LEUSL 2311 Enlargement and neighbourhood policy
2026-2027 Louvain-la-Neuve, 5 credits, 30 h, Q2, Prof. Jean-Christophe Defraigne
Language
English
Main themes
This course provides a multidisciplinary examination of the enlargement of the European Union towards Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, and of the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood Policy towards the former Soviet republics. It analyses the economic, political, institutional and geopolitical dynamics underlying these policies, their achievements and limitations, and their role in reshaping relations between Western, Central and Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War.
EU enlargement and neighbourhood policy are examined within a long-term historical and political-economy perspective. The course traces the evolution of relations between Western and Eastern Europe in order to explain the historical origins of contemporary differences in economic development, technological capabilities, institutions and geopolitical orientations. It examines how these long-term dynamics shaped the emergence of the Soviet system, the division of Europe during the Cold War, the transition from state socialism to capitalism after 1989, and the subsequent integration of much of Central and Eastern Europe into the European Union.
Particular attention is devoted to the successive eastward extension of the EU’s economic, regulatory and political space: first through enlargement towards Central and Eastern Europe, and subsequently through the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership. The course analyses the different trajectories of the new EU Member States, the Western Balkan candidate countries, and the former Soviet republics—including Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan—and assesses the opportunities and constraints associated with economic convergence and closer integration with the EU.
The course also examines the growing economic and geopolitical competition between the EU and Russia in their shared neighbourhood. It analyses Russia’s attempts to maintain or reconstruct regional influence, notably through the Eurasian Economic Union, and the increasing attraction exercised by the EU through its larger market, foreign investment, regulatory framework, technological capabilities and mobility opportunities. Particular attention is devoted to Ukraine, where competing projects of regional integration became increasingly intertwined with geopolitical confrontation and ultimately war.
Finally, the course examines the Western Balkans and their prospects for EU membership. Beginning with the historical development and dissolution of Yugoslavia, it analyses the relationship between post-conflict reconstruction, state-building, economic convergence and European integration. The Western Balkan enlargement process is considered both as a continuation of the EU’s post-Cold War enlargement strategy and as an increasingly important geopolitical instrument for stabilising and integrating the European neighbourhood.
Learning outcomes
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At the end of this learning unit, students should be able to understand and critically analyse the principal historical, economic, political and geopolitical dynamics shaping relations between Western, Central and Eastern Europe. More specifically, students should be able to:
The course therefore aims to develop a systemic approach to contemporary European integration, encouraging students to connect historical legacies with economic structures, technological capabilities, institutions, social transformations and geopolitical power relations. |
Content
The course begins with a long-term historical analysis of the relationship between Western and Eastern Europe. It examines the gradual emergence of different economic trajectories within the European and world economies, including differences in urbanisation, trade, technological development and industrialisation. Particular attention is given to the progressive peripheralisation of much of Eastern Europe relative to the emerging Western European economic centres and to the consequences of nineteenth-century industrialisation and imperial competition.
The course then examines the major political and economic ruptures generated by the First World War and the collapse of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman imperial orders. It analyses the Russian Revolution, the emergence of the Soviet Union and the development of an economic and political system presented as an alternative to capitalism. The course considers Soviet industrialisation, Stalinism, the formation of the Eastern European socialist bloc after the Second World War and the economic and geopolitical organisation of Europe during the Cold War. It also examines the achievements and structural weaknesses of the Soviet and Comecon economies, including technological dependence, bureaucratisation, military expenditure and the difficulties of shifting from extensive to innovation-driven growth.
The course subsequently analyses the crisis of state socialism and the transition towards capitalism after 1989. It examines privatisation, liberalisation, foreign direct investment and the reorientation of Central and Eastern European economies towards Western European markets and production networks. Particular attention is devoted to the EU enlargement process, the Copenhagen criteria and pre-accession policies, as well as to the economic, political and social consequences of enlargement. The course assesses both the substantial convergence achieved by the new Member States and its limits, including persistent technological disparities, foreign ownership, brain drain, labour-market asymmetries and debates over social dumping and economic dependency.
Building on this analysis, the course examines the evolution of Russia and the other former Soviet republics after 1991. It considers Russia’s transition towards oligarchic capitalism, the reconstruction of state authority under Vladimir Putin and the structural strengths and weaknesses of the Russian economy. The course analyses the progressive deterioration of relations between Russia and Western institutions and the competition between different projects of regional integration, notably EU enlargement and neighbourhood policies and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Particular attention is devoted to Ukraine and to the broader Eastern neighbourhood. The course examines the historical formation of Ukraine, its Soviet economic inheritance, post-Soviet transition and oligarchic political economy, as well as the competing economic and geopolitical attractions of Russia and the European Union. The Orange Revolution, Euromaidan, the annexation of Crimea, the conflict in the Donbas and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine are analysed within this longer historical and political-economic context. Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and other former Soviet republics are considered as additional cases illustrating the interaction between economic integration, domestic political transformation and geopolitical competition.
The final part examines the Western Balkans. Beginning with the formation and economic development of Yugoslavia, it analyses the structural crisis of the Yugoslav federation, its violent dissolution and the wars of the 1990s. It then examines the transformation of EU policy from post-conflict stabilisation towards enlargement. Particular attention is devoted to the continuing problems of statehood, institutional capacity, corruption, economic convergence, migration and demographic decline, as well as unresolved disputes such as Serbia–Kosovo relations and the institutional structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The course concludes by assessing Western Balkan enlargement as both an economic-development project and an increasingly important component of the EU’s geopolitical strategy.
The course is organised into five parts:
- Part I – The Historical Evolution of Relations Between Western and Eastern Europe in the World System: From the Middle Ages to the Early Twentieth Century
- Part II – Relations Between Western and Eastern Europe During the Long Cold War (1917–1991)
- Part III – The Transition Towards Capitalism and the Enlargement of the European Union (1989 to the Present)
- Part IV – EU Relations with Russia, Ukraine and the Other Former Soviet Republics: Economic Integration, Regional Competition and Geopolitical Conflict
- Part V – The European Union and the Western Balkans: From the Dissolution of Yugoslavia to European Integration
Class materials
The following materials are available for the course:
• Lecture slides — the slide decks used during the lectures.
• Course notes — continuous-text notes developed from the lecture slides, covering the course content in a more readable narrative format.
• Compulsory reading portfolio (PDF) — the required reading portfolio that students must read for the course and that forms the basis of the reading quizzes and part of the oral examination.
Teaching methods
Classes are ex-cathedra. Attendance is compulsory. Active participation is expected.
Evaluation methods
Students are required to read a two‑part portfolio of readings spread
over 12 weeks.
The portfolio totals 720 pages (approximately 60 pages per week). The portfolio
can be downloaded from Moodle in week 1.
Students will be quizzed on the readings in week 4 (part one of the
portfolio, 360 pages) and week 8 (part two, 360 pages).
These quizzes take place at the start of the session and must be completed
without access to any information source.
Reading quizzes, attendance, and participation account for 50% of the final
grade.
An oral examination will take place during the examination session and constitutes the remaining 50% of the final grade. The 30‑minute exam consists of two randomly selected questions. Each student has 10 minutes to prepare both answers. The oral examination will be based exclusively on the material covered in class (including the data and information presented during the lectures) and on the required readings from the portfolio.
Any use of AI is permitted, except during the quizzes and the oral exam. Students use AI at their own risk regarding the scientific accuracy of the information obtained. Replacing the required readings with AI‑generated summaries is highly risky given the level of precision necessary for assessment.
References
Part I
Bakić‑Hayden, M. (2010). Good change: Liberal revolution in Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.
Berend, I. T. (2003). History derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the long nineteenth century. University of California Press.
Bérenger, J. (1990). Histoire de l’empire des Habsbourg. Fayard.
Colton, T. J. (2016). Russia: What everyone needs to know. Oxford University Press.
Davies, N. (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press.
Granell, F. (2000). L’Europe centrale. Fayard.
Judson, P. M. (2016). The Habsburg Empire: A new history. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Snyder, T. (2003). The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999. Yale University Press
Tilly, C. (1990). Coercion, capital, and European states, AD 990–1990. Basil Blackwell.
Part II
Allen, R. (2003). Farm to factory: A reinterpretation of the Soviet industrial revolution. Princeton University Press.
Barnes, S. (2005). The Gulag: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Berend, I. T. (1996). Central and Eastern Europe, 1944–1993: Detour from the periphery to the periphery. Cambridge University Press.
Broué, P. (1997). Histoire de l’Internationale communiste, 1919‑1943. Fayard.
Carr, E. H. (1950). The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1923 (Vol. 1). Macmillan.
Davies, R. W. (1998). Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev. Cambridge University Press.
Davies, N. (1984). God’s Playground: A history of Poland (Vol. 1–2). Oxford University Press.
Davies, N. (1972). White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20. Macdonald and Co..
Droz, J. (1992). L’Europe centrale. Payot.
Ellman, M. (1989). Socialist planning. Cambridge University Press.
Fejtő, F. (1979). Histoire des démocraties populaires (2 vols.). Seuil.
Figes, O. (1996). The Russian Revolution. Basic Books.
Fontaine, A. (1983). Histoire de la guerre froide. Seuil.
Getty, J. A., & Manning, R. T. (Ed.). (1993). Stalinist Terror. Cambridge University Press.
Hosking, G. (1992). A History of the Soviet Union (2nd ed.). Fontana Press.
Hough, J. F., & Fainsod, M. (1979). How the Soviet Union is governed. Harvard University Press.
Karol, K. S. (1961) Visa pour la Pologne. L’Air du Temps.
Leffler, M. P., & Westad, O. A. (Eds.). (2010). The Cambridge history of the Cold War (Vols. 1–3). Cambridge University Press.
Lewin, M. (2005). The Soviet century. Verso.
Liebman, M. (1970). The Russian Revolution. Penguin Books.
Mandel, D. (1984). The Petrograd Workers and the Soviet Seizure of Power: From the July Days 1917 to the July Days 1918. St. Martin’s Press.
Marie, J.-J. (2020 ). Lénine. Balland.
McAdams, A. J. (2017). Vanguard of the revolution: The global idea of the Communist Party. Princeton University Press.
Modzelewski, K. (2021). Riding history to death: Confessions of a battered rider (F. L. Vigoda, Trans.; I. Grudzińska Gross, Intro.). Rowman & Littlefield.
Pons, S. (Ed.). (2017). The Cambridge History of Communism. Volume II: The socialist camp and world power, 1941–1960s. Cambridge University Press.
Rabinowitch, A. (1976). The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. W. W. Norton.
Serge, V. (2014). Midnight in the century (R. Greeman, Trans.). NYRB Classics. (Original work published 1939)
Service, R. (2000). Lenin: A biography. Macmillan.
Service, R. (Ed.). (2017). The Cambridge History of Communism. Volume III: Endgames? Late communism in global perspective, 1968 to the present. Cambridge University Press.
Slesinger, M. (Ed.). (2017). The Cambridge History of Communism. Volume I: World revolution and socialism in one country, 1917–1941. Cambridge University Press.
Snyder, T. (2010). Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books.
Smith, G. (2021). Red nations: The nations and nationalism of the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press.
Tigrid, P. (1980). La révolte des ouvriers d’Europe de l’Est : Poznań, Varsovie, Budapest. Éditions Complexe.
Trotsky, L. (1937). The revolution betrayed. Pathfinder.
Tucker, R. C. (1973). Stalin as revolutionary. Norton.
Werth, N. (1997). Un État contre son peuple : Violences, répressions et terreurs en Union soviétique. Dans S. Courtois (Dir.), Le Livre noir du communisme : Crimes, terreur, répression (p. 45‑310). Robert Laffont.
Zubok, V. M. (2007). A failed empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. University of North Carolina Press.
Part III
Bafoil, F. (Ed.). (2005). Nations et frontières en Europe centrale. Presses de Sciences Po.
Bafoil, F. (Ed.). (2007). La Pologne. Fayard.
Berend, I. T. (2009). From the Soviet Bloc to the European Union: The economic and social transformation of Central and Eastern Europe since 1973. Cambridge University Press.
Bohle, D., & Greskovits, B. (2012). Capitalist diversity on Europe’s periphery. Cornell University Press.
Butterwick, R. (2025). Lithuania: A history. Hurst.
Crampton, R. J. (2005). A concise history of Bulgaria (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Csillag, T. (2015). First the transition, then the crash. Central European University Press.
Defraigne, J.-C., & Nouveau, P. (2022). Introduction à l’économie européenne (3rd ed.). De Boeck Supérieur p436-483
Ekiert, G., & Hanson, S. E. (Eds.). (2003). Capitalism and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: Assessing the legacy of communist rule. Cambridge University Press.
Hitchins, K. (2014). A concise history of Romania. Cambridge University Press.
Krasner, R. (2000). Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends. Oxford University Press.
Lendvai, P. (2012). Hungary: Between Democracy and Authoritarianism. Columbia University Press.
Lendvai, P. (2017). Orbán: Europe’s new strongman. Oxford University Press.
Molnár, M. (1995). Histoire de l’Europe du Centre‑Est. Presses Universitaires de France.
Szelényi, Z. (2022). Tainted democracy: Viktor Orbán and the subversion of Hungary. Hurst.
Part IV
Amos, H. (2025). Russia starts here: Real lives in the ruins of empire. Bloomsbury Continuum.
Åslund, A. (2019). Russia’s crony capitalism: The path from market economy to kleptocracy. Yale University Press.
Baker, S. (2024). Punishing Putin: Inside the global economic war to bring down Russia. Scribner.
Bogomolov, A., & Iakubovitch, A. (Eds.). (2017). L’économie de la Russie et des pays de l’ex‑URSS. Tallandier.
Boulatoff, A. (Ed.). (2018). L’économie de la Russie et des pays de l’ex‑URSS. Tallandier.
Cabanne, C., & Tchistiakova, E. (2005). Atlas géopolitique de la Russie. Autrement.
Center for Strategic and International Studies. (2026, July 1). Russian blood and treasure: The ballooning costs of Putin’s war.
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Cooley, A., & Heathershaw, J. (2017). Dictators without borders: Power and money in Central Asia. Yale University Press.
Cooper, J. (2026). A budget for a fifth year of war: Military spending in Russia’s budget for 2026. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Darvas, Z., Dabrowski, M., Grabbe, H., Moffat, L. L., Sapir, A., & Zachmann, G. (2024). The impact on the European Union of Ukraine’s potential future accession. Bruegel.
Defraigne, J.-C. (2023). Les racines économiques de la guerre du Kremlin en Ukraine. Outre-Terre. Revue européenne de géopolitique, 63, 1–9.
Defraigne, J.-C. (2018). L’impact des émergents sur l’Union européenne. In S. Wintgens & A. Zacharie (Eds.), Le décentrage du monde : L’impact des émergents sur la gouvernance mondiale. Le Bord de l’Eau/La Muette.
Defraigne, J.-C. (2025). The BRICS and economic corridors: Geoeconomic convergences and divergences. In K. H. Khan (Ed.), Strategic navigation through economic corridors. Springer.
Defraigne, J.-C., & Nouveau, P. (2022). Introduction à l’économie européenne (3rd ed.). De Boeck Supérieur p582-585
Favarel‑Garrigues, G., & Rousselet, K. (Eds.). (2019). Au cœur du pouvoir russe. Presses de Sciences Po.
Garrels, A. (2016). Putin country: A journey into the real Russia. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Gobert, S. (2024). L’Ukraine, la République et les oligarques : Comprendre le système ukrainien. Tallandier.
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Guriev, S., & Rachmanova, T. (2018). Au cœur du pouvoir russe (1918–2018). Points.
Gustafson, T. (2025). Perfect storm: Russia’s failed economic opening, the hurricane of war and sanctions, and the uncertain future. Oxford University Press.
Hecker, C. (2019). Zero‑sum Russia: The logic of confrontation. Hurst.
Hoffmann, D. L. (2016). Rich Russians: From oligarchs to bourgeoisie. Oxford University Press.
International Monetary Fund. (2026). Ukraine: First review under the Extended Fund Facility arrangement and 2026 Article IV consultation.
Judah, B. (2013). Fragile empire: How Russia fell in and out of love with Vladimir Putin. Yale University Press.
Kimmage, M. (2023). Collisions: The origins of the war in Ukraine and the new global instability. Oxford University Press.
Lillis, J. (2018). Dark shadows: Inside the secret world of Kazakhstan. I.B. Tauris.
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Peger, R., & Wolczuk, K. (2014). Eurasian economic integration: Law, policy and politics. Edward Elgar.
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Part V
Bechev, D. (2017). Rival power: Russia in Southeast Europe. Yale University Press.
Bechev, D. (2026). The Scramble for Europe: Russia, China, and Turkey Challenging the Regional Order. Oxford University Press.
Dabrowski, M., & Louro, M. C. (2026). Progress made by EU candidate countries on accession-related reforms (Working Paper 16/2026). Bruegel.
Dabrowski, M., & Moffat, L. L. (2024). The changing dynamics of the Western Balkans on the road to European Union membership: An update (Policy Brief 17/2024). Bruegel.
Defraigne, J.-C. (2021). The Eurasian Economic Union and the challenge of the BRI: A comparison of their respective impacts on economic development and Russia’s regional leadership. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 62(5–6), 1–35.
Dyker, D. A. (1990). Yugoslavia: Socialism, development and debt. Routledge.
Jovanović, B., & Stojadinović, S. (2025). The EU’s and China’s grants and loans in the Western Balkans (Policy Notes and Reports No. 92). Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.
Lampe, J. R. (2000). Yugoslavia as history: Twice there was a country (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Maillard, S. (2022). L’élargissement de l’UE et la transformation du continent. Politique étrangère, 2022/4, 105–114.
OECD. (2025). Economic convergence scoreboard for the Western Balkans 2025.
Pettifer, J. (2012). A concise history of Albania. Cambridge University Press.
Ramet, S. P. (2006). The three Yugoslavias: State-building and legitimation, 1918–2005. Indiana University Press.
Rupnik, J. (Ed.). (2011). The Western Balkans and the EU: “The hour of Europe” (Chaillot Paper No. 126). European Union Institute for Security Studies.
Vidačak, I. (Ed.). (2026). The Western Balkans and the challenges of EU accession: The resilient transformation. Routledge.
Faculty or entity
- Enseignant: Defraigne Jean-Christophe