The normative limits of functional cooperation: the case of the European Union and Eurasian Economic Union

Abstract

In the post-Soviet neighborhood, the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union both address the common governance challenges, but there has been no institutional-level cooperation between the two unions. This total lack of cooperation on common regional and transnational challenges stands in stark contrast to the propositions of (neo-)functionalist/ rational institutionalist theories, which predict that technical cooperation on common policy challenges can emerge even among political actors who are hostile to each other. This article advances a social constructivist explanation to this puzzling phenomenon of non-cooperation and argues that actors entrapped in normative conflicts are likely to refuse functional cooperation even when there are potential mutual gains. In this vein, the article explores the oftenneglected intersection between constructivist and rationalist theories and traces the origin of the noncooperation to the diverging normative visions put forth by different regional states.

EU–Central Asian interactions: perceptions, interests and practices

“…The first two expressly seek comparison with, and recognition by, the EU and NATO. However, leadership and engagement strategies of the EU and other actors present in the region, both IOs and states, significantly differ (Bossuyt 2019;Kobayashi 2019;Krivokhizh and Soboleva 2022). EU studies routinely ask, and encourage, EU comparability (e.g., Farrell 2007).…”

‘Not here for geopolitical interests or games’: the EU’s 2019 strategy and the regional and inter-regional competition for Central Asia

“…Such statements seem like aggrandizementthis low-level meeting did not end EU diplomatic disregard for the EAEU. The prevention of cooperation between the two bodies, and despite their seemingly compatible functional objectives is explained because of normative conflicts between them (Kobayashi 2019). The SCO, too, announced unilateral willingness to engage with the EU, including such statements as 'we are open to broad international cooperation in the vast Eurasian space, including with European Union' (Norov 2020).…”