Coming full circle? Differential empowerment in Croatia’s EU accession process

ABSTRACT

The process of European integration brings a profound transformation to the political opportunity structure in candidate countries, creating new possibilities for previously marginalized actors. Studying the differential empowerment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the area of rule of law during and after Croatian membership negotiations, this contribution makes two related claims: on the one hand, Croatian NGOs succeeded in strengthening their position during the final stages of the pre-accession period by actively using new European Union [EU] related opportunities. On the other, an overreliance on EU leverage posed important temporal and substantive limits on NGO empowerment and led to a rapid decline of their relevance in the post-accession phase. These findings shed light on the importance of actors’ strategic choices for the functioning and outcome of differential empowerment, and suggest that both the EU and candidate country NGOs need to place more emphasis on fostering improved domestic practices of civil society inclusion throughout the accession process.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil society organizations
• Croatia
• differential empowerment
• EU enlargement
• political opportunity structure
• social movements

Notes on contributor

Natasha Wunsch is a PhD candidate at University College London and an associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Christine Reh, Milada A. Vachudova, Mitchell Orenstein, Eric Gordy, Danijela Dolenec, Senada Šelo Šabić and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID details

Natasha Wunsch http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8715-1335

Notes

1. Interview with Heinrich Böll Foundation, 7 May 2014.

2. Interviews with Open Society Foundation, 3 April 2014; EU official, 7 May 2014.

3. Interviews with Documenta, 5 May 2014; Green Action, 12 May 2014; CMS, 13 May 2014.

4. Interview with Croatian Foreign Office, 4 April 2014; EU official, 14 April 2014.

5. Interview with member of Croatian Negotiation Secretariat, 4 April 2014.

6. Interview with a former government representative, 1 April 2014.

7. Other working groups, such as the one on chapter 27 dealing with environmental issues, included representatives from NGOs at least during the screening phase.

8. Interviews with Heinrich Böll Foundation, 7 May 2014; GONG, 2 April 2014; CMS, 31 March and 13 May 2014; Green Action, 12 May 2014.

9. Interviews with EU officials, 14 April and 7 May 2014.

10. Interview with GONG, 2 May 2014.

11. Interview with GONG, 2 April 2014.

12. Interview with a representative of B.a.B.e., 31 March 2014.

13. Interviews with two member state representatives, 12 and 14 May 2014.

14. Interview with B.a.B.e., 31 March 2014.

15. Interviews with Croatian academic, 12 May 2014; member state representative, 12 May 2014; EU official, 1 April 2014.

16. Interview with Youth Initiative for Human Rights, 6 May 2014.

17. Interviews with member state representatives, 12 and 14 May 2014

18. Interviews with GONG, 2 April 2014; Zagreb Pride, 6 May 2014; two member state representatives, 12 and 14 May 2014.

19. Interview with Open Society Foundation, 3 April 2014; GONG, 6 May 2014.

20. Interview with Croatian academic, 3 April 2014, and B.a.B.e., 31 March 2014.

21. Interview with Open Society Foundation, 3 April 2014; GONG, 6 May 2014.

22. Interviews with B.a.B.e., 31 March 2014; GONG, 2 April 2014.

23. Interview with former government representative, 1 April 2014; GONG, 2 April 2014.

Additional information

Funding

The author gratefully acknowledges financial support through the CEELBAS Internship Scheme to fund fieldwork in Croatia.