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Labelling the 'neighbourhood': towards a genesis of the European neighbourhood policy

par Jeandesboz, Julien
Référence Journal of international relations & development, 10, 4, page (387-416)
Publication Publié, 2007

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

This article investigates the drafting of the most recent initiative developed by the European Union (EU) to manage its relations with the countries lying in its geographical vicinity: the European neighbourhood policy (ENP). It argues that a functional reading of this policy, as being the response to externally given problems, does not allow for a satisfactory understanding of the various processes at work under the ENP. It tries to depart from such an outlook by analysing the ENP as an administrative label, structured by a variety of discursive strategies and the struggles among differentially positioned agents of the European bureaucracies. In this, it draws from proposals for a sociology of practices initially developed in the field of critical approaches to security studies. Its main conclusion on the ENP is that, despite the official discourse highlighting the need for a rapprochement between the EU and its neighbours based mainly on a programme of 'good governance', the ENP is now largely structured by a perspective focusing on the management of potentially threatening developments stemming from the EU's vicinity.