Archive / Working Paper
Europe's inconsistent support for democratic reform in Ukraine
21/07/2008 By Richard Youngs
Ukraine provides evidence of very different CFSP negotiating dynamics. Part of a project on EU foreign policy dynamics, this paper by Richard Youngs for the UCD Dublin European Institute (DEI),
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seeks to explain why European governments have backed Ukraine's Orange Revolution in an apparently united, but also relatively cautious fashion.
A combination of normative entrapment and co-operative bargaining ensured that ‘maximalist’ and ‘minimalist’ member states united around a common position in support of the Orange revolution.
In subsequent debates over whether the EU should offer Ukraine a membership prospect, however, lowest common denominator dynamics prevailed. This case additionally demonstrates that both before and after Ukraine’s democratic transition very specific external geo-strategic factors played an important role in conditioning EU policy outcomes.
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Keywords
CFSP Civil society Democracy promotion EU European Union UkraineRelated publications
- The new enhanced agreement between the European Union and Ukraine: Will it further democratic consolidation?
- Ukraine between elections: out of the blue?
- Ukraine's Elections: post-Orange Blue(s)
Bio author: Richard Youngs
Democracy promotion. EU foreign policy.
