This book presents a ground-breaking comparative study of the bilateral relations of all 27 EU member states with Russia and an assessment of their impact on the EU’s efforts to conduct a coherent and effective policy towards its most important neighbour. While there has been a lot of research on European foreign policy, there has been much less on the role that national foreign policies play in it. Based on a common analytical framework, this book offers a detailed analysis of ‘national perspectives on Russia’ and how they interact with and affect policymaking at the EU-level. The authors provide deep insights into the relationship between individual states and Russia looking at a range of policy areas: economics, trade, energy, security, culture and education. They are not only interested in examining policy failure but also probing the possibilities of seeing national foreign policies and the bilateralism with third parties that they often entail as a potentially positive resource for the European Union. As Russia is an example of a particularly hard case for EU foreign policy, this book yields important insights concerning the possibilities as well as limits of developing a common EU policy in the future. It will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, EU Studies, Russian politics, foreign policy studies and international politics.
During the last two decades the study of European foreign policy has experienced remarkable growth, presumably reflecting a more significant international role of the European Union. The Union has significantly expanded its policy portfolio and though empty symbolic politics still exists, the Union’s international relations have become more substantial and its foreign policy more focused. European foreign policy has become a dynamic policy area, being adapted to changing challenges and environments, such as the Arab Spring, new emerging economies/powers; the crisis of multilateralism and much more. The SAGE Handbook of European Foreign Policy, Two-Volume set, is a major reference work for Foreign Policy Programmes around the world. The Handbook is designed to be accessible to graduate and postgraduate students in a wide variety of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. Both volumes are structured to address areas of critical concern to scholars at the cutting edge of all major dimensions of foreign policy. The volumes are composed of original chapters written specifically to the following themes: · Research traditions and historical experience · Theoretical perspectives · EU actors · State actors · Societal actors · The politics of European foreign policy · Bilateral relations · Relations with multilateral institutions · Individual policies · Transnational challenges The Handbook will be an essential reference for both advanced students and scholars.
Eva Gross analyzes changing national preferences towards the EU CFSP and ESDP by providing detailed accounts of British, French and German crisis decision-making in FYROM, Afghanistan, Lebanon and DR Congo. While transatlantic relations remain important, crisis management under the EU label is increasingly accepted in national capitals.
"Explores European foreign policy and the degree of European Union success in proposing itself as a valid international actor, drawing from the expertise of scholars and practitioners in many disciplines. Addresses issues past and present, theoretical and practice-oriented, and country- and region-specific"-- Provided by publisher.
EU foreign and defence policy is largely formulated in the working parties and committees of the Council of the EU and the vast majority of decisions in this field are made by the national diplomats working in the around 35 groups of the CFSP/CSDP. Although the importance of these committees and their participants has been increasingly recognised, we still know relatively little about them. Using an original database of 138 questionnaires and 37 interviews, this book addresses this lack of knowledge, studying what these committees do and how they negotiate and resolve issues. It explores three key areas: the formulation of the national position; the identity of CFSP/CSDP policy-makers; negotiation practices and outputs. In doing so, it provides an innovative observation point from which EU foreign policy can be analysed. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of EU foreign and defence policy, external relations of the EU, European integration and politics, diplomacy and more broadly international relations.
This book examines the interplay between the national and the European levels in EU foreign policymaking, focusing on the Middle East. European engagement in peacemaking in the Middle East dates back to foreign-policy cooperation in the early 1970s. Following the launch of the peace process in 1991, the EU and its Member States further stepped up their involvement in conflict resolution, focusing on one central area of EU engagement - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This book covers the period from the beginning of the peace process in 1991 until 2008, and focuses on the actions of the big three Member States: Germany, France and the UK. Using the Europeanization concept as framework of analysis, the book examines the problematic dynamics between these Member States' national foreign-policy models and the construction of a common European conflict-resolution policy. It also provides interesting new insights into the EU's international role and potential, addressing the often neglected question of how Europeanization effects help to mitigate some of the classical limitations of European foreign policymaking. The book will be of great interest to students of EU policy, Middle Eastern Politics, peace and conflict resolution, security studies and IR.
This book examines the effects of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU) on the national foreign policies of Ireland and Austria. Small and neutral EU member states provide a fascinating case-study as the CFSP entails a dilemma for them. Their size may create assumptions that they are more likely to adopt EU policy, yet the traditional position of neutrality may act contrary to Europeanization. By concentrating on this side of the reciprocal relationship between EU and national foreign policy, the book takes a new and innovative approach to investigate prospects for a common European foreign policy, and goes beyond an examination of changes in the national foreign policies of Ireland and Austria to provide an engaging explanation and understanding of Europeanization. Based on a comprehensive conceptual framework, this text investigates three dimensions of national foreign policy; the Europeanization of foreign policy-making, the Europeanization of foreign policy substance and effects on neutrality, to create an accessible and informed insight into the evolution of European cooperation in the field of foreign policy, and the impact on national foreign policy. EU Foreign Policy and the Europeanization of Neutral States will be of interest to students and scholars of European Studies, International Relations and Foreign Policy.
Can a distinct national foreign policy still be identified for small EU member states, and what accounts for the balance between national and EU foreign policy? Henrik Larsen develops an analytical framework for analyzing these questions and offers solutions through an empirical examination of the foreign policy of a small EU member state in the context of EU foreign policy - the case of Denmark. The book looks at seven policy areas: policy towards other EU member states, anti-terrorism, development, the Balkans, Africa, Latin America and trade. On the basis of the empirical study, the implications for the theoretical study of national foreign policy in an EU Context are outlined. It is suggested that we need a new, mixed approach to foreign policy analysis within the EU taking into account the nature of the policy area concerned and national conceptions of actorness.
Five years ago observers might have doubted that national foreign policies would continue to be of importance: it seemed inevitable that collective European positions were becoming ever more common and effective. Now the pendulum has swung back with a vengeance. The divided European responses to the prospect of war with Iraq in 1990-91, and to the war in the Balkans have made what happens in the national capitals seem divisive. The Actors in Europe's Foreign Policy is a timely survey of the interplay between the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy and the long-established national foreign policies of the Union's Member-States. The book contains a chapter on each country in the Union as well as a chapter on the United States in its role as the `thirteenth seat at the table'. There is also a chapter on the European Commission, whose role in the external relations of the Community steadily grew during the 1980's. This book will be invaluable for students and scholars of the European Union and of international politics. It will also be of great interest to practitioners in all countries concerned with Europe's role in international affairs.