"For the sake of 'peace and security'? The role of security in the EU enlargement eastwards"

The first section of this paper introduces theoretical debates concerning the concept of security and how it can be applied to EU enlargement The main argument of this paper is that the "security" in the context of the EU enlargement does not necessarily come in a military form, but in what I will refer as a "speech act," drawing on insights by the Copenhagen School of security studies. The second section provides an overview of the enlargement process from 1993 to 2002, namely the start of the enlargement process to its conclusion with the ten candidate countries, and analyzes how the process leading to eastern enlargement of the EU and European security issues were discursively liked by various EU leaders, and how such discourse has been used to justify radical measures on enlargement. Then this paper concludes by considering what the specific role of the security concerns in the eastern enlargement have been and how security arguments became part of a successful strategy of justifying enlargement.