Europeanization of election manifestos in Montenegro - To which extent political parties acknowledge European policies?
Europeanization of election manifestos in Montenegro - To which extent political parties acknowledge European policies?
Keywords: Montenegro; political parties; EU; Europeanization; European policies;
This study aims to assess the so far track record concerning Europeanization of political parties in Montenegro, aspiring state to European Union (EU) full membership. More precisely, Montenegro is a candidate for membership into EU, and by opening the 24 negotiating chapters, out of which two were temporarily closed, Montenegro positioned itself as leading amongst Western Balkan states in the European integration process. As in the majority of European states, political parties in Montenegro play crucial role in internal political processes, thus affecting the subsequent political shaping of the society. Hence, the focus of this research lies on the reach and outcome of EU’s influence with regards to political parties in Montenegro by observing the “top – down” approach of European integration process to actors of representative democracy, as generators of extensive internal changes, but also by noting the changes between relevant parties, and their acting in terms of the EU’s influence on domestic political agents. Therefore, subject of research focuses on providing the replay to question: whether the interest for the concept of Europeanization increased or decreased amongst Montenegrin political parties during the Parliamentary elections 2016, especially taking into account the progress Montenegro made in the European integration process. Based on the defined methodological framework, study tends to answer to a research inquiry: whether European policies come to fore within the election manifestos of political parties in Montenegro, during the Parliamentary elections 2016? As a result, the contribution of this research will be reflected in the identification of current level of Europeanization of political parties in Montenegro based on the analyses of election manifestos in context of European integration. Furthermore, objective of this research is to encourage the development of academic literature on the Europeanization of candidate states for the membership in EU, and in specific through case study of Montenegro and dynamics of Europeanization of political parties in Montenegro. Parties are crucial and imminent factors of political sphere in every country, including Montenegro, where the creation of state and individual public policy is practically impossible without their full participation. By laying out party’s views, believes and opinions concerning the issue of EU membership, parties in Montenegro affect the opinions of citizens to the great extent. Likewise, they pose one of the important channels of informing the public on the current EU policies and values, and the advantages and deficiencies transposed by the accession process. Henceforth, it is important to determine the level of transformative power of EU within domestic political parties, given that in the upcoming period they will influence the pace and quality of Montenegrin accession negotiations, as well as the rise or decrease of citizens’ support for that process.
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