Constructing Interfaces: the Neighbourhood Discourse in EU External Policy

This article seeks to analyse European Union rhetoric concerning its European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The article employs an analytical framework built on regional security complex theory and the concepts of interface and recognition and analyses official rhetoric from EU representatives (primarily from the Commission but also the Council) in terms of EU self‐image, images of the neighbourhood and perceptions of the interaction logic between the EU and the neighbourhood. The article concludes that the EU perceives itself as the motor of European security and as superior to the neighbourhood, but also that EU representatives simultaneously note the interdependent character of the relationship and frame the ENP policy programme in terms of joint ownership.