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" How does the growing number of small states affect the future developments of the European Union "
Lee, Moosung
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1100505
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TLets633221
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| Main Entry
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Lee, Moosung
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| Title & Author
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How does the growing number of small states affect the future developments of the European Union\ Lee, Moosung
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| College
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University of Birmingham
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| Date
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2005
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2005
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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The beginning of the twenty-first century will witness an unprecedented expansion ofthe European Union, with ten new members joining in 2004 and more seeking to follow.Compared to past expansions, the current and forthcoming enlargements possess anumber of sui generis characteristics. Of these, it is noticeable that a majority of newmember countries are small. In addition, the economic, political and historicalbackgrounds of new small member states are very different from those of the currentEU membership. In this context, there is a conventional wisdom that the accession of alarge number of new small member states has the potential to create challenges to thefuture development of the enlarged EU. These challenges will be manifested in thedecision-making process of the EU, the implementation of a wide range of its policies,and the governance of its institutions. However, this thesis will attempt to argue that thisconventional view may not necessarily be correct.Thus, focusing on new small member countries, this thesis will identify, isolateand analyse the implications of their accession for the future development of the EU.The likely economic effects will first be addressed from two perspectives. The regionalpolicy of the EU and its CAP will be examined in order to make sense of the immediateeconomic impact and, then, in order to take a more comprehensive view, three otherareas - the internal market, monetary union and trade policy - will also be included inthis study. While the main business of the EU remains predominantly in the economicsphere, nevertheless, there are a number of non-economic issues that also require ourattention. This is primarily due to the argument that these are areas where challenges arealso expected as a result of the accession of a large number of new small member states.We will thus focus on the future development of the CFSP and the future governance ofEU institutions.This research will apply an (implied) model of small states' behaviour andreactions to specific situations namely, various aspects of EU policy-making, theimplementation of its policies and the governance of its institutions. The model will bebuilt on the basis of the general and distinctive characteristics of small states, and hasserved to identify the possible implications for the future integration process of the EU.The theoretical framework will be built by adopting intergovernmentalism as the coretheory, but other integration theories will also be referred to with a view tocomplementing this core theory with some refinements. With this in mind, this studywill develop the contention that the current and upcoming enlargements which embracea large number of new small member states should not necessarily be viewed asnegative to the future development of the EU, as the conventional wisdom presumes.This is because taking full account of the position of new small state members, and theirlikely behaviour within the environment which EU membership imposes upon them,leads to the conclusion that the conventional view is not the only possible outcome.
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University of Birmingham
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