South-East European Research Centre (SEERC)

This project asks if political engagement with the European Union (EU) has promoted multi-level governance (MLG). It focuses on territorial and sectoral effects on changing modes of governance in a sample of South East European countries: Croatia, Greece, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. The project compares changing modes of governance in three policy areas: cohesion; environment; and migration and population movement, and covers the period 1995 to 2007. These are, first, highly salient political issues and important to the region's development. Second, all are trans-boundary policy areas and thus disposed to MLG effects. Third, they are all policy areas in which there is a significant EU dimension.

Indicative research questions to be addressed are:

• How has political engagement with the EU changed modes of governance in SEECs?
• Has this process of political engagement with the EU led to the development of MLG?
• What do the developing modes of governance in SEECs tell us about the explanatory power of the MLG model?
• What do the findings say about the process of Europeanization?

• A detailed empirical account of developing modes of governance across cases over the period.
• A contribution to refining the concept of Multi-level Governance drawing on empirical and theoretical findings.
• A contribution to understanding the process of Europeanization drawing on empirical and theoretical findings.