Theorizing the European Neighbourhood Policy

by Sieglinde Gstöhl (Editor), Simon Schunz (Editor)

Overview

Despite growing scholarly interest in the EU’s flagship policy towards its Eastern and Southern neighbours, serious attempts at theory-building on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) have been largely absent from the academic debate.

This book aims at contributing to fill this research gap in a three-fold manner: first and foremost it aims at theorizing the ENP as such, explaining the origins, development and effectiveness of this policy. Building on this effort, it also pursues the broader objective of addressing certain shortcomings in EU external relations theory, and even beyond, in International Relations theory. Finally, it aspires to provide new insights for European policy-makers. It is one of the first volumes to provide different theoretical perspectives on the ENP by revisiting and building bridges between mainstream and critical theories, stimulating academic and policy debates and thus setting a novel, less EU-centric research agenda.

This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in EU external relations, EU foreign policy, the European Neighbourhood Policy, and more broadly in European Union Politics and International Relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138204799
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/16/2016
Series:	Routledge Studies in European Foreign Policy
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sieglinde Gstöhl is Director of the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She has been full-time professor at the College since 2005. From 1999-2005 she was Assistant Professor of International Relations at Humboldt University Berlin. She holds a PhD and an MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva as well as a degree in Public Affairs from the University of St. Gallen. She was, inter alia, a research fellow at the Liechtenstein Institute and at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Simon Schunz is Professor in the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges. He previously worked, inter alia, for DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission, where he was in charge of the social sciences research on the EU as a global actor, including its neighbourhood policies, and the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), where he continues to lecture.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The 2015 Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy

Introduction

1. Theoretical Approaches to the European Neighbourhood Policy

Part I: Rationalism vs. Constructivism: Inside-out and Outside-in

2. Rationalist and Constructivist Approaches to the European Neighbourhood Policy: A Growing Prevalence of Interests over Identity?

3. Rational Institutionalism, Constructivism or Both? A Spatial Econometric Approach to Measuring the Impact of Incentives and Socialization in the European Neighbourhood Policy

4. The Russian Federation’s Posture towards the European Neighbourhood Policy: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation

5. Russia’s Perception of the European Neighbourhood Policy: A Constructivist Explanation

Part II: Beyond EU-Centrism: Neglected (F)actors

6. The Role of Bounded Rationality in Explaining the European Neighbourhood Policy: The Eastern Dimension

7. A Structural Foreign Policy Perspective on the European Neighbourhood Policy

8. Empowerment of Domestic Stakeholders: From Outcome-oriented to Process-oriented Europeanization in the ENP Countries

9. The Practice of EU Power Relations with International Organizations in the Neighbourhood: Imperator or Primus Inter Pares?

Part III: The EU and the Other(s): Conflict or Cooperation?

10. Between the Eastern Partnership and the Eurasian Economic Union: Competing Region-building Projects in the ‘Common Neighbourhood’

11. Turning a Problem into a Solution? The Potential of Interregionalism between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union

12. ‘The Political’ and the ENP: Rethinking EU Relations with the Eastern Region

13. Proactive Cosmopolitanism, Proactive Governmentality? Secessionist Conflicts and EU Democracy Promotion

Conclusion

14. Theorizing the European Neighbourhood Policy – Towards a Research Programme

Editorial Reviews

"The volume is a very successful example of an eclectic perspective which tackles a wide range of aspects of the ENP, but is also unified by the larger finding that this policy has been largely EU-centric, which in turn, has hindered the EU’s ability to influence developments in the neighbourhood... the volume is an important breakthrough in the study of the EU’s approach towards its neighbours."

Cristian NITOIU, Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University, Eastern Journal for European Studies

From the Publisher