Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

EU versus Russia Standoff: Georgia’s Virtual ‘Choice’

  • Chapter
Rethinking the Future of Europe

Abstract

There is nothing virtual about the standoff between Brussels and Moscow, culminating in the Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit in November 2013. Two alternative and mutually exclusive projects for trade integration unfolded before ‘states like Georgia’, seemingly as a choice, from Kiev to Baku. The economic and diplomatic dimensions of this encounter were crystal clear, though polemically presented in the press. Less clear was the ideological encounter and the mutually constitutive nature of political discourse. Clearly, this has not been an affair of good versus evil; Europe and Russia are seeking an identity, taking turns as being each other’s community-building ‘prime-other’,. Meanwhile, countries ‘in the middle’ are presented with choices and are required to make firm commitments on shaky grounds and little certainty. In this sense, what is virtual is the image of a sovereign choice, as if states in New Eastern Europe — from the Black to the Caspian Seas — take turn in the role of Prince Paris, to hand the apple of Eris to the ‘fairest’ trade bloc. This clearly never happened.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adomeit, Hannes. (2011 April) Russia and Its Near Neighborhood: Competition and Conflict with the EU, Natolin Research Papers. Warsaw: College of Europe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arbatov, Alexei G. (2000 July) The Transformation of Russian Military Doctrine: Lessons Learned from Kosovo and Chechnya, GEORGE C MARSHALL CENTER APO AE 09053 EUROPEAN CENTER FOR SECURITY STUDIES, Occasional paper no. 2, available at http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA478927 accessed 10 December 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arens, Stef. (2008 15 August) In the Wake of Authoritarianism: The Political Struggle of the Nonviolent Youth Movement Otpor! before and after Serbia’s Revolution. Utrecht University, Thesis submitted to the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the Requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Studies & Human Rights.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgen, Christopher. (2009 February) Imagining Sovereignty, Managing Secession: The Legal Geography of Eurasia’s ‘Frozen Conflicts’. Oregon Review of International Law, 9: 477.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brezenski, Zbigniew. (2013) Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power Hardcover — Bargain Price. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, Bob. (2000) Eastern European Welfare States: The Impact of the Politics of Globalization. Journal of European Social Policy, 10(2): 146–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Broeck, Mark and Vincent Koen. (2000) The Great Contractions in Russia, the Baltics and the Other Countries of the Former Soviet Union: A View from the Supply Side, Working Paper WP/00/32. Washington: IMF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dragneva, Rilka and Kataryna Wolczuk. (2012 August) Russia, the Eurasian Customs Union and the EU: Cooperation, Stagnation or Rivalry? Chatharn House Briefing Paper, Russia and Eurasia Program.

    Google Scholar 

  • EASI Final Report. (2012 February) Toward a Euro-Atlantic Security Community. Moscow, Brussels, Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Economist. (2009) Frozen Conflicts: Europe’s Unfinished Business, available at http://www.economist.com/node/12494503 accessed 20 October 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elkin, S. L. (1990 January) Citizenship and Constitutionalism in Post-Communist Regimes. Political Science and Politics, 23(2): 163–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elster, John. (1991). Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe: An Introduction. The University of Chicago Law Review, 58(2), Spring: 447–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fish, S. M. and Choudry O. (2007) Democratization and Economic Liberalization in the Post-Communist World. Comparative Political Studies, 40(3): 1398–1426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fule, S. (2013) Fule Says Creation of FTA with EU Compatible with Observer Status in Customs Union. The Kyiv Post, September 12, available at https://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/fule-says-creation-of-fta-with-eu-compatible-with-observer-status-in-customs-union-329261.html accessed 15 January 2014.

  • Garushiants, Iurii. (1999) The National Program of Leninism. In Henry Huttenbach and Francesco Privatera (eds.) Self-Determination: From Versailles to Dayton Its Historical Legacy. Ravenna: Longo Edittore, 31–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonenc, Levent. (2002) Prospects for Constitutionalism in Post-Communist Countries. Hague, London, New York: Martnus Nijhoff Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higashino, Atsuko. (2004) European Union Enlargement Eastwards: For the Sake of ‘Peace and Security’?: The Role of Security in the European Union Enlargement Eastwards. Cooperation and Conflict: Journal of the Nordic International Studies Association, 39(4): 347–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Japaridze, Tedo and Ilia Roubanis. (2012a April) Independence, Democracy and the Russian Taboo. Baku & Ankara. Caucasus International, 2(2): 141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japaridze, Tedo and Ilia Roubanis. (2012b June) Gas Security in the Transitional European Market: Tendencies, Events and Alternatives for Russia in Europe. Russia in Global Affairs, available at http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/Gas-Security-in-the-Transitional-European-Market-15585.

  • Japaridze, Tedo and Ilia Roubanis. (2013 September) Tbilisi’s Relevance to Washington: What Is, Where Is, and What Can Be. Washington. American Foreign Policy Interests: The Journal of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, 35(5): 272–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitsky, S. and L. Way. (2010) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lucan, A. and S. Levitsky. (2002 April) Linkage, Leverage, and the Post-Communist Divide. East European Politics and Societies, 21(1): 48–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacFarlane, S. N. (2012) Georgia: National Security Concept versus National Security. London: Chatham House in Association with Center for Social Sciences, Tbilisi. Russia and Eurasia Programme Paper REP PP 2012/01.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marques Guedes, A. (2004) Sobre a União Europeia e a NATO. Nação e Defesa, 106: 33–76, Instituto de Defesa Nacional, Ministério da Defesa, Lisboa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marques Guedes, A. (2009) Serbia, the EU, NATO and the Hope of a Bulk Accession into the Union of the Western Balkans. Reflections Around the Ljubljana Agenda for the New Phase in the Stabilization and Association Process, in The Ljubljana Agenda for the New Phase in the Stabilization and Association Process, Evroski Pokret u Srbji & Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Berlin, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia, available at http://www.emins.org/ljagenda/index.html accessed 20 December 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, B. and K. Kagan. (1997 March) The Great Powers and Regional Conflicts: Eastern Europe and the Balkans from the Post-Napoleonic Era to the Post-Cold War Era. International Studies Quarterly, 41(1): 76–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noutcheva, G. and D. Bechev. (2008) The Successful Laggards: Bulgaria and Romania’s Accession to the EU. East European Politics and Societies, 22(1): 114–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nye, Joseph. (2004) Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: Public Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okunev, Igor. (2010 June) A Foreign Policy to Suit the Majority: A New Dimension on Russia’s Geopolitical Code. Moscow: Russia in Global Affairs, available at http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/print/number/A-Foreign-Policy-to-Suit-the-Majority-16049#.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pop-Eleches, G. (2007) Between Historical Legacies and the Promise of Western Integration: Democratic Conditionality after Communism. East European Politics and Societies, 21(4): 142–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roederer, Christilla. (1999) CAP Reforms and the Transformation of Domestic Politics: The Paradox of Farm Protest in France, 1983–1993. Paper presented to the Fourth European Conference of Sociology, Amsterdam, 18–21 August.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rontoyianni, C. (2002 October) So Far, So Good? Russia and the ESDP. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 78(4): 813–830.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roubanis, Ilia(a). (2013a June) Three Ends, Two Transitions, One Crisis: The Quest for the Lost Transition in Balkan Normative Order. Bucharest. South East European Journal of Political Science, I(II): 38–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roubanis, Ilia(b). (2013b September) 3-For-1 for the Black Sea: 3x Development, 3x Soft Power. Center for International and European Studies Center, Kadir Has University, European Neighborhood Policy Policy Series, No 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadurski, W. (2002) Postcommunist Charters of Rights in Europe and the U.S. Bill of Rights. Law and Contemporary Problems, 65(2) (Spring): 223–250. Shekhovtsov, Anton. (2009) Aleksandr Dugin’s Neo-Eurasianism: The New Right ü la Russe. Religion Compass, 3(4): 697–716.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinkohl, Jan. (2010) Normative Power Rivalry? The European Union, Russia and the Question of Kosovo. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 6, Bruges, pp. 16–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trenin, D. (2007) Russia Redefines Itself and Its Relations with the West, The Washington Quarterly, Spring, 95–1-5, available at http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/rdenever/USNatSecandForeignPol/Trenin_RussiaRedefines.pdf accessed 10 December 2013.

  • Tsantoulis, Yannis. (2009) The Black Sea Region: The State of Play and the Way Forward. The Bridge14, Quarterly Review on S.E. Europe & the S.E. Mediterranean Europe, 32–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Elsuwege, Peter. (2012 June) Towards a Modernization of Russia-EU Relations? Ghent University and Research Foundation — Flanders, EU-RUSSIA-Paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, S., J. Batt, and P. G. Lewis. (eds.) (2003) Developments in Central and East European Politics. Durham: Duke University Press; Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

Press, archives and online data bases

  • Aljazeera.com. Thousands Protest NSA Spying on Germany. 8 September 2013, available at http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/09/20139723248471858.html

  • Armenianow.com. EU Official Reiterates Customs Union, DCFTA Agreements Incompatible. Yerevan, 9 September 2013, available at http://armenianow.com/print/48306?x=45&y=26

  • Ashtone, Catherine. High Representative of the EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: Remarks (speech delivered at the Interparliamentary Conference in Vilnius on 6 September 2013), available at http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2013/130906_2_en.pdf

  • Cecire, Michael. How Georgia’s NATO Membership Actually Serves Russian Interests. Center on Global Interests, September 2013, available at http://www.globalinterests.org/2013/09/18/how-georgian-nato-membership-actually-serves-russian-interests/

  • De Waal, Thomas. No to Europe But No to Custom’s Union Either? Eurasia Outlook, 4 December 2013, available at http://carnegie.ru/eurasiaoutlook/?fa=53796

  • EurActiv.com. Russia Threatens Moldova Over Its EU Relations. 3–5 September 2013, available at http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/russia-keeps-threatening-neighbo-news-530198

  • EUObserver. Armenia’s Bombshell, 9 September 2013, available at http://blogs.euobserver.com/pau1/2013/09/09/armenias-bombshell/

  • EuroObserver, Rettman, Andrew. Ukraine Opts for Russian Bailout Instead of EU Treaty. 18 December 2013, available at http://euobserver.com/foreign/122526

  • External debt stocks, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.DOD.DECT.CD?page=3

  • Freedom House. (2013) Freedom in the World. Country Ratings and Status (FIW 1973–2013). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from available at http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Country%20Status%20and%20Ratings%2C%201973&8–2013%20%28FINAL%290.xls

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, George. The State of the World: Germany’s Strategy. SRATFOR Global Intelligence, 12 March 2012, available at http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/state-world-germanys-strategy

  • High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Eastern Partnership: A Roadmap to the Autumn 2013 Summit. Joint Communication to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Brussels, 15 May 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irish Times Russia Riled as EU Woos Ex-Soviet States. Dublin, 17 September 2013, available at http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/russia-riled-as-eu-woos-ex-soviet-states-1.1529665

  • Japaridze, Tedo. Roses for the Bear. The National Interest, 28 March 2008, available at http://nationalinterest.org/article/inside-track-roses-for-the-bear-2027

  • Kutchins, Andrew, Matthew Malarkey, and Sergei Markedonov. The North Caucasus: Russia’s Volatile Frontier. Washington, DC: Center for Stategic and International Studies, March 2011, available at http://csis.org/files/publication/110321_Kuchins_NorthCaucasus_WEB.pdf

  • Moscow Times. Sweden Bemoans Russian ‘Economic Warfare’. Moscow, Issue 5208, 9 September 2013, available at http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/sweden-bemoans-russian-economic-warfare/485695.html

  • Net official development assistance and official aid received, available at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ALLD.CD?page=3

  • Policy Forum Armenia. Association Agreements with the EU: Stepping on the Same Rake Again? 22 August 2013, available at http://pfarmenia.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/association-agreements-with-the-eu-stepping-on-the-same-rake-again/

  • Putin, Vladimir(a). President’s Speech in the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany. 25 September 2001, available at http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2001/09/25/0001_type82912type82914_138535.shtml

  • Putin, Vladimir(b). Vladimir Putin Meets with Members the Valdai International Discussion Club. Transcript of the Speech and Beginning of the Meeting, 20 September 2013, available at http://valdaiclub.com/politics/62880.html

  • Reuters. EU Rejects Russian Pressure on Ukraine, Seeks Trade Ties, 11 September 2013, available at http://news.yahoo.com/eu-rejects-russian-pressure-ukraine-seeks-trade-ties-113357175-sector.html

  • Reuters. UPDATE 2-Ukraine Borrows $2 bin from Moscow, Signals Bailout on Track, 27 January 2014, available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/27/ukraine-bond-idUSL5N0L112620140127

  • Reuters, Kambas, Michele, and Karolina Tagaris. Update 3: Cyprus Seeks Russian Bailout Aid, EU Threatens Cut-Off. Nicosia, 20 March 2013, available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/20/eurozone-cyprus-idUSL6N0CC1RD20130320

  • Riallovosti. Kremlin Warns Kiev over ‘Suicidal’ Ukaine-EU Trade Deal. Moscow, 18 August 2013, available at http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130819/182849320.htm1

  • Robertson, Lord. A New Quality in the NATO-Russia Relationship. Speech by NATO Secretary General at the Diplomatic Academy, 21 November 2001, available at http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2001/s011122a.htm

  • The Economist. Frozen Conflicts: Europe’s Unfinished Business. 18 November 2008, available at http://www.economist.com/node/12494503

  • The Economist. Moscow’s Mayoral Elections: Inspired by ‘The Wire’: Charismatic Dissident Runs an American Style Campaign. London: Print Edition, 7 September 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Economist. Riots in Russia: Dangerous Game. 19 October 2013, available at http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21588128-kremlin-and-opposition-are-both-playing-nationalist-card-dangerous-game

  • Treaty of the European Union. Available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:0013:0046:en:PDF

  • Trend.az. Customs Union vs. EU: Armenia’s Wrong Choice. Baku, 4 September 2013, available at http://en.trend.az/regions/scaucasus/armenia/2185836.html

  • World Bank. World Development Indicators, GDP, available at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?page=3

Download references

Authors
  1. Tedo Japaridze
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ilia Roubanis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. EPPA, Brussels, Belgium

    Stefan Schepers

  2. Henley Business School, UK

    Stefan Schepers  & Andrew Kakabadse  & 

Copyright information

© 2014 Tedo Japaridze and Ilia Roubanis

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Japaridze, T., Roubanis, I. (2014). EU versus Russia Standoff: Georgia’s Virtual ‘Choice’. In: Schepers, S., Kakabadse, A. (eds) Rethinking the Future of Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137024015_13

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation