The Institut d’études européennes of the ULB is pleased to announce the online presentation by Theofanis Kakarnias of his paper « Understanding Domestic Determinants of Rule of Law Europeanisation in the Western Balkans and Turkey ». The paper will be discussed by Venelin Bochev and Guido Panzano.
The study aims to understand why EU candidate states in the Western Balkans and Turkey manage the Europeanisation process in the area of the rule of law with widely divergent degrees of success. While the importance of domestic factors has been acknowledged by the literature, it has not been evident which aspects and to what extent influence the Europeanisation process. Based on conclusions of recent studies in this area, this paper assesses the role of broader power-related constituent elements of formal democracy. By analysing aspects such as the ability to conduct free and fair elections, political corruption, freedom of speech, and the presence of civil liberties, the study evaluates the role of domestic factors influencing rule of law Europeanisation in the Western Balkans and Turkey between 1995 and 2020.
Drawing on the results of a time series multiple regression analysis, a key finding is that certain broader aspects affecting democracy, instead of just technocratic and institution-related aspects in the judiciary, play indeed aprominent role in shaping rule of law Europeanisation. Moreover, the study utilises a theoretical reconstruction of the External Incentives Model, a dominant theoretical model explaining Europeanisation in candidate states, to better understand the role of domestic factors in theoretical terms. Therefore, the study offers both theoretical and empirical contributions to our cumulative knowledge of what drives rule of law Europeanisation in candidate states.
Practical Information
Date : 11 décembre 2023
Time : 16h00-17h00
Online event at: meet.google.com/fsg-fkkm-cgd