Normative Power Europe: A Tool for Consolidating European standards? : A qualitative study of the European Union's normative power practice through the European Neighborhood Policy in Moldova.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Moldovan government has become both fragile and unpredictable. With a high susceptibility to external pressures, the country has fallen into a limbo between democracy and autocracy and is today classified as a hybrid regime. Since Moldovas entry to the EU's Neighborhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership in 2008, the country's sensitivity to social and political change has become evident. The EU has acted as a normative power in the country in several ways by pursuing a neighborhood policy that seeks to consolidate European norms. This study aims to explain how the EU can be seen as a normative power in Moldova through the theoretical framework of Normative Power Europe (NPE). The thesis also aims to descripture how the EU uses the five basic principles of NPE regarding peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law as normative guidelines for influencing the country's political direction. A conclusion can be drawn that the EU appears to be using the neighborhood policy tools to consolidate European norms through sanctions, association agreements and treaties, thus keeping Moldova's political development in an iron fist