Transferring Asylum Norms to EU Neighbours: Multi-Scalar Policies and Practices in Ukraine

262 Pages·2022·3.927 MB·English

by  Irina Mützelburg

THE EUROPEAN UNION IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Transferring Asylum
Norms to EU
Neighbours
Multi-Scalar Policies and Practices in Ukraine
Irina Mützelburg
The European Union in International Affairs
Series Editors
Sebastian Oberthür, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Knud Erik Jørgensen, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Philomena B. Murray, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Sandra Lavenex, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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Irina Mützelburg
Transferring Asylum
Norms to EU
Neighbours
Multi-Scalar Policies and Practices in Ukraine
Irina Mützelburg
Centre for East European
and International Studies
Berlin, Germany
ISSN 2662-5911 ISSN 2662-592X (electronic)
The European Union in International Affairs
ISBN 978-3-031-04527-1 ISBN 978-3-031-04528-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04528-8
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Preface
How to publish a book on Ukraine in 2022? Since the beginning of the
full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February, our understanding of Ukraine
and the whole region has been shaken. It’s tempting to believe that every-
thing that we knew or thought we knew about pre-2022 Ukraine has
become obsolete. And indeed, we cannot predict what the Ukrainian
state and society will be like when this war hopefully ends. A large share
of the population will have been displaced—some to other countries,
some within Ukraine. Many will have participated directly or indirectly
in the war, and many more will have experienced fighting and feared
for their own lives and those of people close to them. Many will have
lost their jobs, companies and property, their psychological and physical
health, their relatives and friends. Large parts of Ukrainian infrastruc-
ture, housing, private and state-owned buildings and land will have been
destroyed or made unusable by landmines. All those who stayed in
Ukraine will have lived through a prolonged phase of martial law. Some
of the inhabitants of Ukraine will have lived under Russian occupation,
subject to severe repression of civic and political rights, political propa-
ganda, and at least in some regions, the kidnapping, rape, torture, and
killing of civilians. When this book gets published, we do not know which
territory will be under the control of the Ukrainian state, or how the
institutions of this state will work.
v
vi PREFACE
So why still read a book about pre-invasion Ukraine?
First, knowing the history and recent past of a society and state will
allow us to better understand the present and future even if war and
displacement violently upturn the existing structures. Even if we do not
yet know which ones, certain structures and historical legacies remain.
Understanding asylum and xenophobia in pre-invasion Ukraine also helps
us understand the beliefs and practices of Ukrainians who fled the war
in 2022 and now find themselves labelled ‘refugees’ in other countries.
For instance, some of the Ukrainians abroad do not wish to be called
‘refugees’, partly because they insist on their plan to return to Ukraine
very soon, partly because they have negative associations with the term.
Second, this book is not only about pre-invasion Ukraine but also
about transfer processes. It is about the ways certain actors try to shape
policies and practices in other states. It is about how internationally
weaker states respond to requests, incentives, and pressure from more
powerful states or international organisations. It is about how state actors
in these weaker countries introduce, implement, or pretend to imple-
ment laws and policies that they did not see as important or beneficial
to their own country but were requested by international organisations.
It is about how more powerful, bigger, and wealthier organisations fund
smaller organisations in the target country to spread ideas and prac-
tices. These questions remain relevant—definitely in a lot of countries
surrounding the European Union, probably also in Ukraine, which was
granted candidate status together with Moldova in June 2022. The
transfer processes in the context of conditionality for a visa-free regime
described in this book bear many similarities with those in the context of
EU accession.
The recent granting of EU candidate status to Ukraine is typical of
a pattern of EU external action also visible in the granting of the visa-
free regime. In the 2010s, the European Commission regularly published
monitoring reports, which kept track of progress and outstanding prob-
lems in different policy areas that were subject to EU conditionality.
From 2010 until 2015, the European Commission consistently pointed
to the deficiencies that needed to be addressed before Ukraine could be
granted visa freedom. Then in December 2015, under the influence of
the change in political leadership in the aftermath of the Maidan protests,
the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the war in Donbas, the Euro-
pean Commission declared that Ukraine had fulfilled all requirements for
the visa-free regime—even though many of the changes requested by the
PREFACE vii
Commission had not yet been made. In the context of Russian aggres-
sion, the EU sought to support the Ukrainian state and its new political
leadership by granting visa freedom. Similarly, the granting of candidate
status in June 2022 was an expression of the EU’s wish to symbolically
support Ukraine. This despite the fact that until 2022, EU officials had
insisted that they would not make any promises concerning Ukraine’s
membership prospects. In both cases, the EU made sudden concessions
in the political context of Russian aggression and the EU’s wish to show
solidarity with Ukraine.
Studying the policy and norm promotion activities of the EU and
international organisations does not mean supporting Russian propaganda
about the supposedly totalitarian imperialism of a collective West, which
Russian politicians and state media use to legitimise Russian military inva-
sions. The use of soft power and diplomacy by the EU cannot justify the
use of warfare by the Russian Federation. A ‘normative Empire Europe’
(Del Sarto) cannot be equated with a military Empire Russia.
Even in a context where there is a risk of academic research being
used and distorted for state propaganda, it seems to me that it is the
researcher’s professional, ethical, and political duty to continue critically
studying the foreign policies of the EU, its member states, and other
international organisations and actors. For the sake of democracy and
freedom of research, it remains important to point to power asymme-
tries in the relations between the EU and its neighbouring states as well
as the EU’s use of its power to impose its interests and norms abroad. Yet,
despite such power asymmetries, actors in the neighbouring states are not
passive recipients of EU domination. In contrast to Russian propaganda,
this book takes Ukrainian state and non-state actors seriously, analysing
how they make choices according to their own interests and beliefs and
exercise their leeway in policies and practices.
Berlin, Germany Irina Mützelburg
October 2022
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank Kathy Rousselet and Anne de Tinguy
for accepting the supervision of my PhD. I am very grateful for their
trust and support, the freedom they have given me, and their attentive
and constructive proofreading and feedback. I am also extremely thankful
to my tutors at the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin, Mathilde Darley, Fabien
Jobard, Joël Glasman, Elsa Tulmets, and Béatrice von Hirschhausen for
all their time, energy, patience, and kindness in reading and commenting
on parts of this book at various stages of its production. It was a great
relief to know I could come and see you in an office next door. This book
would not have been possible without the company, advice, proofreading,
encouragement, and chocolate of my colleagues, office mates, and/or
friends at the Centre Marc Bloch and later the ZOiS, among others Béné-
dicte Laumond, Caroline Garrido, Chloé Risbourque, Christina Reimann,
Denis Eckert, Claudia Eggart, Emeline Fourment, Gesine Wallem, Jérémy
Geeraert, Mélina Germes, Noa Levin, Sabine von Löwis, Salima Naït
Ahmed, Sarah Kiani, Serge Reuby, Sophie Lambroschini, and Ulrike
Zeigermann.
I am grateful to the Centre Marc Bloch’s and ZOiS’ management and
administrative teams for such a stimulating and comfortable workplace
and for their continuous efforts to make the institute even more pleasant
and enriching. Funding from Sciences Po Paris, the Fazit Stiftung, and
the Centre Marc Bloch made this research possible and funding from
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sciences Po Lyon, Triangle, and the Centre Marc Bloch made the English
language editing possible.
Many people have contributed to this multilingual scientific under-
taking with their native language skills. Anne, Jeffrey, Jill, and Noa have
greatly improved the readability of the English text. I am very grateful
to Olesia, Svitlana, Vasyl, and Yana for their tremendous help with their
Russian and Ukrainian skills. I thank all those who have helped me in this
adventure of conducting research in two languages and writing a thesis
and then a book in two others, none of the four being my mother tongue.
I am deeply indebted to all those who have supported me in my
fieldwork. My numerous interlocutors have granted me, some of them
repeatedly, their precious time and trust without gaining anything in
return, apart from my undivided attention and lasting gratefulness. I am
particularly obliged to those who agreed to share their network with me
and helped me organise interviews and observation sessions. Antonina,
Katharina, Mariya, Natalia, Pierre, Vera, and several CouchSurfing hosts
housed me, fed me, advised me, and kept me company in Brussels and in
various parts of Ukraine. My warmest thoughts and wishes go to those
who were and are in zones of fighting and those who had to flee.
This book as well as my mental and physical health owe a lot to my
family and my friends outside of academia, whom I cannot list here. They
have learnt to refrain from asking me whether I have finally handed in
my thesis or submitted my book manuscript. Through their presence,
their own interests, problems, and joys, their insisting on my company,
including for holidays, they have kept me from drifting up into the mad
ivory towers. Cécile has saved me numerous times with her comforting
presence, her sofa, her tea, and her unlimited readiness to help me with
logistical problems in Paris. I cannot thank Joé enough for everything he
has done for me and the serenity with which he has surrounded me.