Russia’s European Choice

Abstract:

Russia has never been able to escape its relationship with Europe, or Europe with Russia. Geography and history have conspired to make them both neighbors and unavoidable factors in each other s daily lives. From the early 1700s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Europe and Moscow both relied on material power to balance against any threats emerging from East and West.

More recently, Europe and the European Union (EU) have adopted a different strategy: make Russia non-threatening by making it European, like "us." Meanwhile, Russia s resistance to Europe s assimilationist mission is increasingly robust, fuelled by energy exports to Europe and the world. Contributors to this volume wrestle with the question of whether the European project is feasible, desirable, or even ethical.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
  • Introduction | Ted Hopf
• Russia and Europe, Historically Speaking
  • Russia’s Standing as a Great Power, 1494–1815 | Iver B. Neumann
  • A Norm-Maker or a Norm-Taker? | Hiski Haukkala
• Russia and Europe: Making Policy
  • Russian Foreign-Policy Decision Making on Europe | Alexander Sergunin
• Russia and Europe: Relationship under Construction
  • Russia’s Creeping Challenge to European Norms | Sinikukka Saari
  • Pan-European/International Transport Corridors at the Conjunction of Geography and Politics in Russia | Katri Pynnöniemi
• Russia and Europe: Three Possible Conclusions
  • Theories of Integration and the Limits of EU-Russian Relations | Christer Pursiainen
  • Boundaries of Sovereignty, Frontiers of Integration | Vadim Kononenko
  • The Stalemate in EU-Russia Relations | Sergei Medvedev