Importing EU norms: the case of anti-corruption reform in Ukraine

Abstract

ABSTRACT The research on the ‘normative power Europe’ has uncovered the rationale and mechanisms behind the export of EU norms, yet without a deeper understanding of how and why the EU norms are (not) imported to third countries. This article, therefore, examines the country-specific conditions affecting the course and the outcome of the import of EU norms through the case of the asset declarations, a flagship of anti-corruption reform in post-Maidan Ukraine. It reveals that despite the EU’s support and successful legal change, the reform implementation was limited due to its implications for domestic actors’ interests and power position. The clash of the EU norms with the prevalent norms, institutions, and informal practices of Ukrainian top officials has led to reform-imitation, and resulted in institutional layering and partial institutional innovation. This study demonstrates the locally conditioned success of the EU norms export and the limits of formal institutional change.