Concept of Resilience and Promotion of Civil Society in the EU Foreign Policy (on the Example of Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia

Key words: resilience, civil society, discourse, EU foreign policy, democracy promotion, Eastern Partnership, Russia. Why the discourse on civil society promotion has become one of the key aspects of the resilience concept in the EU foreign policy? In this research, I have tried to explain how and why this discourse had become one of the major discourses in the resilience paradigm of the European Union’s foreign policy. The discourse shows the fact that the EU lacks the trust to the authorities of third countries and underlines the importance of local actors in the democracy promotion. In its official documents, the EU has tried to stress many times that it is necessary to have strong and active societal actors that will participate in the local political processes and make their governments more accountable. As this research demonstrates, by the promotion of civil societies within the resilience paradigm, the EU promotes democracy, although without direct references to it. Thus, EU actions, first of all, contradict the notions about “pragmatic turn” in its foreign policy. Secondly, the hidden discourse on democracy promotion confirms the will of the EU to depoliticize the situation in order not to provoke third actors that have fears about the regime change and potential loss of power. Furthermore, the discourse shows that the EU is still intended to see the political transformations in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia, although without its direct intervention into these countries. According to the EU, the major role in the future transformations should be played by local societal actors.