The EU and Non-Accession States: The Cases of Belarus and Ukraine
The EU and Non-Accession States: The Cases of Belarus and Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: Themajority of the literature examining the European Union’s (EU) ability to encourage political and economic reform only considers its influence on countries involved in the accession process; few have examined its impact on non-accession countries. Therefore, in this paper I assess the ability of the EU to promote reform outside of the accession process and develop a theory explaining a state’s compliance with or rejection of EU pressure to reform. Through comparing and contrasting the cases of Belarus and Ukraine, I determine that a combination of domestic elite preferences and the strength of EU pressure – a function of the degree of unity among the EU members on the issue – influence the likelihood of a state’s compliance with EU pressure. The degree of economic dependency, public opinion about the EU, and severity of inter-elite conflict all affect elite preferences.

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