CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Kurasbediani, Sophiko |
|---|---|
| Title | The Hidden Costs of Regional Integration: The Case of Georgia and Ukraine |
| Summary | After almost two decades of political commitment and a number of intergovernmental agreements, the path of Georgia and Ukraine towards the EU has proven to be relatively slow; the membership perspective remains unrealistic, and there is hardly any economic interdependence. Following Walter Mattli’s framework, this thesis moves beyond state-centric theories of integration. Instead, it focuses on analyzing the demand-side factors, the role of the market player and the sub-state linkages in determining Georgia’s and Ukraine’s integration path. The thesis argues that the existence of an alternative market for the Georgian and Ukrainian businesses and the lack of interest from the European transnational corporations to operate and establish production sits in the above-mentioned countries is one of the main causes of the lack of advance in the quest for EU membership. Taking the 2004 EU enlargement and the experience of the eight CEE acceding countries as a heuristic device, the thesis further stresses that the absence of an alternative market other than the EU for the CEEC and their early embeddedness in European value chains played a significant role in motivating big firms and transnational corporations to lobby for EU’s eastward enlargement. By examining the trade-related statistics of exports and imports and the allocation of the production sites of European transnational corporations, the thesis concludes that the economic linkages between the European Union and Georgia and Ukraine are not strong enough to assume that market forces will find it beneficial to push for further regional integration and liberalization of trade. |
| Supervisor | Daniel Izsak |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/kurasbediani_sophiko.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University