Narrating uncertainty and the European neighbourhood policy: evidence from Ukrainian, Israeli and Palestinian civil society elites

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper argues that uncertainty constitutes an important theme from which actors that the European Neighbourhood Policy seeks to address draw and narrate the relationship with the EU. These narratives of uncertainty influence relationship building and norm transfer processes, especially where communication and persuasion depend on the normative appeal of the Union. Further, where the EU lacks its membership carrot, the EU’s conditionality mechanism to promote its norms are weakened. This makes the narration of actors, relationships and future particularly relevant. I examine this argument with evidence from interviews with civil society elites in the EU’s southern (Israel & Palestine) and Eastern neighbourhood (Ukraine). This paper finds that global uncertainty has implications not only for how the EU makes sense of itself but additionally how the EU is regarded as a normative power in the global context it engages within. As a consequence, a long-term strategy that ensures the forging of common story worlds, and recognizes the importance of uncertainty for how relationships are envisaged will have to be a constitutive aspect of the ENP.