The role of EU and international organizations’ strategies and interdependencies in the transfer of international norms

Abstract

While most researchers studying Europeanisation and norm transfer focus on policy developments in recent years, this chapter adopts a longitudinal approach, which helps to nuance the seemingly predominant role of the EU in policy transfer in neighbouring states. Indeed, this contribution shows that until 2010, the EU had little influence on asylum policies in Ukraine, unlike the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Council of Europe. However, through the EU's sector-specific conditionality (VLAP) between 2010 and 2015, the EU has become the main driver of asylum reforms in Ukraine. This chapter also reveals the interdependence of the transfer activities of the EU and UNHCR.