GEOPOLITICAL DETERMINANTS OF EU ENLARGEMENT POLICY TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

Abstract. The article examines the influence of geopolitical factors on changes in the European Union’s enlargement policy through the prism of structural realism. The Russian Federation’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine has brought the issue of security in the European region to the fore and demonstrated fundamental changes in its structure, which, in particular, has led to intensified discussion about the transformation of the EU’s role in today’s conflict-ridden world.

The main postulates of structural realism (neorealism) theory, which was applied to study the transformation of the European Union’s enlargement policy after 2022 under the influence of geopolitical factors, were analysed. In particular, the theory of neorealism was used to demonstrate the correlation between security threats and the acceleration of European integration processes, which had been stagnating for a long time due to the lack of political will on the part of EU member states. Particular attention was paid to the principle of balance of power, which can be seen in the European Union’s relations with candidate countries such as Serbia and Georgia. Also, based on a neo-realist approach, the motivation for the enlargement of international institutions and its connection with the desire of states to protect their own national interests as well as increase their international political weight was outlined.

Thus, the study found that the current policy of European Union enlargement is increasingly determined by geopolitical factors and security challenges. The theory of structural realism provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the EU political leadership’s response to fundamental changes in the international system and allows to trace the causal links between the reformatting of the balance of power and the intensification of integration processes.