This study investigates how the European normative intent influences political stability. This impact is to be assessed by analysing the European Neighbourhood Policy, based upon the European...Show moreThis study investigates how the European normative intent influences political stability. This impact is to be assessed by analysing the European Neighbourhood Policy, based upon the European Normative Power theory. The European Normative Power theory is inherently linked to the European Union and is therefore about the persuasion of the European core principles towards third states. The literature contends that normative power is about transferring ideas, principles and values without any harmful means. Additionally, the literature also indicates that political stability is determined by factors that reflect the European core principles. Based on the literature, this would imply that the European normative intent increases political stability. To research this theoretical expectation, this study uses the typology of a comparative case study. This research aims to touch upon the two regions where the European Neighbourhood Policy is pursued by conducting a comparative case study. The European Neighbourhood Policy is divided into two distinct demographical subdivisions, namely the Eastern Partnership and the Euro-Mediterranean Strategy. To draw upon the contextual characteristics of the European Neighbourhood Policy recipient countries, this study focuses on Belarus as being part of the Eastern Partnership and Egypt as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Strategy. The influence of the European Neighbourhood Policy is assessed through document analysis of EU official documents regarding the European Neighbourhood Policy. Besides, the Annual Freedom in the World index by the Freedom House is used to quantify this document analysis. To draw upon the influence of the European Neighbourhood Policy, this study compares the pre-ENP period with a focal point of the year 2003, whilst the year 2020 is used to analyse where the ENP brought the recipient counties studied. As an outcome of the analysis, this study contends that the state and non-state actors play an essential role in pursuing the European normative intent. That is when the state restricts the enhancement of non-state actors such as CSOs, the normative intent of the EU decreases. By that, I put that when recipient states restrict opposition through CSO activities, the EU as a donor through the ENP is forced to express its normative intent through involvement at the governmental level. The lack of ENP presence at the CSO level is not necessarily disastrous for the EU per se. Indeed, strong relations with third countries allow the European Union to ensure security and stability in the regions, which is ultimately one of the main goals of the ENP.Show less
Using case studies on Armenia and Moldova, this thesis contributes to the already rich body of literature that situates the position of the countries of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus in...Show moreUsing case studies on Armenia and Moldova, this thesis contributes to the already rich body of literature that situates the position of the countries of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus in their relations with the European Union and Russia. This thesis evidences a noticeable shift in emphasis in the European Union’s primary documents relating to the European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Partnership after the Georgia/Russia war in 2008. After this war, the European Union’s ‘common values,’ more widely known as liberal values, become focal. Effectively, this emphasis on common vales has further distanced the European Union and Russia, an authoritarian state which has recently taken a ‘conservative turn.’ This widening distance between the EU and Russia has made existing between the two actors more difficult for the countries trapped in the in-between.Show less
