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Book Review: The EU-Russia Strategic Partnership
Hiski Haukkala, Routledge, 2010
For those wishing to understand the nature of the EU-Russia relationship within the context of international relations theory this is a must read. The book is the product of many years of research by Hiski Haukkala, a leading Finnish scholar turned diplomat, and seeks to assess the differences in the way in which the EU and Russia frame their institutional relationship.
The author begins by analysing the relevance of different schools of international relations theory to the EU-Russian relationship. Drawing on a wealth of sources, Haukkala then discusses a number of case studies to assess the relevance of various theories to the overall relationship. Although a certain grounding in IR theory helps in reading the book, the author does explain the main tenets of realism, constructivism, institutionalism, etc so that the layman is not completely baffled.
For today’s negotiators the chapter on the PCA negotiations of 1992-94 make interesting reading. After the brief flirtation with Western values during Andrei Kozyrev’s tenancy of the foreign ministry, Russia reverted to its traditional ‘Weltanschauung’, or World view, based on realism and a Westphalian concept of sovereignty. Moscow has found it difficult to comprehend the post-modern nature of the EU and its attempts to impose its normative values on Russia. While signing up to the PCA (almost an anomaly according to the author), with its implicit commitment to a convergence of values, Moscow sought to restrict the agreement’s applicability. From an early stage, the two sides have talked past each other. Almost two decades later, little has changed, although the elites on both sides have had regular contact with each other. In Haukkala’s view, this inability to understand each other has led to a continual souring of the relationship and repeated political crises.
Haukkala also provides a fascinating account of the difficulties that the EU had (and continues to have) in speaking with one voice over the second Chechen war. While all EU member states were prepared to sign up in condemning the bombing of Grozny and other major violations of human rights, there were divergences when it came to imposing sanctions on Russia. The stability of Russia was the number one concern, especially for the larger EU member states. Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder were to the fore in seeking to cement relations with their new friend, Vladimir Putin.
The author poses a number of interesting questions based on his analysis. Although Russia opposes the EU’s normative values will it be able to come up with a coherent philosophy of its own beyond ‘sovereign democracy’? He also makes clear that the relationship has to be viewed in the context of changes in the wider international society. The liberal democratic order, Pace Fukuyama, has not expanded and the international system continues to rest on sovereign powers as it has for several centuries. This has encouraged Russia in its trend towards a more authoritarian polity and its rejection of what it considers outside interference.
Haukkala suggests that more research needs to be done on the domestic base of foreign policy in Russia, as well as the EU. This is a highly relevant topic in the aftermath of the Russian-Georgian conflict, when the nationalist Duma pressed the Russian leadership to recognise the two break-away republics in Georgia. Regrettably the author pays little attention to this ‘little war’, as it was outside his self-imposed case studies. It did, however, have a major impact on EU-Russia relations and continues to be a serious problem. In the face of Russia’s continuous attempts to divide the EU, will the new Lisbon treaty arrangements lead to a more coherent EU policy towards Russia? Perhaps this might be the focus of Haukkala’s next book.
Fraser Cameron
N.B. With the current EU-Russia negotiations in a stalemate over Russia’s ambivalence about WTO accession, attention is now focused on the modernisation partnership proclaimed at the November 2009 EU-Russia summit in Stockholm. A pragmatic approach by both sides may be more beneficial than any grand bargain.