Відповідність держав Балтії вимогам членства в ЄС: інституційний і ціннісний виміри

Abstract

Запропоновано авторську оцінку відповідності держав Балтії вимогам членства в ЄС (інституційний, ціннісний рівні) на постінтеграційному етапі (2004‒2020 рр.). Аналіз здійснено з використанням методологій неоінституціоналізму, аксіологічного підходу та компаративістики. Автором на прикладі Естонії, Латвії та Литви було: визначено зміст та головні причини стагнації процесів ліберальної демократизації; з’ясовано особливості практичної реалізації принципу гендерної рівності з акцентом на наявних інституційних і ціннісних перешкодах; досліджено відповідність принципу толерантності; розкрито відмінності між державами за якістю антикорупції та причинами, які впливають на неї. Підтверджено гіпотези щодо: 1) узалежненості інституційних і ціннісних змін ліберально-демократичного типу задля досягнення державами Балтії відповідності стратегіям розвитку ЄС; 2) впливу історичного чинника на стагнацію/регрес ліберальної демократії; 3) деструктивного ефекту серії криз у межах ЄС на стійкість ліберальної демократії в державах-учасницях і здатність ЄС запобігати регресу демократії в державах останніх «хвиль» розширення; 4) ослаблення внутрішньої мотивації держав Балтії зберігати після вступу до ЄС високі темпи ліберально-демократичних перетворень. In the thesis, the author assesses compliance of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) with the EU membership criteria (institutional and value levels) at the postintegration stage (2014-2020). The significance of studying the topic is determined by the following reasons: 1) deterioration of the quality of democracy both generally in the EU and in the “young” member states; 2) lack of the EU attention to intensification of liberaldemocratic changes in the member states that do not comply fully with the EU standards; 3) decline in motivation of the national governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to actively continue liberal-democratic modernization after becoming the EU member; 4) increase in the representation of conservative, nationalistic, populist and other political performers in the governing bodies of the Baltic states that have a destructive impact on the quality of democracy as well as escalate gaps with the EU standards at the institutional and value levels. The object of the study is compliance of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with the EU membership criteria in the context of aims and objectives of the integrational union. The subject matter of the research is comparative and political analysis of compliance of the Baltic States with liberal-democratic development of the EU at the institutional and value levels during the post-integrational period. It is feasible to analyze the Baltics’ compliance with the EU membership requirements at the institutional and value levels at the postintegration stage by means of methodological tools, such as neo-institutionalism, axiological (value) approach and comparative method. For the first time in domestic political science the author determined content and principal reasons for stagnation of liberal democratization in the Baltic States; compared the features of the practical implementation of gender equality principle in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania emphasizing on existing institutional and value hurdles; compared characteristics of the Baltic States according to their compliance with the principle of tolerance; described differences of the quality of anticorruption in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and reasons that impact on it (institutional, value). Moreover, the author confirmed a number of hypotheses regarding 1) interconnection of institutional and value changes of the liberal-democratic type in order to achieve compliance of the Baltic States with the EU development strategies; 2) influence of the historical factor on the stagnation / regression of the quality of liberal democracy in the Baltic States; 3) a destructive impact of crises within the EU on the sustainability of liberal democracy in the member-states and the EU's ability to effectively prevent deterioration of the quality of democracy in the countries that were last to access the EU; 4) weakening of the internal motivation of the Baltic States to maintain high rates of liberal-democratic transformations after the completion of the European integration process. In the thesis, the author enhances the understanding of the issues regarding the practical implementation of human and citizen political rights and freedoms in the Baltic states in terms of their concordance with the EU legal system. First of all, they are caused by the existence of the non-citizen institution (Estonia and Latvia), regression of the guarantee of freedom of speech. The author argued that majority of the issues related to application of political rights and freedoms are based not on the institutional, but on value principles (weak liberal-democratic political culture of the population). In addition, the author improved points regarding: evaluation of compliance of the Baltic states with the principle of gender equality and the EU gender parity strategies; justification of the Baltics’ non-compliance with the principle of tolerance as one of the fundamental principles of the EU; assessment compliance of the Baltic countries with the EU anticorruption policy at the institutional and value levels; preservation of corruption risks («trade» in influence, «trade» in justice, uncivilized lobbying, conflicts of interest, nepotism, favouritism, crony, etc.); insufficient effectiveness of anticorruption campaigns; unformed democratic anticorruption culture of the population; weakness of the anticorruption sector of civil society, insufficient activity of investigative reporters, etc. The following aspects were further developed in the study: identifying the characteristics of the state of liberal democracy in the EU as a prerequisite for assessing its quality in the Baltic states; clarifying the features of the process of democratization of the post-Soviet Baltic states and continuation of their adaptation to the EU standards after gaining the status of member-states in 2004; studying the peculiarities of the post-Soviet liberal democratization of the Baltic States, causes of the current deterioration in the quality of democracy. The author noted that the reform of the institutional design of the political systems of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania towards liberal democracy was not accompanied by systematic and consistent changes in political culture, values of elites and population which is currently decelerating liberal-democratic transformations. The role of historical heritage, vestiges of the totalitarian past in tolerating the values of liberal democracy is argued.