Durch den Zerfall Jugoslawiens 1991 und die militärischen Auseinandersetzungen in Folge der Unabhängigkeitserklärung einzelner Staaten rückte der Balkan einmal mehr in den Fokus der Weltöffentlichkeit. Dabei spielten sowohl Kroatien als auch Bosnien-Herzegowina eine elementare Rolle.

Seit der Unterzeichnung des Friedensvertrages von Dayton haben sich beide Staaten jedoch sehr unterschiedlich entwickelt. Somit stehen beide auch auf einer anderen Stufe hinsichtlich ihrer Bestrebungen, der EU beizutreten: Für Kroatien scheint ein Beitritt bald Realität zu werden, Bosnien-Herzegowina hingegen ist noch weit entfernt.

Die Studie geht der Frage nach, wieso sich beide Staaten in so unterschiedlichen Stadien hinsichtlich ihrer Beitrittsperspektiven befinden. Neben einer Analyse und dem Vergleich der Transformationsprozesse werden die von der EU aufgestellten Beitrittskriterien analysiert und hinterfragt. Die Publikation verdeutlicht, dass ein nachhaltiger Frieden auf dem Balkan nur durch eine realistische EU-Perspektive und eine intensive Kooperation der Mitgliedstaaten mit den südosteuropäischen Staaten zu gewährleisten ist.

This Living Review deals with the division of competences between the EU and its member
states in a multilevel political system. The article summarises research on the relations between
the EU and the national and sub-national levels of the member states. It provides an overview
on normative and theoretical concepts and empirical research. From the outset, European
integration was about the transfer of powers from the national to the European level, which
evolved as explicit bargaining among governments or as an incremental drift. This process was
reframed with the competence issue entering the agenda of constitutional policy. It now concerns
the shape of the European multilevel polity as a whole, in particular the way in which powers
are allocated, delimited and linked between the different levels.

The article is structured as follows: First of all, normative theories of a European federation
are discussed. Section 2<!--tex4ht:ref: sec:normative --> deals with different concepts of federalism and presents approaches
of the economic theory of federalism in the context of the European polity. The normative
considerations conclude with a discussion of the subsidiarity principle and the constitutional
allocation of competences in the European Treaties. Section 3<!--tex4ht:ref: sec:empirical --> covers the empirical issue of how
to explain the actual allocation of competences (scope and type) between levels. Integration
theories are presented here only in so far as they explain the transfer of competence from the
national to the European level or the limits of this centralistic dynamics.

Abstract

[From the introduction] The foregoing summary of current events indicates the complexity of the situation the

EU is dealing with on the Balkans. Currently, it seems that, apart from Croatia and

partly Montenegro and Macedonia, the countries are still far away from any

meaningful prospects regarding European integration. A detailed overview of all of

the intricacies and activities of the European Union’s foreign policy in the Western

Balkans is beyond the scope of this paper. Instead, the following discussion addresses

the main institutional and legal issues with regard to the process of integration for the

countries of the Western Balkans. This process, the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP), is a precondition to enlargement procedures. In the light of the current events, the final part addresses the particularities of the role foreseen for the EU in

Kosovo.

This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement support for a given candidate country: its economic performance, its state of democracy and its perceived cultural `match' with the EU. Employing an experimental design, we probe the media-induced effects of these factors on EU enlargement attitudes.

Key Words: enlargement • experiment • mass media • public opinion

How effective and relevant is European Union political conditionality for the promotion of democracy in third countries? This article reports the results of a panel study of 36 countries of the East European and Mediterranean neighbourhood of the EU for the years 1988—2004. The analysis shows robust and strong effects of EU political conditionality on democracy in the neighbouring countries if the EU offers a membership perspective in return for political reform. Absent the offer of membership, however, EU incentives such as partnership and cooperation do not reliably promote democratic change. The analysis controls for economic development and transnational exchanges as two alternative potential causes of democratization. Although economic and geographical factors have an impact on democratization in the European neighbourhood as well, EU political conditionality remains a significant influence.

Key Words: conditionality • democratization • Eastern Europe • European Union • Mediterranean countries