EU Enlargement and EU Geopolitical Power in the Face of War

• In Event: Ukraine beyond the Battlefield: Domestic Politics and the Road to EU Accession

Abstract

We are amid the greatest transformation of the institutional and security architecture of Europe since the collapse of communism three decades ago. In our article we will reflect on two main issues. First is how the EU’s enlargement process has developed – in fits and starts – over the last three decades as post-communist states have entered the membership queue and the impasse it had encountered in the recent years. Now as the EU is again turning to enlargement as its most powerful foreign policy tool, how does it reinterpret it, considering geopolitical challenges and internal regime divides among EU members? Second, as Ukraine’s resilience in the face of war and wartime efforts in meeting the accession requirements were among major factors prompting the EU to restart what has been a moribund process, whether and how the EU together with partners – supports Ukraine over the next difficult years will help determine whether integration remains anchored in liberal democracy; and whether the EU’s geopolitical power will rise or fall. Thus, we open the debate on how existing theories of EU integration and enlargement can help us understand what has changed – and what hasn’t – as we reflect on the EU in the face of war during 2023.

Authors

• Milada Anna Vachudova, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• Nadiia Koval, Kyiv School of Economics