The European Union as a normative power: Europe's new neighborhood and energy policies

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is a formidable actor in contemporary international politics. Many prominent scholars devote their lives to studying both how European power came to be and analyzing the character of that power. The vast majority of the resulting scholarship fails to empirically test the arguments set forth. While rich in theoretical insights, the lack of empirical support renders the debate unsatisfying. This study tests the arguments about the nature of European power in the international context using the cases of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and Europe's energy policies. Chapter One introduces the Normative Power Europe concept and describes my methodology. Chapter Two delineates the existing debates on the power of the EU. Chapters Three and Four test European power using the cases of the ENP and Europe's energy policies (respectively). In addition, Chapter Four offers some concluding remarks. This study finds that the EU consistently behaves as a normative power from the basic premise of virtue ethics, but inconsistently in terms of deontological and teleological ethics.