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Exposing the Limits of EU-Russia “Autonomous Cooperation”: The Potential of Bakhtin’s Dialogic Imagination by Anastasia Chebakova MA Carleton University, 2009 Specialist Diploma, Petrozavodsk State University, 2005 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science © Anastasia Chebakova, 2015 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE Exposing the limits of EU-Russia “Autonomous Cooperation”: The Potential of Bakhtin’s Dialogic Imagination by Anastasia Chebakova MA, Carleton University, 2009 Specialist Diploma, Petrozavodsk State University, 2005 Supervisory Committee Dr. Amy Verdun, Department of Political Science Supervisor Dr. Oliver Schmidtke, Department of Political Science Departmental Member Dr. William E. Doll, Jr., Emeritus Professor, Louisiana State University Outside Member iii ABSTRACT Supervisory Committee Dr. Amy Verdun, Department of Political Science Supervisor Dr. Oliver Schmidtke, Department of Political Science Departmental Member Dr. William E. Doll, Jr., Emeritus Professor, Louisiana State University Outside Member The promising agenda of the EU-Russia strategic partnership has resulted in mutual frustration manifested in continuous crises between the partners. This study explores possibilities for political transformation in the EU-Russia relationship. In search of the key to understanding this complex relationship, I develop a three-fold argument. First, an ongoing crisis in EU-Russia cooperation cannot be understood without revealing the underlying problem of tension between the subjects’ autonomy and their ability to cooperate. Second, this problem produces a paradoxical form of “autonomous cooperation,” imposing limits on the prospects for political transformation in the EU- Russia relationship. Third, Bakhtin’s dialogism holds a significant potential to re-imagine the contradictions of autonomous cooperation in an alternative relational way. Despite the existence of a considerable body of literature on EU-Russia cooperation, little work has been done to investigate the connection between the intricacies of political discourse and problems in EU-Russia cooperation. By drawing on Bakhtin’s account of a “dialogic imagination,” I develop a model, which exposes the processes of mutual constitution of the Self and the Other. This dialogic model reveals that in their political statements, both the EU and Russia privilege the pattern of autonomy or cooperation. The partners produce prevalent discursive practices that reinforce these contradictory patterns of autonomy and cooperation, systematically inflicting crises in the EU-Russia relationship. By establishing dialogic connections between the chosen political statements, the model demonstrates that Russia and the EU co-create perceived differences between each other, isolate each other or try to form an autonomous, self-sufficient Self through imposition, self-exclusion, resistance or dominance. This model, I argue, permits an alternative vision of contemporary trends and possible futures for the EU-Russia relationship as an iv exemplar of an international relationship viewed through a dialogic lens. My study is also relevant under the conditions of ongoing conflicts in EU-Russia cooperation, which expose the inability of the partners to cooperate effectively. I conclude with practical implications for the partners to overcome the current stalemate. In Bakhtin’s words: “When dialogue ends, everything ends. Thus dialogue, by its very essence, cannot and must not come to an end.” v TABLE OF CONTENTS SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE ................................................................................................. ii   ABSTRACT iii   TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. v   ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... vii   LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... ix   CHAPTER 1 -   INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1   1.1.   Problematizing the EU-Russia relationship .................................................................. 1   1.2.   The context of the EU-Russia relationship .................................................................... 3   1.3.   Autonomous cooperation: Three directions of research .............................................. 5   1.4.   Contribution to the existing scholarship ..................................................................... 10   1.5.   Avenues for political transformation, structure, sources .......................................... 16   CHAPTER 2 -   THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................. 21   2.1.   Introduction ................................................................................................................... 21   2.2.   Scholarly landscape ....................................................................................................... 23   2.3.   “Superhighways” in EU-Russia studies ...................................................................... 28   2.4.   Constructivism and performativity of language ......................................................... 38   2.5.   Potential of Bakhtin’s dialogism .................................................................................. 48   2.6.   Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 57   CHAPTER 3 -   MODEL, METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES ........................................... 61   3.1.   Introduction ................................................................................................................... 61   3.2.   Dialogic model for understanding the EU-Russia dialogue ....................................... 62   3.3.   In search of dialogic continuity .................................................................................... 70   3.4.   Structure of the empirical analysis .............................................................................. 83   3.5.   Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 86   CHAPTER 4 -   DIALOGIC ANALYSIS OF EU-RUSSIA DISCOURSE I ......................... 89   4.1.   Introduction ................................................................................................................... 89   4.2.   Joint Political Declaration on Partnership and Cooperation, 1993 .......................... 91   4.3.   Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, 1997 ......................................................... 92   4.4.   Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 99   CHAPTER 5 -   DIALOGIC ANALYSIS OF EU-RUSSIA DISCOURSE II ...................... 102   5.1.   Introduction ................................................................................................................. 102   5.2.   Common Strategy of European Union on Russia, 1999 ........................................... 104   5.3.   Russian Federation Middle Term Strategy Towards the European Union, 1999 . 111   5.4.   Supplementary statements adopted jointly by the EU and Russia ......................... 119   5.5.   Supplementary statements adopted by the EU ......................................................... 122   5.6.   Supplementary Statements adopted by Russia ......................................................... 131   5.7.   Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 136   CHAPTER 6 -   DIALOGIC ANALYSIS OF EU-RUSSIA DISCOURSE III .................... 141   6.1.   Introduction ................................................................................................................. 141   6.2.   In the wake of the Road Maps .................................................................................... 143 vi 6.3.   Road Maps of Four EU-Russia Common Spaces ..................................................... 145   6.4.   Supplementary Statements adopted jointly by the EU and Russia ........................ 154   6.5.   Supplementary statements adopted by Russia ......................................................... 161   6.6.   Supplementary statements adopted by the EU ......................................................... 168   6.7.   Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 173   CHAPTER 7 -   DIALOGIC ANALYSIS OF EU-RUSSIA DISCOURSE IV .................... 177   7.1.   Introduction ................................................................................................................. 177   7.2.   Silence Vacuum in EU-Russia Relations ................................................................... 178   7.3.   Partnership for Modernization .................................................................................. 183   7.4.   Anticipating Agreement or deepening impasse ........................................................ 188   7.5.   Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 192   CHAPTER 8 -   CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 197   8.1.   Summary ...................................................................................................................... 197   8.2.   A cooperative vision .................................................................................................... 206   BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 215   APPENDIX 1 – LIST OF INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED ................................................... 225 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have completed this project without the generous support of my family, dissertation committee, Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria and a number of funding institutions. I am thankful to Dr. Feng Xu, who during our conversations at the start of my journey gently steered my focus away from researching either the EU or Russia towards concentrating on the actual relationship between the two partners. I thank Jean-François Maheux for all our conversations on Bakhtin. I am thankful to Dr. Claire Cutler and Dr. Franz Kernic for their enthusiastic encouragement at a very early stage of this research project. I also wish to thank my MA supervisor, Dr. Joan DeBardeleben, for her continuous mentorship and support, as well as her constructive critique of various parts of this project, which she provided at conference venues and in a journal publication. I would like to thank Dr. Nicholas Onuf for his advice and encouragement at the earlier stage of this research project. I also thank Dr. Rob Walker for his provocative ideas during our interactions, which provided a powerful conceptual stimulus to imagining the EU-Russia relationship through alternative lens. I have also benefited from helpful feedback I received as a participant of several conferences organized by the European Consortium for Political Research and the European Community Studies Association-Canada. I am grateful for the insights I gained from media and communication field through my participation in the Jean Monnet Research Project “External Images of the EU as a normative energy player (EXIE)” supported by the Lifelong Learning Program of the European Commission. I am also grateful to my interviewees for their time and willingness to provide comments on an uneasy topic of this study. I am fortunate to have met Dr. William E. Doll, Jr. and Dr. Donna Trueit in my journey. I deeply thank them for their enlightening teaching, which inspired me and let my learning occur. Our numerous conversations coupled with their skillful guidance and encouragement have led to the development of theoretical foundation and methodological apparatus of this study. viii I am exceptionally grateful for the invaluable guidance of Dr. Oliver Schmidtke. His continuous support and much-needed detailed feedback accompanied with puzzling thoughtful questions at different times of my research project enriched this study immensely. I owe my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Amy Verdun, for her all-encompassing support at every step of the way in my dissertation project. It is her never-ending enthusiasm and openness to diverse influences and ideas, accompanied with the skillful guidance of an accomplished and experienced scholar that insured the completion of my research project. She evoked in me the levels of creativity and productivity that I would never have been able to achieve on my own. The completion of this research project would not have been possible without her commitment. Moreover, I would not have had the time or resources necessary to complete this dissertation without the generous funding from the fellowships and research assistantships that she provided to me through her Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) standard grants. I am also thankful for generous funding of this project provided by a SSHRC doctoral fellowship. The research project was also supported through several research scholarships and graduate awards by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, as well as travel, research and conference grants by the Centre for European Studies at the University of Victoria and the European Community Studies Association-Canada. I extend my gratitude to my parents-in-law for their boundless kindness and immense support during a challenging process of dissertation writing. I would like to thank my little daughter, Inessa, for fulfilling my life with heart-warming smiles and for teaching me the true meaning of the word multitasking. Above all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved husband, Ken Stephenson, for sharing all the difficulties of pursuing a doctoral degree. The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without his supportive love and tremendous patience. It is to him that this work is dedicated. ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BRICS Association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy (of the European Union) CIS Commonwealth of Independent States ENPI European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument ESDP European Security and Defence Policy EU European Union G8 Group of Eight INTERREG European Regional Development Fund IR International Relations MID Ministry of International (Foreign) Affairs in Russia NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization OSCE Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe PCA Partnership and Cooperation Agreement PPC Permanent Partnership Council TACIS Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States Program UN United Nations US United States WMD Weapons of mass destruction WTO World Trade Organization CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1. Problematizing the EU-Russia relationship “It is entirely your phrase, and not mine. Your own, and not just the sequel of our conversation. ‘Our’ conversation didn’t take place at all…” (Shatov in Dostoyevsky’s The Devils.)1 Throughout history, the relationship between Russia and its European neighbour has become increasingly complex. Discovering its own “Europeanness,” Russia seldom fulfilled its desire of having a genuine conversation with Europe. Europe never satisfied its thirst to project its own image on Russia, to bring Russia closer to its own Self. To this day, “their” conversation has not taken place at all… This study explores possibilities for political transformation in cooperation between Russia and the European Union (EU). How can we explain continuous conflicts in relations between the EU and Russia? What images of each other do the partners produce within the framework of their strategic partnership? How do the representations of one another affect the dynamics of their relationship? What is the key to understanding the complexity of EU-Russia relations? These questions are important for a better understanding of the EU-Russia relationship. The questions are especially relevant under the conditions of ongoing conflicts in EU-Russia cooperation, which further expose the inability of the EU and Russia to cooperate effectively. My study addresses these questions and asks: what is the underlying problem in the relationship between the EU and Russia? My answer is simple: there is an inherent 1 Shatov in Dostoyevsky’s The Devils: Translated and Introduced by D. Magarshack (Penguin, 1953), 253.

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Exposing the Limits of EU-Russia “Autonomous Cooperation”: The Potential of Bakhtin’s Dialogic Imagination by Anastasia Chebakova MA Carleton University, 2009
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