The Eu and Russia in Their 'Contested Neighbourhood': Multiple External Influences, Policy Transfer and Domestic Change by Laure Delcour

Author:Laure Delcour [Delcour, Laure]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317288824
Google: qiwlDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 33602603
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Georgia

Since the Rose Revolution at the end of 2003, Georgia has repeatedly expressed its intention to join the European Union. As argued in the literature (Langbein & Wolczuk 2012), membership aspirations carry substantial explanatory weight to account for the selection of the EU’s model. However, closer scrutiny of Georgia’s attitudes to EU policies until 2012–13 highlights a disjuncture between, on the one hand, declared membership aspirations and, on the other hand, the limited resonance of the EU as a normative reference point in the country.

At the end of the 1990s and throughout the 2000s, the Georgian authorities developed a narrative emphasising the country’s European identity and aspirations. A few years before the Rose Revolution, Zurab Zhvania’s (then-chairman of the Parliament) declaration before the Council of Europe epitomised the country’s sense of belonging to Europe: ‘I am Georgian and therefore I am European’ (Council of Europe 1999: 136). Throughout the 2000s, the Georgian narrative on the EU remained framed in terms of civilisational choice and political values; yet it was not exempt from ambiguities.

In fact, while the country has asserted its European identity and though the ENP was designed as a template for domestic reforms, the Georgian authorities predominantly regarded European integration in terms of foreign policy (not least as a balancing act against Russia and Russia-driven regional organisations in the post-Soviet space [Oskanian 2016]). This is abundantly illustrated in the discourse of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigol Vashadze:

Allow me to start off with the foreign policy agenda, which was shaped and driven by the desire of Georgia to return into the family of European nations and finally become an unalienable part of the western civilisation. With our foreign policy goal set, we have pursued our long-term policy of integration into the European and Euro-Atlantic institutions, which are seen as staunch promoters of democratic values.

We move steadily toward the European family of democratic nations – a natural habitat for Georgia. That is where we see ourselves, for we share with Europe common values and belong there geographically, historically and culturally.10

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