Globalisation and enlargement of the European Union: Austrian and Swedish social forces in the struggle over membership

Book abstract:

On 1 January 1995, Austria and Sweden joined the European Union. Historically, membership had been rejected in both countries for two main reasons. First, a majority of forces in Austria and Sweden agreed that their neutral status excluded the possibility of membership in a supra-national sovereignty and secondly, the domination of the EU by Christian democratic parties and big capital appeared to imply a threat to the social democratic achievements in both countries. The book asks why, given these potential dangers, did Austria and Sweden join the EU at this moment?

In this book, the processes in the two countries leading first to application and eventually to accession to the EU are analysed in order to solve the puzzle outlined above. It is argued that the 1995 enlargement of the EU has to be analysed against the background of structural change since the 1970's, often referred to as globalisation. The exact nature of globalisation and its implications for Austria and Sweden are discussed in detail in this book.

Overall, the book first contributes to understanding why these two countries chose to join the EU in 1995. Second, it adds to both International Relations (IR) and European integration theory by applying a neo-Gramscian perspective to a case of European integration for the first time.

Andreas Bieler is Lecturer and Director of Studies in Social and Political Sciences at Newnham and Selwyn College, University of Cambridge.