Writings on the EU (European Union) are largely celebratory hagiographies reflecting long-discredited narratives of progress, lacking global perspective and critical incisiveness, while critical works either remain too narrowly focused or ignore EU enlargement altogether. This edited volume brings together a diverse array of critical perspectives in the analysis of EU enlargement. The novelty of these studies is in their multifaceted and nuanced explanations of EU enlargement as a particular form of empire building. Each author demonstrates this process by examining the cultural, political, and economic practices, both within and beyond Europe, that constitute this form of empire.