Europeanisation in political science has been referred to very generally as 'becoming more
European like'. More specifically than this, it has been defined in a number of ways. One of the earliest conceptualisations of the term is by Ladrech (1994, 69), who defines Europeanisation simply as ‘an incremental process of re-orienting the direction and shape of politics to the extent that EC political and economic dynamics become part of the organisational logic of national politics and policy making.’ This emphasises what is known as the 'top-down approach' to Europeanisation, in which change emanates from the impact of the Union on the national policy. The state is viewed as reactive to the actions of the Union. Another definition that needs to be taken into account is from Radaelli, who describes Europeanisation as ''"a process involving a) construction, b) diffusion and c) institutionalisation of formal and informal rules, procedures, policy paradigms, styles, 'ways of doing things' and shared beliefs and norms which are first defined and consolidated in the EU policy process and then incorporated in the logic of domestic (national and subnational) discourse, political structures and public choices."'' More recently, Moumoutzis (2011: 612) has revised Radaelli's definition, arguing that Europeanisation should be defined as 'a process of incorporation in the logic of domestic (national and sub-national) discourse, political structures and public policies of formal and informal rules, procedures, policy paradigms, styles, “ways of doing things” and shared beliefs and norms that are first defined in the EU policy processes'. From a 'bottom-up' approach, Europeanisation occurs when states begin to affect the policy of the European Union in a given area. A more nuanced analysis posits that the institutional interaction of policy actors at the various levels of European governance leads to the re-definition of
national,
regional and
other identities within a European context, where the multiple levels of governance in Europe are not seen as
necessarily in opposition to one another. An elected representative can, for example, see his loyalties and responsibilities as lying with
Barcelona,
Spain, and
Europe, or with
Amsterdam,
Netherlands, and Europe, for unitary states. Some scholars, including
Samuel Huntington, argue that citizens of European states increasingly identify themselves as such, rather than
Portuguese,
British,
French,
German,
Italian, etc. An obvious area of change is in the institutions of Europe; the
enlargement of the European Union and the gradual acquisition of authority over the national member governments in numerous areas is creating a centralised European polity. The
Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union would be an example of this; in this case, the nations using the
euro have passed control of their
monetary policy to the
European Central Bank. Another perspective of Europeanisation is the 'horizontal approach.' This approach takes into account the transfer of politics, policies and policy-making between member states of the European Union. The transfer is based on a form of 'soft law' — it is not enforceable but based on 'best practice' and mutual recognition. Whether Europeanisation is a continuing process that will eventually lead to a full European government or whether centralisation will be unable to overcome persisting national identities and/or increasing interest in
localism is a matter of some debate. == See also ==