Suchergebnisse

As a result of geopolitical changes which occurred on the verge of the 1980s and 1990s, the map of East-Central Europe underwent signifiant modifiations. The enlargement of the EU encompassing Central European states (especially Poland) contributed to the change of the EU's attitude towards the post-Soviet space. Up to the time of the enlargement, due to the dominance of the "Russia fist" policy, the EU did not recognize the need for tightening relations with post-Soviet states. After 2004, a gradual change in the EU's attitude towards its eastern neighborhood can be observed. The present paper aims to describe the EU's eastern policy in the period of crises: on the one hand, those plaguing the EU, and on the other, the so-called Ukrainian crisis. The crisis, a de facto, armed conflct between Russia and Ukraine, has resulted not only in a geopolitical change in Eastern Europe, but also exerted impact upon conditions the EU's eastern policy is realized in. In 2017, it is 8 years since the Eastern Partnership was implemented. The project, its achievements, objectives and opportunities need to be revisited. In other words, works on the Eastern Partnership 2.0 ought to be commenced. A change of both the approach and narration as far as the EaP project is concerned, is required. New areas and filds the EaP will offer opportunities for EaP-EU relations to be tightened ought to be discovered. The armed conflct in Ukraine, resulting in the instability of eastern neighborhood, constitutes a security challenge for the whole area of Eastern Europe.

The objective of the present paper is an attempt at viewing the European Neighbourhood Policy, and especially the Eastern Partnership, from the EU's standpoint and from the international perspective as well. The situation in the EU's eastern neighbourhood (Russia-Ukraine war) drives EU decision-makers to focus merely on stabilisation and de facto stagnation. The decision-makers are not willing to undertake decisive actions towards a change in relations with the countries of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. The paper will also consider the following research questions: Will the lack of clear EU membership perspective (even a remote one) for countries such as Ukraine, Moldova, lead to the opportunity for a change of their situation to be forfeit? Will Russia-Ukraine conflict (and Russia-the West conflict in a broad sense) result in the EU being pushed out of the region and enable Russia to reintegrate the post-Soviet space? Was the recent 2015 Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga the beginning of the end of the policy? The paper does not attempt a comprehensive discussion of the issue, but constitutes an outline of particular problems which the EU and Eastern Partnership are faced with.

Dysfunctional states based on the example of Ukraine – a problem analysis The analysis of Ukraine's dysfunction and dependence, both in national and international dimension, presents a clear picture that the dilemma of whether we are faced with a consolidation of a truly liberal democracy or its non-liberal (hybrid) variety, is still valid. Debates in political sciences are dominated by the view that independent Ukraine ought to be considered a specific case of the so-called "hybrid state". Such countries are characterized by stagnation, corruption, and a dominant position of elites, who offer few benefits to the state and have little public support. In addition, the following are clearly visible in Ukraine: little representation of public interests by state institutions; little political involvement of the society and little social activity in between elections; no respect for regulations of the state under the rule of the law; little public legitimization in elections; little public trust in state institutions/the institution of the state; inadequate operation of the state in general. Therefore, the fact that transformation processes which have been emerging in Ukraine, ought not be considered linear, should be acknowledged. Consequently, describing the character of these processes in view of their complexity and multidimensionality seems more relevant.

The specific nature of the European Union's eastern border in view of security and development
The shape of the EU's external policy depends upon the state of the EU itself as well. The Union struggles with several overlapping crises of various nature: 1) financial, 2) Brexit, 3) immigration, 4) Russia-Ukraine hybrid war and challenges for European security, 5) crisis of European identity. Changes emerging in the immediate and more distant surroundings of the EU exert a direct impact upon the sense and perception of EU's security. Therefore, the security cannot be simplified to that of the individual member states, but must be considered in broader terms i.e. related to the neighboring regions – the post-Soviet states in this particular case. In view of events and developments of 2016, it can be argued that both southern and eastern neighborhood of the EU are challenged with crises, instability and internal conflicts (political, social and military in nature).

This article attempts to analyse the situation in Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression and increasing pressure from the Kremlin towards Eastern European states. The armed conflict taking place in Ukraine means that the geostrategic situation of Eastern Europe has changed. In this context, the Eastern Partnership, which was meant to be one of the key instruments shaping international relations with the states neighbouring the EU in the East, is quite often seen as an ineffective or even obsolete tool. There can be no doubt that the greatest problem for the Eastern Partnership is that the project is seen in geopolitical categories - thinking of the countries of the Eastern Partnership in the context of the necessity for them to choose between the European Union and Russia (listening to statements by the EU's political decision-makers, it can often seem that those states have no other option). The key research question is whether we will be dealing with an assertive EU policy in tandem with current US policy, or whether there will be another reset in relations between the West and the Russian Federation.

The following editorial offers a reflection on the situation of Central and Eastern Europe with a special focus on the European Union's Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia. In the past few years, we have witnessed the divisive impact of neoliberalism, economic recession, Britain's departure from the EU, the refugee and migrant crisis which further shattered societies along cultural lines, the aggressive expansionism of Russia exploiting the weakness of the West, and more recently, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with an unprecedented impact on societies, global health and economy. The editorial reflects on how Central and Eastern Europe scores among the imaginative geographies and how these imaginative geographies translate into geopolitics concerning hard and soft power application in the Eastern European Neighbourhood.