ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the possibilities and constraints that arise when the 'power of authority' and the 'power of coercion' interact with each other, and how this interaction affects third parties. It focuses on the Russia's and the EU's internal development, and how they affect the types of power relations that the two build with the outside world. The book then reviews the Russia-EU relations, and concentrates on Russia and the EU within the 'common neighborhood' area. It also focuses on economic sanctions as coercive tools that are available to all states, both ones with democratic and nondemocratic political regimes. The chapter reviews the EU to analyze what toolkit for external interactions its multilevel governance system has produced and now has at its disposal.
