EU external policy at the crossroads: The challenge of actorness and effectiveness
| Author | Arne Niemann,Charlotte Bretherton |
| Date | 01 September 2013 |
| Published date | 01 September 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117813497306 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Relations
27(3) 261 –275
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/0047117813497306
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EU external policy at the
crossroads: The challenge of
actorness and effectiveness
Arne Niemann
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Charlotte Bretherton
Portsmouth University
Abstract
The goal of this Special Issue is to improve our conceptualisation and empirical understanding
of EU actorness and effectiveness in International Relations. While the European Union aspires
to play a greater global role, its actorness and effectiveness cannot be taken for granted given
the nature of the EU as a multi-level and semi-supranational polity encompassing 28 Member
States with diverse foreign policy preferences. The EU is presently at an important crossroad.
On the one hand, its external policy stature and capacity have been boosted by institutional
innovations and by the Union’s increased involvement in the full spectrum of international issues.
On the other hand, a number of factors cast doubt on the EU’s real external policy actorness and
effectiveness: slow and often only modest internal reforms, an increasing politicisation of formally
‘low politics’ issues, the prolonged sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone, and a less favourable
external environment, with the US shifting its focus to the Asia-Pacific region and emerging
powers creating a more polycentric world order. In view of these changes and subsequent
developments in the scholarly literature, our aim is to re-evaluate earlier conceptions of EU
actorness. Central to this re-evaluation will be a shift in focus from notions of actorness to
effectiveness. This introductory article will unpack and further elaborate the issues raised in this
abstract by delineating the EU as an international actor in the empirical context, by reviewing
the existing conceptual literature, defining and conceptualizing key notions and by providing an
overview of the contributions to this Special Issue.
Keywords
actorness, coherence, effectiveness, European Union (EU), EU external policy
Corresponding author:
Arne Niemann, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Jakob Welder-Weg
12, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
Email: arne.niemann@uni-mainz.de
497306IRE27310.1177/0047117813497306International RelationsNiemann and Bretherton
2013
Article
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