The International Dimension of Transformation

1
The International Dimension of Transformation

• Introduction to postcommunism, lecture by Henri
  Vogt, 9/4/2013

2
Lecture outline

• The spread/ diffusion of democracy and the
  external impacts of 1989
• active vs. passive leverage
• EU membership debates (in Estonia)
• Differences between the Europeanness of East
  and West Europeans

3
The external impacts

• The third wave of democracy (Samuel Huntington)
  first wave from the French Revolution to 1922
  when Mussolini came to power second after WW2
  until 1962 third from 1974 (Portugal)
• Whitehead (1996) contagion control consent (or
  cooperation)
• Geographical proximity to Western Europe as a key
  for success

4
Passive leverage

• Based on the idea of a return to Europe, and
  increasing economic cooperation in the early
  1990s.
• Political benefits
• - protection of EU rules voice in EU
  decision-making
• Economic benefits
• access to EU market transfers from EU budget
  increased investment and growth increased
  entrepreneurship skills
• Benefits are shaped by
• - Costs of exclusion when neighbouring states are
  joining
• - EU treatment of non-members
• Additional benefit
• EU membership conditionality as a catalyst for
  domestic reform
• Question Why did the EU want to have new members?

5
Active Leverage

• The Copenhagen criteria of 1993 - to join the EU,
  a new Member State had to meet the following
  three criteria
• political stability of institutions guaranteeing
  democracy, the rule of law, human rights and
  respect for and protection of minorities
• economic existence of a functioning market
  economy and the capacity to cope with competitive
  pressure and market forces within the Union
• acceptance of the Community acquis ability to
  take on the obligations of membership, including
  adherence to the aims of political, economic and
  monetary union.

6
Active EU policies in the region

• PHARE, beginning 1989, before 2004 used some 10
  billion euros
• Tacis 1991 - 2006
• From 2007 European Neighbourhood Policy and
  EuropeAid (European Neighbourhood and Partnership
  Instrument approximately 11 billion for 2007-13)

7
EU Debates in Estonia

• Can be understood in the context of passive
  leverage
• Raik 2004 argues that the debate was based on
  four catchwords
• - Inevitability,
• - Speed
• - Efficiency
• - Expertise
• Prime Minister Mart Laar in 2001 (in Postimees)
  We really are in a damned hurry This
  irrefutable truth is absolutely obvious to anyone
  who for a moment thinks about our position and
  history.

8
Literature

• Milada Anna Vachudová Europe Undivided. OPU 2005
  
• Kristi Raik EU accession of Central and Eastern
  European Countries Democracy and Integration as
  Conflicting Logics. EEPS, vol. 18, no. 4, 2004
• Whitehead, Laurence (1996) Three International
  Dimensions of Democratization. In L. Whitehead
  (ed.), The International Dimensions of
  Democratization. Europe and the Americas. OUP
• Sten Berglund, Joakim Ekman, Henri Vogt and Frank
  Aarebrot The Making of the European Union.
  Foundations, Institutions and Future Trends.
  Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA, USA Edward
  Elgar 2006