Suchergebnisse

In Early December 2000 The Political Leaders Of The European Union (EU) met in Nice in order to decide on the treaty adaptations needed before the enlargement envisaged for the next decade. The overall goal was to render the EU more efficient and its decision making more transparent. The outcome of this important event was widely considered as disappointing. Some observers even came to the conclusion that there were no leaders of the EU as such, but only rather narrow-minded, egotistical national leaders who did not – with minor exceptions – care about the 'common good' at all. Never had it become so evident, in the opinion of some, that the European perspective had been fading away for many years, and that it was being replaced by national considerations which are often short-sighted and limited to the horizon of the next national elections. One of the classical theories on European integration, neo-functionalism, measures the progress of integration in terms of the Europeanization of its political elites. From this perspective, the top decision-makers seem to be on a downward trend. Is it then a case for the opposite theory, that of intergovernmentalism, which claims that national interests continue to be in the centre of EU decision-making and that tough bargaining is of its very nature?

Erik Oddvar Eriksen and John Erik Fossum, eds., Democracy in the European Union (New York: Routledge, 2000)Dusan Sidjanski, The Federal Future of Europe: From the European Community to the European Union (Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 2000)

Different approaches to defining and evaluating the institutionalization of civic activism are considered. The data of original researches in which the author and colleagues conducted a survey of civically active Ukrainian youth in the EU countries were analyzed (in-depth interviews were used). Ukrainian youth activists operating in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland and the Czech Republic were the respondents. Based on this study, the current state of institutionalization of Ukrainian activism in various EU countries is analyzed.

It has been found that the work of migrant associations is diverse and is usually based on the enthusiasm or interest of activists, which leads to flexibility, proximity to the needs and beliefs of the communities concerned, but does not guarantee a high level of sustainability. Also, the data obtained indicates the formal recognition at the state level of the relevant organizations, which means compliance with a number of requirements of the authorities of the host country. Interaction with the state institutions and local self-government of both host country and Ukraine in the course of project activities is typical, which shows another aspect of the process of institutionalization of Ukrainian migrants' activism. An important feature of activism is the «mobilization» approach, which is characterized by the activities of small organizations that unite a wider circle of less active supporters and mobilizes them at certain times.

It is revealed that the current state of institutionalization of Ukrainian activism in the EU indicates both positive features (flexibility and compliance with the requests of communities or individuals in need of assistance; taking into account the current situation in Ukraine) and negative (dependence on the initiative of individual activists, relative unpredictability of activities as well as results).