The EU's Policy towards Russia: National Interests and Path Dependency

The chapter explores the EU’s policy towards Russia from a diachronic perspective, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until the upsurge of the Ukrainian crisis at the end of 2013 that marks the lowest point in the relationship. The main features of this policy are traced back to the International Relations (IR) mainstream theoretical paradigms discussed in the book. In this perspective, the proposed analysis can be considered as a case study. So far, neither the EU nor Russia has developed a strategic conception for the relationship. While initially the EU embraced a path dependency pattern, later on, as Russia has turned to being an assertive player, it has been simply reactive. The EU has typically countered Russian actions or provocations in an extemporary manner without any clear-cut strategy agreed beforehand.