Principal–agent analysis and the study of the EU: What about the EC’s external relations?

Abstract: This paper studies the influence and autonomy of the European Commission as an agent in a very particular policy area where European Studies and international relations meet: the EC's external trade policy. It presents a case study of the Commission's role within trade-related intellectual property rights-related World Trade Organisation disputes, which suggests that the principal–agent approach needs to be refined if it is to be successfully applied to the EC's common commercial policy, and possibly to other external policies as well.