Does the European Neighbourhood Policy make a difference? Policy Patterns and Reception in Ukraine and Russia. European Political Economy Review No. 7 (Summer 2007), pp. 118-155

Delcour, Laure (2007) Does the European Neighbourhood Policy make a difference? Policy Patterns and Reception in Ukraine and Russia. European Political Economy Review No. 7 (Summer 2007), pp. 118-155.

Abstract

The European Neighbourhood Policy has, from its very beginning, seized the attention of scholars and has remained high ever since on the academic agenda. Among the large number of publications already produced, many have analyzed ENP objectives, methods and influence through a comparison with EU enlargement policy toward Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990’s. This paper argues that an alternative picture of the ENP can be obtained through a comparison of policy rationale and implementation in two countries – one benefiting from the policy, Ukraine and the second having rejected it, Russia. Such comparison highlights discrepancies between (i) a discourse focusing on differentiation among countries (within and without the policy), (ii) the similarity of policy patterns and instruments proposed by the EU to Ukraine and Russia, and (iii) differences between Ukraine and Russia in policy reception, which contribute to shape two distinct modes of policy implementation (selective adaptation in the case of Russia and accommodated conditionality in the case of Ukraine).