Civil society development during accession: on the necessity of domestic support to EU incentives

The article examines the development of Czech and Slovak civil society during the Eastern enlargement. While EU accession has without doubt benefited the consolidation of democracy, the impact of the European Union is often overestimated. We support this argument by setting side by side EU actions to promote civil society in the candidate countries on the one hand, and the Czech and Slovak domestic policies on civil society development on the other. The empirical evidence suggests that, contrary to what Europeanisation literature may expect, Czech and Slovak civil society development during accession cannot be explained by EU actions alone. Domestic support proves to be a necessary condition for EU incentives to result in the development of civil society in candidate countries