Association of European Studies

The European Union as a "soft" empire

The European Union as a "soft" empire

27 September 2017

On September 29, 2017 a meeting of the section "The European Union as a "soft" empire" under the XI Convention of the RAMI with the Association for European Studies was held. N.Kaveshnikov, the Head of the Department of integration processes, moderated the section.

Associate professors of the Department A.Tevda-Burmuli and A. Tsibulin, the Head of the Political Science Department of Perm State University L. Fadeeva, an expert of the Klingendale Institute Tony van der Togt (Netherlands), professor of the Ural Federal University, E.Mikhailienko, researcher of the Institute of African Studies RAS O. Kulkova, a large group of young researchers - postgraduate of HSE A. Alikin, MGIMO postgraduate student K. Ibragimova and graduate student I. Yutyaeva.

A. Tevda-Burmuli made an attempt in his report, firstly, on the basis of existing approaches to determine the basic features of the imperial phenomenon and, secondly, to impose the resulting matrix on the organization and activities of the European Union. The basic attributes of an empire formulated in the report and some features of the EU set the direction for further research.

Tony van der Togt and L. Fadeeva reports highlighted various aspects of EU foreign policy. Van der Togt analyzed the transformation of EU foreign policy from the strategy of a “normative power” to “pragmatism with values” (principled pragmatism). L. Fadeeva turned to the study of the EU policy regarding ethnoregional autonomies.

In the course of the section, active discussions and exchange of views took place on the whole range of discussed issues.