Democratization without enlargement? The European Neighbourhood Policy on post-communist transitions

Abstract

This article explores the concept of normative power in Europe by assessing the democratic impact of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in Eastern Europe. By focusing on democratization as a normative objective of the ENP, the authors argued that the European Union (EU) should not be assumed to be a normative power in international politics. It is argued that the EU vision of creating a ring of friends through the ENP has failed. Although the number of EU member states has significantly increased, and the Western European norms and values have become consolidated in most of Europe, Europe remains divided between EU member states and the others. The democratic decline in Russia, the conflict in Georgia in 2008, and the growing authoritarianism in Belarus and Ukraine have had negative effects on the notion of a whole, free, and democratized Europe.

Keywords:

• democratization
• enlargement
• ENP
• normative power
• Eastern Europe