Open AccessThe Eastern Partnership as a Contested Neighbourhood: The Role of External Actors – The EU and Russia
Author(s) -
Agnieszka Legucka,
AUTHOR_ID,
Agata Włodkowska
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
studia europejskie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2719-3780
pISSN - 1428-149X
DOI - 10.33067/se.4.2021.2
Subject(s) - european neighbourhood policy , authoritarianism , rivalry , general partnership , politics , political science , european union , neighbourhood (mathematics) , democracy , political economy , russian federation , geopolitics , economy , economic system , international trade , sociology , regional science , economics , law , mathematical analysis , mathematics , macroeconomics
Contestation remains a signifi cant factor in the EU neighbourhood. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the role of external actors – namely the European Union and the Russian Federation – in managing local and regional contestation. The latter is defined as incompatibilities between two or more competing views about how political, economic, social, and territorial order should be established and/or sustained. Competing interests between the EU and Russia concern many issues; the model of political system in the neighbourhood (democracy vs. authoritarianism), the model and direction of the economic integration of these countries (European or Eurasia integration), and the infrastructure and availability of gas and oil (energy disputes). The common neighbourhood, which concerns EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine), has become an area of rivalry rather than cooperation between the EU and Russia. The first seeks to stabilise the post-Soviet area, while Russia exploits local destabilisations and conflicts to maintain its influence there.