Johann Wolfschwenger

The study of the Europeanization beyond the EU’s borders is dominated by the dyad of rational-institutionalist and social-constructivist approaches developed in the late 1990s. This widespread approach has been criticised in many ways. Critics contend that it is EU-centred, overemphasises an inside-out perspective on norm-transfer, and pays little attention to the role of domestic power structures in which domestic change occurs.

Theoretical approaches beyond rational-institutionalism and social-constructivism are underdeveloped in the study of Europeanization beyond Europe. The dissertation draws upon a sociological approach to epistemic communities, network theory and practice theory. The aim is to combine those three strands into a coherent methodological and analytical approach towards the study of Europeanization. Such a methodological perspective allows transcending the long-standing dichotomy between the logic of consequence and the logic of appropriateness in Europeanization research. It also brings local power structures to the fore by moving away from the traditional inside-out perspective.

The empirical contribution of the dissertation is threefold: First, a detailed description of the EU’s and other international donors’ instruments which aim at changing the domestic opportunity structures in Moldova. This includes not only the description of the instruments, but a detailed unpacking of procedures and practices that are not captured by publicly available documents. Second, a detailed description of Moldova’s domestic politics with a special attention to the evolution of civil society sector in the post-communist period. Third, a dataset quantifying the relations between external donors and transnational and local CSOs will be developed. This dataset will be not only relevant for further research projects; it may also be enlarged by data from other countries of the region or data including governmental actors.