Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of abbreviations -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Decision-making on EU enlargement -- 1.2 Methodology -- 1.3 Structure -- PART I Theory test: Eastern and Southern European Union enlargements -- 2 Theoretical perspectives on European Union enlargement -- 2.1 What is to be explained? -- 2.2 How to explain EU enlargement -- 3 European Union Eastern enlargement -- 3.1 The eventual approval of Eastern enlargement -- 3.2 Tracing the process of Eastern enlargement -- 3.3 Intermediate conclusion -- 4 European Community Southern enlargements -- 4.1 The eventual accession of the Southern applicants -- 4.2 Tracing the processes of the Southern enlargements -- 4.3 Intermediate conclusion -- PART II Theory building: anomie and diffuse decision contexts -- 5 The European Union's liberal identity and its constitutive norms -- 5.1 Basic constructivist concepts on EU constitutional politics -- 5.2 The constructivist research agenda on EU constitutional politics -- 5.3 Constitutive norms and their three forms of existence -- 5.4 Accession preparedness: the inclusive norm -- 5.5 Enlargement readiness: the participatory norm -- 5.6 Preliminary conclusion -- 6 German unification, Maastricht and the prospect of a wider Europe -- 6.1 The disputed origin of the Treaty on European Union -- 6.2 The implicit Franco-German quid pro quo between EMU and German unification -- 6.3 The neglected shadow of a wider Europe -- 6.4 Preliminary conclusion -- 7 Solving the double enlargement puzzle: opportunities and constraints in diffuse decision contexts -- 7.1 The concept of weakly socialised actors -- 7.2 The notion of anomie -- 7.3 Diffuse decision contexts -- 7.4 The diffuse decision contexts of EU enlargements -- 8 Conclusion -- Index.

The continuous expansion of the European Union has transformed its very own self-conception. While Eastern enlargement was widely celebrated as the 'reuniting of Europe', the sheer number of applicants, their low economic development and the need for new states to transform in accordance with EU values required considerable adjustments to the EU's self-image. By examining the European Council's contentious approval of the Mediterranean and Central and Eastern European countries in the 1970s and 1990s, this book investigates why the European Union enlarges. Based on new and hitherto not analysed.