Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine constituted a watershed in Europe’s post-Cold War history. This Element analyses the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine crisis for the EU’s political development from a Rokkanian perspective of polity formation as boundary change. It distinguishes two crisis logics that have shaped the EU crisis response: attacks, which originate in threats to fundamental community values, and failures, which stem from policy shocks exposing capacity deficits. Our analysis examines five empirical implications of the crisis logics: crisis framing, domestic and intergovernmental preference constellations, crisis negotiations, and boundary-formation outcomes. The evidence shows the predominance of the attack logic resulting in EU boundary change excluding Russia and including Ukraine. In addition, distinct episodes of failure in the domains of energy security, defence procurement, and financial assistance have generated a crisis response resulting in EU-level capacity building.
The European Union and the Russia–Ukraine Crisis
Book, 2027
Ghincea, M., Invernizzi, A., Nasr, M. & Schimmelfennig, F. (2027). The European Union and the Russia–Ukraine Crisis. Cambridge Elements in European Politics. Cambridge University Press. Forthcoming.