Europe’s World
Policy Paradigms, Strategic Thinking and the Anti-Liberal Challenge
Edited by Knud Erik Jørgensen, Tonny Brems Knudsen and Laura Landorff
Published
May 27, 2025Page count
304 pagesISBN
978-1529243611Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
May 27, 2025Page count
304 pagesISBN
978-1529243635Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Europe’s World
The EU’s international environment is increasingly characterized by power politics, great-power rivalry, ideological contestation and war. This has challenged the liberal-internationalist identity that has been at the heart of the EU since its birth. This book examines how the EU has responded to these new realities. It analyses the introduction of a flurry of concepts including European sovereignty, strategic autonomy, civilization, responsibility and strategic compass, and asks whether these signal a reconsideration of foreign policy objectives, a new strategic orientation or possibly a paradigm shift.
The book develops a theoretical framework on policy paradigms, worldviews, grand strategy, strategic narratives and the drivers of institutional change followed by chapters on the anti-liberal challenge, the evolution of the EU framework of ideas, the search for grand strategy and strategic autonomy, the response to Russian aggression and imperial thinking, and continuity and change in EU unity, working groups, green leadership and strategic communication.
Knud Erik Jørgensen is Professor Emeritus in International Relations at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Tonny Brems Knudsen is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Laura Landorff is a Specialist Consultant in the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
1.EU Foreign Policy Paradigms in a World of Change: Towards a Conceptual Framework - Knud Erik Jørgensen, Tonny Brems Knudsen and Laura Landorff
2.The EU and Reactionary Internationalism: Policy Paradigms for a Changing World Order - Nicholas Michelsen, Pablo De Orellana and Filippo Costa Buranelli
3.Between Global Governance and Geopolitical Europe: The EU’s Paradigmatic Debate of “What kind of Power” Revisited - Joachim Koops
4.A Grand Strategy for Europe? The Role of the High Representative and the EEAS - Anna Michalski
5.The EU and the US after Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: A New Convergence on Strategic Autonomy? - Iulian Romanyshyn
6.The EU and the Imperial Narrative: The Response to Russia - Ali Tekin
7.EU’s Changing Strategy towards Russia: The Response to Aggression - Anne-Sophie Maass
8.Beyond the Paradigm of Unity: Embedded Minilateralism in European Foreign Policy - Gjovalin Macaj
9.The Functionalist Policy Paradigm and the Technical-Political Divide in the EU’s Council Working Groups - August Danielson
10.The EU as Global Climate Leader? Carbon Border Taxation and Technology Diffusion - Gert Tinggaard Svendsen
11.The EEAS and the Politics of EU Visibility: Digitalisation and Strategic Innovation - Elsa Hedling
12.Conclusion and Wider Perspectives - Laura Landorff, Tonny Brems Knudsen and Knud Erik Jørgensen
