Croatian Institutions in Time by Georgios Chatzigiagkou
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by White Rose E-theses Online Enlargement Goes Western Balkans: Croatian Institutions in Time Sluggish Institutional Evolution, Resilience and Shallow Europeanisation By Georgios Chatzigiagkou PhD Thesis University of York Department of Politics September 2010 Abstract The overarching focus of this thesis is the institutional (and policy) consequences of European integration for the Republic of Croatia. So far, most research on „candidate Europeanisation‟ has focused on the impact of EU conditionality on the domestic polity, politics, and policy domains of the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe. This study extends candidate-state Europeanisation research further to the South-East corner of the continent. Unlike the other Western Balkan states, Croatia is very close to concluding its entry talks and hence becoming the 28th EU member-state. Yet Croatia‟s bid for EU membership has been the most challenging, draconian and uncertain in the history of EU enlargement. The time is thus ripe for an appraisal of the EU‟s impact on Croatia‟s institutional context. The present study employs a historical variant of rational choice institutionalism in politics, answering acclaimed scholars‟ call for more „pluralist‟ theorising in social sciences in general, and more explicit, history-sensitive and time- oriented theorising in Europeanisation research in particular. In this study, the historical perspective - encapsulated in the notion of „institutional evolution‟ - helps make sense of the processes of „politicisation‟, „resilience‟ and „institutionalisation‟ which have thus far been neglected in writing on „candidate-state Europeanisation‟. The present study inquires into four Croatian institutions and two policies: civil service, administrative procedures and justice systems, and territorial set-up, as well as regional policy and decentralisation. In terms of research design, a „bottom-up-down‟ framework is employed here, aiming at providing a „rounded‟ explanation of the phenomenon of domestic institutional development under EU conditional incentives. Overall, both the historical and empirical chapters suggest a „sluggish‟ pattern of institutional development in Croatia, persisting resilience to change and therefore „shallow‟ Europeanisation effects. That being said, the present study exposes the limits of the transformative power of the EU. 2 List of contents Abstract 2 List of Contents 3 Dedication 9 Acknowledgements 10 Author’s Declaration 12 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Enlargement Goes Western Balkans 13 1.2 Research Questions 19 1.3 Cases, Methods and Data 19 1.4 Limitations in data collection 25 1.5 The structure of the study 26 Chapter 2: Conceptualising Europeanisation 2.1 Introduction 28 2.2 The argument 29 2.3 The genealogy of a multifaceted concept 31 2.4 The methodology of concept formation 32 2.4.1 The criterial framework 35 2.5 Classifying Europeanisation 37 2.5.1 A background concept: Europeanisation in social sciences 38 2.5.2 A systemised concept (1): Europeanisation as a uni-directional top-down process 39 2.5.3 A systemised concept (2): Europeanisation as an interactive two-way process 43 2.6 Europeanisation as a conceptual framework 46 3 2.6.1 The directions of change 47 2.6.2 The outcomes of Europeanisation 48 2.7 Europeanisation assessed 50 2.8 Conclusion 54 Chapter 3: Theorising Institutional Evolution: New Institutionalism, Transition Theory and Europeanisation 3.1 Introduction 56 3.2 The new institutionalism in Europeanisation debates 57 3.2.1 Rational choice institutionalism (RCI) 58 3.2.2 Sociological institutionalism (SI) 60 3.2.3 Historical institutionalism (HI) 62 3.3 A pragmatic approach between RCI and HI: The heuristic notions of „embedded rationality‟ and „institutional evolution‟ 65 3.4 Explaining institutional development in post-Communist Europe 70 3.4.1 The domestic context: History, transition and post-Communist transformation 71 3.4.2 The European context: Enlargement, conditionality, and Europeanisation 74 3.5 Key analytical challenges: The limits of the top-down modelling of Europeanisation and „bottom-up‟ transition frameworks 79 3.6 Putting it all together: A „bottom-up-down‟ analytical design 81 3.7 Modelling explanation: Contextualising variables 84 3.7.1 EU-side variables 85 3.7.2 Domestic-side variables 86 4 3.8 Conclusion 87 Chapter 4: Croatia’s ‘Sluggish’ Road to EU Membership 4.1 Introduction 89 4.2 The Communist Era 90 4.3 Nationalists in office and the quest for a distinct identity, 1990-1995 90 4.3.1 Responding to Bosnian crisis: The EU Royaumont and Regional Approach initiatives, 1995-1998 93 4.3.2 Responding to the Kosovo crisis: the Stabilisation and Association process, 1999 97 4.4 The „watershed‟ 2000 elections 99 4.4.1 The „Europeanists‟ in office, 2000-2003 100 4.4.2 Intra-coalition bickering, declining popularity and the HDZ ascendant 103 4.4.3 Application for EU membership and the Thessaloniki Agenda (2003) 106 4.5 The return of the HDZ in power and the re-launch of European integration 107 4.5.1 The Gotovina case, the EU democratic conditionality and the contentious launch of accession negotiations, 2004-2005 110 4.5.2 Further hurdles to EU membership talks, 2007 113 4.5.3 Contentious accession: Persisting uncertainty and blockades, 2008-2010 115 4.6. Conclusion 121 Chapter 5: Civil Service 5.1 Introduction 123 5.2 A brief history of the civil service system in Croatia before 1990 124 5.2.1 First Yugoslavia (1918-1941) 124 5.2.2 Second Yugoslavia (1945-1991) 125 5.3 The „nationalist‟ take-over, 1990-1999 127 5 5.3.1 Croatia in transition: The mechanisms of reproduction and continuity 127 5.3.2 The civil service system in post-Communist Croatia 130 5.4 EU administrative conditionality 134 5.5 The Association phase, 2000-2005 136 5.5.1 The Civil Servants and Employees Act: A lame-duck reform attempt 136 5.5.2 Civil service reform re-loaded 139 5.5.3 Countervailing resistance, 2004-2005 142 5.5.4 The new Civil Service Act: compliance under co-ordinated foreign conditionality 146 5.6 The Accession phase, 2005-2010 149 5.6.1 Domestic compliance: Bounded institutional evolution and shallow Europeanisation 149 5.6.2 Monitoring the Monitors: Strong EU rhetoric but moderate EU effects? 154 5.7 Conclusion 157 Chapter 6: Administrative Procedures and Judiciary 6.1 Introduction 159 6.2 A brief history of the administrative procedures and jurisprudence systems in Croatia before 1990 160 6.2.1 First Yugoslavia (1918-1941) 160 6.2.2 Second Yugoslavia (1945-1991) 161 6.3 The „nationalist‟ take-over 163 6.3.1 Transition and the mechanisms of continuity 163 6.3.2 The administrative procedures and justice systems in the 1990s 164 6.4 The Acquis Communautaire in the field of administrative procedures and jurisprudence 166 6 6.5 The Association phase, 2000-2005 168 6.5.1 Path dependence and enduring resilience to reform 168 6.6 The Accession phase, 2005-2010 170 6.6.1 Reforming the administrative procedures and justice systems rigid conditionality and tight monitoring mechanisms 170 6.7 Domestic adaptation: Formal compliance and partial change 178 6.8 Conclusion 179 Chapter 7: Regional Policy and Decentralisation 7.1 Introduction 181 7.2 Historical Priors 182 7.2.1 Pre-communist experiences 182 7.2.2 Communist take-over: territorial organisation and progressive decentralisation trends 183 7.2.3 Emerging regional disparities 185 7.3 The „nationalist‟ take-over 188 7.3.1 Territorial structuring of an authoritarian type and countervailing regionalist tendencies 188 7.3.2 Responding to persisting regional disparities: A fragmentary and „particularilist‟ approach to regional development 193 7.4 An EU model of decentralisation and regional policy? 198 7.5 The Association phase, 2000-2005 201 7.5.1 Territorial re-structuring: Lame-duck decentralisation and path dependence 201 7.5.2 Regional Development Policy: Policy confusion, institutional jungle and an enduring fragmentary approach to regional policy-making 205 7 7.6 The Accession phase, 2005-2010 208 7.6.1 Croatian NUTS 2 Regions: Statistical regionalisation and path-dependent decentralisation 208 7.6.2 Building a nationwide regional policy: EU incentives and hesitant national responses 212 7.6.3 The EU grows assertive: Last minute compliance and a new RDP layer 217 7.7 Conclusion 221 Chapter 8: Conclusions: Sluggish Institutional Evolution, Resilience and Shallow Europeanisation 8.1 Introduction 224 8.2 The Europeanisation of Croatian polity and policy 227 8.2.1 Polity impact 228 8.2.2 Policy impact 235 8.3 Europeanisation: Momentum, logic(s), and temporality 237 8.3.1 Momentum and multiple logics of Europeanisation 238 8.3.2 Distinct and overlapping drivers of change 239 8.3.3 Temporal trajectory 239 8.4 The extent and direction of institutional change 241 8.5 Understanding institutional evolution, resilience and domestic outcomes 243 8.6 Conclusion: Living with Europe 245 Appendix: List of Interviewees 248 Glossary: List of Abbreviations 251 Bibliography 254 8 Dedication To my mother who never give up on me and to my father who taught me to be proud and decent. 9 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those people who believed in the conceptual maturity, feasibility and potential scientific contribution of this project. Namely, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Jim Buller, who stood by me from beginning to end. I am grateful to him for becoming an expert on Croatian politics together with me and for illuminating discussions, which helped me develop the theoretical and conceptual framework, elaborate argument, focus on methodology and structure. I am very grateful to Professor Damir Grubiša who joined my project at a later stage and was its most thorough, thoughtful and stimulating supporter.