To act as a Union : Explaining the development of the EU's collective foreign policy
(2005) In Lund Political Studies- Abstract
- It is difficult for states to cooperate on issues related to international peace and security. Yet, ever since 1970, the EU member states have succeeded to gradually intensify their foreign policy cooperation and increasingly act in unison towards the rest of the world. This PhD thesis seeks an explanation to this trend. It does so by initially painting a picture of when, in time, the volume and content of the Union's collective foreign policy changed during the thirty-year period between 1970 and 1999. It then proceeds to use this picture when investigating three theoretically guided questions: Is it primarily the successive institutional changes that have enabled the EU members to agree more frequently at times? Are they perhaps... (More)
- It is difficult for states to cooperate on issues related to international peace and security. Yet, ever since 1970, the EU member states have succeeded to gradually intensify their foreign policy cooperation and increasingly act in unison towards the rest of the world. This PhD thesis seeks an explanation to this trend. It does so by initially painting a picture of when, in time, the volume and content of the Union's collective foreign policy changed during the thirty-year period between 1970 and 1999. It then proceeds to use this picture when investigating three theoretically guided questions: Is it primarily the successive institutional changes that have enabled the EU members to agree more frequently at times? Are they perhaps periodically driven closer together as the threats facing the EU have changed? Or, is it recurrent disagreements with the world's sole superpower that generates additional political will to act as a Union? The findings suggest that changing threats are not the most important driving force, and that institutional modifications have rarely been immediately followed by any substantial changes in the Union's foreign policy. Instead, the political will to cooperate has periodically increased when EU members have disagreed with American strategies on international security management. The new levels of cooperation have often been ?locked in? by new institutional changes, before another transatlantic dispute has erupted and highlighted ? again ? the need to balance American influence. These conclusions are eventually illustrated and corroborated by an in-depth study of events during the period surrounding the Iraq war in 2003. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Varför lyckas EU-länderna allt oftare agera gemensamt i frågor som rör internationell fred och säkerhet? Genom att först visa hur volymen och innehållet i Unionens gemensamma utrikes- och säkerhetspolitik har expanderat sedan 1970, närmar sig denna studie ovanstående fråga från tre olika vinklar: Är det först och främst gradvisa institutionella förändringar som möjliggjort mer gemensamt agerande? Eller, har EU-länderna periodvis drivits samman av förändrade hotbilder från omvärlden? Eller, är det ständigt återkommande oenighet med världens enda supermakt som skapar en ökad politisk vilja att agera gemensamt? Slutsatserna visar att förändrade hot inte är bland de viktigaste förklaringarna, och att... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Varför lyckas EU-länderna allt oftare agera gemensamt i frågor som rör internationell fred och säkerhet? Genom att först visa hur volymen och innehållet i Unionens gemensamma utrikes- och säkerhetspolitik har expanderat sedan 1970, närmar sig denna studie ovanstående fråga från tre olika vinklar: Är det först och främst gradvisa institutionella förändringar som möjliggjort mer gemensamt agerande? Eller, har EU-länderna periodvis drivits samman av förändrade hotbilder från omvärlden? Eller, är det ständigt återkommande oenighet med världens enda supermakt som skapar en ökad politisk vilja att agera gemensamt? Slutsatserna visar att förändrade hot inte är bland de viktigaste förklaringarna, och att institutionella förändringar sällan har följts av omedelbara förändringar i den gemensamma politiken. Istället har den politiska viljan att samarbeta ökat under perioder när EU-medlemmar har varit oeniga med USA om säkerhetspolitiska strategier för internationell fred och säkerhet. De nya samarbetsnivåerna har sedan ofta "låsts in" av nya institutionella lösningar, för att sedan stiga igen när en ny transatlantisk meningsskiljaktighet har materialiserats och påmint - igen - om behovet av att balansera USA:s globala inflytande. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/24443
- author
- Strömvik, Maria LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Goldmann, Kjell, Stockholm University
- organization
- publishing date
- 2005
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- common foreign and security policy, European Union, institutionalism, international cooperation, Political and administrative sciences, balance of influence, balance of threat, realism, balance of power, European political cooperation, transatlantic relations, European security and defence policy, Statsvetenskap, förvaltningskunskap
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 142
- pages
- 285 pages
- publisher
- Department of Political Science, Lund University
- defense location
- Edens hörsal Paradisgatan 5 Lund
- defense date
- 2005-09-24 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 0460-0037
- ISBN
- 91-88306-54-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f1473fc7-ccc0-4f06-96f9-d0765185bbdd (old id 24443)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:31:15
- date last changed
- 2023-04-18 19:33:07
@phdthesis{f1473fc7-ccc0-4f06-96f9-d0765185bbdd,
abstract = {{It is difficult for states to cooperate on issues related to international peace and security. Yet, ever since 1970, the EU member states have succeeded to gradually intensify their foreign policy cooperation and increasingly act in unison towards the rest of the world. This PhD thesis seeks an explanation to this trend. It does so by initially painting a picture of when, in time, the volume and content of the Union's collective foreign policy changed during the thirty-year period between 1970 and 1999. It then proceeds to use this picture when investigating three theoretically guided questions: Is it primarily the successive institutional changes that have enabled the EU members to agree more frequently at times? Are they perhaps periodically driven closer together as the threats facing the EU have changed? Or, is it recurrent disagreements with the world's sole superpower that generates additional political will to act as a Union? The findings suggest that changing threats are not the most important driving force, and that institutional modifications have rarely been immediately followed by any substantial changes in the Union's foreign policy. Instead, the political will to cooperate has periodically increased when EU members have disagreed with American strategies on international security management. The new levels of cooperation have often been ?locked in? by new institutional changes, before another transatlantic dispute has erupted and highlighted ? again ? the need to balance American influence. These conclusions are eventually illustrated and corroborated by an in-depth study of events during the period surrounding the Iraq war in 2003.}},
author = {{Strömvik, Maria}},
isbn = {{91-88306-54-2}},
issn = {{0460-0037}},
keywords = {{common foreign and security policy; European Union; institutionalism; international cooperation; Political and administrative sciences; balance of influence; balance of threat; realism; balance of power; European political cooperation; transatlantic relations; European security and defence policy; Statsvetenskap; förvaltningskunskap}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{142}},
publisher = {{Department of Political Science, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{To act as a Union : Explaining the development of the EU's collective foreign policy}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4697633/26560.pdf}},
year = {{2005}},
}