European Union Foreign Policy: from Effectiveness to Functionality(Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics)

The study of EU foreign policy has for a long time been haunted by Henry Kissinger's famous quip, "what number do I call if I want to get through to Europe?" This has prompted scholars to inquire into the effectiveness of the EU as an international actor. Arguing that the focus on effectiveness has pushed EU studies too far into the world of policy planning, this book examines EU foreign policy from the perspective of functionality. It asks what function foreign policy co-operation plays in the wider European integration process. The findings are original and striking: EU foreign policy serves as a way of managing Europe's retreat from power politics, is the site for inter-institutional struggles between the Council, Commission and Parliament within the EU, and increasingly provides the EU with a new identity at a time when the traditional narratives of European integration are no longer so convincing for European citizens. Far from being the poor cousin of other policy areas, foreign policy is increasingly the terrain upon which the future of the EU is being decided.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Functionality in EU Foreign Policy: A Framework of Analysis Managing Ambivalence: National Foreign Policy in an Age of 'Power Avoidance' The Politics of Performance: Turf Battles in EU Foreign Policy Normative Power and the EU's Search for Meaning Saving the Union? EU Foreign Policy and the Democratic Deficit Conclusion

About the Author :
CHRIS J. BICKERTON Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was previously Departmental Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Oxford. He has published widely in the field of European Studies and International Relations, in journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies, Political Studies and International Politics.

Review :
"Anyone thinking that the EU's foreign policy is primarily about changing the world rather than changing itself, think twice. Through the simply idea of functionality, Bickerton's book offers a brilliant and sober new prism through which to appraise the current debate over Europe's mission to contribute to a new world order. Perhaps counter-intuitively, this is an optimistic book: CFSP achieves more than its straightforward foreign policy claims. A must read for anyone interested in world politics.' - Kalypso NicolaIdis, Professor, University of Oxford, UK 'A clear, analytically sophisticated and refreshingly original analysis of the European Union as an international actor. Bickerton argues that the functionality of the Union's external policies should not be judged by the metric of the foreign policy of traditional nation states. Rather, its purpose is as a site for institutional competition within the EU and as a narrative for the next phase of European integration.' - Anand Menon, Professor of West European Politics, University of Birmingham, UK 'The great interest of this work by Chris Bickerton is that he situates the debate around the role of the European Union in a way that takes us away from the well-worn path of academic reflection dominated by purely institutional concerns. By putting the question of meaning at the heart of the EU's foreign policy, he brilliantly contributes to the renewal of the study of the international relations of Europe, a renewal to be welcomed given the doubt that has taken hold of Europeans as regards their capacity to influence world affairs'. - Zaki LaIdi, Research Professor, Sciences Po, Paris, France