Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Part I International Institutions as Community Builders
- Part II The Socializing Power of European Institutions
- 2 Strategic Calculation and International Socialization: Membership Incentives, Party Constellations, and Sustained Compliance in Central and Eastern Europe
- 3 Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialization: A Case Study of the European Commission
- 4 Multiple Embeddedness and Socialization in Europe: The Case of Council Officials
- 5 The Janus Face of Brussels: Socialization and Everyday Decision Making in the European Union
- 6 Security Institutions as Agents of Socialization? NATO and the ‘New Europe’
- Part III Critique, Conclusions, and Extensions
- Index
- References
4 - Multiple Embeddedness and Socialization in Europe: The Case of Council Officials
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Part I International Institutions as Community Builders
- Part II The Socializing Power of European Institutions
- 2 Strategic Calculation and International Socialization: Membership Incentives, Party Constellations, and Sustained Compliance in Central and Eastern Europe
- 3 Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialization: A Case Study of the European Commission
- 4 Multiple Embeddedness and Socialization in Europe: The Case of Council Officials
- 5 The Janus Face of Brussels: Socialization and Everyday Decision Making in the European Union
- 6 Security Institutions as Agents of Socialization? NATO and the ‘New Europe’
- Part III Critique, Conclusions, and Extensions
- Index
- References
Summary
Socialization is an important theme in much research about European integration. Since Haas' seminal study, crucial questions have been to what extent, under which conditions, and through which processes political elites and the broader public within the member states shift their allegiance toward the European Union (EU). This connection between European integration and change among domestic actors and institutions is also characteristic of contemporary “Europeanization” studies, and the socialization theme has recently regained attention within the ranks of empirically oriented constructivists. The basic idea behind socialization is as follows: the organization of social interactions (that is, institutional conditions and informal/formal rules that structure social life) and/or the logic of these interactions (that is, instrumental bargaining, role playing, or suasion) affect which behavioral practices, norms about appropriateness, and preferences about outcomes are internalized by individual actors. More importantly, these practices, norms, and preferences are not only internalized by individual actors, but, because they are shared by many, also characterize and shape the identity of larger social aggregates (that is, a bureaucratic agency, a political party, a country, and so on). Socialization thus refers to both individuals (that is, when and how they socialize) and groups (that is, the social aggregate's features and how interactions among individuals shape these aggregates).
Because regional integration in Europe can be considered as a process that transforms the organization of the European political space, it is no surprise that early and contemporary scholars consider “socialization” a key feature of regional integration.
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- Information
- International Institutions and Socialization in Europe , pp. 99 - 136Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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