Europeanisation in the absence of adaptational pressure

This paper traces the process of Europeanization not including adaptational pressure. It emphasizis the hard form of pressure that implies coercion. There are many processes of producing domestic change, and it appears that adaptational pressure is not the necessary condition for this process. This article does not support the interchangeability of soft mechanisms of Europeanization with adaptational pressure, because it undermines the whole concept of Europeanization caused by its inconsistency. The aim of this article is to prove that there are terminological ambiguities leading to a certain vagueness regarding the concept of Europeanization. The basic necessity is to abandon the rigidity of the existing three step approach to Europeanization and to accept other possible scenarios, proposing a more exact anchoring of adaptational pressure.