Genetically Modified Organizations? Twinning as Case of Transnational Interaction

Abstract

The essay takes a look at twinning, a phenomenon left largely unexplored
by European studies and international relations scholars. The author deals
with twinning through the institutional prism, focusing on institutional
change as a result of non-instrumental change of institutional actors'
preferences. Twinning is a secondment of experts from EU member states
administratives to the candidate countries. Its aim is to help the applicant
countries with institution building for successful and effective
implementation of the acquis communautaire. The author seeks to identify
processes and mechanisms of institutional changes in the public
administration of a given candidate country within the context of twinning
projects, aiming to formulate framework conditions for unconditioned
institutional change and test these hypotheses on the data collected during
research. The essay focuses on institutional change caused by a change of
administrative identity through deliberation (of alternatives), argumentative
persuasion and social learning as alternatives to instrumental change
mechanisms.