes into account the transfer of politics, policies and policy making between member states of the EU. The transfer is based on a form of a "soft law" therefore is not enforceable, but is based on "best practice" and mutual recognition.

Whether Europeanization is a continuing process that will eventually lead to a full European government or whether centralization will be unable to overcome persisting national identities or increasing interests in localism is a matter of debate. 

Reference

Michelle Cini, European Union Politics 2nd Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) p. 407.

This one is from wikipedia the source for lazy people since I have no time to dig in stuffs in European books. I have other books to read for research too like racism and multiculturalism. Maybe we could try to check them together once I am done with the presentation and exam stuffs, yah...

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!