Suchergebnisse

Summary
The European Union (eu) today has quasi-embassies at its disposal in third countries — the eu delegations — which represent the Union's eyes, ears and face. Following the Treaty of Lisbon, these delegations assumed the role of the rotating Presidencies and oversee the conduct of eu diplomatic affairs. In practice, this implies representing the eu and cooperating with eu member states' embassies on matters not only relevant for aid and trade, but also for foreign and security policy. By employing performance criteria such as effectiveness, relevance and capability, this article uncovers the particularities of the practices of European diplomatic cooperation among eu delegations and national embassies in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Minsk, Chisinau and Kiev from 2013-2016, the article explores practices of European cooperation abroad, shows how eu diplomatic actors identify a common approach and emphasizes certain capability issues faced by the eu in these countries.

This article aims to assess the role of local agency and the local socio-cultural context in the internalization of externally promoted political norms. When external norms are diffused to the domestic level, they are reinterpreted and adapted to the local normative context. Conceptualized as a dynamic process, norm internalization implies that norms undergo a modification in terms of law, discourse, and practice. To add to the scholarship that offers power-based explanations when discussing how EU political norms are embraced locally, we discuss the internalization of norms at the national level, taking into consideration local reactions and the(re)interpretation of external norms. To do so, this article scrutinizes the local dynamic of the internalization process by showing how local agency and the cultural match between external and internal norms plays a role. Following the constructivist study of norm diffusion, this research uncovers how Moldovan social and political elites use societal pressure dynamic and elite learning dynamic in the case of implementation of the anti-corruption norm. In addition, this article puts emphasis on the importance of cultural match for a norm to be internalized by discussing post-Sovietness in Moldova.