How European Union Membership Can Undermine the Rule of Law in Emerging Democracies

Slapin, Jonathan B.

doi:10.1080/01402382.2014.996378

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…The general trend points to consolidation in the median range, suggesting that many transplanted and adopted laws are not enforced in practice. This sobering finding on the lack of implementation has been noted in the literature (Falkner et al 2008;Elbasani 2013;Slapin 2015) and expressed in the author's interviews with judges and ngo representatives from the region.…”

Section: 3mentioning

confidence: 55%

“…This pathology is often attributed to domestic costs and to "veto players"2 who block the implementation of new laws (Magen/Morlino 2009;Sedelmeier/Schimmelfennig 2005). The main question, then, is why international donors (including the eu) insist on transplanting "their" "first-best" laws from a more advanced system, which however do not work sufficiently well under domestic conditions and even undermine the respect for law (Slapin 2012). This may be explained, for instance, by the eu's predominant focus on the external morality of law (e.g.…”

Section: 22mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The demand for more transplanted laws and adaptation to international standards has improved the external legality of law but at the same time has fostered legal inflation and instability (Mendelski 2015). The demand for more regulations, furthermore, has increased the discrepancy between formal rules and informal practice (Slapin 2012(Slapin , 2015, and the call for more judicial independence has resulted in more independent but less accountable judicial councils (Bobek/Kosar 2014;Coman 2014). Similarly, the demand for a "solid track record" in fighting high-level corruption cases has increased the number of convictions, but has also lead to more instability of anti-corruption legislation and a misuse of newly established prosecutorial structures, including the violation of fundamental rights (Di Puppo 2010;Ivanova 2013;Capussela 2015).…”

Section: The Problem Of Valuing Quantity Over Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Now, a third generation of scholars has revealed several "pathologies of Europeanization" (Börzel and Pamuk 2012;Mendelski 2014) and the "eu's pathological power" (Mendelski 2015). This more critical strand of literature has argued that the eu undermines the rule of law (Pech 2015;Slapin 2015;Mendelski 2015), democracy (Börzel 2015) and good governance (Börzel and Pamuk 2012;Mungiu-Pippidi 2014), for instance by applying deficient and inconsistent methods to promote rule of law and democracy (see Schimmelfennig 2012;Börzel 2016;Börzel and van Hüllen 2014). It seems that by drawing attention to negative and pathological effects of eu conditionality, the Europeanization literature has become more pessimistic, or better said, more realistic about the eu's ability to promote democracy and the rule of law in accession countries from South Eastern Europe (see) and the European Neighborhood (see Schimmelfennig 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He explained this perverse pathological effect by the fact that in some countries the laws that have been transplanted and imposed by the eu (e.g. acquis communautaire) have little demand, legitimacy and support from citizens, law-makers and law enforcers, and that this lack of demand and understanding may reduce the respect for the rule of law (Slapin 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Europeanization and the Rule of Law: Towards a Pathological Turn

Mendelski

2016

Southeast Eur

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Recent scholarship has exposed the "eu's pathological power", which has undermined the creation of the rule of law in South Eastern Europe (see) and beyond. This paper discusses the "pathological turn" in Europeanization studies by identifying and providing evidence for several "pathologies of Europeanization", i.e. legal and political deficiencies related to rule of law reform, such as legal instability, lack of generality and enforcement, and increased politicization. These pathologies result, among others, from a deficient approach of the eu to rule of law promotion and assessment. In particular, the author highlights three main fundamental problems of Europeanization in the area of the rule of law: 1) valuing quantity over quality; 2) partisan empowerment of domestic change agents; and 3) biased assessment of the rule of law. These problematic issues are further clarified on selected country examples of reform failure from see and the 2012 "rule of law crisis" in Romania. It is argued that given the eu's inability to objectively assess and effectively promote the rule of law, the eu should either abstain from evaluating rule of law or radically revise its approach and methodology, for instance by following the policy advice provided in this paper.

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Section: 3mentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: 22mentioning

confidence: 99%