This new book deals with the complex issue of Europe's inevitable yet extremely controversial expansion process.

This clear and engaging text examines the process and politics of the European UnionOs OEasternO enlargement, beginning with its initial response to the 1989 revolution up through the Helsinki summit decisions of December 1999. Michael Baun explores such topics as the EUOs original decision to enlarge, the pre-accession strategy for prospective members, the key political decisions on launching and expanding the accession negotiations, and the actual progress of the negotiations. He also examines the EUOs efforts to reform its policies and institutions in advance of enlargement. Throughout, Baun weaves in understandable explanations of the complex multilevel process of EU decisionmaking. He concludes by considering the limits of enlargement and its consequences for the EUOs future development.

With the process of a 'wider Europe' (EU-Commission President Romano Prodi's 'ring of friends') that extends from Marrakech in Morocco to St Petersburg in Russia gathering speed, the growing rift between Europe and America also is about how to deal politically with the countries of the Mediterranean-Muslim world. The house of Islam (Dar al Islam) was pivotal to the European path to the Renaissance and to the re-discovery of classic Greek philosophy. The Mediterranean policy of the European Union aims at a positive and co-operative relationship with the region. A successful integration of the Mediterranean South would have tremendous and positive repercussions for regional and world peace. World-wide leading experts from the field of world systems analysis, economics, integration theory, political science, theology and area studies, agnostics, Christians, Jews and Muslims alike discuss the issue with European decision makers. The outcome is an interdisciplinary evaluation of this projected export of peace, co-operation, dialogue and stability in the framework of world centre-periphery relationships.

The controversies and ambiguities characterising the EU neighbourhood strategy are ultimately due to the fact that the wider Europe concerns the conceptual, strategic and spatial limits of Europe. It is in this wider Europe that the EU as process meets the EU as actor. It is here that its 'gravitational power' meets its 'normative power'. It is here that the sui-generis EU governance system meets its foreign policy capabilities. By exploring the meanings and possible usages of the term 'variable geometry', this study sets out to interpret how the deepening of relations between the European Union and its neighbours in the East, South-East and South shapes the conceptual political and strategic map of the wider European space. Three dimensions of variable geometries are distinguished. The first dimension relates to ideas and focuses on the way in which the EU as a polity affects, and is affected by, deeper relations with its neighbours. Second, the focus is on institutions and illustrates the rationale behind and options for deeper institutional integration of neighbours into the EU. Lastly, the study ventures into an analysis of the wider Europe as a power constellation and thus explains what variable geometry means in relation to security and stability in the European neighbourhood. This basic tri-partition is then applied to two topical cases: Turkey and Ukraine.

This title was first published in 2003. This work intends to make an important and interesting contribution to the wider debate on European regional development. It looks beyond the confines of the EU proper and combines interesting and relevant case studies from a broader pan-European perspective. Also, the approaches adopted are informed by a variety of theoretical positions. By addressing the changing roles of SMEs in different regions of Eastern Europe, readers should gain insights into the different dimensions of SME development and the link between SMEs and regional growth.

This book examines whether we are moving towards an integrated regional system of legal provision for minorities. It illustrates the tension between newer member states, many of which have an interest in seeing minority issues addressed, and established members, which remain hesitant in committing themselves fully to a minority rights regime.

The latest wave of European Union expansion has brought many central and Eastern European countries into the fold. Unlike previous enlargements however, the latest new members are also undergoing radical economic reform as they reintegrate into international economy.This book reviews the changing industrial architecture of the new wider Europe from

This book is the first comprehensive study of how and why the European Union has enlarged to become northern Europe’s leading power. Pami Aalto presents a new approach to the under-theorized field of EU foreign policy studies, showing how, since 1990, the EU has enlarged to include Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and also incorporated the former East Germany. He also examines how this northern expansion has led the EU to reflect on relations with Russia and its north-western regions. This unique study includes: a fresh approach to the under-theorized field of EU foreign policy key empirical material, including hundreds of documents, interviews and field experiments in-depth case studies of relations between the EU, Nordic states, Baltic states and Russia with its north-western regions. This is essential reading for all students of European politics, Russian studies and international relations.