The Study of EU Enlargement: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Findings

Abstract

The political relevance of EU enlargement, both for the EU’s internal development, and for international relations in Europe more broadly, is undisputed. Yet for a long time, enlargement has been a neglected subject in studies of European integration and in the theory of regional integration (see also Friis and Murphy, 1999; Wallace, 2000a). Classical approaches to the study of regional integration, such as neofunctionalism and transactionalism, mention the geographical growth of international communities only in passing (see Deutsch et al., 1970, 4, 43–4; Haas, 1968, 313–17; Schmitter, 1969, 165). This neglect reflects the fact that enlargement only appeared on the EU’s agenda after the heyday of regional integration theory and that for much of the EU’s pre-Cold War history, it has been limited to sporadic instances: the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland joining in 1973; Greece in 1981; and Spain and Portugal in 1986.