Softening the blow: Assessing the European Soft Power Shield Against Hybrid Threats in the Eastern Partnership (EaP)

Mgr. Arturo Simone

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This research explores the role of the European Union (EU) soft power in combating hybrid threats within the security domain of the Eastern partnership (EaP). Contemporary times, characterised by conflict in Eastern Europe and Gaza, have raised once more the subject of European defence and security from state and non-state actors, both of which increasingly weaponise non conventional warfare tactics. Solely in terms of Russian-led hybrid attacks, its presence has been recorded in all six EaP nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine in 2020 (Ratsyborinska, 2021). The goals of the European Union and its partners in the Transatlantic alliance have long looked at alternative tools to fight hybrid threats, often identified within the sphere of soft power. However, the divide between the objectives and the means to achieve them in foreign affairs is too often underscored by the EU, as the capability-expectations gap first introduced by Hill (1993) observes. While the toolbox of the Union has unequivocally expanded throughout the past decades since the creation of the Common Foreign Security Policy CFSP and the European External Action Service EEAS, a report on its developments in the field of countering hybrid threats in the EaP is presented. This aims to highlight the role that soft power has had thus far in furthering European goals, as well as the limitations encountered. Incorporating a document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and academic sources, this report investigates the role that EU soft power has had in combating hybrid threats vis a vis its potential to reach European overarching security goals. A multi-faceted discussion on the various aspects via which the issue is to be addressed, spacing from the legal, economic, and political spheres, ensures a pragmatic and multidisciplinary research. The ultimate outcome is that of contributing to the academic debate on the potentials of European soft power for the EU security toolbox, and that of providing valuable recommendations for the way forward.

Keywords

European Union, Hybrid threats, Soft Power, Capabilities-Expectations Gap, Foreign Policy, Defence, Security, Eastern Partnership, NATO, Russia.

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 18. 8. 2024

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 18. 8. 2024
• Supervisor: Urszula Jaremba
• Reader: Mgr. Petra Kuchyňková, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
European Governance / European Governance