Towards a multi-bilateral enlargement policy? German assistance to Central and Eastern Europe at the crossroads with European aid programs

Tulmets, Elsa (2002) Towards a multi-bilateral enlargement policy? German assistance to Central and Eastern Europe at the crossroads with European aid programs. In: UNSPECIFIED, Florence, Italy.

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Abstract

[Summary]. Since a few years, a lively debate has taken place on whether European regionalisation process contributes to a decline or a restructuring of the nation state. In this article, the case of German assistance to Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) will help analysing how national external policies evolve and adapt to a new integrative environment. The eastwards enlargement of the European Union will be the general framework for making the interdisciplinary link between foreign policy and European questions. As we argue that the enlargement is a sui generis process, one way to analyse the restructuring state is making sociology of the German federal field of aid. Drawing on the literature on social constructivism, sociological institutionalism and sociology of elites, we adopt two variables (identity norms and institutions), which have to be tested in order to understand structural and relational power (S. Strange) among actors involved in national/bilateral (Transform program) and European/multilateral projects (Phare/Twinning). As a result, we contribute to the debate on governance, as we observe that German cooperative federalism is particularly put into question, we argue that a multi-bilateral policy towards CEEC is in fact taking shape.

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