About us

The enlargement of the European Union to the countries of central and eastern Europe has underlined a series of questions about the European neighbourhood, that is those European countries, which are not members of the Union. Some of these are old questions about the borders of the Union; many are new, such the impact of the 2004 and 2007 enlargements on the Union’s European neighbours. The break-up of the Soviet Union and the successful transformation of the new Member States into stable democracies with market economies has also changed the political and economic environment in eastern Europe and led some of the new states to seek much closer relations with the EU.

The answers to all these questions are vital for the definition of policy both within the Union and in the neighbouring European states.

The Wider Europe Programme is both an interdisciplinary programme at Sussex European Institute which seeks to analyse these important questions, and a network of individuals with an interest in this field. Our research interests currently are:

  • The future development of the European Neighbourhood Policy;
  • Local Politics in the Polish-Ukrainian frontier region and the impact of European Union integration;
  • Electoral politics in Ukraine;
  • The impact of European integration on the administrative system in Ukraine
  • FDI and the transition in Eastern Europe;
  • The development of free trade areas between the EU and the countries of eastern Europe (specificially Ukraine).

The Programme is co-convened by Professor Alan Mayhew and Nathaniel Copsey at the Sussex European Institute.

The research programme is accompanied by a series of conferences and seminars, which bring together the members of our network to discuss issues relating to Neighbourhood Policy. The project’s research findings are available on this site as working papers.

For more information on our publications and events, please follow the links on the left. If you require any further information, or would like enquire about sponsorship packages, please contact Nathaniel Copsey n.copsey@bham.ac.uk