The US and the New Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) Since 1991

Abstract

What is distinct about the US approach to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia? Since these states gained independence in 1991, the US has maintained an uneasy balance between its idealistic impulses and its realistic national interests. Viewed from outside the Eastern Partnership perspective, the US has developed very distinct relations with each member this collection of countries in Eastern Europe for country-specific reasons. The nature of each relationship is understood through identification of the foreign policy actors and constituencies in each. After NATO proved an imperfect institutional instrument for the promotion of Liberal Democratic values and regional stability, the US supported the EU’s Eastern Partnership. Whether the Trump Administration breaks with previous policy remains unclear, although Americans’ self-conception of themselves and the superiority of their own norms is unlikely to change.