Euroscepticism in EU Candidate Countries

This book examines forms of discursive resistance to joining the European Union on a part of political elites from East Central Europe. Based on an analysis of party manifestos from 1990-2003 and 60 in-depth interviews with Czech and Slovak parliamentarians in 2000, the study provides a comprehensive consideration of the most heated issues during the years leading up to EU accession and reveals major shifts in the quality and directions of debate about European integration. Among the study s findings is that oppositional stances in post-communist countries mobilising to join the EU were different from anti-European positions in existing member states. In countries that were seeking to "return to Europe" after decades of totalitarian repression, political "euroscepticism" is interwoven with strands of ambiguity as to the prospects of what integration in this new, market-based "world order" might mean for small nations on the European periphery, as well as sometimes opportunistic manipulation of the public s fears of losing national identity and sovereignty.

Autorentext

received her PhD from the Polish Academy of Sciences. She taught at several institutions in the US, including Williams College. Currently she is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Metropolitan University Prague. Her research focuses on global migration, social stratification and cultural transformation in post-socialist Europe.