The Limits of Conditionality: Comparing Approaches within the Wider European Neighbourhood

Abstract

How effective is conditionality in contexts where accession to the European Union is not at stake? This panel seeks to answer this question, by advancing a comparative analysis of cases from post-Soviet Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East/North Africa region. EU approaches to politico-economic relations with partners located beyond the neighbourhood will be tested against the politics of authoritarianism, which equally characterises the quality of governance in Central Asia and the Middle East. When observing EU policies in these contexts, attention will be centred on the policy approaches designed by EU policy-makers. When looking at regional contexts, papers presented to this panel will assess how EU policies incentivise and contribute to the stability of the local regimes, questioning in this sense the adoption of para-conditional policies in contexts where conditionality appears to hold limited relevance.