Seminar - Structuring the Neighbourhood: The European Union's Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy

The seminar covers the European Union’s enlargement and neighbourhood policy as two different instruments to serve the same purpose: the exportation of norms and the stabilization of the continent.
The seminar starts with a review of past enlargement processes: the Western enlargement 1973 (with a special focus on Great Britain), the Southern enlargement 1981/86, the Northern enlargement (with a special focus on Norway) the Eastern enlargement 2004/2007 (with a special focus on Cyprus).
The accession of Croatia 2013 as pilot project of an enlargement by the “Western Balkan” countries is the beginning of the second part which focuses on the Western Balkan countries and their aspirations to join the EU.
“Everything but institutions” is the approach of the EU’s neighbourhood policy towards the Eastern European countries. This will be the topic of the third section. The research question will be whether the EU can reach (nearly) the same goals without accepting partner countries as members. The focus will be on Armenia, which is a special case in the European neighbourhood.
In the last session the seminar focuses on the European Neighbourhood Policy towards the South: The Barcelona Process and Union for the Mediterranean will be topics and so will be the “Arab Spring” and its leftovers. Also the consequences of the current migration crisis for a EU policy towards the South will be discussed.