Project description - Russia's European Choice: With or Into the EU?

Project leader: Director Tapani Vaahtoranta, FIIA, tel: +358 (0)9 4342 0722 email: tapani.vaahtoranta(at)upi-fiia.fi, http://upi-fiia.fi

The "Russia's European Choice: With or Into the EU?" project analyses the EU-Russia interaction answering the principal question whether the EU-Russia relationship is based on traditional inter-state cooperation, or whether it has elements of integration as well. This is a crucial question, as especially the constructivist strand of International Relations (IR) theory suggests that integration process leads to more profound changes in the perceived interests and identity of the actors than traditional cooperation would. Integration process would thus create an entirely new basis for the EU-Russia relationship. But it is worth asking whether instead of talking about Russia's integration into Europe it might be better to talk about Russia's integration with Europe? This wording reveals that the process might have certain limits. The project will explore these limits and analyse the underlying factors - structural, institutional and ideational - behind them.

The four-year project (2004 - 2007) will analyse EU-Russia interaction answering the following questions:

• What is Russia's understanding of the EU, both in terms of the EU's internal development and of its external projection through its policies?
• What are Russia's motives for engaging in interaction with the EU?
• How is Russia both an object and subject in the process, and what is the nature of the interaction, traditional inter-state cooperation or does it have elements of integration as well?
• How has the relationship changed during the course of interaction and what does it tell us about the future: are the actors, interests and identities changing?

The questions are timely, as both parties are revising their respective strategies and as the EU enlargement creates a new momentum for deepening the relationship. Therefore the question of the future nature of Russia's relationship with the EU is of particular importance for Finland, a country residing at the EU-Russia borderline, and one that is expected in the EU to bring new ideas and impetus into the relationship also in the post-EU enlargement era.

Theoretically the project draws from the three main strands of IR theorizing: structural realism, neoliberal institutionalism, and constructivism. The theoretical pluralism is justified, as it will point to alternative interpretations and levels of analysis, thus facilitating the development of different but equally important insights into the nature and future likely course of EU-Russia interaction.

The main body of work in the project will come from two quarters. First, the project assembles a network of international partners both from the EU, Russia and the United States. The work of the network is structured around annual seminars within which the main product of the project, an edited book that will be offered to an international scientific publishing house, will be developed.

Second, a special emphasis is put on the education of a new generation of EU-Russia specialists. Therefore the four doctoral students associated with the project have an important role to play. Some of the main findings of the project will be published in the theses, which will provide a comprehensive analysis of the points of EU-Russia convergence and disagreement, as well as probe the limits and possibilities of closer interaction. The theses will look at four issue-areas: the identity, the norms and human rights, the perspectives and effects of a common EU-Russia border, and the institutionalisation of a common space between Russia and the EU.

The project combines three levels of activities. First, its main output is based on research and interaction within a wide network that brings together a group of leading EU-Russia specialists from the EU, Russia and the United States. The role of the network is to act as a discussion forum and an incubator where the different perspectives and theories in the study of EU-Russia interaction meet and within which the main product of the project, an edited book that will be offered to an international scientific publishing house, will be developed. Second, a substantial part of the research in the project will also be based on an input of four PhD students situated in Finland. Third, the project makes a conscious effort to overcome the typical theory-practice hurdle by emphasising the applied nature of the knowledge produced within the project and by ensuring a wide dissemination of the project's findings in Finland and abroad.

Theoretical as well as methodological pluralism is the guiding principle in the project. It allows for a certain "plurality of truth"; interaction between the Scientific Directors, the network and the PhD students and creating a meeting place for the researchers of "Russia's European choice" where the different theoretical frameworks within the network can freely interact. This pluralism is reflected also in the edited book that will summarize the findings of the project.