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EU's Goals and Legitimacy

Benkova, Eva LU (2010) STVM17 20101
Department of Political Science
Abstract
This Masters’ thesis contributes to the empirical and theoretical academic literature on the debate on European integration in new EU member states. It analyzes Czech and Slovak debate on the Lisbon Treaty in the parliament and media through a Grounded Theory method of data analysis. Actors' differentiation between two issues in the debate lead to development of two dimensions on which actors positioned themselves – EU's ability to act in national interest and condition of sovereignty and democracy. In order to theorize outcomes of this empirical analysis, this thesis compares them to selected theoretical models, through which their explanatory power is considered. Theorizing with Eriksen and Fossum's (2004, 2007) three normative... (More)
This Masters’ thesis contributes to the empirical and theoretical academic literature on the debate on European integration in new EU member states. It analyzes Czech and Slovak debate on the Lisbon Treaty in the parliament and media through a Grounded Theory method of data analysis. Actors' differentiation between two issues in the debate lead to development of two dimensions on which actors positioned themselves – EU's ability to act in national interest and condition of sovereignty and democracy. In order to theorize outcomes of this empirical analysis, this thesis compares them to selected theoretical models, through which their explanatory power is considered. Theorizing with Eriksen and Fossum's (2004, 2007) three normative orientations to European integration – intergovernmental, supranational and postnational – shows that this theoretical model explains the Czech and Slovak Lisbon Treaty debate when a differentiation is made between EU's goals and legitimacy within the orientations. This thesis concludes from a comparison of the post-accession debate with Braun's (2008) pre-accession debate model that only a slight change took place in the debate on European integration in these two countries. It became less ideological and more concrete issues of EU's functioning were discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Benkova, Eva LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
The Lisbon Treaty Debate in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
course
STVM17 20101
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
European integration, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lisbon Treaty
language
English
id
1653041
date added to LUP
2010-09-13 09:46:05
date last changed
2010-09-13 09:46:05
@misc{1653041,
  abstract     = {{This Masters’ thesis contributes to the empirical and theoretical academic literature on the debate on European integration in new EU member states. It analyzes Czech and Slovak debate on the Lisbon Treaty in the parliament and media through a Grounded Theory method of data analysis. Actors' differentiation between two issues in the debate lead to development of two dimensions on which actors positioned themselves – EU's ability to act in national interest and condition of sovereignty and democracy. In order to theorize outcomes of this empirical analysis, this thesis compares them to selected theoretical models, through which their explanatory power is considered. Theorizing with Eriksen and Fossum's (2004, 2007) three normative orientations to European integration – intergovernmental, supranational and postnational – shows that this theoretical model explains the Czech and Slovak Lisbon Treaty debate when a differentiation is made between EU's goals and legitimacy within the orientations. This thesis concludes from a comparison of the post-accession debate  with Braun's (2008) pre-accession debate model that only a slight change took place in the debate on European integration in these two countries. It became less ideological and more concrete issues of EU's functioning were discussed.}},
  author       = {{Benkova, Eva}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{EU's Goals and Legitimacy}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}