Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality
This article explores how national executives in Serbia and Bulgaria address European Union (EU) rule of law conditionality by framing it within the populism/technocracy dichotomy. The rule of law remains one of the main problems of EU relations with the two countries. While acknowledging the nuance...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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UACES
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/1181 |
| _version_ | 1818873699631104000 |
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| author | Spasimir Domaradzki Ivana Radić Milosavljević |
| author_facet | Spasimir Domaradzki Ivana Radić Milosavljević |
| author_sort | Spasimir Domaradzki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores how national executives in Serbia and Bulgaria address European Union (EU) rule of law conditionality by framing it within the populism/technocracy dichotomy. The rule of law remains one of the main problems of EU relations with the two countries. While acknowledging the nuances of pre- and post-enlargement Europeanisation, this article explores the technocratic and populist narratives exploited by the national executives in their interactions with the EU and their domestic public. Rather than positioning the current executives unequivocally either as populist or technocratic, we argue that the political elites act strategically in using both populist and technocratic techniques towards their publics when explaining interaction with the EU. We explore the extent this type of executive behaviour is determined by the countries’ formally different status. While we look for the levels of possible similarity and distinction in the two cases/countries stemming from their different EU membership status, our findings confirm the existence of strategic defensive populist and technocratic techniques applied towards the EU and the national public in both countries The aim of this strategy is to mitigate the impact of the EU rule of law pressure and to secure the persistence of the existing rule of law shortcomings within the process of European integration. Interestingly, our research did not identify substantial impact of the formally different status towards the EU of the two countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T12:58:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4cebb1ab06d04f50bd65d879d1960602 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1815-347X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T12:58:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | UACES |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-4cebb1ab06d04f50bd65d879d19606022022-12-21T20:20:19ZengUACESJournal of Contemporary European Research1815-347X2021-05-0117210.30950/jcer.v17i2.1181Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law ConditionalitySpasimir DomaradzkiIvana Radić MilosavljevićThis article explores how national executives in Serbia and Bulgaria address European Union (EU) rule of law conditionality by framing it within the populism/technocracy dichotomy. The rule of law remains one of the main problems of EU relations with the two countries. While acknowledging the nuances of pre- and post-enlargement Europeanisation, this article explores the technocratic and populist narratives exploited by the national executives in their interactions with the EU and their domestic public. Rather than positioning the current executives unequivocally either as populist or technocratic, we argue that the political elites act strategically in using both populist and technocratic techniques towards their publics when explaining interaction with the EU. We explore the extent this type of executive behaviour is determined by the countries’ formally different status. While we look for the levels of possible similarity and distinction in the two cases/countries stemming from their different EU membership status, our findings confirm the existence of strategic defensive populist and technocratic techniques applied towards the EU and the national public in both countries The aim of this strategy is to mitigate the impact of the EU rule of law pressure and to secure the persistence of the existing rule of law shortcomings within the process of European integration. Interestingly, our research did not identify substantial impact of the formally different status towards the EU of the two countries.https://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/1181PopulismTechnocracyRule of lawEuropeanizationBulgariaSerbia |
| spellingShingle | Spasimir Domaradzki Ivana Radić Milosavljević Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality Journal of Contemporary European Research Populism Technocracy Rule of law Europeanization Bulgaria Serbia |
| title | Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality |
| title_full | Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality |
| title_fullStr | Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality |
| title_short | Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality |
| title_sort | between populism and technocracy how national executives in bulgaria and serbia manipulate eu rule of law conditionality |
| topic | Populism Technocracy Rule of law Europeanization Bulgaria Serbia |
| url | https://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/1181 |
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