NEIGHBORHOOD STRATEGIES AND SOFT POWER POTENTIAL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND RUSSIA IN MOLDOVA
NEIGHBORHOOD STRATEGIES AND SOFT POWER POTENTIAL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND RUSSIA IN MOLDOVA

Summary/Abstract: On the eve of the Vilnius summit in November 2013 it became visible how Moldova was transformed into a heavily contested part of the East-European borderland between Russia and the European Union. The efficiency of both actors in their foreign policies toward this country depends among other things on their soft power potential, or on the ability to attract or co-opt both Moldovan elites and society. But soft power is not simply about being normatively or economically attractive; it is also about being a coherent, creative political actor which is ready to take political responsibility and risks in difficult (geo)political circumstances. Particularly the European Union does need such an actor in front of the fact that Brussels is not able to propose now to East European states the membership perspective and consolidate on this basis a stable pro-European stance in neighboring countries. Referring to Browning and Joenniemi’s classification of neighborhood strategies, this paper investigates which strategies Russia and the EU pursue at the moment and how the developments in this area help or hinder them in increasing their soft power potential in Moldova.

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