 EU versus Russia Standoff: Georgia’s Virtual ‘Choice’Tedo Japaridze and Ilia Roubanis Chapter 12 in Rethinking the Future of Europe, 2014, pp 243-269 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract There is nothing virtual about the standoff between Brussels and Moscow, culminating in the Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit in November 2013. Two alternative and mutually exclusive projects for trade integration unfolded before ‘states like Georgia’, seemingly as a choice, from Kiev to Baku. The economic and diplomatic dimensions of this encounter were crystal clear, though polemically presented in the press. Less clear was the ideological encounter and the mutually constitutive nature of political discourse. Clearly, this has not been an affair of good versus evil; Europe and Russia are seeking an identity, taking turns as being each other’s community-building ‘prime-other’,. Meanwhile, countries ‘in the middle’ are presented with choices and are required to make firm commitments on shaky grounds and little certainty. In this sense, what is virtual is the image of a sovereign choice, as if states in New Eastern Europe — from the Black to the Caspian Seas — take turn in the role of Prince Paris, to hand the apple of Eris to the ‘fairest’ trade bloc. This clearly never happened. Keywords: European Union; Gross Domestic Product; Foreign Policy; European Monetary Union; Soft Power (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-02401-5_13 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
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