Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
laboratory for emerging international relations theories. Di
erent pathways are
emphasised towards uni
ed, cooperative norm-based EU foreign and security
policies. Neo-functionalists stress how external positions converge on the basis of
internal sectoral commitments. Constructivists talk of common EU policy identities
outweighing realist national calculations of narrow self-interest, and the emergence
of a distinctively dense area of
. Institutionalists argue that
decades of regularised processes of coordination have bred common outlooks
between member states around rule-based international action.
5
Some academics insist that these features have become stronger since the
beginning of the eurozone crisis in 2009. For all the tribulations of the economic
crisis, member states have, they insist, found successful means jointly to manage
their economic imbalances. The EU has emerged vindicated as a model for e
'
security governance
'
ec-
tive multilateralism, in the vanguard of charting cooperative solutions to the pro-
blems associated with
nancial globalisation.
6
Some experts insist that the crisis has
prompted the EU to engage in the kind of
exible, multi-level problem-solving
that makes it even better suited to navigating the very di
erent diverse strategic
challenges of a reshaped world order.
7
The EU
s response to the eurozone crisis has not been purely defensive. There
are aspects where the EU has registered improvements in its security strategies
during the crisis. The EU has fashioned broader strategic partnerships with rising
powers. It has begun to engage more politically in Asia. It has strengthened a
number of commitments to human rights, democracy and good governance. It has
begun to look outwards at least on some issues, as governments realise that the
crisis has left them more in need of international partnerships and interdependent
linkages. Some diplomats see a
'
rmer defence of the liberal world order as more
necessary now as a means of shoring up European in
uence against China and
other ascendant powers.
8
Many academics, however, detect changes to the EU
s presumed security iden-
tity. There is much debate over how far European security policies actually corre-
spond to the EU
'
s self-image. In the context of the economic crisis and shifting
global power balances, European foreign policy has struggled to adapt to new
international challenges. Some academics argue that in recent years the EU has
becoming increasingly wary of entanglement in foreign a
'
airs and reluctant to
spend signi
cant resources on security questions.
9
The EU is now more selective in
following through on what it always lists as the axiomatic pillars of its foreign
policy identity. European support for multilateralism remains notable but has in
many areas become more quali
ed. The means and political will invested in so-
called soft security initiatives are in most places and thematic areas woefully
inadequate for the magnitude of
the tasks at hand. Bilateral
trade deals are
increasingly prioritised over any attempt
to deepen rules-based multilateral
