Jan Zielonka

How New Enlarged Borders will Reshape the European Union

Debate about the final destination of European integration is again in vogue and it is largely state‐centric. The future EU is usually seen as a new type of Westphalian (federal) state with a central government in charge of a given territory with clear‐cut borders. An overlap between its functional and geographic borders is also envisaged with few complicating opt‐outs, and no variable geometry. However, this article shows that achieving an overlap between the functional and geographic borders of the EU is very unlikely given the huge degree of divergence that will result from the forthcoming enlargement. The article also questions the EUs ability to acquire one of the most fundamental attributes of a Westphalian type of state: a fixed and relatively hard external border. It offers evidence suggesting that an enlarged EU would more closely resemble a neo‐medieval empire rather than a neo‐Westphalian state with serious practical and conceptual implications.

Explaining Euro-paralysis : why Europe is unable to act in international politics

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Beyond Euro-optimism and Skepticism Power Politics, Again Divergent Traditions and Conflicting Interests Paradigm Lost and the Conceptual Confusion The Crisis of Modern Democracy Weak Institutions The Choices to be Made Selected Bibliography Index

Plurilateral Governance in the Enlarged European Union

This article examines the impact of the recent EU enlargement on European governance. Enlargement is treated as a kind of external shock to the existing governance system, broadening and diversifying the European public space. The prevalent hierarchical mode of governance is increasingly inadequate under these new circumstances and the Union will have to embrace more flexible, decentralized and soft modes of governance.

Challenges of EU Enlargement

Abstract:Despite the economic concerns of those opposed to the eastward expansion of the European Union, the small economies of the new member states should pose few problems; fears of a cultural gap between “old” and “new” Europe are likewise misguided, as are charges that the entrance of the members will paralyze EU decision making. Enlargement reduces the chances of constructing a pan-European state, but it will put the EU under extra pressure to offer citizens meaningful forms of democratic participation. For all the changes that the entrance of postcommunist states will bring to the Union-and for all the democratic challenges in particular-the benefits of enlargement for Europe as a whole will clearly exceed the costs.

Introduction: The State of Democracy 20 Years on Domestic and External Factors

The countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) embarked on a democratic transition in 1989 were proclaimed consolidated democracies when they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Today most of the new democracies are experiencing “democratic fatigue” and some seem vulnerable to an authoritarian turn. The EU, seen as the guarantor of the post-1989 democratic changes, is experiencing an unprecedented economic, financial, and democratic crisis with the combined challenges of technocracy and populism. The article explores the different approaches to the study of democracies in ECE, their specific features and vulnerabilities, and tries to provide an interpretation of the premature crisis of democracy in ECE in a broader transeuropean context.

Europe's new civilizing missions: the EU's normative power discourse

This article focuses on two cases of the European Union (EU)s efforts to promote its values and norms in its immediate neighbourhood, first in central and eastern Europe after the fall of communism, and then in North Africa and the Middle East after the fall of oppressive regimes there. These two neighbourhoods are seen as the EUs peripheries that need to be taken care of lest they become a source of political or economic instability. This explains the use of the imperial paradigm for analysing the content of the EUs normative power discourse. The article shows numerous parallels between the rhetoric of EU officials and the writings of leading philosophers in the Enlightenment period. While there is little doubt that the imperial discourse helped the EU to legitimize its enlargement project in central and eastern Europe, the Arab world seems less eager to ‘import’ European norms for a variety of reasons analysed in the article.

The Quality of Democracy after Joining the European Union

Joining the European Union (EU) has changed the nature of democracy in the new member states. The EUs membership has complicated the structure of democratic decision making by making it more multilayered and multicentered. EU membership has enhanced the powers of nonmajoritarian institutions such as the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and various regulatory agencies. National parliaments tend to be less powerful democratic players after a country joins the European Union—and even before, as the EU accession process has shown. EU membership has also broadened the democratic public space. As a consequence, democratic decision making within the European Union has to accommodate a more diversified set of interests and cultural orientations. Providing citizens with greater access to the European decision-making process seems to be most urgent in the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe, whose citizens feel particularly detached from this process. The article tries to suggest some ways of achieving this.

Introduction: Diversity and Adaptation in the Enlarged European Union

It is now taken as given that the European Union will be a much more diversified entity following its planned eastward enlargement. But precisely how much diversity will there be, and what are its implications? These questions are addressed in this article, as well as in the broader collection of essays which it introduces. By introducing a broad range of empirical evidence, we seek to challenge many of the theoretical assumptions about the scope, form and meaning of diversity in the process of European integration, and especially in the context of the forthcoming eastward enlargement. In fact, the map of unity and diversity in the enlarged EU proves to be extremely complex, and does not simply correspond to the old East-West divide. We also suggest that much of this diversity should be seen as welcome rather than as threatening for the Union, and that the enlargement process constitutes an important factor generating adaptation and accommodation.

The International System in Europe: Westphalian Anarchy or Medieval Chaos?

Abstract Outbursts of nationalism and partisan squabbles generated by the current economic and migration crisis in Europe suggest an unraveling of the integration project and a resurgence of the international anarchy associated with the Westphalian system. However, this article will show that the evolving system bears a closer resemblance to the Europe of the Middle Ages than to the Europe that followed the Treaties of Westphalia. In contemporary Europe we have overlapping authority, multiple loyalties and fuzzy borders. Conflicts are primarily about exclusion from the European core and abuse of agreed procedures rather than borders and territorial gains. Institutional forms of collective bargaining have replaced balance of power politics. Order is maintained not by the sword, but by norms cultivated by two imperial powers, the EU and the US. This medieval system is neither conflict free nor stable, but generates a pattern of international relations fundamentally different from the old Westphalian anarchy. This article will try to comprehend the evolving pattern of cooperation and conflict in Europe and assess its implications.

Empires and the Modern International System

In recent years several important books have argued that the United States of America, China, Russia and even the European Union “look, talk and walk” like empires. However, these books have failed to impress those working in the field of international relations. For some, the Westphalian state is still the major unit of analysis. Others prefer to use the terms “great powers” or “hegemony.” This research note will, first, try to assess the added value that the concept of empire brings to the study of international relations. The second aim is to establish how best to study contemporary empires. Which actors can be classified as empires? Should one focus on imperial structure, mission or behaviour? The third objective is to seek ways of identifying patterns of cooperation and competition among empires. Can the contemporary manifestations of empire co-exist without major conflict?