Enlargement and the EU’s Neighbourhood

EU enlargement policy has been evolving steadily since the start of the Eastern enlargement in the 1990s, yet the prospects for accession of current candidates are negatively affected by increasing politicization and declining public support. At the same time, the EU has been seeking a ‘pragmatic’ approach to its neighbourhood policy and related initiatives such as the Eastern partnership. This approach stresses differentiation, concrete results and delivering benefits for citizens rather than the potential European perspective which some associated states are seeking. Achieving the goals of enlargement and neighbourhood policies, both involving the creation of stability and prosperity in the EU’s neighbourhood, is more difficult than ever given the social and political tensions created by Brexit and different priorities among different EU member states. How are EU institutions, member and candidate states dealing with the dilemmas facing enlargement policy? What different institutional perspectives can explain the current contradictions of enlargement policy? How can we assess critically the effects of conditionality focusing on good governance? To what extent has the EU’s Neighbourhood policy developed as a different and independent policy? What political, economic, social and demographic effects can be observed after several years of functioning of association agreements? These are some of the questions that the Section aims to address. We seek Panels and Papers that would critically analyse enlargement and neighbourhood policy dilemmas, building on existing scholarship and using a comparative approach rather than focusing on countries or regions. Different disciplinary perspectives shedding light for example on the political and sectoral effects of trade in associated states would be particularly welcome.