The World Bank’s social assistance recommendations for developing and transition countries: Containment of political unrest and mobilisation of political support

This article presents a political-sociological analysis of the World Bank’s social assistance programmes in developing and transition countries. It builds on the argument that political objectives have played a critical role for the Bank in shaping these policies, including the prevention and containment of social unrest as well as mobilization of popular support. The paper presents empirical evidence based on an analysis of 447 World Bank policy recommendation documents published between 1980 and 2013. It was found that, despite the Bank’s denial of having any political agenda, many WB documents explicitly refer to social assistance as a possible instrument for governments to contain social unrest and mobilize political support. Moreover, the World Bank’s political concerns have increased steadily over the last three decades. The findings support the argument that international institutions such as the WB do not solely consider the well-being of people as an end in itself but also as a means of achieving further political goals. This political dimension of social assistance programmes has consequences for the way policy recommendations should be interpreted by political and social actors in developing and transition countries

Differentiation through bargaining power in EU–Azerbaijan relations: Baku as a tough negotiator

Using the case of democracy and human rights promotion, this article examines the concept of “differentiation” in relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU). Post-independence, Azerbaijan increasingly positions itself as a strong and influential actor, demanding more discretion from the EU, based on equal input and interest representation. This article argues that the EU approach remains too unilateral, causing the Azerbaijani government to resist and gain influence through different routes, including lobbying activities. The article concludes that EU policy-making mechanisms could become more differentiated to reflect the political reality of changing power dynamics between the EU and Azerbaijan

Towards a new European Global Security Strategy: challenges and Opportunities

This report briefly examines the interplay between the European security strategic vision and capabilities, its institutional architecture and policy implementation practices, with a particular focus on the EU consular affairs, EU democracy promotion and EU engagement in frozen conflicts under the Neighbourhood Policy (Appendices 1-3). This report contends that in order for the EU to develop an effective and sustainable global security strategy, it first, has to reconcile the vision of its strategic priorities within its inter- and intra-institutional settings. Second, a serious effort is required to develop an integrated view on European security, which does not only focus on the internal dimensions of the EU Security strategy (capabilities), but also equally draws on its external aspects - a genuinely inclusive approach that would blur internal and external dimensions of security. For this to succeed a deeper understanding of a partnership-building process (especially of strategic partnership) is needed. Finally, while legitimation of the new security vision is essential within the EU, a greater emphasis should be placed on its external environment, which must not only include a cross-cutting approach to multiple policy instruments as suggested by the EEAs, but more essentially, their connection with the interests and needs of third parties. Case-studies in appendices elaborate further on some specific aspects of the EU security within the eastern neighbourhood context

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

The European Union (EU) and Azerbaijan have negotiated three different agreements for a new legal basis underpinning their relationship since 2010. Whereas the EU tries to adhere to a more unilateral approach, Azerbaijan wants cooperation to take place on a more inclusive, dialogical, basis. The essay will present a model of ‘bargaining power’ to analyse how the Azerbaijani government has tried to enforce this, and to what degree it has been successful. It finds that the bargaining power model can explain some of the changing power dynamics in EU–Azerbaijan relations, and that these might speak to the broader Eurasian region too

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Policy Strategies and the European Union: Successful resistance and pursued influence

In recent years, Azerbaijan has positioned itself on the international scene as an increasingly important and assertive actor. This essay focuses on Azerbaijan’s relations with the European Union (EU). It will identify the policy strategies used by Azerbaijan to engage with the EU in two areas where their interests and objectives do not align, namely democracy and human rights promotion policies, and agenda-setting of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The essay highlights, first, the relevance of national independence, ‘balancing’ and regime legitimacy in explaining Azerbaijan’s foreign policy strategies, and second, the mixed track record of Azerbaijan’s assertiveness, with different outcomes depending on whether the policy strategies are reactive or proactive

Establishing the rules of the game: Bargaining power in relations between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan

The European Union (EU) has had a range of policy objectives, many of them transformative, in the countries in its eastern neighbourhood since their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. However, there appear to be limits to the EU's success in fulfilling the objectives with a transformative character, especially in its relations with Azerbaijan. This thesis examines why the EU faces limits to this fulfilment, by examining Azerbaijan's strategic use of bargaining power as a possible explanation for these hindrances. This research is premised on the idea that policy-making in bilateral relations can be seen as a form of continuous negotiation, which outcomes are determined by the EU and Azerbaijan's respective negotiation success based on their strategic application of bargaining power. The hypothesis tested in this thesis is that the lack of inclusive policy-making by the EU has led the Azerbaijani government to use bargaining strategies in order to enforce more inclusive policies, where the initial EU objectives are not in line with Baku's interests. This resistance to the EU's transformative objectives could then explain why the latter are only fulfilled in part. This idea will be tested on three different policy areas: agenda-setting of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; democracy and human rights promotion policies; and the negotiations over economic and legal approximation. The case studies will corroborate the hypothesis but demonstrate variations in the successful application of bargaining power strategies to the three policy domains. This research will conclude that the current configuration of power considerably limits the fulfilment of EU transformative objectives in the neighbourhood, and requires substantial change in the EU policies and attitudes, through more inclusive forms of policy-making, to be more effective and sustainable. This study makes three important contributions to the scholarship: it develops the concept of bargaining power in international relations, and links it to the concept of inclusive policy-making to comprehensively ascertain the EU's capacity to meet its transformative objectives. Furthermore, it sheds an empirical light on Azerbaijan as a hitherto understudied country case of international relations

Azerbaijan and the European Union

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of EU-Azerbaijan relations. It examines the current state of Azerbaijan and its regime, charts the development of EU-Azerbaijan relations over time and discusses the dynamics at work in the relationship. It details the nature of the Azerbaijani regime, including its authoritarian character and allegations of corruption, explores the differences between European values and the values of the Azerbaijani government, and explains the difficulties that have arisen in the relationship, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process, media suppression and human rights violations. The book includes a comparison with EU relations with other states in the region

‘The Politics’ and ‘The Political’ of the Eastern Partnership Initiative: Reshaping the Agenda

Drawing on Edkins’ (1999) interpretation of ‘politics’ and ‘the political’, this article conceptually rethinks the Eastern Partnership agenda. Part of the problem, as this article argues, is the EU’s failure to imagine a new social order, which would give a relational value to the Other, and become more accommodating of their diverse and different world: and not by way of disciplining it to the EU purported standards, but rather by way of aligning differences to a mutually agreeable ‘normal’. The article thus problematises power relations as a process of ‘othering’, in order to re-conceptualise them via the key notions of differentiation conceived as distinction rather than deviation, and normalisation, seen as the interplay between different normalities. The article argues for bringing ‘the political’ (Edkins 1999) back in as an opportunity for debate and legitimation of contesting social orders

Reviewing the European Security Strategy in the eastern Neighbourhood

The EU has considerably progressed in fostering a common vision for the European Security Strategy (ESS). It moved beyond the national priorities of individual Member States to collectively consider the interests of the European Union (EU) as a whole, and to separately articulate its external (2003)[1] and internal (2010)[2] security priorities. At the same time, more challenging tasks still lie ahead, as highlighted by the High Representative report of June 2015. Primarily, they relate to: •facilitating a joined-up vision, merging external and internal dimensions of security; •developing a joined-up inter-institutional approach involving all Members States and EU institutions, and connecting policy instruments and geographical silos into a European Security Model (ESM); and •fostering sustainable partnerships (including of strategic interests) with regional and global actors. If implemented, the strategy has the potential to enable the EU to extend its security goals beyond its borders, and to move closer to its aspiration to become a global (rather than regional) security player. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Commission has been tasked by the Council to develop a comprehensive strategy review by June 2016, taking all institutional views and current developments of the very complex, contested and inter-connected world into account