The European Union’s renewed commitment to enlargement marks a decisive moment in the reconfiguration of Europe’s political order. Triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU’s decision to advance accession processes with Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans has reopened fundamental scholarly and policy questions: Can enlargement still function as a transformative instrument under conditions of geopolitical rivalries, war and democratic backsliding? How do emergency-driven, ad hoc instruments reshape the Union’s established enlargement logic, and what are the implications for EU internal reforms?
This research seminar invites doctoral students to engage critically with the evolving political economy and governance of EU enlargement. Building comparative insights from previous waves in Central and Eastern Europe and ongoing processes in the Western Balkans, participants will explore how conventional tools – conditionality, benchmarking, acquis adoption – are increasingly complemented or substituted by context-specific mechanisms such as phased integration, reconstruction-linked assistance, and security-oriented pre-accession frameworks.
This research seminar invites doctoral students to engage critically with the evolving political economy and governance of EU enlargement. Building comparative insights from previous waves in Central and Eastern Europe and ongoing processes in the Western Balkans, participants will explore how conventional tools – conditionality, benchmarking, acquis adoption – are increasingly complemented or substituted by context-specific mechanisms such as phased integration, reconstruction-linked assistance, and security-oriented pre-accession frameworks.
- Instructors: Inna Melnykovska, Daiva Terescenko