The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Introduction: The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor

   • Joachim A. Koops, Gjovalin Macaj

   Pages 1-10

3. The EU as a Diplomatic Actor in the Post-Lisbon Era: Robust or Rootless Hybrid?

   • Michael H. Smith

   Pages 11-30

4. EU Diplomacy in Global Governance: The Role of the European External Action Service

   • Knud Erik Jørgensen

   Pages 31-51

5. Evaluating the Impact of EU Diplomacy: Pitfalls and Challenges

   • Yvonne Kleistra, Niels van Willigen

   Pages 52-68

6. Diplomacy at the Individual Level: The Role of EU Special Representatives in European Foreign Policy

   • Dominik Tolksdorf

   Pages 69-87

7. Speak up! Getting the EU a Voice at the UN General Assembly

   • Fernando Andresen Guimarães

   Pages 88-102

8. The EU as a Coercive Diplomatic Actor? The EU-3 Initiative towards Iran

   • Tom Sauer

   Pages 103-119

9. The EU’s Role and Performance within the G20 in the Area of Finance and Development

   • Peter Debaere

   Pages 120-137

10. The European Union as an International Trade Negotiator

    • Frank Hoffmeister

    Pages 138-154

11. The EU as a Diplomatic Actor in the Field of Human Rights

    • Karen E. Smith

    Pages 155-177

12. The European Union’s Climate Change Diplomacy

    • Simon Schunz

    Pages 178-201

13. Back Matter

    Pages 202-209

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This collection brings together leading scholars and practitioners to assess the processes, institutions and outcomes of the EU's collective diplomatic engagement in the fields of security, human rights, trade and finance and environmental politics. It analyzes successes and failures in the EU's search for global influence in the post-Lisbon era.

• Diplomacy
• Europe
• European Union
• European Union (EU)
• global governance
• Governance
• human rights
• Institution
• politics
• european union politics

“This volume is a valuable collection of scholarly research on the EU’s evolving diplomatic impact and reflections on its diplomatic self-awareness that will be a useful read for scholars and practitioners alike.” (Moritz Pieper, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 54 (2), 2016)

'This pioneering overview of the European Union's (EU's) hybrid and multi-level system of diplomacy is written for and by scholars as well as practitioners. Covering EU representation in a broad range of world regions, international forums and burning issue areas, the contributions not only analyse in depth the challenges facing EU diplomacy, but also offer useful suggestions for future improvements.'

Christer Jönsson, Professor Emeritus, Lund University, Sweden

'Relatively little is known about the processes, policies and outcomes of the EU's diplomatic action. This volume is a worthy attempt to address these lacunae. Contributions from seasoned academics and practitioners ensure its relevance and timeliness across an engaging selection of foreign policy fields. For anyone interested in the scope, nature and impact of the EU in the world, this is a 'must-read.''

Simon Duke, Professor at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), Maastricht, Netherlands

'Written by a team of leading scholars and practitioners, this is a refreshing account of the EU as a diplomatic actor. Mixing empirical data with theory, it opens the black box of the EU foreign policy-making and provides new food for thought about the diplomatic challenges of a non-statist polity.'

Christian Lequesne, Professor at CERI and Sciences Po, Paris

'Based on contributions by an excellent international team consisting of both senior and junior academics as well as knowledgeable practitioners, this incisive volume both fills a vacuum and provides the most up to date overview of the growing role of the EU as a diplomatic actor in the post-Lisbon era.'

Walter Carlsnaes, Senior Professor (emeritus), Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden

'The volume provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the EU's growing role as a diplomatic actor, covering policies, processes and outcome in key foreign policy fields. It is one of the first attempts to systematically evaluate the build-up of the EU's diplomatic capacity in the post-Lisbon era and is therefore a must-read for all interested in recent changes in EU diplomatic actorness. I find the volume's ambition to link the changing diplomatic role of the EU to the changing nature of modern diplomacy especially interesting.'

Ole Elgström, Professor of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden

'As one of the most complex and constantly evolving international actors on the planet, the EU poses a major challenge for those interested in understanding its global purpose and political capabilities. Different perspectives and conceptual tools are often necessary to complete the picture, and this volume combines both in a wide-ranging treatment of how the EU behaves as a diplomatic actor. It also draws upon insights from both practitioners and scholars to explain the considerable variance across different EU foreign policy domains despite the best efforts of the EU to make itself more coherent.'

Michael E. Smith, Professor and Chair in International Relations, University of Aberdeen, Scotland

'This volume underlines that the role of the EU within the emerging multipolar and fragmented world is slowly gaining in importance after the Treaty of Lisbon (2009) - despite external obstacles as well as internal deficits of consistency and coherence. The action of the EU as an unprecedented diplomatic actor and of the EEAS are analysed in an accurate and comprehensive way in the main policy fields of trade, human rights, climate change, and finance; with special attention given to the EU's impact within multilateral organizations and regimes. This panel of contributors offers fresh analyses and contributes to enriching the literature on a crucial issue in EU studies and international relations.'

Mario Telò, Emeritus President IEE, Professor of International Relations at ULB and LUISS, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences

• Vesalius College, Belgium

  Joachim A. Koops

• Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

  Joachim A. Koops

• St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK

  Gjovalin Macaj

Foreword by Pierre Vimont, Secretary-General European External Action Service Peter Debaere, Ghent University, Belgium Ferndando Andresen Guimarães, European External Action Service Frank Hoffmeister, European Commission Knud Erik Jørgensen, Aarhus University, Denmark Yvonne Kleistra, InHolland University of Applied Science Rotterdam, the Netherlands Tom Sauer, University of Antwerp, Belgium Simon Schunz, European Commission Michael Hilton Smith, Loughborough University, UK Karen E. Smith, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Dominik Tolksdorf U.S. Institute of Peace Niels van Willigen, Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Policies and ethics