Politicization of EU Development Policy: The Role of EU External Perceptions (Case of Ukraine)

Abstract

This article highlights the role of external audiences and their perceptions in analysing the politicization of EU development policy. We analyse how EU foreign assistance is understood in two different intermediary arenas of politicization – elites in different societal sectors and media – within Ukraine, a major recipient of EU aid. By investigating to what extent EU assistance is perceived to be politicized, in terms of salience and polarization we contribute to the debate on outside‐in politicization. Applying a perceptual approach to EU foreign policy studies, we focus on Ukrainian images of Self in its relation to the EU as a development actor and on Ukraine's evaluations of EU assistance. We consult the theory of framing and propose an operationalization of salience in terms of visibility, cultural congruence and emotive charge. We use the typology of cognitive, evaluative and affective images from political psychology to operationalize the notion of polarization.

The Politicization of LGBTI Human Rights Norms in the EU‐Uganda Development Partnership

“…We show that contestation of the EU's development policy occurs both within EU institutions and member states, as well as in the addressee state Uganda, resulting in the politicization of LGBTI norms, and of the Uganda–EU partnership more generally. In line with other contributions to this special issue we thereby emphasize the need to include third country perspectives, and outside‐in politicization, in the study of EU politicization (Chaban and Elgström, 2021; Plank et al ., 2021).…”

Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations*

“…Bergmann et al (2021) find that populist radical right parties contribute towards the salience of the migrationdevelopment nexus in light of the perceived migration crisis, but only to a moderate extent. Chaban and Elgström (2021), on the other hand, illustrate that the salience of European development policy among elites in Ukraine has been suspiciously low even though Ukraine's overall relationship with the EU has been strongly politicized. At the level of the EP, Raunio and Wagner (2021) show that the politicization of development policy has increased, but not more than in other areas of European external relations.…”

“…The EU's LGBTI rights conditionality has been publicly and controversially debated in African countries (Saltnes and Thiel, 2021) and Ukraine (Shevtsova, 2020). Chaban and Elgström (2021) find that in Ukraine, the EU's development policy is faced with surprisingly low levels of politicization, despite an otherwise highly politicized relationship towards Europe.…”

“…As the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU defines development cooperation as a shared competence with EU member states maintaining their own development policies in parallel to the one governed by the EU institutions (TFEU Article 4.4), it is necessary to take both levels into account when analysing the politicization of European development policy. This is also reflected by the individual contributions to the special issue: some focus primarily on the politicization of the development policy of EU institutions (Chaban and Elgström, 2021; Youngs and Zihnioğlu, 2021), while others include all EU member states into their analysis (Bergmann et al, 2021; Kiratli, 2021) or opt for a selection of relevant aid donors among them (Lauwers et al, 2021; Saltnes and Thiel, 2021).…”

From a willing partner to close political and economic partner: analysing EU political elites’ images of Georgia from 1991 to 2020

“…Starting with perceptions of the EU in bilateral relations, scholars have explored views on the EU held by rising powers, including China (Lai et al 2019, Zhang 2020, India (Lai et al 2019, Sachdeva 2019 and Russia , Foxall 2019, Ananieva 2020. Some important studies should be outlined such as on perceptions of the EU in strategic regions around the world in the aftermath of Brexit, Chaban and Lucarelli's (2021) work on EU's performance in the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the Ukraine crisis, the so-called irregular migration crisis, and the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact on the external image of the EU, and last but not least, Chaban and Elgström's (2021) work on theorising external perceptions of the EU. Regarding perceptions of the EU in multilateral relations, scholars have focused on how the EU is perceived in international negotiations (Kilian andElgström 2010, Fitriani 2011).…”