website title
Chapter by Chapter ResourcesChapter 11: Protecting and Promoting: Europe's international politics
- Chapter Summary
- Useful websites
- Discussion questions
- Updates
- Back to chapter list page
- Back to home page
Few seriously expect Germany to constitute a threat to European peace any longer, but it is seeking to combine its ‘civilian power’ tradition with a stance more in keeping with its size and weight.
A newly assertive Russia and its former empire constitute both an opportunity and something of a threat to Europe. The enlargement of the EU, its energy needs, and the European aspirations of some former Soviet states have complicated relations considerably.
The ENP that applies to several East European and Eurasian states also applies to the countries of the South Mediterranean: its aim of encouraging political and economic development in order to reduce instability and illegal immigration might be hard to achieve.
Despite developments and missions carried out under auspices of the European Security and Development Policy (ESDP), a European army, though not as much of a pipe-dream as some suggest, is still a long way off.
The EU has come a long way in co-ordinating the foreign policy stances of individual states, not least because it serves their purposes and adds value. But they continue to differ when and where they believe it really counts.
European states, both bilaterally and through the EU, provide a massive amount of aid to the developing world, although the good they do has to be offset against their continued protectionism.
Environmental policy is another area where Europe takes the lead, although it is by no means perfect and continues to have trouble persuading its allies to follow that lead.
Europe is the biggest trade bloc in the world and increasingly acts accordingly, sometimes putting commercial interests above the foreign policy wishes of its allies.
Enlargement of the EU is probably the biggest foreign policy success of the last half-century, rendering Europe more secure than it has ever been. Whether enlargement, and Europe’s relative standing in the world, can continue forever is another matter.
(For general web materials on European Politics see Tim Bale's Internet Guide)
www.fornet.info
Academic site on European foreign policy
www.iss-eu.org
Commentary on foreign policy and security matters
www.oecd.org/dac/ and ec.europa.eu/development
Development issues and statistics
ec.europa.eu/external_relations/gac and ec.europa.eu/development
EU foreign policy
www.eurocorps.org
EU’s military force
ec.europa.eu/trade
European trade statistics and analysis
members.tripod.com/~ForeignPolicy
Info. on ESDP missions
www.consilium.europa.eu/esdp
Foreign and security policy links
www.hiik.de/konfliktbarometer
Monitors conflicts worldwide
1. Do you think that Europe is a safer place to live in now compared with at the height of the Cold War?
2. During the Iraq crisis, some US politicians claimed there was a difference between ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Europe. What did they mean and were they right?
3. Can and should European countries act together to integrate and build up a European security and defence capability?
4. What is Europe’s policy on relations with Russia? Do you think it has been successful?
5. How and why is Europe becoming more serious about its relations with the countries of the southern Mediterranean?
6. What are the arguments – and what is the evidence – for and against a Europeanization of foreign policy?
7. The EU makes a good deal of its role both in helping developing countries and on environmental issues. In your view, is it right to do so?
8. Is Europe’s foreign policy really driven by its trading interests? If so, is that wrong?
9. What do you think of the argument that Europe’s biggest success is that relations between the continent’s countries are now no longer thought of mainly in terms of defence and foreign policy?
No updates.
Back to top of page
Back to chapter list page
Back to home page
