Suchergebnisse

The process of democratic transition & consolidation has established conditions for important Czech interest groups in which interest groups have begun to face the challenges of Europeanization. The article focuses on changes that trade unions have been undergoing during the Europeanization process in respect to their internal structure, interactions with other political actors both on the Czech & European levels, changes of advocated interests, strategies of action, etc... Appropriate attention is paid also to the reaction of Czech trade unions to new challenges driven by European integration. The authors conclude, using data from original long-term qualitative research, that Europeanization is a proper conceptual tool eligible for the analysis of Trade Union. Adapted from the source document.

The article tries to evaluate the Europeanization research agenda from the point of view of a politics-sphere and actor-centered approach. The authors postulate that the concept of Europeanization is lacking in regards to problems of political process and its dominant actors -- political parties and interest/pressure groups. The article consists of several parts. First, a critical examination of existing Europeanization conceptualizations is provided. Second, the impact of democratic transition and consolidation upon Europeanization in new member countries of the EU (and in potential candidate states) is examined. Third, ways of necessary adaptation suitable for analyzing politics in terms of Europeanization are suggested and discussed. The article concludes with sections devoted to agenda-setting for research about the Europeanization of political parties and interest groups. The overall tenor of the article is to point out the necessity of integrating Europeanization-related issues, methodological, and research tasks into a broader framework of comparative politics/comparative government; and that the theoretical basis of actor-oriented Europeanization research should be drawn more from this area of political science than it has been in previous research. Adapted from the source document.