European Union Economic Diplomacy

The European Union is a key player in international economic relations, but its exact role and how it goes about making decisions and negotiating is often poorly understood within and especially outside the EU. When does the EU play a proactive role and when does it follow? When is the EU a distinct actor and when is it just one level in a multi- level process of negotiation in which the member states are the main actors? Does the EU possess normative power in external economic relations? Does the EU have the capability and willingness to use its still significant economic power? European Union Economic Diplomacy provides the first comprehensive analysis of the factors that determine the role of the EU in economic diplomacy. In an up-to-date treatment that includes consideration of the impact of the Treaty of Lisbon, it contains a comprehensive explanation of decision making and negotiating processes in the core areas of trade, financial market regulation, environmental diplomacy and development co-operation. The book is intended for those interested in EU policy making, but also those who simply need to understand how the EU functions in the field of economic diplomacy.

This title was first published in 2003. This text explains how states conduct their external economic relations as the 21st century begins: how they make decisions domestically; how they negotiate internationally; and how these processes interact. It documents the transformation of economic diplomacy in response to the end of the Cold War, the advance of globalisation and the terrorist attacks of September 2001 and illustrates the growing influence of non-state actors like private business and civil society. The book integrates a full academic and theoretical analysis with the experience of senior practitioners in economic diplomacy and is based on the authors' work in the LSE's graduate programme on "The Politics of the World Economy".

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - International Politics - General and Theories, grade: 1.3, Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen, language: English, abstract: In the last decades the processes of globalization gave rise to economic interdependencies, leading to the increasing importance of economic diplomacy. The European Union is the largest trading block in the world and therefore exerts considerable power in international trade affairs. This thesis will pursue a theory-testing approach to analyze whether the EU is a realist or liberal actor in economic diplomacy. Through three case studies we come to a complex conclusion, that highlights the realist strategic thinking embodied in EU actions and the liberal set of tools that is used to achieve those. As economic diplomacy is designed to shape the international economic order, the European Union has an important set of tools at its hand. But how is it used? Is the EU the liberal powerhouse of the world, striving to increase trade regardless of strategic motives, promoting democracy and the global rise of capitalism with a view on human rights and labour rights? Or is the EU in fact a realist actor, that makes use of economic diplomacy to increase its power and to strengthen its own national security?

In a climate of enhanced global competition, attention for economic diplomacy has substantially grown, as much in the West as in other parts of the world. This book conceptualizes economic diplomacy and adds to a better understanding of its central place in the theory and practice of international relations.

This volume fills a gap in the literature regarding questions around the interactive dynamics between law and diplomacy on international trade and investment. It brings together lawyers and political scientists from Europe and Asia in an interdisciplinary effort at tracing the respective roles of law and diplomacy in the relations of the European Union (EU) with its trade and investment partners in Asia. Focusing on trade and investment relations with Asia, the EU presents a particularly interesting case as it has been a strong proponent of a rules-based international economic order for years and a frequent user of the formal procedures established in international treaties in case of disputes. At the same time, it has kept diplomatically active to adjust dispute management and international agreements to the needs and demands of the partners involved. Furthermore, not only is this region of crucial importance due to the presence of both vigorous emerging economies, like China, India and Vietnam, and more established partners, like Japan, EU-Asia relations also present a broad set of economic disputes and recent negotiation efforts analyzed in the contributions to this volume. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of international trade/economic law, EU politics, EU external relations (law), international relations, diplomacy and more broadly to international relations and Asian studies.

In The Ideas and Practices of the European Union’s Structural Antidiplomacy, Steffen Bay Rasmussen offers a comprehensive analysis of the different facets of EU diplomacy, arguing that it constitutes a unique form of international agency called structural antidiplomacy.

This book is the first to comprehensively examine the institutional dynamics that characterize the diplomatic system set up by the European Communities and the European Union – currently the foremost experiment in non-state diplomacy. It analyses European Union Diplomatic Service’s work on foreign policy and external economic relations, both in Brussels and in the Commission’s Delegations across the world.

This first comprehensive study of the EU's diplomatic representation in the world, the EEAS, this book seeks to understand why it has failed to formulate a centralised policy towards external states. It also analyses why the EEAS has more success in centralising diplomatic structures in developing countries than with some economic partners.