Theorising the European Neighbourhood Policy: debordering and rebordering in the Mediterranean

This paper discusses recent developments in Euro-Mediterranean relations following the establishment of the European Neighbourhood Initiative (ENP) and attempts to put these empirical insights into theoretical perspective. By relating selected elements of the theory of world society—in conjunction with other constructivist approaches in IR—to the analysis of Euro-Mediterranean relations, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion on the extent to which the ENP offers real integration between the EU and its southern neighbours or whether the ENP can rather be seen as (yet another) case of window-dressing in Euro-Mediterranean relations. By way of providing an answer to this question, this paper proceeds in three steps, thus discussing the ENP in relation to three selected theoretical concepts, namely `debordering/rebordering', regionalisation, and `inclusion/exclusion'.