Abstrakt přednášky prof. Adriana Smitha

Abstrakt přednášky prof. Adriana Smitha

Beyond the Border? Economic Liberalisation, Macro-Regional Integration and the European Union

This lecture considers Europe’s – or more exactly, the European Union’s – relations with its neighbouring territories (both east and south) and explores how they are subject to processes of economic liberalisation and uneven development, with significant consequences for social and economic cohesion. The lecture is set within three contexts: EU programmes of macro-regionalisation, the recent events in North Africa and the Middle East – the so-called “Arab Spring”, and earlier transformations from state socialism in East-Central Europe. It asks what we can learn from these comparative experiences of liberalisation and uneven development on the EU’s margins. The lecture contrasts the transitions, neoliberal programmes and forms of uneven development in Eastern Europe and North Africa and highlights how EU’s programmes for macro-regional integration have been a central part of the story. The lecture then focuses on the current “externalisation” of the Single Market “beyond the border” through the negotiation of so-called Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements, and asks what prospect this externalisation has for dealing with the social forces which led to the collapse of authoritarian rule in parts of North Africa. It also examines the contested geo-politics of this emerging new landscape of macro-regional integration.

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