dc.rights.license | CC-BY-NC-ND | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Pechlivanis, Paschalis | |
dc.contributor.author | Aristofanous, ARISTOFANIS | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2022-07-23T00:00:35Z | |
dc.date.available | 2022-07-23T00:00:35Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2022 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/41859 | |
dc.description.abstract | The island nation of Cyprus was part of the 2004 Eastern Enlargement round despite the
country’s inability to adhere to the EU membership criteria. The sensitive political situation that
exists since 1974 was predicted to cause several problems to the European Union, making the
country’s accession puzzling. The dominant theoretical narratives explaining the EU Eastern
Enlargement round, based on the underlying principles of rationalism and constructivism fail to
convincingly explain this historical development creating a gap in the literature. In this thesis
intergovernmentalism and institutionalism is applied to provide better understanding of the
motives and decision-making process of the European Union. The historical analysis has
demonstrated that the Cyprus’ institutional upgrades came as result of a series of threats and side
deals made by Greece, as Athens used its position as an EU member state to benefit Cyprus’
European cause. The EU was forced to accept the problematic Cypriot membership in order to
safeguard the rest of the Eastern Enlargement project and to create a closer institutional
relationship with Greece’s regional rival, Turkey. This analysis reveals that the EU behavior
towards enlargement is guided for a large part, by side deals, side payments and the balancing of
interests of the EU member states and candidate countries. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Utrecht University | |
dc.language.iso | EN | |
dc.subject | This thesis deals with the puzzling accession of Cyprus to the EU, in light of the expeced negative consequences the country's membership would have for the EU. It analyzes the lack of explanatory power of the prevailing theoretical approaches to the Eastern Enlargement round of 2004 and it provides an alternative theoretical framework based on theories of institutionalism and interngovernmentalism. | |
dc.title | The 2004 European Enlargement Round and the Curious Case of Cyprus | |
dc.type.content | Master Thesis | |
dc.rights.accessrights | Open Access | |
dc.subject.keywords | Cyprus; European Union; Greece; Turkey; Eastern Enlargement; | |
dc.subject.courseuu | International Relations in Historical Perspective | |
dc.thesis.id | 6330 | |