Panel 2. Political Institutions

One aspect of the process of the Europeanization of national politics in the new member-states or in the candidate-states refers to the established democratic political institutions, changes in their operation, and adaptation. Both formal and informal institutions as well as actors and processes that are bounded by such institutional networks are exposed to the process of Europeanization, yet some of them are more and the other less affected by the process itself. The panel includes research reports that range from the analysis of national constitutional designs, parliamentary and executive branches of government, through parties and party systems, electoral behavior and administrative state structures to the civic institutional networks. Papers can deal with the changes in the formal structures of the democratic institutions as well as with the changes of the established collective patterns of the political behavior.

What are direct and what indirect effects of the process of Europeanization on political institutions of the national political systems? Does the Europeanization process affect national democratic institutions differently during the process of accession and after the accession? Could differences be explained more by timing or sequence of accession or more by the institutional structure of discrete political systems? To what extent the supranational institutions determine the behavior of political actors in domestic affairs? These are just some of the questions around which papers may be structured.

Papers can range from pure theoretical contributions on the concept and analytical meaning of Europeanization in a certain political institutional field, through comparative studies of the countries from the region or with third countries to interesting and theoretically driven case-studies of a political system from the region. We expect around 10-12 papers so that presentations can be organized in two or three subsequent thematic sub panels.