Search

This note makes the case for a research agenda that addresses the politicization of EU external relations. There is reason to think that, as it is happening on the related issues of globalization and European integration, the role of the EU in the world is becoming more contentious. The EU, an alleged norm exporter, might be turning more divided about the appropriateness of the norms that underpin EU external relations. The article argues that variation in the character of this politicization will depend on the degree of authority transferred to the EU and to international institutions. Such transfers will lead to different blends of two basic models of conflict over EU external relations. One has been described by the literature on the politicization of the EU and the other by the literature on normative processes that see international norms as the object of both promotion and dissent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) presents a Janus-faced profile concerning multilateralism. While in some areas it embraces multilateral institutions to a greater degree than other major players, in others it displays a less than unconditional support. Both patterns have been accounted for, but no account has explained why the EU shifts from one to the other. This article advances a reason for this bifurcated international identity. The EU is embedded in a world society that is culturally and normatively dense with regard to the standard of what qualifies as an actor. In the areas in which its actorness is further away from such a standard, the EU is impelled to take remedial action and embrace other components of the model of international actorness, like multilateral institutions and multilaterally developed norms. In order to test this hypothesis, the article examines the role of the EU vis-à-vis negotiations on anti-personnel landmines and hormone-treated beef. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]