Growing Global Popularity Of The Putin Syndrome, Explained

What You Need To Know:

✓ There is fatigue in Western and also Central Europe for EU expansion;
✓ The Putin Syndrome: 'it doesn’t cost you anything to claim you are democrat while in the background you can do all sorts of nasty things'
✓ Turkey, some countries of Eastern Europe aren't keen on being part of a system of accountability, transparency, and power sharing.

Balkan Devlen, Associate Professor of International Relations in Izmir University of Economics spoke about Europe’s stance toward expanding eastward, “There is a sense of expansion and enlargement fatigue with European Union. The public has lost enthusiasm for expansion, and there is a lot of skepticism in Central Europe.

When it starts hitting home in terms of economy, it’s very hard to say we want to spend more money, that’s not going to happen."

On the other hand, in the case of Turkey and some actors in the eastern partnership he is skeptical that they really want to be a part of the EU, " I am not sure they are actually very keen on being part of a system of accountability, transparency, and power sharing."

He believes a country labeling itself a “democracy” works to the benefit of many non-democratic states. “It doesn’t cost you anything to claim you are democrat while in the background you can do all sorts of nasty things. But the cost of at least public image in regards to western institutions is high. So by declaring yourself a democracy, it minimizes the criticism from the West. It’s a win-win situation for the autocrats and some of the Western leaders who are not willing to stand up for their values.”

Hromadske International's Maxim Eristavi spoke to Balkan Devlen, Associate Professor of International Relations in Izmir University of Economics in Riga in November, 2015.

Growing Global Popularity Of The Putin Syndrome, Explained by Hromadske International on Mixcloud