The Europeanisation of Arms Export Policy in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland

This article examines changes in the level of transparency and the outcomes of arms export policies in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia since they joined the EU in May 2004, and determines the extent to which these changes are attributable to the 'Europeanisation' of this policy area. Following the approach of the existing literature, this article views the Europeanisation of EU arms export policy as the process by which certain key policy structures and decision-making processes become increasingly subject to systems of multi-level governance. The article finds that while Europeanisation has led to an increase in arms export policy transparency, its impact on arms export policy outcomes is harder to detect. At most, Europeanisation has been one of a range of factors driving change in this area.