Özet:

After the end of the Cold War, the European Union entered the process of enlargement by accepting Central and Eastern European countries membership. In this process, the European Union has transformed the political and economic structures of its member and candidate countries in accordance with its acquis. This transformative effect of the EU has begun to be expressed by the concept of Europeanization. How is the European Union influencing democratization in candidate countries and what are the theoretical approaches that explain this mechanism of influence? What theoretical framework explains the democratic change that emerged under the influence of the European Union, especially in the process of nomination? The answer to such questions is sought within the framework of the Europeanization approach. In this sense, the notion of Europeanization, which has begun to be discussed in the context of the EU enlargement policy, points to the internal change resulting from the influence of the European Union in the Member or candidate Countries.Europeanization studies use external incentive models and social learning models to explain the country's democratic transformation. These models provide a useful framework for explaining the influence of the EU as an external factor, especially in the democratic transformation of candidate countries.The aim of this article is to theoretically explain the democratizing effect of the EU on the candidate countries, in the context of Europeanization Approach that is based on social learning and external incentives models. Keywords: Europeanization, Institutionalism, External Incentives, Social Learning Model, Democratization. The JEL Codes:

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