But unlike the “accession neighbors” of Central Europe or the Western Balkans, the EU's eastern neighbors have two other alternatives to the EU: joining the gradually re-consolidating Russian “sphere of influence” or playing a Tito-style game of perpetual maneuvering between East and West to strengthen their position, rather than fully committing to one or the other. The new neighbors can more easily eschew EU conditionality and attendant reforms. They also have deeply corrupt and often authoritarian elites whose primary goal is to stay in power.