Mapping Differentiated European Integration: A Dynamic Proximity Approach

Emanuele Sessa

doi:10.36253/bsgi-7607

Authors

Emanuele Sessa Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36253/bsgi-7607

Keywords:

differentiated integration, heterogeneity, proximity, cluster analysis

Abstract

This article aims to challenge normative representations of European integration that foreground EU membership as a structuring principle. In scholarly literature, differentiation is increasingly recognized as a structural feature of the EU rooted in heterogeneous preferences and capacities between countries. Despite that, conventional maps continue to represent European integration as monolithic blocs defined by de jure ratification of treaties rather than variegated geographies driven by de facto heterogeneity of preferences and capacities. To map these variegated geographies, this article conceptualizes heterogeneity in terms of dynamic proximity and proposes an original mapping methodology based on cluster analysis. The results of the analysis show that different geographies of proximity between countries appear on the map depending on the dimension (institutional or organizational proximity) and the year (2000, 2010 or 2019) considered and that these geometries can only partially be traced back to bordering processes associated with EU membership.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Balland, P.A., Boschma, R., Frenken, K. (2015). Proximity and Innovation: From Statics to Dynamics. Regional Studies, 49(6), 907-920. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2014.883598 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2014.883598

Bellamy, R., Kröger, S. (2017). A Demoicratic Justification of Differentiated Integration in a Heterogeneous EU. Journal of European Integration, 39(5), 625-639. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2017.1332058 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2017.1332058

Bjerkem, J., Harbour, M. (2020). Europe as a Global Standard-Setter: The Strategic Importance of European Standardisation. Brussels, European Policy Centre. https://www.epc.eu/publication/The-strategic-importance-of-Europe-37f244/

Blauberger, M., Van Hüllen, V. (2020). Conditionality of EU Funds: An Instrument to Enforce EU Fundamental Values? Journal of European Integration, 43(1), 1-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2019.1708337 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2019.1708337

Boschma, R. (2005). Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment. Regional Studies, 39(1), 61-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0034340052000320887 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0034340052000320887

Całus, K., Kobeszko, L. (2022, December 16). Austria vetoes Romania and Bulgaria entering Schengen. Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2022-12-16/austria-vetoes-romania-and-bulgaria-entering-schengen.

Carrincazeaux, C., Lung, Y., Vicente, J. (2008). The Scientific Trajectory of the French School of Proximity: Interaction and Institution-based Approaches to Regional Innovation Systems. European Planning Studies, 16(5), 617-628. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310802049117 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310802049117

Dimitrov, G., Plachkova, A. (2021). Bulgaria and Romania, Twin Cinderellas in the European Union: How They Contributed in a Peculiar Way to the Change in EU Policy for the Promotion of Democracy and Rule of Law. European Politics and Society, 22(2), 167-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2020.1729946 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2020.1729946

Dosenrode, S. (2022). The Danish Defence Opt-out and the Non-Europeanisation of Danish Defence. In Fischer, K., Mouritzen, H. (Eds.). Danish Foreign Policy Review. Copenhagen, Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier, 107-137. https://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/the-danish-defence-opt-out-and-the-non-europeanization-of-the-dan

Euronews (2022, June 1st, 2022). Denmark Votes to Join EU Common Defence Policy. https://www.euronews.com/2022/06/01/initial-results-show-danes-vote-to-join-eu-defence-policy

Gilly, J.-P., Torre, A. (Eds.) (2000). Dynamiques de Proximité. Paris, L’Harmattan.

Harvey, D. (2005). Spaces of Neoliberalization: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag.

Higgins, A. (2023, October). With Opposition Gains, Poland Looks to Unwind an ‘Illiberal Democracy’. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/world/europe/poland-vote.html

Hofelich, T. (2022). De Facto Differentiation in the European Union: Circumventing Rules, Law and Rule of Law. In Leruth, B., Gänzle, S., Trondal, J. (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Differentiation in the European Union. London, Routledge, 66-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429054136 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429054136-6

Holzinger, K., Schimmelfennig, F. (2012). Differentiated Integration in the European Union: Many Concepts, Sparse Theory, Few Data. Journal of European Public Policy, 19(2), 292-305. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2012.641747 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2012.641747

Jain, A. (2010). Data Clustering: 50 Years beyond K-Means. Pattern Recognition Letters, 31, 651-666. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2009.09.011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2009.09.011

Joliffe, I.T., Cadima, J. (2016). Principal Component Analysis: A Review and Recent Developments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 374, 1-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0202 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0202

Knudsen, J.S. (2013). The Growth of Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains: Mission Impossible for Western Small- and Medium-Sized Firms? Journal of Business Ethics, 117, 387-398. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1527-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1527-8

Kostova, T., Beugelsdijk, S., Scott, R., Kunst, V., Chua, C., Van Essen, M. (2020). The Construct of Institutional Distance through the lens of Different Institutional Perspectives: Review, Analysis, and Recommendations. Journal of International Business Studies, 51, 467-497. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-019-00294-w DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-019-00294-w

Leruth, B., Gänzle, S., Trondal, J. (2019). Differentiated Integration and Disintegration in the EU after Brexit: Risks versus Opportunities. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(6), 1383-1394. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12957 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12957

Leruth, B., Lord, C. (2015). Differentiated Integration in the European Union: a Concept, a Process, a System or a Theory? Journal of European Public Policy, 22(6), 754-763. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315671345 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1021196

Marusic, S.-J. (2022, June). Western Balkans Leaders Voice Frustration over EU Summit Failure. Balkan Insight. https://balkaninsight.com/2022/06/23/western-balkans-leaders-voice-frustration-over-eu-summit-failure/

Mattli, W. (2001). The Politics and Economics of International Institutional Standards Setting: An Introduction. Journal of European Public Policy, 8(3), 328-344. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760110056004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760110056004

Nadvi, K. (2008). Global Standards, Global Governance and the Organization of Global Value Chains. Journal of Economic Geography, 8, 323-343. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbn003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbn003

Neumayer, E., Perkins, R. (2005). Uneven Geographies of Organizational Practice: Explaining the Cross-National Transfer and Diffusion of ISO 9000. Economic Geography, 81(3), 237-259. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.2005.tb00269.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.2005.tb00269.x

O’Brennan, J. (2014). “On the Slow Train to Nowhere?” The European Union, “Enlargement Fatigue” and the Western Balkans. European Foreign Affairs Review, 19(2), 221-242. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.54648/eerr2014011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54648/EERR2014011

Pavlínek, P. (2020). Restructuring and Internationalization of the European Automotive Industry. Journal of Economic Geography, 20(2), 509-541. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lby070 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lby070

Perkins, R., Neumayer, E. (2010). Geographic Variations in the Early Diffusion of Corporate Voluntary Standards: Comparing ISO 14001 and the Global Compact. Environment and Planning A, 42, 347-365. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a4249 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a4249

Pickles, J., Smith, A. (2011). Delocalization and Persistence in the European Clothing Industry: The Reconfiguration of Trade and Production Networks. Regional Studies, 45(2), 167-185. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343401003601933 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343401003601933

Regan, A. (2017). The Imbalance of Capitalisms in the Eurozone: Can the North and South of Europe Converge? Comparative European Politics, 15, 969-990. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2015.5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2015.5

Sacher, M. (2019). Macroeconomic Conditionalities: Using the Controversial Link between EU Cohesion Policy and Economic Governance. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 15(2), 179-193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v15i2.1005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v15i2.1005

Schimmelfennig, F. (2014). EU Enlargement and Differentiated Integration: Discrimination or Equal Treatment? Journal of European Public Policy, 21(5), 681-689. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2014.897744 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2014.897744

Schimmelfennig, F., Sedelmeier, U. (2019). The Europeanization of Eastern Europe: the External Incentives Model Revisited. Journal of European Public Policy, 27(6), 814-833. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1617333 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1617333

Schimmelfennig, F., Winzen, T. (2017). Eastern Enlargement and Differentiated Integration: Towards Normalization. Journal of European Public Policy, 24(2), 239-258. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2016.1264083 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2016.1264083

Schimmelfennig, F., Winzen, T. (2020). Ever Looser Union? Differentiated European Integration. Oxford, Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198854333.001.0001

Scott, J.W. (2021). Visegrád Four Political Regionalism as a Critical Reflection of Europeanization: Deciphering the “Illiberal Turn”. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 63(6), 704-725. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2021.1972023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2021.1972023

Smith, A. (2015). Economic (In)security and Global Value Chains: The Dynamics of Industrial and Trade Integration in the Euro-Mediterranean Macro-Region. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 8(3), 439-458. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsv010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsv010

Thomas, M.A. (2010). What do the Worldwide Governance Indicators Measure? The European Journal of Development Research, 22, 31-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.32 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.32

Torre, A. (2010). Jalons pour une analyse dynamique des proximités. Revue d’Économie Régionale & Urbaine, 3, 409-437. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/reru.103.0409 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/reru.103.0409

Torre, A., Gallaud, D. (Eds.). (2022). Handbook of Proximity Relations. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786434784

Usherwood, S., Startin, N. (2013). Euroscepticism as a Persistent Phenomenon. Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(1), 1-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2012.02297.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2012.02297.x

Vigneau, L., Humphreys, M., Moon, J. (2015). How Do Firms Comply with International Sustainability Standards? Processes and Consequences of Adopting the Global Reporting Initiative. Journal of Business Ethics, 131, 469-486. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2278-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2278-5