European Union and the Making of a Wider Northern Europe (Electronic book text)

"European Union and the Making of a Wider Northern Europe" is the first comprehensive study of how and why the European Union has enlarged to become northern Europe's leading power. Pami Aalto presents a new approach to the under-theorized field of EU foreign policy studies, showing how, since 1990, the EU has enlarged to include Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and also incorporated the former East Germany. He also examines how this northern expansion has the led the EU reflect on relations with Russia and its north-western regions. This unique study includes: a fresh approach to the under-theorized field of EU foreign policy; key empirical material, including hundreds of documents, interviews and field experiments; and in-depth case studies of relations between the EU, Nordic states, Baltic states and Russia with its north-western regions. "European Union and the Making of a Wider Northern Europe" argues that at issue is an EU-led project of making a 'wider northern Europe'.; This implies a goal-oriented EU foreign policy that is distinct from a traditional nation-state agenda and suggests that such an EU foreign policy is best grasped by conceptualizing the EU as the main geopolitical subject of northern Europe. This is essential reading for all students of European politics, Russian studies and international relations.