EU Foreign Policy in a Globalized World: Normative power and social preferences(Routledge/GARNET series)

Written by leading experts in the field, this volume identifies European collective preferences and analyzes to what extent these preferences inform and shape EU foreign policy and are shared by other actors in the international system. While studies of the EU’s foreign policy are not new, this book takes a very different tack from previous research. Specifically it leaves aside the institutional and bureaucratic dimensions of the European Union’s behaviour as an international actor in order to concentrate on the meanings and outcomes of its foreign policy taken in the broadest sense. Two outcomes are possible: Either Europe succeeds in imposing a norms-based international system and thus, in this case, its soft power capacity will not only have been demonstrated but will be enhanced Or, on the contrary, it does not succeed and the global system will become one where realpolitik reigns; especially once China, India and Russia attain a preponderant influence on the international scene. EU Foreign Policy in a Globalized World will be of interest to students and scholars of European Union politics, foreign policy and politics and international relations in general.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Norms and Preferences: History and Principles 1. The Normative Power of the European Union in a Globalised World 2. The Historicity of European Normative Power Part 2: The Reception of Democracy 3. Democratization by Extension: Seeking Reinsurance 4. The EU’s Promotion of Democracy in the Balkans 5. A Missed Opportunity? The EU and the Reform of the UN Human Rights Architecture 6. The Reception of EU Neighbourhood Policy 7. European Union’s Exportation of Democratic Norms: The Case of North Africa 8. The Uncertainties of Democratic Promotion in Afghanistan 9. The European Union, China and Human Rights

About the Author :
Zaki Laïdi is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre d’études européennes of Sciences Po, Paris, France. He is also Professor at Sciences Po Paris and Collège de Bruges, Belgium.

Review :
'This volume provides a highly stimulating set of essays on this understudied phenomenon. Moreover, in analytical terms, this volume succeeds in its own terms in providing the first step forward in what will hopefully become a more comprehensive research program. Above all, the volume accomplishes something valuable in introducing this significant subject area to the academic agenda while revealing its complexity, relevance, and interest.' - M. L. R. Smith, Democracy and Security, Vol. 6, 1, March 2010