2.1 Extent and nature of the EU’s impact
The extent of the EU’s influence is usually the dependent
variable of the analysis. With regard to the extent, or nature, of the EU’s impact, most studies broadly
distinguish in broad terms whether or not the EU has an influence on domestic change (or
whether the EU’s influence is strong/weak). Sometimes this focus includes a temporary dimension
in assessing whether the EU’s influence is smooth, or whether adjustment is reluctant and
incremental.
Increasingly, studies have also started to differentiate more specifically between different types of change
that the EU induces. For example, studies in Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier (2005b
) distinguish between
formal change (the legal transposition of rules) and behavioural change (implementation, application and
enforcement) (see also Hughes et al. 2004a: 526; Hughes et al. 2004b; Jacoby 1999). Jacoby (2004: 8-12)
identifies four different outcomes of CEEC elites’ attempts to emulate EU rules, ranging from
‘open struggle’, to ‘scaffolding’, ‘continuous learning’, and to ‘homesteading’ by new domestic
groups.
