A Tale of Two States: Explaining the Divergent Outcomes of the EU Soft-Transformative Power in Albania and Georgia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46991/jia.2025.1.2.012Keywords:
EU Soft Power, EU Transformative Power, EU Geopolitical Power, Enlargement, Albania, GeorgiaAbstract
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.
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