ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the European neighbourhood policy (ENP) has been conceptualized in the academic literature on the European Union (EU). It argues that the same mix of delimitation and path-dependency as in the politics of the ENP. The ENP is differentiated across countries and across policies. The chapter presents three concepts from EU studies – integration, governance and Europeanization – and their adaptation to the ENP context. It shows that this adaptation has not only been possible but also fruitful to capture those aspects of the ENP that fit badly with a traditional international cooperation and foreign policy approach. These concepts also help to understand that integration, governance and Europeanization do not end abruptly beyond enlargement but change and decrease gradually. Integration, governance and Europeanization are conceptually linked but cover different aspects. Europeanization refers to the mechanisms through which European governance affects states and their policies – and the effects they produce.
