The EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy, adopted in June 2016, defined the relationship between the European Union and Russia as 'a key strategic challenge'. On the one hand, the conflict in Ukraine and the ensuing introduction of restrictive measures disrupt the potential for cooperation. On the other hand, the EU and Russia are largely interdependent in many areas. For this purpose, 'selective engagement' over matters of common interest such as energy, environment, education, research and cross-border cooperation remains on the agenda.
The purpose of the first Ghent colloquium is to bring together scholars and practitioners working in various disciplines to present their research on the evolution of EU-Russia relations. Selected papers may be published in an edited volume or a special issue of an international peer reviewed journal.
Presentations
The slides of the different presentations are available, as well as some papers for which the authors gave consent to publish them online.
Panel 1: Theoretical perspectives on EU-Russia relations
Anne Wetzel (University of Mannheim): Presentation “An unexpected spill over? EU-Russia relations and implications for neo-functionalism”
Panel 2: Legal perspectives on EU-Russia relations
Kirill Entin (Higher School of Economics): Presentation “Knockin' on heaven's door: the CJEU on the restrictive measures against Russia”
Panel 3: Security and defence
Ivan Kentros Klyszcz (University of Glasgow): Paper “De-securitising Russia-West relations: the case of the Baltic countries”
Joris Van Bladel (Austrian Institute of European Security Studies): Presentation “Russia’s defense policy in perspective”
Panel 4:Energy and environment
Andras Deak (Institute of World Economics, Hungary): Presentation “Emerging diversity in Russia’s energy relations: what role for Europe?”
Yaroslava Marusyk (University of Groningen): Presentation “A Clash of Values and Norms? EU-Russia Energy Security Discourse in Institutional Setting”
Niels Smeets (KULeuven): Paper “The green menace : gauging the credibility of Russia’s ecological discourse on renewable energy policies” + Presentation
Panel 5: Education and Science
Martina Vukasovic (Ghent University): Paper “Political saliency of the Bologna Process for EU and non-EU countries: Implications for Russia”
Panel 6: Shared neighbourhood
Fabienne Bossuyt (Ghent University): Paper “Central and Eastern European perceptions of the Eurasian Economic Union: Between economic opportunities and fear of renewed Russian hegemony” + Presentation
Kazushige Kobayashi (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva): Paper “Competing Regional Orders in the Shared Neighbourhood: The EU, Russia, and the Norm Contestation in the Post-Soviet Space” + Presentation