This paper proposes an inquiry into the strength and lengths of links among security, development, and Central and Eastern Europe in the context of the European Union (EU) enlargement. We argue that the enlargement discourse is premised on the notion of an insecure and undeveloped Central and Eastern Europe. Political developments in post-communist Europe are thereby conceived in terms uncertainty about the proximity to, or distance from, an idealized Europe or Europeanness. In order to understand how any of these categories -- security, development, and Central and Eastern Europe -- function in the enlargement discourse, we consider how post-communist Europe is framed as not yet developed, not yet fully European, and hence a potential source of insecurity to Europe. The first part of the paper highlights how the notion of an insecure and unstable Central and Eastern Europe permeates accounts of EU enlargement, and then proceeds to outline how this notion has been reconfigured in the past decade. In particular, the paper demonstrates how Central and Eastern Europe has been layered into multiple Europes, and how security has likewise been reframed from a military matter to a more diffuse issue of European values. This reconfiguration has made the nexus of security, development, and Central and Eastern Europe more flexible, while further reifying the binary framework of Europe.
Title
Blades amidst the velvet? Security and development in Central and Eastern Europe during the European unification
Kuus, M. and K. E. Fábián. (2005) "Blades amidst the velvet? Security and development in Central and Eastern Europe during the European unification." Canadian-American Slavic Studies 39 (4): 375-396.