How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis

In the discipline of European Union foreign policy analysis, quite a number of debates have focussed on determining what type of actor the EU is in international affairs (e.g. a normative power). While intellectually stimulating, these debates have regularly been held at too high a level of aggregat...

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Main Author: Simon Schunz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UACES 2010-05-01
Series:Journal of Contemporary European Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/223
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author Simon Schunz
author_facet Simon Schunz
author_sort Simon Schunz
collection DOAJ
description In the discipline of European Union foreign policy analysis, quite a number of debates have focussed on determining what type of actor the EU is in international affairs (e.g. a normative power). While intellectually stimulating, these debates have regularly been held at too high a level of aggregation. Breaking the question about the EU’s clout in international affairs down to the micro-level, this contribution takes up a conceptual and methodological challenge that is currently unaddressed in the discipline: developing a method suited for studying the EU’s concrete foreign policy activities and their effects so as to assess its actual influence on global politics. Importing insights on the concept of influence from public policy analysis, it designs an analytical framework that allows for statements about whether, how, to what extent and - ultimately - under what conditions the EU exerts influence in one important arena of international affairs, namely international regimes.
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spelling doaj.art-0fcbb55462f6457184e92cfaafb7d5eb2022-12-21T18:50:03ZengUACESJournal of Contemporary European Research1815-347X2010-05-0161How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy AnalysisSimon Schunz0University of Leuven (KUL)In the discipline of European Union foreign policy analysis, quite a number of debates have focussed on determining what type of actor the EU is in international affairs (e.g. a normative power). While intellectually stimulating, these debates have regularly been held at too high a level of aggregation. Breaking the question about the EU’s clout in international affairs down to the micro-level, this contribution takes up a conceptual and methodological challenge that is currently unaddressed in the discipline: developing a method suited for studying the EU’s concrete foreign policy activities and their effects so as to assess its actual influence on global politics. Importing insights on the concept of influence from public policy analysis, it designs an analytical framework that allows for statements about whether, how, to what extent and - ultimately - under what conditions the EU exerts influence in one important arena of international affairs, namely international regimes.https://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/223European Union foreign policyInfluence analysisInternational regime
spellingShingle Simon Schunz
How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis
Journal of Contemporary European Research
European Union foreign policy
Influence analysis
International regime
title How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis
title_full How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis
title_fullStr How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis
title_full_unstemmed How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis
title_short How to Assess the European Union’s Influence in International Affairs: Addressing a Major Conceptual Challenge for EU Foreign Policy Analysis
title_sort how to assess the european union s influence in international affairs addressing a major conceptual challenge for eu foreign policy analysis
topic European Union foreign policy
Influence analysis
International regime
url https://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/223
work_keys_str_mv AT simonschunz howtoassesstheeuropeanunionsinfluenceininternationalaffairsaddressingamajorconceptualchallengeforeuforeignpolicyanalysis