“The Double Puzzle of EU Enlargement: Liberal Norms, Rhetorical Action, and the Decision to Expand to the East”

Schimmelfennig, Frank. (1999) “The Double Puzzle of EU Enlargement: Liberal Norms, Rhetorical Action, and the Decision to Expand to the East” . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1999 (6th), June 2-5, 1999, pages 50, Pittsburgh, PA.

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze the decision of the European Union (EU) to expand to Central and Eastern Europe. More precisely, as it is still uncertain when, under which conditions, and (some would even argue) whether Eastern enlargement will actually take place, I ask why the EU opened accession negotiations with five Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia) in March 1998. The analysis is embedded in and guided by the current “great debate” between rationalist and sociological or constructivist approaches to the study of international institutions in the International Relations (IR) discipline. I argue that, in the perspective of this theoretical debate, the decision of the EU to expand to the East confronts us with a double puzzle.