Foreign Policy in the European Union : History, theory & practice

The text introduces students to the theoretical debates about policy-making in the EU,  the way in which national governments act both to satisfy domestic constituencies and international partners, and the principal institutional structures for foreign policy. In the second part of the book a series of chapter length case studies illustrate the themes in the first part showing the EU''s relative weakness as a foreign policy actor and the enduring importance of the national foreign policy concerns of France, Germany, the UK and the USA.

Ben Soetendorp examines the extent to which individual member states - each with their own history, special interests and styles of foreign policy-making - still dominate the common foreign policy making process within the European Union. The first part of the book reviews the diverse foreign policy patterns of the individual member states towards European integration, describes the various styles of foreign policy and examines the institutional arrangements for joint foreign policy-making created by the member states at EU level. The second part looks more closely at the reality of foreign policy making in a number of case studies, focusing on the diplomatic, military and economic dimensions of European Union''s foreign policy. This structure and approach enable s the reader to understand the reality of European foreign policy-making, to comprehend the relationship between the foreign policies of the member states of the EU and the foreign policy of the EU as a whole and to make a judgement as to the likely scenarios for the future.

Foreign Policy in the European Union is an important and accessible addition to the textbook literature on European integration that will be essential reading for undergraduate and Masters level courses on European integration within politics, international relations, European Studies and history degrees.