Evaluating EU Actorness in 'European Neighbourhood' Countries:

The work conceptualises EU actorness, external governance and conditionality, and evaluating effectiveness of EU actorness in exerting influence on non-member states, as well as in conflict management. For a comprehensive discussion of the topic the book considers the effectiveness of EU actorness on political, economic and social reforms in Azerbaijan as a case study. The second case study will evaluate whether the EU can be an effective conflict resolution actor in Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict of over Nagorno-Karabakh. The topic actually has drawn increased attention since 2004 when Azerbaijan was included into the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and again since 2006 when Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline started to operate. Since Azerbaijan participates in diversification of the EU s energy supplies bypassing Russia, it has become a strategic country for the Union. As the EU is interested in securing its energy supplies and having stable neighbours around, it would be happy to see more democratic and prosperous Azerbaijan in the neighbourhood where human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected and the rule of law is settled.

Autorentext

Raul Gulmammadov received his MA degree in International Politics from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), and holds BA in International Relations from the Academy of Public Administration (Azerbaijan).He is a civil society activist and a consultant at the United Nations Department of Public Information in Azerbaijan.