Issue No. 29

2019 Issue No. 29 /April

Table of Contents

1. Zoltan GRUNHUT: EUROPEANIZATION: A CRITICAL REALIST, DISCURSIVE INSTITUTIONALIST APPROACH

Abstract

Abstract:

In the field of European Studies once so popular new institutionalist approaches are struggling to compete with the theoretical innovations proposed by post-structuralist scholarships. These latter interpretations debate that ‘grand narratives’ are proper explanatory frameworks to understand different political, economic and social processes merged under the umbrella-notion of Europeanization, so they favor more agent-based conceptualizations. While New Institutionalism aims to reflect on this challenge through epistemological and methodological attempts, mostly by discursive manners, yet this paper – with respect to the achievements of new empirical set-ups and designs – argues that the ontological background should be addressed instead. For this goal the perspective of Critical Realism is crucial to note, and its suggestions about 1) multi-layered social reality, 2) metatheory, and 3) interconnectedness of subjects and objects in social science are pillars to be considered. All of these potential contributions highlight that scholars need to be reflexive as they are existentially embedded into the deep structures and linkages of generative mechanisms  hat they are theorizing. The more stable the belief that certain ontological conceptualizations are grasping the observable facts and events in a reflective way, the less reflexive the given thinker to realize the need for out-of-the-box ideas and hypotheses.

 

2. Silvia RUČINSKÁ and Miroslav FEČKO: EUROPEAN UNION INTERNAL MARKET AND ITS BARRIERS: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED OR NEVER ENDING STORY?

Abstract

Abstract: 

This article refers to the progress and limitations of the European Union Internal Market at present. More than thirty years after the Single European Act, sixty years after the Treaties of Rome, in relation to a questionable future widening and deepening of integration in the European Union, and given the still unclear current conditions and consequences of Brexit, as well as facing the ongoing migration movements, the internal market is also today a current public policy, economic, social and real-life issue. A lot of progress towards a functioning internal market has been reached, but still unsolved issues, obstacles and barriers limiting the potential of a market consisting of all EU Member States remain. A precondition to mitigate and remove obstacles is the identification of barriers to the entire European Union Internal Market and in particular their specification to the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons. This article aims to provide a very complex view onto the European Union Internal Market and onto the currently most manifesting barriers of the European Union Internal Market and of the barriers within the economic freedoms.

 
Abstract

Abstract:

This article focuses on the concept of European integration (the EUROINTEGRATION-concept) as an integral part of the EU philosophy, policy, and overall worldview which is of prime interest for contemporary Ukraine that is currently undergoing a set of political, economic, and sociocultural transformations on its way to becoming a full member of the European Community. In particular, the study aims at revealing the ways in which the concept is perceived in the European integration discourses of the European Union and Ukraine. Since language is a tool for structuring human thoughts, we treat language as a point of entry for analyzing the world’s construal in human cognition. Thus, both conceptual structure and content are analyzed on the basis of verbalized (language) externalization of the concept in English and Ukrainian languages and political and media discourses of the European Union and Ukraine. The study rests on the theory of a three-layered conceptual model that features notional-informative, figurative-associative, and interpretative layers. The paper discusses the contents of the notional and interpretative layers of the EUROINTEGRATION-concept. The lexicographic analysis backed by discursive interpretation helps to reveal convergences and divergences in the way European integration is conceptualized (understood and evaluated) in the European Union and Ukraine.

  • Keywords:EUROINTEGRATION-concept; conceptual layer; notional-informative layer; interpretative layer; European integration discourse.
  • DOI: 10.24193/OJMNE.2019.29.03

 

4. Marta JAS-KOZIARKIEWICZ: POLISH OPINION WEEKLIES ABOUT BREXIT IN 2015 AND 2016

Abstract

Abstract:

The aim of the article is to define the way in which Brexit referendum is presented by six Polish opinion weeklies (in 2015 and 2016) with the highest level of sales in 2015 and 2016 (Do Rzeczy, Gazeta Polska, Gość Niedzielny, Newsweek, Polityka, W Sieci). The study was prepared using qualitative content analysis. In the course of the analysis, answers were searched for questions concerning the following issues: the causes of Brexit indicated in articles, its consequences for the international arena, Poland and the European Union itself, and its assessment in the analysed weeklies. The research proved the connection between the assessment of this event in the weeklies and their political affiliations. This correlation can be seen, for example, in the editorial boards’ stance towards Brexit, which was positive in right-wing titles (Do Rzeczy, Gazeta Polska, Gość Niedzielny, W Sieci) and negative in the magazines supporting Civic Platform (Polityka, Newsweek). However, no significant differences were found as regards the causes and effects of Brexit identified by the editorial boards. Regardless of political affiliations, journalistic materials indicated the same main reasons and the most important consequences of Britain’s leaving the European Union. However, they were hierarchised differently and assigned a different rank.

5. Giorgian GUȚOIU: THE URBAN ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHIES OF CLUJ-NAPOCA: 1992-2016

Abstract

Abstract:

The present paper explores the electoral geographies in the city of Cluj-Napoca at parliamentary election between 1992-2016. Using spatial statistics, the electoral geographic patterns are analyzed at a global level (the entire city) and at a local level (neighborhoods). The longitudinal perspective is placed in a context of political, economic and social changes experienced by Cluj-Napoca during the two and a half decades. The results show stable and consistent patterns throughout the entire period. However, there are also significant geographic realignments and shifting patterns at a local level. The results also depict a strong correlation between the political, economic and social changes and the urban electoral geographies of Cluj-Napoca.

 
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