European Union foreign policy: What it is and what it does

Book abstract:

Where would you find the European foreign policy? Certainly not in any of the libraries or archives of Brussels or Strasbourg and not in the 'Common Foreign and Security Policy' (CFSP). This book seeks to find that policy through analysis of the diverse and global record of European Union activities that if carried out by a nation state could clearly be identified as that state's foreign policy. What it is may therefore be defined by what it does.

Organised over nine chapters the author opens in chapter one with appraisal and disposal of the objections to the idea of a European foreign policy and goes on to develop a framework for analysis used throughout the book. Chapter two reports on the groundwork years 1945-68 and deals with the guiding elements in the Treaty of Rome with regard to relationships within Europe and those of Europe with countries external to its geographic boundaries but enjoying political and historical ties with the leading players France, Germany and Britain. The work moves in chapter 3 to cover the post 1969 period and demonstrates how the distinct philosophy, set of objectives and mode of decision-making that underlay European Union foreign policy came into being. How it works in practice is the stuff of chapter four. It also enlarges the analytical framework introduced in chapter one. European Union relationships with the non-European OECD states are evaluated in chapter five and chapter six examines the development of policy towards the Mediterranean and the Middle East (the near South). Relationships with the distant South (African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP), Asian and Latin American states) and the development-led nature of that policy are covered in chapter seven. European Union foreign policy will be driven by diverse views within the Union as they address the different parts of Europe - the five sub-regions - Northern Europe, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, East and Central Europe, South east Europe and the three Mediterranean applicants - Turkey Cyprus and Malta. These issues are discussed in chapter eight which closes the study of what the Union does and the author concludes in chapter nine that European foreign policy is not encapsulated in what is written in Treaties but in What it Does. Further investigation into the difference between what is written and what is done is needed and with this book Hazel Smith has erected a valuable signpost.

With EU foreign policy increasingly an essential component on European Studies courses this book will serve as a valuable reference tool for scholars and students as well as interesting political researchers and activists in the fields of European Union studies and international relations.

Hazel Smith is a Reader in International Relations at the University of Warwick and Director of the MA in International relations. She is currently based in Washington DC as a visiting Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace.