Both NATO and the EU have devised multifaceted outreach strategies (bi- and multilateral) to address security problems at Europe’s flammable eastern periphery comprising Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, all of which are unlikely to join either of these organizations in the foreseeable future. Particularly noteworthy are NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) which extends deep into the former Soviet space, as well as the EU’s Eastern Partnership scheme and CSDP operations in the area.
Drawing on neo-institutionalism and the institutional choice literature the paper provides an analysis of the nature and effectiveness of these strategies. It examines the extent to which the two mandates overlap with a potential for inter-institutional competition, or create a synergic bond in a sense of an effective division of labor, and determines how this mitigates or enhances overall institutional effectiveness.
