| Abstract [eng] |
The title of this research paper is „The Europeanization Model of Political Parties: Europeanization Level Study of Relevant Lithuanian Political Parties.“ The object of research is the europeanization of political parties. The review of the literature gives the impression that the theory of europeanization of political parties is not fully defined and precisely formulated, because there are many variations of the theory. The aim of the research is to supplement the theory of europeanization of political parties by presenting a two level research model of the level of europeanization of political parties. The theory is reconstructed. The main focus of the work is on testing the theoretical model. In this work, 3 main tasks are identified. First of all, to identify the shortcomings of the theories of europeanization of political parties. Second, to develop a hypothetical model to identify the level of europeanization level. It could be a minimum, medium, high positive or negative europeanization. Third, to test the formed hypothetical research model of europeanization of political parties by analyzing the Lithuanian parties, which was selected according to the established criteria of the relevant parties. To diagnose the level of europeanization of the selected political parties. A chosen europeanization level model consists of the following parts. First of all, it is necessary to evaluate how the party speaks about the powers and ways of functioning of the European Union‘s (EU) institutions. This category is called the EU institutions. Second, The information about parties opinion about the EU policy of exclusive, shared, supporting, special competences must be evaluated. Perhaps the party is referring to policy which are not currently exclusively regulated in the EU. Perhaps the party is proposing to transfer specific areas of national policy over to the state for an EU decision, and perhaps vice versa. Third, It is necessary to assess the context in which the party refers to various sociological data and other statistics of the EU Member States. Fourth, it is important to understand the relationship that a national party has with a transnational European party. The international party communication can lead to changes in national policies. This study illustrates the effectiveness of the model. The study presents the current actual level of europeanization of 7 Lithuanian political parties, but does not examine the historical change in the level of europeanization. For further research, studies on changes in the level of Europeanisation could be recommended, e.g. comparing the attitudes of political parties before and after Lithuania's accession to the EU. In this way, the historical change in the Europeanisation of political parties could be traced. |
