Still Fashionable Yet Useless? Addressing Problems with Research on the Europeanization of Foreign Policy

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to address problems with research on the `Europeanization' of foreign policy. The first section shows that Europeanization defined as a process of incorporation of European Union norms, practices and procedures into the domestic level is more useful than any of the other `faces' of the concept discussed in the literature. The second section shows that while Europeanization is applicable to the study of foreign policy, the adaptational pressure model is not; that Europeanization should not be identified exclusively with socialization; and that it should be distinguished from `uploading'. The final section shows how process tracing the observable implications of alternative explanations of foreign policy change for three dimensions of the policy-making process - the definition of the policy problem, the alternatives considered and the manner in which the latter were assessed - makes it possible to establish the causal significance of the EU.

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