Learning the ropes and embracing the rules: CFSP institutions as arenas for learning and strategic socialisation

The aim of this article is to analyse those situations in which learning and socialisation take place within the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in particular, at the level of experts in the Council Working Groups. Learning can explain the institutional development of CFSP and changes in the foreign policies of the Member States. Some scope conditions for learning and channels of institutionalisation are identified. Socialisation, resulting from learning within a group, is perceived as a strategic action by reflective actors. National diplomats, once they arrive in Brussels, learn the new code of conduct of their Working Groups. They are embedded in two environments and faced with two logics: the European one in the Council and the national one in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The empirical evidence supports the argument that neither rational nor sociological approaches alone can account for these processes.

Playing the Brussels game: Strategic socialisation in the CFSP Council Working Groups | Juncos | European Integration online Papers (EIoP) http://eiop.or.at/eiop/index.php/eiop/article/view/2006_011a

European Union - EEAS (European External Action Service) | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union http://eeas.europa.eu/cfsp/index_en.htm

Política Exterior y de Seguridad Común (PESC) de la Unión Europea http://eeas.europa.eu/cfsp/index_es.htm

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