Europeanization and Domestic Change

This study deals with the impact of EU’s regional policy and the pre-accession funds on the regional policies of the Czech Republic in the period leading up to the enlargement of the Union in 2004. More specifically we trace the major influences on the changes occurring in the regional policies of the Czech Republic through the country’s preparations for membership, from 1990 and up until the Czech membership was approved in the late 2002. Drawing on new-institutionalist theories we make an attempt to asses the impact of Europeanization on the domestic policies, which will also eventually affect the domestic institutional governance structures. The conclusion is that Europeanization has been a major driving force behind the changes in Czech regional policies. Even though, major reforms was met by fierce domestic opposition in the initial face, the EU requirements managed to change the preferences of national actors and to create new opportunities for them to exploit, which eventually proved to b