Search

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought war back to the European continent and led to considerable change in EU member states' foreign policies. The consequential degree of EU foreign policy unity, as well as shifts in long-lasting national and collective security and defence taboos, has represented a significant departure from past practices. We use these processes of change as a starting point to set the scene for this special issue and to inform its main research question: in what manner, if at all, has the EU come of age as a foreign and security actor during Russia's war on Ukraine? This introduction situates the main question of the special issue into the wider scholarly debates on actorness and the EU's geopolitical ambitions. It conceptually develops the analogy of "coming of age" to examine a prospective maturation process of the EU as a foreign and security actor. In doing so, it not only interrogates what the EU as a mature foreign and security actor would look like, but it also develops the framework, identifies four maturation processes and reflects on necessary caveats for drawing inferences about the state of maturation of the EU as foreign and security actor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article delves into the debate surrounding Britain's grand strategy in the context of American hegemony. Two authors, Tom Stevenson and William James, offer contrasting views on whether the UK possesses a grand strategy. Stevenson argues that the UK lacks an independent foreign policy and serves as a surrogate to US interests, while James believes that British policymakers have engaged in grand strategic thinking. Both authors analyze key historical decisions to assess the effectiveness of UK grand strategy. Their divergent perspectives shed light on the complex relationship between the UK and the US in shaping British foreign policy. [Extracted from the article]

Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has upended Europe's security order, with many observers calling it a turning point for the European Union. This article contends, however, that the EU's response has been less a turning point and more of an epiphany, providing a reality check for the EU and its member states about how far European foreign policy cooperation has evolved in recent decades. It suggests that an understanding of the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine requires consideration of the member states' foreign policy co-operation, which has intensified over the past half-century, and its underpinning norm which we term a 'collective European responsibility to act'. In emphasizing this norm, we identify core ideas about the functioning of collective European foreign policy. We re-examine three key preoccupations of the EU foreign policy-making practice and assessment through the lens of the collective European responsibility to act and show how it enables a different and novel re-reading of the added value of EU foreign policy cooperation. The EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine thus serves as a timely focusing event that demands a rethink of the premises that have underpinned our analysis and understanding of collective European foreign policy-making over decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2010.02100.x Byline: RICHARD G. WHITMAN (1), ANA E. JUNCOS (2) Author Affiliation: (1)University of Bath (2)University of Bristol

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2009.02021.x Byline: RICHARD G. WHITMAN (1), ANA E. JUNCOS (2) Author Affiliation: (1)University of Bath (2)University of Bristol

The UK's departure from the European Union (EU) represents a major shift in the diplomatic strategy of one of Europe's leading economic, diplomatic and security players. This article limits its focus to the UK's European diplomatic strategy. The article argues that the UK's future relationship with the EU will condition the UK's broader diplomatic approach to Europe. But in exiting the EU the ambitions and modalities of the UK's other bilateral and multilateral relationships in Europe will undergo a recalibration. With the UK government having struggled since June 2016 to provide comprehensive detail on its ambitions for its future economic, political and security relationship with the EU, the development of the broader aspects of the UK's post-Brexit European diplomatic strategy has been retarded. However, through analysis of key speeches, government white papers, and other supporting documents and statements (and the experience of negotiating Brexit with the EU27), the outlines of a nascent post-Brexit UK European diplomatic strategy can be discerned. Whether this strategy will be adequate to provide the UK with a significant degree of influence on Europe's international relations and whether it gives the UK sufficient ability to addresses the key challenges that it will face in Europe is less certain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]