"European Integration and Enlarging the European Union: A Theoretical Perspective"

Miles, Lee. (1995) "European Integration and Enlarging the European Union: A Theoretical Perspective". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the Introduction]. In the past ten years historic changes have taken place in Europe which have transformed not only the geography but also the political agenda of much of the continent. Within a decade the European Union has switched from pessimism of Euroscelerosis to the optimism of the Treaty of European Union (TEU). An important consequence of this (and the momentous events in the former Soviet empire) has been a rush of applicants for membership of the EU. However, whilst the political realities of European integration have moved on at a rapid pace, this has not been true of the theory of European integration. The need for a theoretical framework has clearly not disappeared and integration theory has not lost its relevance (Taylor, 1989). However, there is now an urgent need for an adaptation of integration theory to take account of the increased size of the EU and its implications. The present paper represents an attempy to begin the process of assess the implications of past and, in particular, current and future enlargements on European integration theory.

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