EU Policy Responses to a Shifting Multilateral System

Esther Barbé, Oriol Costa, Robert Kissack, Esther Barbé, Oriol Costa, Robert Kissack

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781137547576
• eBook ISBN:
  9781137547583
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Diplomacy & Treaties
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book explores how the EU, as an international actor, is adapting to recent transformations in the multilateral system. The international identity of the European Union is built upon its support for effective multilateralism and its commitment to core norms and values. Until recently, there was no need to choose between these goals. Emerging powers in the international system are not only demanding more power in multilateral institutions, but also sometimes seeking to influence their purpose and function, away from those championed by the EU. This presents a dilemma for EU foreign policy – framed in this edited volume as either accommodating changes in order to support multilateral institutions or entrenching the EU position in order to uphold values. Using a common analytical framework, the chapters include case studies on important multilateral institutions such as the United Nations Security Council, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the International Criminal Court, as well as key policy areas such as energy, climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, and human rights.

The European Union in International Affairs

Series Editors

Sebastian Oberthur

Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium

Knud Erik Jørgensen

Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Sandra Lavenex

University of Geneva, Geneva 4, Switzerland

Philomena B. Murray

School of Social and Political Sci, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Although the European Union (EU) undeniably plays a key role in international politics, law and economics, it faces serious international and domestic challenges. The EU remains a key actor in the development of a number of international policies and as a promoter of effective multilateralism. It continues to ‘import’ and ‘export’ both policies and norms. The EU is also a key interlocutor for states and regional bodies throughout the world. It may even serve as a reference point for many regions, for policy design or institutional development. However, changes in the international system and various international crises have an impact on the international role of the EU and its member states, testing the latters’ ability to act and adapt. Domestically, a persistent set of mutually reinforcing challenges, ranging from refugees to public debt to the rise of Euro-scepticism, have serious repercussions for the EU’s international role.

Against this dynamic backdrop, this Book Series aims to be a central resource for the growing community of scholars and policy-makers who engage with the evolving interface between the EU and international affairs. The Series provides in-depth, cutting-edge and original contributions of world-class research on the EU in international affairs by highlighting new developments, insights, challenges and opportunities. It encompasses analyses of the EU’s international role, as mediated by its own Member States, in international institutions and in its strategic bilateral and regional partnerships. Books in the series might examine evolving EU internal policies that have external implications and the ways in which these are both driven by, and feed back into, international developments. Grounded in Political Science, International Relations, International Political Economy, Law, Sociology and History, the Series reflects a commitment to inter-disciplinary scholarship.

We welcome book proposals relating to the changing role of the EU in international affairs across policies and the Union’s relations with different parts of the world, as well as relations with states and multilateral institutions. We are interested in research on values and norms, interests and global governance and welcome both theory-informed studies and studies comparing the EU with other major global actors. We encourage proposals from young and promising scholars, mid-career academics and established experts.

More information about this series at http://​www.​springer.​com/​series/​14438

Editorial Advisory Board

Stephanie Anderson, University of Wyoming, USA

Ummu Salma Bava, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Gráinne de Búrca, New York University, U...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• Accommodating or Entrenching? How the EU Is Dealing with Changes in the Multilateral System
• The Irony of History: European Responses to the Contested Evolution of the Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament Regime
• An Upstream Battle: The EU and the Reform of the Energy Charter Treaty
• The Defence of an Institution Under Challenge: The EU and the International Criminal Court
• EU Trade Policy Reaction to the BIC: From Accommodation to Entrenchment
• Beijing After Kyoto? The EU and the New Climate in Climate Negotiations
• Supporting Practices Inspired by Solidarist Ideas: The EU in the UNSC Open Debates on Women, Peace and Security
• The Global Financial Crisis and Emerging Economies: EU Accommodation and Entrenchment in the IMF
• ‘Speaking Out’ About Child Labor: Normative Entrenchment in an Uncertain Regime
• International Structures and External Perceptions: Projecting and Receiving the EU as a Global Energy Governance Actor in the Eyes of Emerging Powers (Brazil, India, China)
• Conclusion and Wider Perspectives
• Backmatter