EU Geopolitical Actorness in a Changing World

This book elaborates on the assumption that the European Union (EU) actorness might be shifting from normative to geopolitical and strategic focus. Over the past few years, the EU has faced growing challenges such as disruptions in its vicinity, diffusion of global power, and renewed geopolitical competition. These external pressures have significantly impacted the EU, prompting it, among other measures, to announce a Geopolitical Commission. Academic literature has acknowledged the EU's shift from normative power to an increasingly geoeconomic and geopolitical approach. However, the notion of geopolitical actorness warrants closer scrutiny of its implications on foreign policy. This edited volume critically examines the EU's evolving strategy in a changing world. It provides a conceptual framework for rethinking the Union's global role and the renewal of foreign policy tools. The book offers a fresh and innovative perspective on whether the EU's ambition to assert new geopolitical leadership is actually backed by the effective implementation of policies and strategies needed to address emerging global challenges.

Opens an academic research agenda reflecting on actorness new challenges, requirements, and developments Analyses the current paradigm shift of the EU from normative power to geopolitical leadership Explores how actorness as a low politics tool and the EU will to lead a geopolitical Commission and strategic autonomy

Autorentext

Liridon Lika is a lecturer at the Center for International Relations Studies (CEFIR) at the Department of Political Science of the University of Liège (ULiège) in Belgium.

Dealan Riga is a researcher and teaching assistant at the Center for International Relations Studies (CEFIR) at the Department of Political Science of the University of Liège (ULiège) in Belgium.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction: Acknowledging EU Shifts of Paradigm.- Part 1: Deepening the Conceptual Toolbox.- Chapter 2: The Shocks That Bind Us: International Crises and the Political Strengthening of the EuropeanUnion.- Chapter 3: Evolution of European Union Power in Late-Westphalian International Environment.- Chapter 4: The Making of the EU's International Identity: How EU Interaction with Great Powers Shapesits Global Self Representation.- Chapter 5: Engaging Systemic Rivalry: Exploring the Geopolitization of EU Trade and Foreign Policy Toward China.- Chapter 6: Reinforcing EU's Actorness? A Look at EU's Reshaping of Security.- Part 2: Reflecting on EU Toolbox to Enable Geopolitical Actorness.- Chapter 7: Does the EU Have Sufficient Power for the Democratization in the Western Balkan Countries?.- Chapter 8: The Enlargement of the EU Towards the Western Balkans: Challenges and Opportunities.- Chapter 9: EU's Geopolitical Approach in the Eastern Neighbourhood and the Strategic Influence of the Euro-Atlantic Alliance Framework.- Chapter 10: EU's Cultural Influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Reassessing EU's Actorness in Shaping Geopolitics in the Western Balkans.- Chapter 11: Restrictive Measures as a Tool of Foreign Policy: The Case of European Sanctions in Belarus.- Chapter 12: EU Strategic Autonomy and Defence Capabilities after the Russian Invasion in Ukraine.- Part 3: Case Studies of EU Geopolitical Actorness . - Chapter 13: Public Attitudes Towards the EU in the Western Balkans.- Chapter 14: Geopolitical EU? The EU's Engagement with Ukraine in the Aftermath of the 2022 Russian Invasion.- Chapter 15: EU Actorness in the Middle East: An Enterprise Doomed to Fail?.- Chapter 16: Can the EU Act in the Indo-Pacific?.- Chapter 17: European Union's Use of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) to Promote its Geopolitical External Governance Interests in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and the Pacific.- Chapter 18: Conclusion: Assessment of the EU Geopolitical Actorness in a Shifting World Order.