In theDiscourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius, Machiavelli pioneered the study of expanding commonwealths and their sustainability. He showed that expansion by ‘necessity’ resulted in ruin for a polity whose decision-making capacity and defence posture were not up to the challenge. Badly prepared expansion was poised to bring the commonwealth into a life-threatening crisis...
After years of stagnation, enlargement is back on the European Union agenda, but challenges persist both within candidate states and in the Union itself. This paper examines the evolving role of the rule of law in the European Union’s enlargement process, with a focus on both internal and external mechanisms aimed at ensuring adherence to this fundamental value. It concludes that...
This article analyses the relationship between the European Union and Türkiye in the context of Enlargement Policy, using migration and energy as case studies. The research sought to explore how normative dynamics between the European Union and Türkiye develop in contexts of asymmetric cooperation, using the theoretical framework of tactical constructivism to understand how norms...
Following the accession of 12 candidate states between 2004 and 2007, the European Union’s enlargement process stagnated for a prolonged period. Except for Croatia, which became a member in 2013, none of the other Balkan states that applied for membership have achieved this goal. This article aims to recap the evolution of the Enlargement Policy since 2004 and to explore...
This article presents a mixed-methods analysis of the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, on the European Union’s enlargement and the accession processes of each candidate, potential candidate and applicant country. After providing a brief explanation of the Union’s accession process, based on the 2021 revised methodology, the article presents a...
The eastward expansion of the European Union, with the accession of former Soviet republics, the launch of the European Neighbourhood Policy (2004) and the Eastern Partnership (2009), saw old balances being dismantled. The admission of new members previously excluded as candidates signaled a new European Union strategy to extend its values and norms. The article considers that...
This article examines the recent electoral developments in Georgia and Moldova, focusing on their implications for European Union integration and on the impact of Russian interference. The analysis highlights the role of Russian interference in shaping political discourse and electoral outcomes, particularly through social media platforms. It provides an analysis of the different...
This article analyses the current eastward enlargement of the European Union, looking at border dynamics and how their construction and deconstruction contribute to collective imaginaries of security and insecurity in a new geopolitical framework. The article argues that enlargement adds a differentiated security and border construction component, with material and symbolic...
The European Union has not enlarged for the longest period in its history since the first enlargement in 1973. In recent years, however, talk of ‘enlargement fatigue’ has been replaced by an emphasis on the geostrategic importance of enlargement, primarily in response to the Russian invasion of and war in Ukraine. This begs the question of whether at least some of the current...
Enlargement and the future of the European UnionIntroductory note: enlargement and the future of the European Union1Vanda Amaro Dias1 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3238-9132Dina Sebastião1 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8988-58931FLUC, Largo da Porta Férrea, 3004-530 Coimbra | [email protected] | [email protected] the history of European integration, enlargement has played...
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of Brazil-China relations throughout their fifty-year diplomatic history, focusing on the 21st century. The article presents the historical context of bilateral relations from 1974 to 1993, culminating in the establishment of a strategic partnership. It then examines the dynamics of this partnership during the 1990s. Finally, the paper...
In the ongoing civil war in Sudan (2023-), the belligerents have resisted mediation initiatives, and the mediators initially failed to include representatives of civil society, including women. Both rape and famine have been used as weapons of war. Civilians, including women, have been at the forefront of ensuring that minimal assistance reaches those in need while the...
What is Afghanistan like today, more than three years after the Taliban’s return to power? How does the regime seem to be consolidating? What is the role and impact of international sanctions on illegitimate local authorities and the population? This article seeks to provide a set of possible answers to these questions, considering Afghanistan’s political and socio-economic...
Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and the subsequent actions, including the open-ended war in the Gaza Strip, have raised fears of a return to war in the Middle East. However, the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been classified as a protracted conflict that is at least 75 years old, proving that the absence of war is not necessarily a synonym for peace...
Globalization depends on infrastructures that enable the movement of information, people, and goods. During periods of hegemony, such as the post-Cold War period, these infrastructures become depoliticized because all states participating in the globalized economy have access to them and the hegemonic power has incentives to guarantee their security. In this article, I try to...
This article analyzes the rhetoric, assumptions, and foundations of the alternative world order proposed by Xi Jinping’s China through its speeches and official documents. The first part presents and contextualizes the Chinese rhetoric that challenges the ‘US-led order’ and seeks to create a new one based on the vision of a ‘global community of shared future’, the Belt and Road...
The article sketches the main questions relative to Taiwan’s ‘reunification’ with the People’s Republic of China. Beginning with a description of Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance regarding the island’s independence, it then traces the deterioration of relations between Taiwanese and mainland authorities in the aftermath of Tsai Ing-wen’s 2016 electoral victory. Finally, in...
The armed conflicts resulting from the political fragmentation of the Soviet Union have remained active since the 1990s, with implications for the post-Cold War reorganization of this territory. This article looks at the the persistence of the conflicts in the regions of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, and Nagorno-Karabakh, and assesses the value of these conflicts in...
The return of war in Europe marked the collapse of the European security order, the weakening of the rules-based liberal international order, and the increasing ideological crystallization between democracies and autocracies. While the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union were initially united in their response to Russian aggression, questions are now being raised about the...
This essay aims to reflect briefly on the evolution of the international order since 1945 to the present day. In line with the academic literature on the subject, it begins with a theoretical definition of the concept of ‘international order’ in its two main components: polarity and legitimacy. It then looks at the period between 1945 and 2024 and tries to define the historical...
Book Review‘Who have I forgotten?’ Reflections on democracy, memory and colonialismo1Gonçalo Margato1 1 Master’s student in Modern and Contemporary History at ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. Degree in Political Science and International Relations from NOVA FCSH. He is currently working with the Commemorative Commission for the 50th Anniversary of 25 April. ISCTE-IUL...
The revolution of 25 April aroused public interest in Portugal for the first time in West Germany. Compared to other countries, however, the interest was rather modest. None of the Federal Republic of Germany’s newspapers sent a correspondent to Lisbon to report on the day-to-day events of the revolution, as did some European newspapers and even Neues Deutschland, the official...
This article examines how the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party interpreted and responded to the Portuguese revolution. Based on the party’s newspaper, El Socialista, and supplemented by primary sources from Spanish, British and French archives, the article shows the relevance of the Portuguese experience in shaping the Spanish Socialist Party’s perspective on the transition from...
France was one of the countries that followed with the greatest attention and concern the events that took place in Portugal between 25 April 1974 and the end of 1976. In 1974, there were 800,000 Portuguese living in France and French investment in Portugal had increased significantly in the early 1970s. While the French government initially looked favorably on 25 April and the...
The British case has been one of the least explored in the growing literature on the international dimensions of regime change in Portugal. This article focuses on analyzing the Labour government’s foreign policy towards Portugal between April 1974 and November 1975. What was the British contribution to maintaining the international statu quo, stabilizing the political crisis in...