Russia's impact on EU policy transfer to the post-Soviet space has not been as negative as often perceived. EU policies have traveled to countries and issue areas, in which the dependence on Russia is high and Russian foreign policy is increasingly assertive.

This book explores Russia's impact on the transfer of EU policies in the area of Justice, Liberty, and Security and energy policy - two policy areas in which countries in the EU's Eastern neighborhood are traditionally strongly bound to Russia. Focusing especially on Armenia and Georgia, it examines whether it is the structural condition of interdependence, the various institutional ties and similarities of neighboring countries with the EU and Russia, or their concrete foreign policy actions that have the greatest impact on domestic policy change in the region. The book also investigates how important these factors are in relation to domestic ones. It identifies conditions under which different degrees of EU policy transfer occur and the circumstances under which Russia exerts either supportive or constraining effects on this process.

This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of EU and European politics, international relations and comparative politics.

About the Author

Esther Ademmer is post-doctoral Researcher at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and at Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany. Her research interests include European integration and governance, and the impact of external actors on the political economy of domestic change, especially in the post-Soviet space.

Reviews

"Esther Ademmer's book makes an important and timely contribution to our understanding of EU and Russian influence on policy developments in their contested common neighborhood. Against the simplistic depiction of the EU and Russia as opposing forces for and against policy reform, the book provides rich case study evidence of Russia's diverse impact, the challenges the EU faces, and the room of maneuver local elites enjoy. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the post-Soviet region and EU external governance." - Frank Schimmelfennig, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

"A welcome change from simplistic geopolitical approaches, this book offers a sophisticated, theory driven analysis of the impact and the limitations of the European Union and Russia in their shared neighbourhood. The 'preferential fit' framework, applied to well-chosen case studies, yields important conclusions about the primacy of domestic elites in shaping compliance with European or Russian demands for policy change." - Dr. Antoaneta L. Dimitrova, Leiden University, the Netherlands.

"This book provides an outstanding account of the competing influence of Russia and the European Union over the European Neighborhood Countries. It shows how countries such as Armenia and Georgia cope with opposing pressures from Russia and the EU, maneuvering between their contradictory influences in ways that minimally satisfy both partners, while achieving domestic political goals. Through detailed discussion of countervailing pressures in migration and energy policy, this book provides a clear model for understanding the domestic politics of compliance with two competing behemoths. Ademmer's book is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the European Neighborhood Policy and how the competition between the EU and Russia plays out in the lands in between." - Mitchell Orenstein, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Book Information
ISBN 9781138361898
Author Esther Ademmer
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g