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Understanding the European Union's External Relations

Edited by MICHELE KNODT, SEBASTIAAN PRINCEN

Published April 6th 2006 by Routledge – 240 pages

Series: Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science

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Description

The European Union is one of the world's biggest economies. However, its role as an international actor is ambiguous and it's not always able to transform its political power into effective external policies. The development of an 'assertive' European Union challenges the image of an internal project aimed at economic integration and international relations theories based on unitary state actors. This book systematically links the EU's external relations to existing political theories, showing how existing theories need to be modified in order to deal with specific characteristics of the EU as an international actor.

Contents

Part I - The development of the EU's external role: between co-operation and fragmentation

Part II - Internal decision making on external policies: the challenges of multiple levels and multiple pillars

Part III - Promoting European norms, values and ideas - the EU as an exporter of models

Part IV - Conclusion

Author Bio

Michèle Knodt is a postdoctoral researcher at the Utrecht School of Governance , University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Sebastiaan Princen is working as a researcher at the Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) in Rotterdam.

Name: Understanding the European Union's External Relations (Paperback) – Routledge 
Description: Edited by MICHELE KNODT, SEBASTIAAN PRINCEN. The European Union is one of the world's biggest economies. However, its role as an international actor is ambiguous and it's not always able to transform its political power into effective external policies. The development of an...
Categories: European Politics, European Union Institutions, International Relations