A Distinct FPA for Europe? Towards a Comprehensive Framework for Analysing the Foreign Policy of EU Member States

Abstract: In the existing literature, the need for a distinctive approach to the analysis of foreign policy in Europe is usually seen as a uniform requirement applying across policy areas. At the same time, the criteria for judging the need for a new approach are underspecified. The article puts forward the argument that the approach to analysis of the national foreign policies of EU member states ought to vary according to the policy area under study. On the basis of an empirical study of Danish foreign policy, the article presents a comprehensive framework for the analysis of national foreign policy in an EU context which takes account of differing issue areas. The framework includes three analytical lenses: traditional FPA, transformed FPA and postmodern FPA. These lenses are derived from the strength of the EU policy and the national understandings of agency in the area concerned.