This thesis is a comparative study of how elites in Sweden and Poland approach and make sense of EU membership. It begins with the observation that the public debates in several EU member countries are becoming increasingly politicized around a dichotomy, i.e. enthusiasm and skepticism vis-à-vis European integration. Whereas a lot of research in this field covers the characteristics of the European integration process itself, fewer studies focus upon the cognitive complexity involved in national strategic policy choices. The aim of this thesis is to explore, compare and contrast the organizational and cognitive aspects of how Sweden and Poland entered the EU and thereby to contribute to an understanding of how national policymakers in Europe believe that national and supranational integration can work together. The theoretical point of departure is Stein Rokkan’s model of political integration, which emphasizes the importance of functional and territorial political cleavages in the development of modern European nation states. The model is used to identify political actors and structures that are transnationalizing forces in Europe and to determine in what ways they form a challenge to national governments in the process of adaptation to the EU. Representing different theoretical points of intersection in the Rokkanian model, these challenges are defined as Integration, Trade and Industry, Functional Regionalism and Territorial Regionalism. The empirical analysis builds on these theoretical categories and covers three different areas. First, the ways in which adaptation to the EU was organized by the governments of Sweden (1988-1994) and Poland (1998-2004) are scrutinized. Second, documents concerning the strategic policy deliberation of both organizations are analyzed in the light of Rokkanian integration categories. Third, the results of two sets of research interviews, one in each country, are analyzed. A major conclusion drawn in the study is that Rokkanian integration theory holds the key to an understanding of how national policymakers believe that European integration can be segmented and how supranational integration in the economic sphere can evolve separately from other areas of social and political integration. Although from very different countries and political experiences, elites in Sweden and Poland show remarkable cognitive similarities. Another contribution to a cross-national understanding of adaptation to the EU is the cognitive model, which is developed on the basis of empirical study. The model expands upon and goes beyond the simple dichotomy of Enthusiasts and Skeptics in the discussion about European integration. Two new categories are introduced and defined as Voluntarists and Pragmatists. The argument is that new cognitive categories are necessary to improve the description and analysis of how national policy makers in Europe set up long-term political goals and manage complex issues in the process of European integration.

[pt] A principal sugestão desta tese é que a construção e a formatação original do Estádio do Maracanã não diziam respeito apenas aos interesses das elites nacionais em projetar o Brasil no mundo, mas também à integração popular, com suas demandas e representações, àquele projeto. No percurso de verificação desse argumento, examinaremos os diferentes projetos arquitetônicos habilitados para construção do estádio durante a primeira metade do século XX, os debates suscitados em torno do tema e os atores que os mobilizavam. Do ponto de vista teórico, tomaremos como eixo central o conceito de esfera pública, tal como definida por Jürgen Habermas no livro Mudança estrutural da esfera pública: investigações sobre uma categoria da sociedade burguesa (2014), em permanente diálogo com os novos contornos que o conceito foi adquirindo na produção posterior do autor e de seus interlocutores. / [en] The main suggestion of this thesis is that the construction and original formatting of the Maracanã Stadium did not only concern the interests of national elites in projecting Brazil in the world, but also the popular integration, with their demands and representations, to that project. In the course of verifying this argument, we will examine the different architectural projects authorized for the construction of the stadium during the first half of the 20th century, the debates raised around the theme and the actors that mobilized them. From a theoretical point of view, we will take as a central axis the concept of the public sphere, as defined by Jürgen Habermas in the book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry Into a Category of Bourgeois Society (2014), in permanent dialogue with the new contours that the concept was acquired in the later production of the author and his interlocutors. / [fr] La principale hypothèse de ce travail est que la construction et la conception originale du stade Maracanã ne concernaient pas seulement les intérêts des élites nationales afin de mettre en avant le Brésil dans le monde, mais aussi l intégration populaire, avec leurs revendications et leurs représentations, à ce projet. Au cours de la vérification de cet argument, nous examinerons les différents projets architecturaux autorisés pour la construction du stade durant la première moitié du XXe siècle, les débats soulevés autour du thème et les acteurs qui les ont mobilisés. D un point de vue théorique, nous prendrons comme axe central le concept d espace public, tel qu il est défini par Jürgen Habermas dans l ouvrage Changement structurel dans la sphère publique: études sur la catégorie de la société bourgeoise (2014), en dialogue permanent avec les nouveaux contours que le concept a acquis dans la production ultérieure de l auteur et de ses interlocuteurs.