European neighbourhood through civil society networks? Policies, practices and perceptions.

This book pursues a dual objective: on the one hand, it focuses on the actual and potential roles of civil society in developing new forms of political, economic, and socio-cultural cooperation between the European Union and its neighbours. On the other hand, through this investigation of civil society networks we will contribute to debate on the EU’s role as promoter of greater regional co-operation.

The rationale for this collection is thus defined by changing political relationships between the 27-member European Union and countries in its immediate vicinity. These transformations include the ongoing but by no means straightforward process of Turkey’s EU membership, an evolving (and complex) partnership with Russia and the development of deeper political, economic and social relationships with many other neighbouring countries. More specifically, the work presented here involves comparative studies of how the EU is perceived by civil society actors both within and outside the EU. We ask whether the EU’s promotion of cross-border co-operation (e.g. though the European Neighbourhood Policy) is empowering civil society within member states and in neighbouring countries such as Russia, Moldova, Turkey and Morocco.

This book was based on a special issue of Journal of European Integration.

Contents:

1. Civil Society and the ‘Neighbourhood’: Europeanization through Cross-Border Cooperation? James Wesley Scott and Ilkka Liikanen
2. Post-Socialist Transformation, European Neighbourhood and Civil Society Networks between Poland, Russia and Ukraine: A Case of Multi-Level Contingency Iwona Sagan
3. Civil Society Discourses in Russia: The Influence of the European Union and the Role of EU–Russia Cooperation Elena Belokurova
4. Civil Society Cooperation in the Face of Territorial Adversity: The Estonian–Russian Case Gulnara Roll
5. Europeanization at the EU’s External Borders: The Case of Romanian–Moldovan Civil Society Cooperation Contiu Soitu and Daniela Oitu
6. Civil Society in Turkey and Local Dimensions of Europeanization Ayca Ergun
7. Re-shaping Civil Society in Morocco: Boundary Setting, Integration and Consolidation Bohdana Dimitrovova