The European Union and the Paradox of Enlargement

This book sheds light on the contradictions underlying the European Union enlargement process, specifically to the Western Balkans, challenging the common assumption that the integration of an extended European space might be possible without mutual transformation of the institutions and agencies involved.

Sekuli maps the institutional dimension of the accession process, and analyses how the conditionality principle shapes and constrains the space for negotiation within the EU. Combining ethnographic research with the discourse analysis of the European Commission's reports and documents from 2008 to 2019 concerning the Western Balkan countries, the book also explores the perceptions and agency of the individuals involved in this process. The European Union and the Paradox of Enlargement will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, the sociology of Europe and the EU, and Eastern European and Western Balkan studies.

Provides a dialectical analysis of the mutual transformations of institutions and agencies in the EU, as well as issues of complex integration and non-linear developments Goes right to the heart of the EU as polity, its transformations and asymmetries of power Analyses statistics, policy documents and interviews of administrators and politicians in Brussels and in the Western Balkans.

Autorentext

Tatjana Sekuli is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy.

Zusammenfassung
"The book stands out among other publications devoted to the issues of the accession of the Western Balkan states to the European Union. The research goals set by the author are fully achieved, which is not an easy task with such a complex and multifaceted subject of analysis. The book will appeal not only to researchers, students, and commentators of political life, but also to practitioners who decide on the dynamics of integration of the 'old continent', Europe." (Kamil Glinka, Comparative Southeast European Studies, Vol. 70 (4), 2022)

Inhalt

1. Europe from East to West, from South to North: Harmonization in Turbulent Times. - 2. Dimensions and Contradictions of the European Integration: Deepening Versus Widening. - 3. New Axes of Integration and the Constitution of the European Polity and Society. - 4. European Integration on the Field: Framing the Western Balkans. - 5. Framing the Field within the Text: Analysis of the European Commission Reports on the Western Balkan Countries in a Longitudinal Perspective 2008-2019. - 6. Narrating the Process of Enlargement and Accession: European Union versus Western Balkans. - 7. Conclusions: The Paradox of the European Integration.