Robert Ladrech,"Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis," Party Politics, 8 (July, 2002), 389-403.
Europeanization is a term that has insidiously crept into the literature on European Union policy-making. In its broadest meaning, it refers to responses by actors -- institutional and otherwise -- to the impact of European integration. The responses may themselves influence the direction of European integration. Although more precise meanings vary (see below), a common denominator in most uses of the term is the identification of a national-supranational nexus regarding authoritative policy decisions. Consequently, most efforts involve the identification of appropriate levels of analysis, key institutional actors and policy competence ownership; employing network analogies, etc., all as part of the attempt to label a process of change and adaptation which is understood to be a consequence of the development of the European Union. Within this growing literature, there is practically no mention made of the role of political parties as actors in the integration process, either caught up in this phenomenon, or else as key actors possibly influencing the very nature and direction of change and adaptation by institutions, etc.
Assuming that parties-as-organizations respond to changes in their environments, we should expect to witness varied responses to the impact of the EU on domestic politics, i.e. Europeanization. By presenting five areas for investigation, with many of them inextricably linked, one ought to be able systematically to compare party responses across political systems, bearing in mind of course that each political system represents a bundle of national-specific factors that condition party responses. These responses may range from referenda traditions, two-party or multiparty systems, the presence of Eurosceptic public opinion, the level of economic development of the member state, coalition dynamics and so on. Yet these are the very factors that comparativists must always pay close attention to when engaging in the comparative enterprise. The Europeanization of political parties should not present an insurmountable obstacle in this respect.