Exploring the ‘faces’ of Europeanization from an Albanian perspective

The JCER is an open-access journal published by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) in association with the UACES Student Forum.

The JCER invites submissions from scholars who are experts in any subject area delivering analysis that relates to Europe. This includes, but is not limited to, Politics/International Relations, Area Studies, European Integration, Economics, Law, History, Culture and Learning & Teaching. The journal publishes the work of established academics alongside that of PhD students and early career researchers.Abstract:

Europeanisation is a process existent in all prospective members of the European Union (EU). One such country is Albania, which has been stagnating for long in its attempts to join the EU.

This commentary explores Olsen’s faces of Europeanisation by observing how this process has materialized in Albanian politics and governance. It also sheds light into Europeanization approaches by studying the EU candidate countries in the Balkans aiming to look for similar or distinguishable patterns in countries where Europeanisation has taken place.

The commentary contends that Europeanization in Albania is occurring according to some unique features, which are labelled as ‘Europeanisation by convenience’.