Exploring the role of the EUin Domestic Change in the Post-Soviet States – EUIMPACTEAST

EUIMPACTEAST’s research method combined an inductive approach with extensive fieldwork.

The selection of an inductive approach derives from the research gaps noted in the literature on the European neighbourhood policy. In particular, existing theories do not accommodate realities on the ground and fail to grasp the complex dynamics at stake in the reception of EU templates in the post-Soviet states. However, the project also aims at advancing theoretical discussions and feed into the ongoing scholarly debates on external influences and domestic impact by generating explanatory concepts.

The project’s inductive approach is intrinsically connected to the observation of phenomena in the region. Based upon extensive fieldwork, the project has generated much needed empirical data on Eastern partnership countries’ convergence with EU templates. The French and British principal investigators carried out two joint waves of fieldwork in each Eastern Partnership country and a joint mission to Brussels. Approximately 150 semi-directive interviews were conducted in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Brussels. Five focus groups were organised (one in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and two in Ukraine).

EUIMPACTEAST’s results enrich the understanding of the interaction between exogenous and endogenous factors of policy change. In all countries and sectors selected for analysis, the influence of the European Union on domestic change has been patchy and/or shallow. EU templates are often selected or even adopted, yet they are rarely applied.

The enhanced EU’s offer under the Eastern Partnership, together with a systematic use of conditionality during negotiations for deep and comprehensive free-trade areas and visa liberalisation have given a significant impetus to compliance with EU templates, especially at the selection stage.Yet an examination of EU factors alone fails to explain the discrepancies noted between partner countries, as well as dsjunctures in the compliance process within a given country.

Regional factors can be an obstacle to partner countries’ compliance with EU templates, yet they can also facilitate or trigger convergence with EU demands. Interdependencies inherited from the Soviet provide Russia with considerable leverage over partner countries, while the EU’s offer entails massive costs in the short-term.

More specifically, only a closer examination of domestic structures, preferences and practices can account for the baffling discrepancies in partner countries’ responses to EU policies as well as the discontinuities observed in the application of EU templates.

EUIMPACTEAST had a catalysing effect in terms of inclusion in European academic networks. Clearly, the project allowed the investigators to initiate or strengthen academic contacts and cooperation, both at a national and an international level. In addition, cooperation between the French and British Principal Investigators paved the way for new academic projects, for instance as part of the EU-funded FP7 project ‘Exploring the Security-Democracy Nexus in the Caucasus’, led by the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.

EUIMPACTEAST’s results pave the way for a new research agenda with the view to deepening the project’s findings or broadening their scope. Three research strands were identified: an examination of the way in which EU’s and Russia’s policies translate into specific domestic outcomes in the post-Soviet space; a sociological investigation of actors involved in the diffusion and reception of EU policy and institutional templates; and finally a comparison between the eastern and southern components of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Overall, the outputs foreseen under the project have been delivered.
The Principal Investigators have published:
.- three academic articles on country and/or theme specific developments have been published (in Anatoli, East European Politics and the Journal of European Public Policy)
.- Six chapters in edited volumes.
Two joint articles were accepted for publication (in the Journal of European Integration and Democratization), while three additional articles are currently being written up.

The Principal Iinvestigators are also preparing a proposal for a scholarly monograph which will be submitted within six months after the completion of the project as planned.

Finally, regarding policy-oriented publications the investigators went beyond their commitments (4 papers) and delivered a dozen of policy-oriented papers instead of the four outputs foreseen.

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What role does the European Union play in domestic change in the post-Soviet states? This question has gained salience since the EU has been stepped up its role in the region. The EU approach centers on supporting these countries as they seek to align themselves with the EU rules. In doing so, the EU advocates ‘Europeanisation as modernisation’ but without a concurrent prospect for membership. By anchoring these partners in its model of givernance, the EU is in fact helping them in modernising their public institutions and policies, regardless of their actual aspirations to EU membership.

More specifically, EU engagement in the post-Soviet states provides an excellent opportunity to analyse the EU’s transformative power outside the context of enlargement, especially as there is little understanding in the literature of partner countries’ preferences or of their actual degree of convergence with the acquis. This is surprising as the preference of post-Soviet states do matter given that there is considerable uncertainty about the ENP process and finalité.

Building on applicants’ previous field research in the region, the project proposes to examine the domestic process and outcomes of convergence with the EU rules in four post-Soviet states: Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The project seeks not only to generate much needed empirical data on the degree of convergence but also to contribute to a wider scholarly debate on the mechanisms underlying EU’s influence on non-member states and the outcomes of such influence. Given the paucity of systematic and comparative field research on the post-Soviet states, the results of the project are likely to be of interest not just to academics but also a wider non-academic audience, e.g. French, British and EU policy-makers.

The project's overall objective is to assess the impact of EU policies against the background of partner countries' domestic structures and policy prefereces; and the influence of other external players. The project specifically seeks to identify the extent to which the EU convergence process has impacted on anti-corruption measures, state aid, visa facilitation/liberalisation; energy.

Therefore, the study will draw on the conceptual ‘toolbox’ developed to study accession but will be thoroughly scrutinised to ensure that all explanatory factors accounting for the degree of convergence with the EU are taken into account. The project rests on the methodological premise that theory and data are interdependent. Only empirical examination can generate a nuanced understanding of complex forces at work and therefore explain domestic effects of external influences. Following these premises, the project will be organised around three stages. The first sequence will involve an in-depth examination of partner countries’ convergence with the EU norms in the selected issue areas (ideographic approach). Data thus generated will then be systematised around key analytical categories in a second stage (nomothetic approach). Conceptual conclusions on the drivers of changes in the post-Soviet area will be drawn in phase 3.