Since the launch of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004, the EU has sought to foster the development of ‘a ring of well governed countries to the East…, with whom we can enjoy close and cooperative relations’. The 2009 Eastern Partnership programme sought to further refine relations between the EU and the six countries of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, in order to create a sense of ‘shared responsibility between the EU and partners for security and stability ‘ in Eastern Europe. Since the Ukraine crisis and the Russian annexation of Crimea, however, the EU Commission has realised that ‘the EU post-Westphalian narrative built around economic strength, soft power and multilateral institutions is colliding with an international environment marked by the return of geopolitics and hard power’. This paper examines relations between the EU, Russia and the ‘lands between’, drawing on the concepts of globalisation and geopolitics. It argues that the Ukraine crisis is rooted in a fundamental clash between two competing visions of European order and international politics, which in turn reflect the different identities and interests of the EU and Russia as strategic actors. The paper concludes by offering some suggestions for recalibrating the EU’s Eastern Partnership, and managing the more competitive and antagonistic relationship with Russia.
