Facing a fragmented neighbourhood: The EU and six eastern partnership countries

After the so-called eastern crisis engulfed the EU Neighbourhood, attention was drawn in particular to the mismatch between eastern neighbours' needs and vulnerabilities and the EU assistance, to the changing geopolitical context in the region as well as to the limits of the EU transformative power. This chapter focuses on six countries-Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan-that fall under the EU-Eastern Partnership framework. It takes stock of the 'pre-crisis' evolution of the European Neighbourhood Policy in the east by crossing two dimensions: the outside-in policies promoted by the EU vis-à-vis its eastern neighbours and the inside-in practices of adaptation, contestation, or subversion of EU programmes by local actors. This exploration helps illuminate broader questions about the limits and enabling conditions for the EU's transformative power in its neighbourhood

A Normative Power Yes or No? The European Union, Ukraine, and the Transfer of Democracy

The apparent gap between the professed goals of the EU-Ukraine relationship and the actual results on the ground casts doubt on Brussels’ ability to transfer democracy. This chapter argues that the normative power of the EU vis-à-vis Ukraine is limited due to a combination of the following factors: the difficulties the EU has when it comes to translating policy to practice; the intricacies of Ukrainian domestic politics; and the role of the Russian Federation – both directly and indirectly

Regionalism in Ukraine: Historic Evolution, Regional Claim-Making, and Centre–Periphery Conflict Resolution

This chapter examines the historical constitution of the present territory of Ukraine and its administrative-territorial system, identity and regional cleavages and the evolution and dynamics of claim-making and center-periphery contention related to them in different regions, namely Transcarpathia, Crimea and Donbas, since the late 1980s. It examines different forms of accommodation of claims such as an asymmetric state structure in the case of Crimean autonomy, power devolution, free economic zones, subsidies and budget disbursements, power-sharing at the national level, and local and regional legislation on historical memory and languages. Beyond the widely acknowledged role of external intervention in the escalation of conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the chapter focuses on the long-term nonviolent contention related to regional cleavages prior to the escalation of the conflict and political exclusion. The chapter shows that while there has been an increasing identification with Ukrainian citizenship and support for decentralization since 2014, important regional differences in terms of historical memories, attitudes to the Euromaidan, and the nature of the ongoing conflict remain and may be loci of vulnerability to future regional mobilizations. The effect of the ongoing reforms in decentralization and democratic governance on the resolution of center–periphery conflicts and the accommodation of regional claims remains to be seen