European Union Enlargement as Regime Transformation

• In Event: New Research on EU (Legislative) Politics

Abstract

The study of European Union enlargement typically focuses on the success or failure of candidate countries to adapt to the challenge of membership. What is less understood is how the European Union – meaning the institutions, policies, and the underlying notion of membership – changed through the enlargement process as well. Each time the European Union expanded, institutions, policies, and membership evolved – both in formal institutional terms, and more informally in terms of how the member states, new and old, perceived their roles, rights, and obligations. This evolution has had profound consequences for the stability of the organization that are not captured by the most prominent theories of European integration – neofunctionalist, intergovernmentalist, and post-functionalist. It also led to a transformation of the enlargement process itself. Tracing the evolution of the EU through the lens of the enlargement process is important not only for identifying the hidden fragility of the European Union, but also for highlighting the dynamics that have weakened many of the pillars of the international economic system from the IMF and the World Bank, to the World Trade Organization, the G20, and NATO.

Authors

• Veronica Anghel, European University Institute

• Erik Jones, European University Institute