Beate Sissenich

The European Union is the world's most highly institutionalized system of regional integration. I study how EU rules travel across national borders: Who promotes the rule transfer--and to what end and by what means? Who adopts EU rules, and how? What might block the transfer of rules? Empirically, I focus on postcommunist countries preparing for EU membership. I argue that cross-national rule transfer requires strong states and vibrant civil societies, both of which are scarce in postcommunist countries.
 

International economic and political integration challenges democratic processes centered around the nation-state. But it also enables nonstate actors to link up across state borders and articulate their interests to foreign governments and international organizations. I trace such communication networks among state and nonstate actors. In particular, I investigate whether these networks are truly transnational and whether they are likely substitutes for democracy at the national level.

In the European Union, regional integration involves upward and downward state building. On one hand, governance structures above the nation-state are becoming more elaborate. On the other hand,  implementing structures at the national and subnational level are confronted with new tasks that arise from EU membership. I examine the impact of integration on the coercive and infrastructural capacities of states and state-like entities.