The Logic of E.U. Enlargement: Exporting Stability or Inheriting an Empire

Abstract

The European Union (E.U.) has served as an anchor of order and stability in Europe for decades and continues to play an important role in shaping its external environment through enlargement, or the process of expansion through the accession of new member states. However, the logic that informs contemporary E.U. enlargement policy has undergone a significant shift. This paper argues that this change is attributed to the desire by the E.U. to ensure internal security in the aftermath of the Yugoslav and Kosovo wars. E.U. internal security and enlargement policy, therefore, are inextricably linked. This has resulted in a variable and differentiated enlargement process, with the emergence of a Europe characterized by metaphorical concentric circles of fading political authority as one moves from the E.U. “core” into the European “periphery.”