Evolutionary institutionalism in Europe’s neighborhood post-enlargement: the European Neighborhood Policy brings geopolitics back in

A major conceptual overhaul is under way in the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) with significant consequences for its eastern dimension. This paper examines such policy adjustments from the perspective of evolutionary institutionalism. The paper revisits the changing rationale of the ENP due to the impact of the broader geopolitical environment on its normative structure and compliance mechanisms on the example of the EU’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) with six countries in the post-Soviet space. By tracing the evolution of the EaP as a result of the Ukraine crisis and the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union, the paper finds that the EaP’s progressive institutional growth has been replaced with the diversification of its governance mechanism, transforming the established top-down model of conditionality and deep institutionalization of the EU’s neighborhood relations. The evolving institutional arrangements of the EaP, nominally at odds with the principles of institutional continuity, demonstrate that international institutions are resilient vis-à-vis ecological pressures. These findings represent a novel contribution to the literature exploring the institutions-geopolitics dichotomy in the Europe/Eurasia region. The paper concludes that, as the EU has adapted to the structural dependencies of its partners, it is now better positioned to expand its influence in the post-Soviet space. The evolution of the EaP offers valuable insights into the actual process of building a more geopolitical EU: not by advancing pragmatic EU interests or establishing its own “soft” sphere of influence in the Europe/Eurasia region but by sustaining inclusive resilient and efficient institutions with a global outlook.