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Which Geopolitics for the European Union? The EU’s Eastern Partnership



Author(s)

Jean F. Crombois

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2134/2015.07.005

This article discusses whether the European Union (EU) has engaged in a geopolitical approach when it comes to its Eastern neighbors, now included in the EU’s Eastern Partnership. The paper concludes that the EU has not engaged in a geopolitical approach when it comes to its policies towards its Eastern neighbors. Instead, it has approached them through the prisms of inter-connectedness and interdependency. The main reason for that rejection of geopolitical approach lies in the role that the EU has assigned to itself as an international actor, i.e. as a civilian and normative power. Finally, the use of civilian instruments would avoid the EU falling into a geopolitical trap that would lead to a zero sum game situation for its Eastern neighours in their relationships with Russia.

European Union, geo-politics, Eastern Partnership

Crombois, J. F. (2015). Which geopolitics for the European Union? The EU’s eastern partnership. International Relations and Diplomacy, 3(7), 480-486.