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Anitta M. Hipper examines to what extent and under what conditions the EU´s transformative power met with resistance in Romania. The book touches upon a raw nerve for most post-communist societies: justice and anti-corruption reform. Through the use of a context-sensitive approach, it assesses how domestic factors influenced the implementation of EU conditionality towards Romania from 1990 to 2012. Empirical investigations reveal a struggle between various interested parties in complying with EU conditionality. As a result, a complex layer of (non-)compliance emerged and it became a Herculean task to ensure the sustainability of reform by reformist forces within Romania and the EU.

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Conceptualizing the rule of law.- Justice reforms.- The transformative power of the EU.- Main features of the Romanian communist regime.- The reactions of the EU - Green light for accession under the new conditionality.- Veto players and stakes.

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Anitta M. Hipper has been trained as a scholar at the University of Freiburg/Germany, where she completed her Ph.D. After completing this book, she worked for the European Parliament and the European Commission, where she is currently responsible inter alia for leading assessment missions, mainly in the anti-corruption, justice and law enforcement area in Ukraine and Georgia.

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