Licínia Simão

The EU's security actorness: the case of EUMM in Georgia

This article addresses conceptually the European Union (EU)s security actorness, explaining its meaning, identifying the factors that are constitutive to the concept, and analyzing whether the EU is a security actor in Georgia, through its increased presence and engagement in the country and its eventual implications for the South Caucasus. The article argues that the complementary nature of the different EU tools deployed on the ground and their comprehensive nature have contributed to the EUs consolidation as a security actor in the South Caucasus. However, and despite the successful assessments of the European Union Monitoring Mission in the context of common security and defense policy development, the missions deployment and its contribution to regional stability are influenced to a great extent by the role and involvement of external players, in particular in this case, that of Russia.

The Armenian Road to Democracy - Dimensions of a Tortuous Process

Focusing on the internal and geo-political dimensions of Armenia’s road to democracy, this paper considers the decision-making structure, the role of leadership, the development of political parties and various changes in Armenian civil society. We aim to shed light on the role of the EU in the democratisation process by looking at the relationship between Brussels and Yerevan, at the instruments and strategies in operation, such as the European Neighbourhood Policy, and at the wider international context in which these changes are taking place.

The Modernisation Agenda in Russian Foreign Policy

Abstract This article looks at the concept of modernisation in Russian foreign policy and how modernisation issues have been included in Russian foreign policy discourse and practice. The article focuses on the importance attributed in Russian foreign policy to the modernisation agenda in relations with strategic partners, such as the USA and China, so as to position the European Union (EU)–Russia partnership in this broader framework. By looking at the strategic documents guiding these relations, the article addresses Russias relations with these external actors in view of the modernisation agenda, assessing whether the EU–Russia Partnership for Modernisation might constitute an effective mechanism for improving EU–Russia relations in a complex international context. Issues of geographical proximity and cultural affinity, which have traditionally underpinned EU–Russia relations, might be in the process of being overcome by more pragmatic notions, as the focus on modernisation (as opposed to democratisation) seems to suggest. The article argues that as a result of these shifts in context, the ability of the EU to remain relevant for Russian foreign policy in this regard might be limited.

From regional power to global power? The European Neighbourhood Policy after the Lisbon Treaty

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was established in 2004 to provide a framework for coherent and efficient EU action towards its neighbours in the East and the South. Coherence was meant to be achieved in the EU’s approach across various policies, but also across various countries. This chapter investigates how the Lisbon Treaty has affected the institutional set-up of the EU’s relations with its neighbours, the main underlying logics of the ENP framework and its effects on the EU’s global and regional standing. We take an institutional and political approach, asking how and to what extent the set-up of the EEAS, the strengthened role of the High Representative and the change in the role of the rotating presidency all affect the EU’s policy-making towards its neighbours. The Lisbon provisions are only now being implemented. As such, institutional and political developments in the EU’s policy-making system are the focus of this chapter. To what extent does the Lisbon Treaty strengthen or diminish the logics underlying the ENP? What implications might this have for the EU’s efforts to become an actor of global reach? Or is the EU instead consolidating its regional power base with more limited geopolitical ambitions?

A União Europeia entre o alargamento e a vizinhança: os casos dos Balcãs ocidentais e do Cáucaso do sul

The paper deals with EU policies towards its eastern periphery, focusing on the Western Balkans and South Caucasus. Departing from a comparative approach, the paper argues that the establishment of a regional normative order, with clear goals of stabilization through variable geometry integration, has found clear limits. The paper flashes out these dynamics and establishes important lessons to be learned from the European approach to the Balkans and the Caucasus.

European Security Community Expansion

This chapter introduces the concept of security community and proposes the concept of security community expansion as an illustration of the processes taking place under European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) relations with the Eastern neighbours. It focuses on the main institutional and ideational elements through which the European security community has been historically consolidated. It makes the argument that in the wider European space, the increasing prominence of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in European security, the ENP has raised its profile as a border-making mechanism, contributing to the definition of existing security community and those seeking to join it. This chapter proposes a focus on the mutually constitutive nature of norms and the practices sustaining security community expansion. The focus on a broad understanding of elites, on the quality of integration processes and the acknowledgement of political agency outside the security community are distinctive elements advanced in our analytical approach.

Regional and Global Neighbours of the South Caucasus

This chapter introduces the competing influences converging in the South Caucasus, in the post-Cold War context. It is divided into two main sections, one presenting the institutional structures, which are perceived as reinforcing the expansion and consolidation of a European security community, and the other dealing with the competing forces that provide the region with alternative approaches to its security. This chapter acknowledges that this area is geographically, culturally, politically and economically pulled in many directions and that this has a direct impact on the process of including it in the European security community. It affects processes of socialisation of elites, creates competing institutional frameworks and provides competing incentives for political transformation. It, thus, sets the context in which the EU’s neighbourhood proposals interact.

The European Neighbourhood Policy and the Expansion of the European Security Community

This chapter focuses on the wide geopolitical challenges the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) addresses. It locates the ENP in the wider framework of the EU’s political and security policies, taking particular notice of its security dimension. The chapter starts with a broad analysis of the EU’s role as a security provider, the international and regional contexts driving EU action on security affairs, and the security understandings and policy responses developed by the Union. It then proceeds with a more detailed analysis of EU official documents on the ENP to map the proposals put forward by EU institutions regarding the promotion of security in the neighbourhood—what we consider the expansion of the security community.

Azerbaijan: Strategic Partnership Instead of Europeanisation

This chapter deals with the expansion of the European security community to incorporate Azerbaijan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). It addresses the main issues affecting the definition of Azerbaijan’s modern identity and the central role played by both energy and the Karabakh conflict in the evolution of its foreign and security policies. The chapter maps and traces the evolution of perceptions towards European integration and puts forward generalisations regarding the mechanisms of ideational change set in motion through institutional cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Azerbaijan in the context of the ENP and the Eastern Partnership (EaP).

Armenia: Breaking Isolation to Reach Europe

This chapter deals with the expansion of the European security community to incorporate Armenia within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). It addresses the main issues affecting the definition of Armenia’s post-Soviet identity and foreign and security policies. It maps and traces the evolution of perceptions towards European integration and advances generalisations regarding the mechanisms of ideational change set in motion through institutional cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Armenia in the context of the ENP and the Eastern Partnership (EaP).