Accommodating Normative Divergence in European Foreign Policy Co-ordination: The Example of the Iraq Crisis

Abstract: In situations of international crises normative divergence regarding policy responses is a recurrent phenomenon. It is a problem which remains to be addressed despite assumptions about internationally established communities such as the liberal community of Western states. The case of the European Union's failure to co-ordinate a common policy response in connection with the war on Iraq demonstrates that conflict between Member States about appropriate common policy responses is enhanced by external crises. Common commitment to shared community norms is hence considered as an insufficient basis for policy consensus or, for that matter, sustainable compromise. The article discusses how and why these divergences emerge and suggests institutionalizing collective processes of norm contestation at the European level.