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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.

Europeanization Research is a dynamic area of political sciences both internationally & in the Czech Republic. However, despite the popularity of the concept & the still-growing number of conference papers, articles & books devoted to its various aspects, there are several gaps & shortcomings regarding its conceptualization & methodology of theoretical as well as empirical Europeanization studies. The aim of the paper is to present an overview of the most important theoretical issues surrounding Europeanization Research, including the definition of the term & the danger of concept stretching, the question of causality & various explanations of Europeanization mechanisms with a special emphasis on the identification of their weak points. Simultaneously, it aims to evaluate the current state of Czech Europeanization research with several recommendations for developing it further. Adapted from the source document.

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.

This article deals with the Europeanization of the German parliament as a difficult process of finding a relationship between the German government (Bundesregierung), upper chamber (Bundesrat) & lower chamber (Bundestag) concerning EU-related affairs. One of the results of the recent process of Europeanization is the loss of influence of parliaments in EU member countries. The decision-making process within the Council of the EU can hardly be followed by parliaments & parliamentary committees. This has led to adaptation processes within the polities of EU member countries. This article follows the development of EC & EU-related institutions & committees in both chambers of the German parliament, as well as agreements & changes to the German constitutions adopted in order to assure that the parliament would not lose its influence in EU-related affairs during the period from 1957 to 2006. The conclusion is that there were differences between both chambers of parliament in the way they tried to secure their interests. However, both chambers partly lost their influence although they changed their structures & negotiated new agreements trying to secure their positions. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this article is to analyze the attitudes of the main political parties in the Czech Republic towards the European Union. A special emphasis is put on the presentation of these attitudes in the pre-referendum period & on the levels of support for membership achieved among the parties' supporters. This topic is analysed through the theoretical lens of "europeanization," an approach which examines the impact on domestic (national) policies & political systems of EU policies & processes. This theoretical perspective is usually applied to current member states but has been increasingly extended to candidate countries in the pre-accession period as well. In the period after the first democratic elections of 1990, the "European" debate among Czech political parties has intensified & shifted from the clear initial "yes" to membership to more complex & qualitative questions. By the time of the national EU referendum, (June 2003) the impact of" europeanization" was manifested by the presence of a significant number of EU-related topics in the political parties' agenda. The authors have utilized a range of political geography, sociology, & political science methods to demonstrate a high correlation between the EU referendum results & the levels of the partisan support for the parties favoring membership in the EU. According to the available empirical data from various public opinion surveys, the support for membership among the voters of the Social Democratic Party (CSSD), Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Christian Democratic Party (KDU-CSL) & Freedom Union (US-DEU) ranged from 82 to 92 %. On the contrary, the position of the Communist Party (KSCM) was clearly the opposite. In addition to the political orientation of the voters, other factors which have influenced the voting results were examined. These included such factors as regional unemployment rate, education, wage levels as well as other political-geographical aspects. References. Adapted from the source document.

German European policy has undergone a substantial change since the mid 1990s. It has often been labeled as "normalization," "pragmatization," or even as "de-Europeanization." The article argues that while there has been little change in the program of the Angela Merkel government compared to the former SPD-Green coalition, shifts in the institutional set-up, "Brusselization" of the top ranks of the state administration & improvement in the economic performance of Germany may prove politically significant. So far, the change in the style of the German policy has been the most visible: while pragmatic regulative polices continue, Berlin focuses its constitutive politics more on strategic issues viewing this phase of the EU development as critical. In the run-up to the German EU presidency Berlin's policy has become more EU-partisan focusing on the EU Constitution Treaty in particular, as well as, seeking & offering more leadership in EU affairs than before. Adapted from the source document.

The purpose of this contribution is to: map out the development of the EU's approaches to management of economic migration, to explain causes of slow Europeanization in this policy area & to outline future perspectives. The text describes: (1) the establishment of an asymmetric constitutional framework for EU migration policies, with unfinished communitarization in the field of legal migration, (2) the development of policies for managing economic migration in 1993-2006, & (3) current debates launched by the Commission in 2005. Finally (4), the author outlines the causes of the current situation. Despite the limitations, she predicts the further europeanisation of economic migration policies. The main reasons for this prediction are the continued trend towards a piecemeal adoption of specific measures to regulate economic migration, the links of economic migration policies to more dynamic segments of migration policies & the need for a global approach to migration in the EU's external policies. The likely scenario is subsidiary & selective EU intervention. References. Adapted from the source document.

The article tries to evaluate the Europeanization research agenda from the point of view of a politics-sphere A basic precondition for understanding the character of the political systems in East-European countries after the Second World War is to define the key concepts, especially different types of non-democratic regimes. In other words, we must know what "totalitarianism", and "authoritarianism" means, and how we should approach studying these species. According to empirical and analytical methods, we consider them both as ways of governing, as types of political systems and not something else (e.g. ideology, a way of thinking, etc.). Eastern Europe after 1944, with some exceptions, was not totalitarian and is better described as quasi-totalitarian or authoritarian. However by the term "quasi-totalitarianism" we do not mean a subtype of "post-totalitarianism" (as Juan J. Linz does), but as a separate category of non-democratic regime. Of course it is necessary to take into account the differences existing among particular countries as well as differences "inside" these countries, meaning their unique historical development. This is evident in the case study portion of this article which describes the political system of Poland 1944-1989. Adapted from the source document.