EAN: 9783838217352

THE EU AND THE SOUTH CAUCASUS EUROPEAN NEIGHBOR...

This book delves into the complex and often contradictory relations between the South Caucasus
and European Union (EU). It covers the three periods of this relationship: the early contacts
in the 1990s  the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP)  and the Eastern Partnership Programme
(EaP) that started in 2009. The book employs Europeanization theory and uses a mixed
rationalist-constructivist framework as a complementary analytical instrument to decipher the
two sides' behavior. The study's findings show that the complex relationship between the EU and
the South Caucasus states cannot be explained through either a purely constructivist or a
purely rationalist theoretical framework. Both  material and social motives are discernible.
Thus  rationalism and constructivism are complementary tools for explaining the relations
between the EU and South Caucasus countries. The rationalist perspective explains actors'
preferences towards maximizing material utility and calculations by EU policymakers as to which
strategy is most likely to advance the immediate interests of the EU in a given situation. This
argument needs to be supplemented  however  with insights from constructivism. This approach
emphasizes the universal nature of the values of the EU which are linked to internal dynamics
in the EU and manifest themselves in the Union's relations with neighboring countries. The book
finally illustrates how rational considerations  related to Russia's political and economic
activities in the region  have determined the stances of the South Caucasus countries towards
the EU.

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