Abstract
What is distinct about the US approach to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia? Since these states gained independence in 1991, the US has maintained an uneasy balance between its idealistic impulses and its realistic national interests. Viewed from outside the Eastern Partnership perspective, the US has developed very distinct relations with each member this collection of countries in Eastern Europe for country-specific reasons. The nature of each relationship is understood through identification of the foreign policy actors and constituencies in each. After NATO proved an imperfect institutional instrument for the promotion of Liberal Democratic values and regional stability, the US supported the EU’s Eastern Partnership. Whether the Trump Administration breaks with previous policy remains unclear, although Americans’ self-conception of themselves and the superiority of their own norms is unlikely to change.
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Notes
- 1.
The six Eastern European states have been referred to elsewhere in this book as the Eastern Partnership countries. It is important to bear in mind that the Eastern Partnership policy only came into being after the blossoming of European CSDP in 2008. Prior to 2008, this chapter argues that the US was more involved than Europe in these six countries and was arguably the lead partner in the Western duo.
- 2.
After the Cold War, ‘Eastern Europe’ for Westerners ceased to refer to the central European states that had formed the Cold War’s Warsaw Pact and can rightly be used to refer to the ‘new’ Eastern Europe of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Russia is a continental power with much of its territory in Asia and increasingly identifies with a vision of itself as a civilizational pole other than Europe.
- 3.
George H.W. Bush, ‘Remarks to the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of the Ukraine in Kiev Soviet Union’, 1 August 1991, The American Presidency Project, University of California Santa Barbara. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19864. The ‘Chicken Kiev’ reference was coined by columnist William Safire in the New York Times.
- 4.
The literature on both the missionary tendency in American foreign policy is vast. The classic study is McDougall Promised Land, Crusader State. Foglesong describes how this predilection played out specifically within US-Russian relations. David S. Foglesong, The American Mission and the ‘Evil Empire’: The Crusade for a ‘Free Russia’ since 1881. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- 5.
This article tries to stay true to the basic concepts of bandwagoning and balancing as defined by Stephen Walt, The Origins of Alliances, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987. As Walt points out, Jervis makes a similar argument using the terms Appeasement and Deterrence.
- 6.
Its full title is the ‘Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act of 1992’. President George H.W. Bush possessed a great deal of diplomatic experience and had been reluctant to emphasize democracy promotion in the former Soviet Union as a primary programmatic goal. Nevertheless, in the statement issued at his signing of the legislation he outlined its function ‘programs to support free market and democratic reforms being undertaken in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, and the other states of the former Soviet Union.’ Bush Presidential Library. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=21658.
- 7.
Derek H. Chollet and James M. Goldgeier, America between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11: The Misunderstood Years between the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Start of the War on Terror. 1st ed. (New York: BBS PublicAffairs, 2008).
- 8.
‘Europe whole and free’ was the vision of a Europe governed by Liberal democratic norms outlined in George H.W. Bush Speech in Mainz, West Germany 31 May 1989 and afterward remembered as a catchphrase embodying that idea. https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga6-890531.htm.
- 9.
Jonathan Monten, ‘The Roots of the Bush Doctrine: Power, Nationalism, and Democracy Promotion in US Strategy’, International Security 29: 4 (2005): 112–156.
- 10.
Charles A. Stevenson, SECDEF: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defence. 1st ed. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2006.
- 11.
Munich, Germany, February 5, 1995. Reprinted as ‘The Enduring, Dynamic Relationship That is NATO,’ Remarks by Secretary of Defence William J. Perry to the Wehrkunde Conference on Security Policy, Defence Issues, Vol. 10, No. 9.
- 12.
Jackson Diehl characterized this view on the editorial page of The Washington Post on 4 April 2016 ‘In the end, NATO oversaw what was probably the most successful nation-building effort in history. A score of countries—Poland and Hungary, Latvia and Estonia, Serbia and Croatia, and yes, Ukraine and Georgia—adopted the Western, liberal model of statehood under the allies’ scrutiny, even though not all have yet joined NATO or the European Union. ’
- 13.
Andrew Wilson, ‘Can Ukraine Save Its Revolution’. Current History, October 2015, p. 264.
- 14.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, ‘The Premature Partnership’. Foreign Affairs 73 (1994): 67.
- 15.
Madeleine Albright, The Rostov Lecture Series School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, January 18, 2000. https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/statements/2000/000118.html.
- 16.
Steven Pifer, The Eagle and the Trident: U.S.-Ukraine Relations in Turbulent Times (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2017).
- 17.
Vincent L. Morelli, ‘Ukraine: Current Issues and US Policy,’ Congressional Research Service, 3 January 2017.
- 18.
There are numerous examples of the Ukrainian diasporas support for the country post-Maidan. Here’s a sampling: Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katyasoldak/2014/04/10/in-a-time-of-crisis-ukrainians-abroad-unite/#3eb120835e54. Ukrainian diaspora Inb times. http://www.ibtimes.com/how-ukrainian-diaspora-us-funding-war-effort-east-ukraine-1846674.
- 19.
Morelli, ‘Ukraine’.
- 20.
Steve Pifer and John Herbst, both senior career diplomats and former US Ambassadors to Kyiv, were among many who argued this point. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2016/03/18/the-obama-doctrine-and-ukraine/.
- 21.
Grigory Ioffe, ‘What Are the Limits to Belarus’s Sovereignty?’, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume:14 Issue123, October 4, 2017. https://jamestown.org/program/limits-belaruss-sovereignty/.
- 22.
Steven Woehrel, ‘Belarus: Background and US Policy Concerns’. Congressional Research Service, 12 February 2013.
- 23.
Andrew Wilson, Belarus: The Last Dictatorship in Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
- 24.
David Rotman, and Natalia Veremeeva, ‘Belarus in the Context of the Neighbourhood Policy: Between the EU and Russia’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 27: 1 (March 2011): 73–98.
- 25.
Millennium Challenge Corporation – Moldova. https://www.mcc.gov/where-we-work/country/moldova.
- 26.
US Assistance to Moldova State Department Archives. https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/03/222728.htm.
- 27.
Moldovan Partnership with North Carolina. http://www.sua.mfa.md/rm-north-carolina-en/.
- 28.
Vladimir Socor, ‘Vice-President Joe Biden Shows US Flag in Moldova (Part Two)’, https://jamestown.org/program/vice-president-joe-biden-shows-us-flag-in-moldova-part-two/.
- 29.
Julien Zarifian, ‘The Armenian-American Lobby and Its Impact on US Foreign Policy’. Society 51: 5 (October 2014): 503–512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-014-9816-8.
- 30.
David King and Miles Pomper, ‘The US Congress and the Contingent Influence of Diaspora Lobbies: Lessons from US Policy Toward Armenia and Azerbaijan’, Journal of Armenian Studies 8:1 (2004): 72–98.
- 31.
Department of State Fact Sheet Armenia 19, 2011. https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/armenia/187057.htm.
- 32.
Joshua Kucera, ‘At Last Minute, Armenia Drops Out of NATO Exercises in Georgia’, 4 September 2017, Eurasianet.org, http://www.eurasianet.org/node/84956.
- 33.
Armen Grigoryan, ‘Armenia Likely to Yield Even More of its Sovereignty to Russia’, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 108. https://jamestown.org/program/armenia-likely-to-yield-even-more-of-its-sovereignty-to-russia/.
- 34.
Alexander Cooley, Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.
- 35.
Joshua Kucera, ‘Azerbaijan Has Advantage Over Armenia In US Military Aid’, 17 May 2016, Eurasianet.org. http://www.eurasianet.org/node/78831.
- 36.
Jim Nichol, Azerbaijan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests, Congressional Research Service, 22 February 2013.
- 37.
Nichol, Azerbaijan.
- 38.
Joshua Kucera, ‘Azerbaijan Threatens to Cut Off Military Cooperation with US and NATO’, The Bug Pit, 11 September 2017, Eurasianet.org. http://www.eurasianet.org/node/85081.
- 39.
Thomas Goltz, ‘The Caspian Oil Sweepstakes’, The Nation, 17 November 1997, p. 18.
- 40.
Kucera, ‘Azerbaijan’.
- 41.
Using 2014 budgetary information, the Security Assistance Monitor identified Georgia as the fourth most dependent recipient of US military assistance. ‘Military Aid Dependency: What Are the Major US Risks Around the World?’ http://securityassistance.org/fact_sheet/military-aid-dependency-what-are-major-us-risks-around-world.
- 42.
Richard Weitz, ‘Enhancing the Georgia-US Security Partnership’. Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES), 31 October 2016. https://www2.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/10.31.2016_Weitz_US-Georgia_Security_Partnership.pdf.
- 43.
Andrew C. Kuchins, Thomas M. Sanderson, Daniel Kimmage, Joseph Ferguson, Alexandros Petersen, Heidi Hoogerbeets, and David Gordon, ‘The Northern Distribution Network and Afghanistan’. CSIS Report, January 2010. http://dspace.africaportal.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/27230/1/Northern%20Distribution%20Network%20and%20Afghanistan.pdf.
- 44.
Jim Nichol, ‘Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications for US Interests’. Congressional Research Service, 2 April 2014.
- 45.
Georgian Millennium Challenge. https://www.mcc.gov/where-we-work/program/georgia-compact-ii.
- 46.
Dan Eggen, ‘Georgia Marches on Washington’, The Washington Post, 17 May 2012.
- 47.
United Nations General Assembly, 68th Session, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/262.
- 48.
In an editorial dated 27 April 2017, The Washington Post spoke for this element of the foreign policy establishment when they wrote, ‘One positive consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been to invigorate and accelerate efforts by the European Union to deepen its relations with two other former Soviet republics: Georgia and Moldova.’
- 49.
For further reading: Articles provide the bulk of the material on the US relationship with the six since 1991. However, two books stand out as particularly relevant: Steven Pifer’s The Eagle and the Trident: U.S.-Ukraine Relations in Turbulent Times (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2017) is a detailed analysis by a respected Ukraine expert and former US Ambassador. Another book by a former practitioner that provides a unique perspective on bilateral relations with all of these countries is Strobe Talbot’s The Russia Hand (New York: Random House, 2002).
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Bruder, J. (2020). The US and the New Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) Since 1991. In: Fawn, R. (eds) Managing Security Threats along the EU’s Eastern Flanks . New Security Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26937-1_4
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