Challenging the EU’s claim to moral authority: Russian talk of ‘double standards’

Headley, James

doi:10.1007/s10308-015-0417-y

Cited by 23 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…This polarisation confirms that differences in identities -namely the lack of orientation toward the EU -can hinder cultural diffusion (Vasilev 2016) and lead to cultural development in the opposite direction (Headley 2015). In other words, the European continent has not become more homogenous overall but rather more polarised between EU members and countries aspiring to membership, on the one hand, and those remaining unaffiliated, on the other.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Focusing on the process of Europeanisation, Börzel and Risse (2012) outline four scope conditions moderating the degree of institutional diffusion: domestic incentives, degrees of (limited) statehood, democracy versus autocracy, and power (a)symmetries. The EU's geopolitical rival, Russia, whose leaders often outline their nation's distinctive civilisational identity, has decisively challenged Brussels's moral authority (Headley 2015). Different geopolitical alliances, divergent patterns of cooperation (e.g., trade) within and outside of Europe, and strong ties to former colonies are other reasons why European nations may take opposing cultural pathways.…”

Section: Cultural Divergencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Western European and former communist states differ on many of those conditions, we may expect an uneven degree of compliance with official EU norms, which may lead to divergence. By rejecting any notions of the EU's moral superiority and accusing the West of double standards (Headley 2015), Russia creates unfavourable conditions for ideational diffusion within its society. A crucial factor that can facilitate or impede the transformative impact of the EU is the degree of political elites' identification with the EU (Vasilev 2016).…”

Section: Cultural Divergencementioning

confidence: 99%

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United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

Akaliyski

2018

European J Political Res

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The European Union (EU) is considered to be a unique economic and political union that integrates most European countries. This article focuses on the cultural aspect of European integration, which has been increasingly debated over the course of deepening and widening integration and in the context of the legitimation crisis of the EU. Among the main goals of the EU is to promote certain values, which raises the question of whether it has been efficient in (or enabled) reducing cultural value gaps among the participating countries. World polity and institutional isomorphism theories suggest that cultural values may trickle down in a vertical manner from the institutions of the EU to its member states and candidates. Furthermore, hybridisation theory postulates that values diffuse horizontally through intensified interactions enabled by the EU. These two perspectives imply the possibility of cultural convergence among countries associated with the EU. By contrast, the culture clash thesis assumes that differences in cultural identity prevent value convergence across countries; growing awareness of such differences may even increase the pre‐existing cultural value distances. To test these different scenarios, distances in emancipative and secular values are compared across pairs of countries using combined repeated cross‐sectional data from the European Values Study and the World Values Survey gathered between 1992 and 2011. This study finds that the longer a country has been part of the EU, the more closely its values approximate those of the EU founding countries, which in turn are the most homogenous. Initial cultural distance to the founders’ average values appears irrelevant to acquiring membership or candidacy status. However, new member states experienced substantial cultural convergence with old member states after 1992, as did current candidates between 2001 and 2008. Since 1992, nations not participating in the integration process have diverged substantially from EU members, essentially leading to cultural polarisation in Europe. The findings are independent of (changes in) economic disparities and suggest the importance of cultural diffusion as one of the fundamental mechanisms of cultural change. This empirical study contributes to the literature on European integration, political and sociological theories of globalisation, and cross‐cultural theories of societal value change.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Cultural Divergencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cultural Divergencementioning

confidence: 99%

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United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

Akaliyski

2018

European J Political Res

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“…To draw a parallel, in such cases, Putin widely resorts to blaming the West for double standards (for details, see Headley, 2015), 13 while Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko tends to have recourse to overt insults: to exemplify, in 2011, when the then President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso accused him of human rights abuse, Lukashenko gave the following comment:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Kazakhstan’s EU policies: a critical review of underlying motives and enabling factors

Patalakh

2018

Asian j. Ger. Eur. stud.

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The article delves into Kazakhstan's policies vis-à-vis the European Union, focusing on their driving motives and enabling conditions. Drawing upon published papers and, to a lesser degree, primary sources, the author argues that friendship with the EU largely serves the Kazakhstani elite as means of economic modernisation as well regime legitimation, perfectly fitting Kazakhstan's dominant domestic discourse which portrays the country as Eurasian and its foreign policy-as multi-vector. The study also shows that Astana's partnership with Brussels is to a large degree possible because the EU holds a simultaneous positive attitude to such partnership regardless Kazakhstan's authoritarian regime. According to the article, such reflects the great instrumental value collaboration with Astana gives Brussels, the EU's general inactivity on democracy promotion in Central Asia and Kazakhstan's looking more pro-European and economically/politically advanced against the background of its post-Soviet and Central Asian autocratic fellows. The paper concludes by reflecting on the configuration of pragmatism and identity in Astana's approach to the EU and discussing the peculiarities of the bloc's power over Kazakhstan.

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“…It is important to note, however, that such a response does not justify or seek to defend Russia's actions, it merely defl ects the argument by stating that those leveling the criticism are no better and do not possess the moral authority with which to criticize. 59 This is a much easier argument to make than a moral justifi cation, and seeds enough doubt in the moral justifi cation of the West to stop the spread of Western soft power. One of the most noted examples of "Whataboutism" involved Edward Snowden, a United States government contractor who worked for the National Security Agency.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Roots of Russian Soft Power: Rethinking Russian National Identity

Slobodchikoff¹,

Davis²

2017

Sravn. polit.

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Challenging the EU’s claim to moral authority: Russian talk of ‘double standards’

Cited by 23 publications

References 14 publications

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

Kazakhstan’s EU policies: a critical review of underlying motives and enabling factors

Roots of Russian Soft Power: Rethinking Russian National Identity

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