ABSTRACT
At last enlargement of the European Union (EU) has become a subject for theoretical reflection as well as for empirical commentary and advocacy arguments. Chapters in this book address the analysis of EU enlargement from a variety of theoretical standpoints and from a range of empirically based observations. This development in EU studies is both welcome and overdue. Among the contributions here we find a mixture of theoretical reflections, empirically grounded insights, methodological experiments, and endeavours to establish comparative frames of reference. All of these are welcome stimuli to the debate about EU enlargement – and yet the refinement of the questions that is their product leads in a way to yet more questions. In this final chapter four sets of further questions are identified, as a goad to those who follow. These sets of questions concern comparison, alternatives to EU integration, the vectors of integration, and issues of political consent.
