A Tale of Two States: Explaining the Divergent Outcomes of the EU Soft-Transformative Power in Albania and Georgia
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11230%2F25%3A10509171" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11230/25:10509171 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=X2_6Vr_jzh" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=X2_6Vr_jzh</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.46991/jia.2025.1.2" target="_blank" >10.46991/jia.2025.1.2</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
A Tale of Two States: Explaining the Divergent Outcomes of the EU Soft-Transformative Power in Albania and Georgia
Original language description
Although the EU has recently shifted toward a more "geopolitical" approach, it has long relied on its normative and transformative soft power to drive political and economic reforms in aspiring member states. However, the success of this approach has varied considerably, particularly between the Western Balkan candidates and the states recently granted candidate status-Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. This article compares the EU's success in exercising soft power in Albania with its struggles in Georgia. The Albanian government has embraced both democratic and acquis-related conditionalities and has agreed with the European Commission on a roadmap to conclude negotiations by 2027, while Georgia's government has frozen its own path toward opening negotiations. Employing a comparative approach, the analysis examines factors such as government compliance, geopolitical contexts, and external influences, with a special focus on Russia's role in shaping anti-EU narratives in Georgia. The article argues that strong public support, compliance with EU conditionalities, and the lack of a compelling geopolitical alternative explain the EU's success in Albania. In Georgia, by contrast, strong public backing has not translated into progress: selective or outright non-compliance, the influence of Russian hard and sharp power, and elite-driven Euroscepticism have weakened the EU's leverage.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>ost</sub> - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50601 - Political science
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
YSU Journal of International Affairs
ISSN
3045-3119
e-ISSN
3045-3100
Volume of the periodical
1
Issue of the periodical within the volume
2
Country of publishing house
AM - ARMENIA
Number of pages
31
Pages from-to
12-42
UT code for WoS article
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EID of the result in the Scopus database
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