http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/european-enlargement Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:02:59 -0400 Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:02:59 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1075/european-enlargement-a-normative-perspective By Benjamin Walton - It was commonplace among academics of the 1970s to share an understanding of the frozen nature of international relations during the Cold War period, and to hold similar assumptions about the fixed character of the nation-state and the importance of direct military power in strengthening the international society.1 However, the Cold War, which structured many of these assumptions, ended with the collapse of norms across Central Europe rather than through the employment of force.2 Therefore, a better understanding of the European Union’s (EU) role today might be attained by reflecting on... Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1075/european-enlargement-a-normative-perspective http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1076/is-the-eu-reaching-the-limits-of-enlargement By Martha Otwinowski - Among European states in the aftermath of the Second World War, multilateral cooperation was seen as a long term stabilisation for peace. The European Union (EU), since its establishment in 1957 as the European Coal and Steel Community with six members, saw several enlargement rounds over the subsequent decades, driven by the idea that ever more members mean new markets and therefore increase economic benefit for everyone. The idea of EU enlargement as a means of foreign policy2 first found expression in the 1986 accession of Spain and Portugal. With both states just coming out of authoritarian... Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1076/is-the-eu-reaching-the-limits-of-enlargement