The EU as an international actor
Research group
Prof. Teija Tiilikainen, Project leader, University of Helsinki
Prof. Tuomas Forsberg, University of Helsinki
Antti Seppo, University of Helsinki
Mikko Tyrväinen, University of Helsinki
The project deals with the EU’s power in international relations. The general issue at stake is how effectively the EU is able to influence third parties in international relations and what the significance of the different types of power it has (economic, military, political) is in the use of power. A second comprehensive question posed deals with the EU’s internal power political configuration: the member states most often have different roles as long as it comes to the formulation of the Union’s interests as well as contributing to its power resources. Even if the key focus of the study lies at the international level, a separate analysis is conducted concerning the sources, interests and power at the member state level.
The key academic relevance of the project relates thus first to a concrete testifying of the general conception of the EU as an actor unable to make use of its multifaceted potential. Moreover, we will address important questions related to the analysis of power as such in international politics, looking at different forms (e.g. soft and hard or economic, military, political and even cultural) of power, the fungibility of power and the material vs. social construction of power. Both goals will be achieved by a number of concrete case studies.
The first task of the research project is to outline and analyse on the basis of the existing academic discourse the forms and components of power that the EU can be seen to have at its disposal. A further discussion on the actorness of the EU is added to this. Also the following questions are to be addressed. What are the kinds of qualifications that the EU is expected to hold in order to make an effective use of its power potential? Does the concept of the EU as a normative power have any real currency?
The first undertaking of the project comprises an extensive seizure of the theoretical and conceptual discourse of power and an elaboration of its use in the EU context. The second stage of the project consists of a number (8-10) of case studies which draw a picture of the EU’s use of power in different contexts and of the relationship among the various forms of power. The case studies of the EU’s external policies can be divided into a number of basic categories (bi- and multilateral, relations with candidate countries, PCA-countries etc.) Examples of all the categories will be included in the case studies. In addition to the analysis of power in the EU, the case studies also aim at identifying what is the role of small member states (e.g. Finland) in contributing to EU’s international power and in shaping its use.
Finally, the project aims at building a more sustained view of the current and the future power position of the EU vis-à-vis third parties. Through the discussion of the theoretical themes and the selection of case studies, the project will thus be in a position to build an analytically strong and empirically more systematic picture of the EU as an international actor than has been the case so far.