The so-called shared neighbourhood in Eastern Europe (i.e. Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus) has been increasingly disputed by the European Union (EU) and Russia. Since the EU’s eastern enlargements, the Union and Russia share a common neighbourhood, not without consequences for the dynamics of power and security produced by and reflected in the interaction between identities, interests and discursive practices within this area. As a result, the EU-Russia-shared neighbourhood triangle has been marred by several struggles for power conferring an antagonistic tone to relations between Brussels and Moscow. This paper builds on a critical interpretation of the Ukrainian crisis to reflect upon such dynamics and to emphasize a seemingly generalized trend in the shared neighbourhood of detachment from Russia’s orbit of influence. As such, the paper will analyse the Ukrainian crisis, focusing on its international dimension, as both the result and the intensifier of dynamics of power and security in the EU-Russiashared neighbourhood triangle. For that purpose, it provides an overview of EU and Russian frameworks for relations with countries in their common neighbourhood, followed by the agential role played by Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus in the context of such interactions and the discussion of the Ukrainian crisis in the midst of this process. The paper finishes with considerations concerning the current challenges in the above identified triangle and the main perils that threaten European security lactu sensu.
Vanda Amaro Dias (vandaamarodias@gmail.com)
Vanda Amaro Dias is visiting assistant professor at the School of Economics of the University of Coimbra. She holds a PhD in International Relations: International Politics and Conflict Resolution from the School of Economics of the University of Coimbra. She has worked at the Institute of International Law and International Relations, University of Graz, as a Marie Curie fellow. She received her M.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the Nova University of Lisbon and her B.A. from the same institution. Her research interests include EU Foreign and Neighbouring Policies, European Security, Russia and the former Soviet Space. She has participated as a speakerin several international conferences and her research has been published in peer-review journals such as European Security and Perspectives on European Society and Politics.