The European Union's Relations with Ukraine and Azerbaijan

Abstract

Among European Neighborhood Policy countries, Azerbaijan stands out, because it leans on its resource base and sees the EU on the receiving end of bilateral relations. At the other extreme, Ukraine depends on EU cooperation. A comprehensive theoretical concept for analyzing both types of asymmetries is developed by considering Ukraine's and Azerbaijan's rational cost-benefit and constructivist, norm-oriented national strategies. Both national strategies are contrasted with bilateral, regional, and multilateral EU approaches to democracy promotion, economic cooperation, Justice and Home Affairs cooperation, and conflict resolution in the European neighborhood. The elements on which the EU's Neighborhood Europeanization strategy should be based for maximal effectiveness are considered.

The EU's Eastern Neighbourhood

“…Our research indicates that the EU's ambitious value-laden agenda can be understood to partly alienate potential partners in neighbouring states in that it suggests different categories of 'Europeanness' based on the degree of local convergence to proclaimed EU standards (Christou and Croft 2012;Franke et al 2010;Raik 2011;Wisniewski 2013). Civil society actors in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine have been among the most vocal in this regardthey take umbrage with the idea that there might be an EU 'moral hegemony'.…”

From ‘Unilateral’ to ‘Dialogical’: Determinants of EU–Azerbaijan Negotiations

“…Yet in practice, while the relationship has certainly developed in that direction to an extent, we 10 observe that the proposed policies, and therefore the negotiation practices, remain very one-sided. Azerbaijan views itself as an equal if not stronger partner than the EU (Franke et al 2010) and therefore disagrees with the EU-centred policies and the EU's tendency to dictate policy rather than engage in dialogue.…”

From ‘Unilateral’ to ‘Dialogical’: Determinants of EU–Azerbaijan Negotiations

“…Yet in practice, while the relationship has certainly developed in that direction to an extent, we 28 'Baku hosts 15th meeting of EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee', AzerTac, 8 May 2018, available at: https://azertag.az/en/xeber/1160813; 'Azerbaijan, EU discuss bilateral cooperation', AzerTac, 20 February 2018, available at: https://azertag.az/en/xeber/1138634, accessed 6 September 2018. observe that the proposed policies, and therefore the negotiation practices, remain very one-sided. Azerbaijan views itself as an equal if not stronger partner than the EU (Franke et al 2010) and therefore disagrees with the EU-centred policies and the EU's tendency to dictate policy rather than engage in dialogue.…”