Abstract
This chapter explores the role of the European Union (EU) and its actorness in the Caspian region from the perspective of the English School theory of International Relations. By looking into the Eastern Neighbourhood Policy framework and the association agreements in the context of the EU aspiring states of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the chapter analyses the various practices and conditionalities that reinforce and reproduce the social boundaries of Europe, and thus, limit the EU’s extension and influence beyond the European social space. The chapter argues that, in the wider Caspian, the EU behaves by a ‘standard of civilization’, inherent in the very idea of Europe as a liberal-democratic international society, whose values and norms are enshrined in the constituting treaties of the Union. This behaviour not only determines the socio-normative boundaries of Europe, but also predetermines the limits, influence and intraregional recognition of its actorness.
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Notes
- 1.
For more details see TRACECA’s website. Retrieved December 19, 2018, from http://www.traceca-org.org/en/traceca/history-of-traceca/
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Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges funding for research from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN-ETN) of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement “CASPIAN - Around the Caspian: a Doctoral Training for Future Experts in Development and Cooperation with Focus on the Caspian Region” (642709 — CASPIAN — H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014).
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Gharji, E. (2022). The EU in the Wider Caspian: Actorness and Social Limits of Recognition. In: Freire, M.R., Lopes, P.D., Nascimento, D., Simão, L. (eds) EU Global Actorness in a World of Contested Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92997-8_8
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