Restructuring the foreign policy of the EU: competing narratives and discourses.

AuthorNitoiu, Cristian
PositionEuropean Union - Report

In the last two decades the European Union has come to be viewed as a unique international actor (Aggestam 2011; Bickerton 2011b; Allen & M. Smith 1990; Biscop & Andersson 2007; Bull 1982; Diez 2005; Hill 2003; Howorth 2010; HydePrice 2008; Hyde-Price 2007; Manners 2008b; Manners 2002; Orbie 2009; Sjursen 2006). Simultaneously many have doubted the claim that the EU behaves as a traditional national state in the international system (Biscop & Andersson 2007; Tuomas Forsberg 2011; Ginsberg 2001; Zielonka 2008). Different narratives and discourses about the Union's role in the international system have been developed in order to legitimate a specific foreign policy. By narratives and discourses of the Union's role in the international system the article referrs to those narratives that have been constructed in scholarship and have tried to answer questions about what the EU is as an international actor and what it should be. As the EU is a top-down project where leaders have constantly sought to implement ideas developed by academia, the realm of foreign policy--being traditionally a top-down policy area--has been highly influenced by scholarly debates. Two main broadly defined directions have shaped the debate around the foreign policy of the EU: namely one centred on a power based-realist-perspective based on the neorealist and neoliberals commitment to the to the idea states have to maximize their national interest rationally and egoistically through their foreign policy; and a second one that focussed on the Union's uniqueness in the in the international system and that was researched with an interpretive epistemology. Both these perspectives have tried to argue around the idea that the EU may or may not have a traditional foreign policy. At the same time, in both cases, great detail was devoted to developing a normative side to their arguments. Discourses about capabilities, norms values or identities have been put forward in order to show how the EU should develop its foreign policy and what kind of force it should project in its international relations.

The goal of the argument developed here is to critically analyse and try to understand why and how the overarching directions in the debate around the foreign policy of the European Union have constructed and legitimated different kinds of foreign policy approaches for the Union. This article engages with insights from critical theory to explore the two narratives and expose the way their goals differ from their consequences and try to understand why they legitimate specific types of foreign policies for the EU. While both perspectives share a common goal in creating and promoting a unified foreign and security policy for the Union, they differ significantly in regard to the weight they afford to military capabilities or norms and values. A realist perspective acknowledges that in the contemporary international system driven by anarchy, the only way the EU could play an important role would be for it to develop strong military capabilities. This Realpolitik view of international relations is contrasted by the interpretive approach of those who promote the idea that the EU is a new type of international actor and must build on its specific characteristics even though it might not achieve significant short-term success (Manners 2008a; Manners 2006; Manners 2002; Manners 2008b; Manners 2008a; Menon 2011; Rogers 2009). They recognize that the EU must try to develop a common approach to foreign policy that is not bent on the use of military capabilities, because the consensus on such a decision would be almost impossible to achieve due to the conflicting interests of the member states From this point of view the EU is a normative actor who promotes and should promote the norms and values that lay at its foundation in its external relations (Eriksen 2006; Manners 2002; Moumoutzis 2011). This normative desiderate has been embraced by the recent leaderships of the EU only rhetorically. Former EU High representative on the Common Foreign Security Policy of the EU, Javier Solana has underlined the normative scope of the Union: 'in terms of normative power, I broadly agree: we are one of the most important, if not the most important, normative powers in the world' (cited in Manners 2008:79).

Considerable amount of criticism has been directed towards the EU from third party states due to the dissonance that exists between its rhetoric and its practical actions. The Union seems to be committed to promoting its norms towards the emancipation and well-being of the world, but at the same time it acts as if it were driven by power politics. For example the Union's divided responses to the worldwide economic crisis or to the issue of energy security have put serious doubt on its normative character (Casier 2011; Agh 2010; Aalto 2011). By exploring the narratives about the role of the EU as an international actor the paper tries simultaneously to understand how these scholarly debates have been translated into practice and to sketch how the foreign policy of the EU functions as a result of these competing narratives.

Applying insights from critical theory

The methodology employed in this article relies on insights from critical theory to analyze the ways in which the EU was constructed in scholarship as an international actor. Critical reading or immanent critique is applied in order to identify and understand the nature of the differences between the principles and the goals of a narrative and its consequences. This method has been central to the work of the Frankfurt School (Habermas 1989; Habermas 1998; Habermas 2000; Horkheimer & Adorno 2002), hermeneutics scholars (Richardson 2003; Gadamer 2004), or critical international relations theorists (Booth & S. Smith 1995; Devatak 1995; R. W. Jones 2001a; R. W. Jones 2001b; Neufeld 1995; Mouffe 2005; Roach 2007; S. Smith 1995; Linklater 2001; Linklater 2007; Linklater 2008; R. Cox 2001; R. W. Cox 1981). The article draws on an earlier version of critical theory attributed mainly to Horkheimer (1982), distinct from the much recent strand developed by Habermas that focuses on a communicative theory and the need to foster open dialogue within society. The framework of critical reading implies exploring the construction of a narrative by analyzing its inherent principles and standards and then tracing the way they unfold into its practical implications. In this manner the immanent contradictions within a narrative's construction are brought to light (Neufeld 1995). Adorno and Horkheimer (2002) argue that if critical reading is to be efficient it has to start from within. As such, the study will assume the position of each narrative explored because only by doing so will it be possible to understand the goals that inform them. The framework of analysis for the realist and interpretive perspectives about the international role of the European Union will entail different stages that will be applied equally to both of them. It begins with presenting the way the narratives are situated into the broader area of the study of international relations. The next step explores their main tenets and principles, simultaneously juxtaposing them to the critics that the proponents of different perspectives have put forward over the years. The contradictions within the narratives are highlighted by uncovering certain discrepancies between the underlying goals and purposes of each perspective. At the same time, the study teases out the contradictions between the goals and principles outlined earlier and their consequences--the way they have been applied and have influenced the practice of foreign policy within the EU. Discourses from key EU foreign policy actors and brief examples of the Union's recent international actions and attitudes are conveyed in order to achieve the previous point. However, the article does not seek to explain the existence of a causal link between scholarship and policy approaches, but critically evaluates how these perspectives have been constructed or legitimated and underscores their internal contradictions. Secondly, the article explores a series of instances where policy practices have been influenced by the two broad approaches defined earlier (realism and interpretivism) and their internal contradictions.

The Paradox of applying critical theory to the study of EU foreign policy

International relations theory scholars who have engaged in applying insights from critical theory have at the same time sought to denaturalize the state as the main point of focus in the international system (Dannreuther 2007; Mearsheimer 2002; McCormack 2009). By analyzing the structure of the modern political order --the system of sovereignty that is believed to have been created by the Peace of Westphalia--they sought to challenge the boundaries of the national state. Being created as a top-down construction, the European Union is in itself a critical project that seeks to transcend the modern conceptualization of the nation state which is bound up by an overarching norm of sovereignty. A critical reading of the EU in all its aspects--be it foreign policy or economic policy--is especially difficult in this case as the Union seems to be the materialization of specific critical narratives that addressed the problems of the Old Europe -which was characterized by considerable bloodshed. Nonetheless, the EU has been constructed through the transfer of legitimacy and authority from the nation states to a new a centre (Haas 1958). New discourses have elevated and perpetuated the new position of power of this centre, which in the end gave birth to new patterns of domination significantly different from the ones that the EU was set to challenge (Linklater 2007, p.50). It is for this reason that a critical reading of the foreign policy of the EU like the one developed in this article is much needed at this point. The narratives...

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