The Potential of Bakhtin's Dialogic Imagination by Anastasia Ch

234 Pages·2015·1.27 MB·English

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.