The European Union lecture 11.ppt

EU 's relations to great powers Lecture no. 11 The EU and international relations EU as a subsystem of IR ?A munity; a heavily institutionalized alliance; a federalizing political system ?petences varies from area to area. Strong on the economy but weaker in strategic foreign policy ?Need to forge consensus among member states and aggregate national interests ?Need to forge an external identity that all member states can adhere to ?But, interesting as an example of peaceful regional integration Strength and weaknesses ?Peace and economic development in Europe ?Intra-petition contained ?Strong influence on neighbours that want to join ?Provided agreement is reached, EU carries weight through size and economic wealth ?Room for bilateral approaches and modation of unwilling member states ?Need much time for internal negotiations ?Cannot always create aggregate interests among member states ?Let itself be divided ?Lack of coherence in policy scope create inconsistency in policy approach ?Not present in UNSC, IMF, World Bank as one ?National bilateral approaches often preferred by big member states EU as a power in international relations ?A normative, atypical power ?Traditionally reluctant/unable to take a stance on issues of international politics ?Increasingly building harder approaches to certain kind of security threats –Gaining actorsness in