EU-Russian Cooperation in the Return to Great Power Competition
Abstract
Within three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world is witnessing a global power shift from West to East. While the world is increasingly starting to look like Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which was dictated by the "European concert of powers" in which European countries always played to the balance, this monograph explores the possibility of EU-Russian cooperation to remain relevant within a return to Great Power Competition. Employing a Policy Analysis Methodology, an historical analysis provides insights into the relationship between Russia and Europe since the rise of nation-states during the Napoleonic era. Contemporary literature from various Foreign Affairs and Political Sciences experts describes the EU and Russian position in a world returning to Great Power Competition. Lastly, the need and desirability of EU-Russian cooperation is viewed from a Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic perspective. The author discovers there is a lot of economy driven potential for EU-Russian cooperation, to foster EU ambitions to reform the current structure of the international system towards a multipolar world, while spreading its values through equality and patience, and by acting as the intermediate great power motivating other great powers to become more willing to compromise as well. The EU will have to make a tradeoff, however, between the benefits of this cooperation toward securing the EUs place in a return to great power competition and the possible political damage concerning the legitimacy of that cooperation domestically, and towards its closest ally: The United States.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 23, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1161099
Entities
People
- Jan In Het Veld
Organizations
- School of Advanced Military Studies