Europeanization, Enlargement and Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper aims at exploring the relationship between Europeanization, Enlargement andsocial policy developments in Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, it examines theimportance of ideas, interests and institutions in the making of contemporary public andsocial policies, as well as focusing on other mechanisms that may lead to institutionalchange. Here, the goodness of fit thesis developed by Börzel and Risse (2000) is analyzed,and other elements that may lead to EU convergence are also examined. These elementsare identified in the strategic negotiations of actors, in policy learning processes, in socialpolicy diffusion of ideas and in the emergence of new forms of transnational solidarity.Contrary to common assumptions that address the role of EU institutions as being minimal inthe formation of post-communist social policy, it is argued that the European Union did play acrucial role in the process of systemic transformation by helping the introduction of newsocial policy ideas, interests and institutions.