Armenia’s and Georgia’s contrasted positioning vis-à-vis the EU: between vocal centrality and strategic marginality

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the conflict in Ukraine and the migrant crisis have shown that the events unfolding at Europe’s fringes can affect the core. Therefore, enhanced knowledge about how countries on the edge position themselves vis-à-vis the centre is critical. This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the core-periphery relationship by investigating how neighbouring countries envision their role in the EU-driven socio-political order and exploring how their self-representations translate into political strategies toward the core. It offers a comparative analysis of Armenia’s and Georgia’s positioning vis-à-vis the EU since the launch of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. The article highlights a sharp contrast between Georgia’s vocal assertion of its centrality in Europe and Armenia’s strategic choice of appearing marginal. However, as the article argues, this contrast needs to be nuanced: the positioning of a country as marginal or central does not consistently explain their degree of commitment vis-à-vis the EU.

KEYWORDS:

• Armenia
• Georgia
• EU
• centrality
• marginality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ‘The EU recognises the frontrunner role of Georgia within the Eastern Partnership’ (Council of the European Union 2018).

2. Author’s interviews, Georgian officials, Tbilisi, June 2012, March 2013, June 2015, January 2016.

3. Author’s interviews, State Ministry for Euro-Atlantic Integration, Tbilisi, March 2013.

4. Author’s interviews and focus groups, Yerevan, February 2015, November 2015, January 2017; Tbilisi, January 2016.

5. Author’s interview with an Armenian expert, Yerevan, November 2011.

6. Authors’ interview, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yerevan, March 2015.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme [under grant 613354]; Agence Nationale de la Recherche [under grant ANR-10-ORAR-2014].