Introduction

Chapter 8 looked at the internal transformation of the European political community with a view to establishing the limits and possibilities for cosmopolitanism. My concern in this chapter is to look beyond the internal dynamics of change to consider the implications of the enlargement of the EU, especially since the fifth enlargement in 2004, for cosmopolitanism. The chapter is chiefly concerned with the changing relation of centres and peripheries and the wider geopolitical shape of Europe. This will be explored largely around the question of the kinds of borders that are being created in the periphery as a result of Europeanization. My argument is that there is now a changed relation between the periphery and the core, with the periphery emerging from marginalization to become a site of cosmopolitan re-bordering. However, the true significance of the relation of core to periphery is more inter-civilizational than a matter of the transnationalization of the nation-state. Europe is not simply a product of Western civilization, but is an inter-civilizational constellation in which many civilizational heritages interact. This suggests a post-Western conception of Europe as a field of interacting cultures, rather than a unity or an integrated geopolitical entity that can be understood along the lines of nation-state formation or by reference to a primary origin.

In the terms of critical cosmopolitanism developed in this book, the most important aspect here is the interactive dimension as opposed to the logic of integration.