Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine: In or Out of European Regional International Society?

For the Western Newly Independent States (WNIS) of Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine a 'European choice' (defined as the aspiration to join Euro-Atlantic structures) remains an ambiguous opportunity. NATO enlargement is now firmly off the agenda, leaving the future status of the WNIS mainly dependent on engagement with the EU. Critics of the EU's 'eastern' policy - often referred to as 'enlargement lite' - contend that it risks leaving the WNIS on the fringes of the European mainstream with their fate dependent upon whether negative or positive determinants of EU integration ultimately prevail. Meanwhile, the WNIS constitute an 'in between' sub-region of post-enlargement Europe that can be construed as part of the outer layer of Europe's regional international society or, alternatively, at the intersection of two overlapping regional international societies. EU international society on the one side and on the other a conjectural 'Eurasian' regional international society premised on influences of the Soviet legacy and the lure of deeper integration with Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]