engleski

Governance Trends among EU Countries: Is There Institutional Convergence?

The beginning of postsocialist transformation was a period characterised by a great gap. It was considered an historic opportunity for large-scale change, yet the deficit of expertise and understanding required for such transformation was quite evident. In addition, the legacy of the socialist period was underestimated. Hence, most scholars and incumbents advocated for ready-made solutions that had previously been shown to be successful. That meant importing Western best practices that, according to their results in countries of origin, were expected to yield benefits in transitional societies too. However, the rapid change did not happen according to prevailing initial expectations. Moreover, in the first decade of transition, diversity among countries appeared to emerge in various aspects. EU accession was perceived as another great momentum for institutional change(s) and convergence based on mutual formal institutions -– the acquis communautaire. The analysis performed in this paper shows that even after the second “convergence push” the trends might be considered surprising, at least in the areas under the governance umbrella. In other words, the data on governance indicate the somewhat divergent trajectories of the observed groups of countries. The goal of this paper is twofold. First, to review the existing body of knowledge dealing with the questionable convergence of Eastern European countries as a possible consequence of both the transfer of selected Western formal institutions to those countries and the adoption of the acquis communautaire. It is an issue dating back to the beginning of 1990s when the predominant expectation was that successful formal institutions in Western countries would yield the same results in transitional countries. This has been shown to be a misconception in most cases. Hence, the second goal of this paper is focused on quantitative analysis of sigma and beta convergence based on governance trends in the EU in the last two decades. The evidence does not suggest the expected convergence paths among the groups of EU countries. The obtained results demonstrate rather divergent paths, with Liberal, Nordic and Continental countries performing much better than Mediterranean and CEE countries. In addition, the findings suggest that it is highly unlikely that Mediterranean and CEE countries will catch up with the three leading groups of countries in the coming decades. Finally, the findings also provide insights into the rising heterogeneity among (post)transitional societies. Rather than proposing several specific policy implications, this research is strongly in favour of context-related principles for the future endeavours of institutional (re)design in transition societies aimed at faster institutional convergence towards the most successful EU members and/or rising economic prosperity. The latter appears to be more important as the heterogeneity is expected to increase and it may question the former goal. Both theoretical and practical insights in that regard may upgrade the existing development pattern and have further policy implications. Since all transition countries still show significant traces of the past and it is highly probable that this influence will last, lessons learned so far can help to avoid common pitfalls in future reform attempts. Hence, this study strives to reshift the implications from “What rules to import?” to another important pre-implementation question “How to adapt them to local realities?” in order to make them efficient. Our next research should examine the possible convergence of governance areas (WGI subindicators): voice and accountability, political stability and lack of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. Such a scrutiny is expected to provide more targeted policy recommendations. In addition, the distinctions and limits of transplanting institutions versus the introduction of mutual institutions should be explored in more detail.

convergence, divergence, institutions, post-socialism, transition

31st EAEPE Conference Online Proceedings