Multivector foreign policy as contestation of European integration in candidate countries

We offer a novel perspective on domestic contestation of European integration via multi-vector foreign policy rhetoric in candidate countries of Eastern Europe. In the countries of Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Ukraine, political actors critical of European integration have traditionally employed this rhetoric to promote an alternative foreign policy path, one that maintains balanced relations with both, the EU and Russia. The study investigates how and when contestation of European integration is articulated through the lens of multi-vector foreign policy in the three candidate countries (and a prospective candidate, in the case of Armenia). Specifically, it examines which domestic actors employ this rhetoric and in what contexts. By focusing on political debates and elite discourses following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the study identifies the functions of a multi-vector rhetoric. The article contributes to foreign policy and Europeanisation literatures in two key ways. First, it demonstrates how multi-vector foreign policy rhetoric serves as a form of normative and strategic contestation of European integration. Second, it develops a two-by-two typology of European integration contestation strategies through multi-vector foreign policy rhetoric, offering a new analytical tool for understanding varying functions of multi-vector foreign policy rhetoric across candidate countries. By revealing how multi-vector policy is used to frame European integration contestation, the article sheds light on the broader dynamics of resistance to EU integration in candidate countries.