Europeanizacijos sampratos kaita

LTTeoriniame straipsnyje analizuojama europeanizacijos sampratos kaita ir problematika. Įvairių mokslo disciplinų atstovai domisi europeanizacijos fenomenu, tačiau konsensuso europeanizacijos tema plačiame akademiniame diskurse nerandama jau trečią dešimtmetį. Nesutariama dėl europeanizacijos sąvokos, koncepto, grindžiančių teorijų. Iki šiol nėra aišku nuo ko priklauso europeanizacijos traktavimas, skirtingais laikotarpiais skirtingai buvo suvokiama europeanizacijos fenomeno kilmė ir reikšmė šalims, skirtingos metodologijos naudotos europeanizacijai vertinti. Šiame straipsnyje analizuojant europeanizacijos konceptus siekiama identifikuoti pagrindinius požiūrius į europeanizaciją. Iš to kyla ir straipsnyje analizuojama problema – eurpeanizacijos supratimo kaita ir įvairovė.

ENThis theoretical article based on literature analysis is willing to analyze the change and diversity of the concept of Europeanization. Three decades Europeanization have had a remarkable scientific interest, unfortunately with little results. Academic literature does not answer the question of what is or what is not Europeanization, does not define the fields of activity of this phenomenon, disagrees about the theoretical approaches that can explain this phenomenon. Moreover, the same scientific question about Europeanization remains nowadays as decades earlier what shows us that minor development achieved. This long period is divided in four Europeanization research stages influenced by economic, social and political context during that time. First research stage related with enounced European Union (EU) enlargement to east countries (early 1990s) including the fears of old member states due to differences between countries and ontological Europeanization research. The first stage lasts for about a decade and runs second-stage studies on the adaptation period of the new member states. Second stage of Europeanization studies covers post ontological research and focuses on Europeanization process mechanisms – how is Europeanization happening? The third stage associated with the post-economic crisis Europeanization studies and covers Europeanization conceptualization analysis. Fourth stage reiterates the importance of EU enlargement and returns to the initial issues of Europeanization studies. Europeanization studies, to date, remains an unconsolidated, approached by various research strategies, methodologies, concepts, each revealing a particular part of phenomenon but not the conceptual understanding of the concept as a whole. Some studies understand Europeanization as vertical “top down” or “bottom up” process while other understand it as horizontal both sided processes.Vertical “bottom up” process accept Europeanization as an opportunity for member states to upload their ideas, needs and interests in European level. “Bottom up” studies evaluate how national interests are reflected in European level and what feedback can EU provide for those interests. “Bottom up” direction was not properly developed when “top down” perspective hit the arena of Europeanization research. “Top down” concept of Europeanization is closely related with EU enlargement’s requirements for becoming member states. As far as member states had to meet requirements due to become a member state the process of Europeanization associated with direct actions of EU and its pressure to member states through legal compliance and requirements. That studies investigates how EU influences national policy and how state accept that influence. “Bottom up” concept criticized for the limitation that Europeanization can only take place if the country is a member state while “top down” concept criticized due to the diminished role of the member states, exaggerated position of the EU toward member states and limitation that Europeanization cannot happen organically without interference.Other studies tried to correct criticism of vertical Europeanization suggesting that this is a complex process and is going in both directions. But as they had to define horizontal Europeanization they realized stretched concept and its difficulty to define. Both vertical and horizontal Europeanization concepts has failed to develop shared definitions and compelling models. The major problem with Europeanisation research is that the majority of the studies not been reflexive about the concept of Europeanization and its theoretical and field utility. The dispersion of studies has led to the need for this article to analyze the change in conceptual understanding of Europeanization. Based on scientific literature analysis this article contributes to the theoretical understanding of Europeanization in Lithuania.