The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe's Role in the World

In a relatively short time, the European Union has become one of the world's most powerful and important bodies. Its critical role in international affairs extends to several different areas: economics; culture; the environment; and, of course, international security and foreign affairs. This important volume explains and evaluates EU foreign policy in all its confusing dimensions.

Is there really any such thing as "European Union Foreign Policy"? If so, what is it? What are its goals and priorities, and how effective is it? How do outsiders perceive EU foreign policy, and what are the ramifications of those views? Those are just some of the questions this book tries to answer.

In order to draw the most comprehensive picture possible of EU foreign policy, Federiga Bindi and her contributors dissect both "horizontal" and "vertical" issues. Vertical concerns focus on particular geographic regions, such as the EU's foreign policy toward Africa and Asia and its relations with the United States. Horizontal issues explore wider crosscutting themes that help explain the EU's foreign policy choices and operations, such as decisionmaking processes and procedures; European self-identity; and core priorities such as peace, democracy, and human rights.

Contents

Foreword by Giuliano Amato, former foreign minister and prime minister of Italy

Part I. The New Tools of EU Foreign Policy

II. US-EU Relations after the Elections

III. EU Relations with the Rest of the Americas

IV. Africa and Asia

V. The EU and Its Neighbors

VI. The EU, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East

VII. Promoting Values and Models Abroad

VIII. Conclusions: Assessing EU Foreign Policy