Conditionality and EU Enlargement: A Conceptual Overview

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is threefold. Firstly, it briefly sketches the development of the EU enlargement policy by focusing on the history of enlargement rounds (Table 1.1), the nature of the accession process and the development of membership conditions. Secondly, the chapter discusses the emergence of EU enlargement as a prominent research area and reflects on the key questions and debates in the literature on EU conditionality. Finally, it outlines a stage-structured conditionality model, which provides a conceptual framework for comparative study of EU enlargement conditionality.