Making EU foreign policy. National preferences, European norms and common policies

As the European Union seeks to become a major player in world affairs, sceptics question the EU's ability to overcome differences in the outlooks and policy preferences of its member states. How then, and under what conditions, can the EU agree on strong common foreign policies that rise above the lowest common denominator?

This book provides a novel theoretical explanation and fourteen detailed case studies of how EU member states often reach agreement by pursuing their national interests in a manner which takes into account the values and commitments they have already articulated together. The case studies include diplomatic and security issues, enlargement, trade, development and environmental protection.

The book concludes with four commentaries on the project's implications for future research on EU foreign policy. Contributors include noted scholars of EU governance, foreign policy and international relations from across Europe and the US.

Contents:

Introduction
1. The Challenge of EU Foreign Policy - Daniel C.Thomas
2. Explaining EU Foreign Policy: Normative Institutionalism and Alternative Approaches - Daniel C.Thomas

Case Studies
3. EU Policy on Ukraine during and since the Orange Revolution: 'A door neither closed nor open' - Richard Youngs
4. EU Policy on the International Criminal Court: Institutional Contexts and Policy Compromises - Daniel C.Thomas
5. EU Policy on the Iraq War and its Aftermath: The Breakdown and Revival of Consensus-Based Decision-making - Jeffrey Lewis
6. EU Decision-making in CSDP: Consensus Building on Operation Artemis - Simon Duke
7. EU Membership Negotiations with Turkey: Entrapped Again - Frank Schimmelfennig
8. EU Policy on Economic Partnership Agreements: Trade ... and Aid? - Ole Elgström
9. EU Policy on Global Climate Change: The Negotiation of Burden-Sharing - John Vogler

Conclusions
10. Normative Institutionalism and EU Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective - Frank Schimmelfennig & Daniel C.Thomas
11. Norms and All That: Progress in Research on EU Foreign Policy - Thomas Risse
12. Interests, Power and the EU's Role in International Security: A Skeptical Response to Normative Institutionalism - Anand Menon
13. Norms, Institutions and EU Foreign Policy: Advancing the Research Programme - Michael E.Smith