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Beyond Fortress ‘EU’rope? Bordering and Cross-Bordering Along the European External Frontiers

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Neighbourhood Policy and the Construction of the European External Borders

Part of the book series: GeoJournal Library ((GEJL,volume 115))

Abstract

This introductory chapter gives an overview of debates about the contents and limits of the European Neighbourhood Policy, and of how the book intends to contribute to them. It focuses, in particular, on how the European Neighbourhood Policy impacts the ongoing construction of the European Union’s external frontiers, and introduces the wide variety of ways through which such re-bordering is pursued. The Neighbourhood Policy is the result of an attempt by European institutions to define the proper balance between openness and closure towards its neighbourhood, regionalization and bordering, cross-border cooperation and the securitization of the EU external borders, the idea of a “fortress Europe” on the one hand and the imaginary of a “wider Europe” with “concentric circles” of integration on the other. These bordering and cross-bordering processes, it is argued, are not contradictory but proceed side-by-side in an explicit attempt to construct a selective and fragmented border regime, and for the reconfiguration of ‘EU’rope as a post-Westphalian and normative global actor.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Copenaghen Criteria” are those criteria that countries which candidate for accession in the European Union must meet. They include stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union; the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Memotef, University of Rome La Sapienza, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Filippo Celata & Raffaella Coletti

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  1. Filippo Celata
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  2. Raffaella Coletti
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Correspondence to Filippo Celata .

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  1. Department MEMOTEF, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

    Filippo Celata

  2. Department MEMOTEF, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

    Raffaella Coletti

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Celata, F., Coletti, R. (2015). Beyond Fortress ‘EU’rope? Bordering and Cross-Bordering Along the European External Frontiers. In: Celata, F., Coletti, R. (eds) Neighbourhood Policy and the Construction of the European External Borders. GeoJournal Library, vol 115. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18452-4_1

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