The making of foreign policy in the European Community/Union: the case of Eastern Europe, 1988-1995

Smith, Karen Elizabeth (1996) The making of foreign policy in the European Community/Union: the case of Eastern Europe, 1988-1995. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

This thesis will argue that since the late 198DB, the Community/Union has formulated and implemented an active, consistent, common policy towards Eastern Europe. The policy's principal aim has been to support the economic and political transformation in the former communist countries. As circumstances have changed in Eastern Europe, the Community/Union has used different policy instruments to try to fulfill that aim. By 1995, the EU had agreed to enlarge itself to include the East European countries, had approved an innovative and unprecedented pre-access ion strategy to facilitate enlargement, and had launched the Pact on Stability in Europe to prevent conflicts among the potential new members. The question at the heart of the thesis is why the EU member states agreed to a joint policy towards Eastern Europe. Several theories of cooperation will be evaluated in terms of their usefulness in explaining this particular case of cooperation. Explanations derived from International Relations theory generally offer inadequate explanations of cooperation within the sui aeneris EU. Rationalist theories cannot explain the member states' continual compromising, or the sense of collective interest and identity, made manifest in the process of making a common policy towards Eastern Europe. Neo-functionalism and constructivism are much more useful for explaining why the EU formulated and implemented a common policy. In particular, neo-functional insights into spillover, externalization, the supranational style of decision-making, and the Commission's role help explain the making of the policy. The constructivist emphasis on how the process of interaction among the member states can transform their perceived interests and identities contributes to that explanation, illuminating why the Community/Union could formulate a joint policy reflecting its (collective) interests, principles and goals.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 1996 Karen Elizabeth Smith
Library of Congress subject classification:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D839 Post-war History, 1945 on J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
Sets:	Departments > International Relations
Supervisor:	Hill, Christopher and Taylor, Paul
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4160

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