Resilience in the Eastern Partnership: State Versus Society

Building state and societal resilience in the EU neighbourhood has been identified as one of the key priorities in the EU Global Strategy and in the subsequent Joint Communication on resilience in the neighbourhood. The concept talks about “adaptability” and “capacity” of both state and society. When in place, the two are no doubt mutually reinforcing. Yet, in non-democratic settings a resilient state does not necessarily produce a resilient society and visa-versa. To the contrary, there may be tensions between the two. While historically more focused on working with governments, the EU has become more active in reaching out to civil society actors over the past decade. Its delegations now develop country-specific civil society road maps, ENP umbrella funds are also used to support civil society actors that advocate for reforms. The Commission’s Supporting Democracy initiative is aimed at engaging with local civil societies directly. What seems to be missing, both in conceptual and in practical terms, is the link between the resilience of the state and that of the society. This paper develops an analytical framework that specifies the meanings of “adaptability” and “capacity” for states and for societies and defines conditions under which the two are mutually reinforcing. Drawing on original empirical research, it offers a critical exploration of state-society relations in three Eastern Partnership countries that represent three different types of state-society relations - Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine - that vary with respect to state capacity, degree of political competition, and state relations with civil society.