The perceived rationale, variegated institutional take and impact of the EU’s human rights policy in Armenia and Georgia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the policies of several global actors, like the European Union, Armenia and Georgia have not attained democratic consolidation, including full respect for human rights. This article compares the EU’s promotion of human rights in Armenia and Georgia by uncovering the perceived rationale, the varying institutional postures andthe impact of the policy. It captures the 2006–2014 time-frame beginning with the involvement of these countries in the European Neighbourhood Policy through signature of the Action Plans and ending with Armenia’s backtracking from the EU in favour of accession into the Customs Union/Eurasian Economic Union. The novelty of the research rests on several foundations. Ontologically, EU’s human rights policy (a) has been side-lined to the advantage of democracy promotion, (b) has not been analysed through the lenses of the partners, (c) has not been institutionally dissected. Epistemologically, there has been no comparative work of the kind on the two South Caucasian countries. Methodologically, the temporal cut is justified by the comparable policy of the EU. The article draws on discourse and content analysis, as well as in-depth semi-structured interviews with key officials and experts in Armenia and Georgia. It introduces a scale estimating the mean and measuring the impact.