EU Foreign Policy and Post-Soviet Conflicts: Stealth Intervention

The European Union is still emerging as a fully fledged foreign policy actor. The vagaries of this process are clearly visible, yet insufficiently explained in the EU policies towards the post-Soviet space.This book examines EU intervention and non-intervention in conflict resolution, with a specific focus on the EU's role in the post-soviet conflicts of Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Based on extensive field research, the author argues that the reluctant EU intervention in post-Soviet conflicts results from a dichotomous relationship between EU institutions and some EU member states and demonstrates that EU institutions use policies of 'stealth intervention' where they seek to play a greater role in the post-Soviet space, but they do so through relatively low-profile, uncontroversial and depoliticised actions in order to avoid visible Russian opposition.Exploring an array of questions related to the EU as a foreign policy actor, relations between the EU institutions and the foreign policy priorities of EU member states, the nature of the EU-Russia partnership, and the European neighbourhood policy, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, conflict resolution, foreign policy and Post-Soviet politics.