As the world looks to Europe to take on more responsibility in international politics and security in the devastating aftermath of Bosnia and Kosovo, this pathbreaking book provides the first systematic evaluation of the political impact of the European Union (EU) on a global scale. Little is known of the EU's international political influence, yet if the EU is to develop a viable Common Foreign and Security Policy, other actors will have to perceive the Union as an important player. Roy Ginsberg fills this vital gap by first linking the contexts and sources of EU foreign policy actions with the processes and outputs of decisionmaking and then examining how outsiders view the EU. Combining a masterly synthesis of the literature with invaluable primary interviews and case studies that document the reach of and limits to the EU's political influence, Ginsberg takes the study of EU foreign policy to a new level of analysis. By defining, describing, and explaining the different levels and degrees of external political impact, the book serves as a model for the advancement of conceptual knowledge, rigorous political science research, and state-of-the-art survey techniques and methodology. Scholars, students, and practitioners alike will find this rounded and nuanced work indispensable for understanding EU involvement in international politics seen from the perspective of non-EU players, particularly after the war in Kosovo; the enactment of the Treaty of Amsterdam; the Irish "no" vote for the Treaty of Nice; and the efforts forged by the Europeans to operationalize the new political, security, and military committees associated with the European Security and Defense Policy.

Divisions in the EU are considered, as well as the conflicts that have arisen from enlargement and foreign policy concerns. Leading specialists on European politics and society reflect on the nature of consensus and competition between elites, and whether the EU may be able to provide a sense of common identity and purpose for its citizens.

This accessible new textbook situates the European Union in a dramatically changed world order. Resisting a more traditional and abstract introduction to the institutions, structures and policy making processes of the EU, this innovative new text cuts through the jargon to demonstrate how hard the EU must work to retain its international influence. Taking into account the latest empirical developments, including the spread of war and violence in the East with Ukraine and the ongoing turbulent politics of North Africa and the Middle East, Richard Youngs – an expert in the field – introduces us to how the EU has been forced to act differently. The book is unique in offering an outside-in conceptual framework that inverts the way that the EU external action is studied and understood. It unpacks the different international challenges the EU has faced in recent years, including the weakening of global order, the need for more protective security, geo-economic competition, climate change and conflicts to its east and south. In each case the book examines how the EU has responded and how its core international identity has changed as a result, assessing whether the Union still retains strong global influence. This book is the ideal companion for students taking modules on the European Union's foreign policy, global politics, and for students of European Union Politics more broadly at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The European Union (EU) is a unique political experiment that challenges many of the prevailing assumptions about world politics. This new book, by one of the leading American scholars on the EU, examines its key role in global politics and how the continued success of European integration means that scholars must rethink international relations theory. Drawing on the author's rich array of theory and empirical research in this area, this book addresses many of the key issues facing the EU. Core subjects covered include: theories of European integration liberal international relations theory constructivism and the EU legitimacy in the EU European integration and national policies human rights and international law transatlantic relations. Andrew Moravcsik has made many seminal contributions to our understanding of the European Union. This is essential new reading for all students and scholars with an interest in the EU, international relations and theories of world politics.

Two major themes in contemporary international relations—Sino-European relations and global governance—are both addressed in this volume. In its focused analysis of Sino-European relations, global governance serves as both a topic for analysis and a conceptual framework to join together individual chapters. Featuring perspectives from a diverse group of established and promising young scholars from China, Europe, and elsewhere, this book has important implications for Chinese foreign policy, the European Union, the future of global governance, and international relations at large.

This book argues that in a range of policy areas - trade, multilateral diplomacy, security, development cooperation, democracy and human rights, energy security – the EU appears to be in retreat from liberal internationalism.

How do political authorities build support for themselves and their rule? Doing so is key to accruing power, but it can be a complicated affair. The European Union, as a novel political entity, faces a particularly difficult set of challenges. The Politics of Everyday Europe argues that the legitimation of EU authority rests in part on a transformation in the symbols and practices of everyday life in Europe. The Single Market and the Euro, the legal category of European Citizen and policies promoting the free movement of people, EU public architecture, arts and popular entertainment, and EU diplomacy and foreign policy all generate symbols and practices that change peoples' day-to-day experiences naturalizing European governance.The modern nation-state has long used similar strategies of nationalism and 'imagined communities' to legitimize its political power. But the EU's cultural infrastructure is unique, as it navigates European national identities with a particularly banality, trying to make the EU seem complementary to, not in competition with, the nation-states. While this cultural legitimation has successfully underpinned the EU's surprising political development, Europe today is more often met with indifference by its citizens rather than affection. As economic and political crises have stretched European social solidarity to the breaking point, this book offers a clear theoretical framework for understanding how everyday culture matters fundamentally in the political life of the EU, and how the construction of meaning can be a potent power resource-albeit one open to contestation and subversion by the very citizens it calls into being.