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The Eastern Partnership Initiative: A New Opportunity for Neighbours?

Korosteleva, Elena (2011) The Eastern Partnership Initiative: A New Opportunity for Neighbours? Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 27 (1). pp. 1-21. ISSN 1352-3279. (doi:10.1080/13523279.2011.544381) (KAR id:39205)

Abstract

The EU's relationship with its neighbours to the east has long been founded on the aspiration to build a kind of partnership that does not automatically offer the prospect of membership to former Soviet republics apart from the Baltic States. The mechanism for this was initially the European Neighbourhood Policy, embracing a wider range of countries, which has been further buttressed by the Eastern Partnership initiative (EaP) in an effort to revitalize the partnership-building process in the east. Although more differentiated and versatile, the EaP has nevertheless inherited the Neighbourhood Policy's original conceptual limitations, especially concerning the ill-defined nature of partnership. Practical limitations, on the other hand, include the policy's lack of coherence and management, as well as its low visibility and public appreciation on the ground across the board. The East European response to the EU's initiative reveals further tensions and contradictions, especially pertaining to partner countries' geopolitics and cultural and civilization differences. It is clear that the EU's ‘politics of inclusion’ needs further conceptualization in order to shift the balance away from the EU towards the partner countries themselves. Only in these circumstances of de-centring can the notion of partnership become true and effective.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/13523279.2011.544381
Additional information: Special Issue: The Eastern Partnership Initiative.
Subjects: J Political Science
J Political Science > JZ International relations
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Elena Korosteleva
Date Deposited: 14 Apr 2014 09:34 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:15 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/39205 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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