European Union Governance in Central Asia

Marek Neuman is Assistant Professor in EU Foreign Policy and Jean Monnet Chair of European Policy and Governance at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His research interests are the EU’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the role Central and Eastern European countries play in shaping this.Agha Bayramov is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and International Organization of the University of Groningen. His research interests are energy security, the Caspian Sea region, Karabakh, Eurasia, infrastructure, and climate change. He is a co-founder of The Hague Research Institute for Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

• Introduction: The European Union’s Governance in Central Asia –A Sectoral Approach JULIA K. MEYER, MAREK NEUMAN AND AGHA BAYRAMOVPART IEuropean Union Governance in Central Asia: A ConceptualAccount 1 EU Foreign Policy and How Contested Spaces Become Regions SENKA NEUMAN STANIVUKOVIĆ AND MAREK NEUMAN2 Designing, Mapping, and Reshaping Borders: EuropeanNeighbourhood Policy and Central Asia MUSTAFA ALI SEZAL3 The EU’s Role as a Partner in Region-Building in Central Asia IKBOLJON QORABOYEVPART IIEuropean Union Governance in Central Asia: An EmpiricalAccount of Energy and Security Politics 4 Geopolitical Constraints in the EU’s Revised Strategy towardsKazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan AGHA BAYRAMOV AND FABIO INDEO5 The EU’s Green Normative Power in Central Asia: The Case ofthe Aral Sea and Water Management Policies in Kazakhstan andUzbekistan ANA-MARIA ANGHELESCU AND IOAN-DAVID ONEL6 The European Union’s Role in Addressing EnvironmentalDisputes in Central Asia: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a“Reluctant 3rd Party” ALEXANDRU BALAS7 Turning Bridges into Walls: The EU and Border Management inCentral Asia VIKTORIA AKCHURINA AND VINCENT DELLA SALAPART IIIEuropean Union Governance in Central Asia: An EmpiricalAccount of Sectoral Politics 8 The Promotion of EU Principles and Values through FacebookDiplomacy in the Countries of Central Asia BORNA ZGURIĆ , ĐANA LUŠA AND LIDIJA KOS-STANIŠIĆ9 EU Aid and Good Governance in Central Asia TAALAIGUL USONOVA AND AILUNA SHAMURZAEVA10 The European Union as a Rule of Law Promoter in CentralAsia: Some Lessons Learned from e-Justice Implementation inKyrgyzstan ALIIA MARALBAEVA11 Various Understandings of Rule of Law: Conceptualization of anActor-Centric Perspective NARGIZA KILICHOVA12 The Role of Foreign Actors in the Modernization of HigherEducation in Uzbekistan ALEX KROUGLOVConclusion: EU-Central Asia Relations – Adapting to New Realitieson the Ground AGHA BAYRAMOV AND MAREK NEUMAN