ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a different perspective from the predominant trend of treating the subject of the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union descriptively and proposes an alternative approach of understanding some key aspects of its development. It examines the record and makes sense out of the sometimes controversial developments in the sphere of the European enlargement policies eastwards. The Eastern Enlargement of the EU is conceptualized not as a linear process, with clearly defined beginning and end points, but, rather, as a randomly developing and difficult-to-predict venture, which can be described by means of a path dependence theory. The spread of European integration to the eastern part of the continent should not be depicted as a static, pre-determined process, but rather as a dynamic, non-linear one. The chapter demonstrates that the policies connected with the Eastern Enlargement project have unraveled rather unevenly and not always in unison with the integration endeavours of the majority of European states.
