Russia-EU Relations and the Common Neighborhood

Examining Russia-EU relations in terms of the forms and types of power tools they use, this book argues that the main source of tensions lies in deep differences in their preferences for the international status quo; the nature of the Russian state explains its routine use of coercion, while as a weak federal union, the EU is 'doomed' to use tools based on authority.

Irina Busygina is Professor of Politics at the National Research University "Higher School of Economics" in St. Petersburg. She was previously Professor of Comparative Politics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and European Studies Institute at MGIMO. She also heads the Centre for Regional Political Studies at MGIMO. Her main spheres of research include EU-Russia relations, regional development and regional policy in Russia and the EU (comparatively) and also federalism in the EU and Russia. Over the last several years she has conducted extensive research-both individually and with co-authors-connecting challenges of globalization for the Russian domestic and foreign policies with the need for political modernization. Her most recent book is Political Modernization of the State in Russia, published in 2012 by Liberal Mission Foundation (in Russian, with Mikhail Filippov).