All About ANTERO... and more

Submitted by University College of Dublin on Thu, 06/04/2015 - 10:43

One of the challenges with which the European Union is confronted is that of internal and external legitimacy. The Union has been faced with a clear decline in popularity among its citizens and this has had consequences for both the legitimacy and credibility of EU foreign policy. This is compounded by legitimacy-related challenges facing the EU at the international/external level. In terms of its external legitimacy, survey figures show that the EU is a largely unknown actor among the citizens of many third countries. Moreover, those who know the EU are far from unanimously positive about its impact on their country or on international affairs. This has practical consequences too as we see third party governments actively canvassing elite and mass publics within the Union in an effort to shift or even undermine established EU foreign policy goals - creating narratives challenging the very foundations of the Union as a normative actor. It is necessary to bring these two facets of legitimacy together in making sense of contemporary discourses surrounding the effectiveness and coherence of the European Union as an international actor.

The goal of the ANTERO Jean Monnet Network is therefore to strengthen the interaction between research in the field of EU foreign policy and the translation of that research through innovative, research-led teaching. Funded over three years by the ERASMUS+ programme, this programme will include the production of specific open access research material (such as working papers) and teaching outputs which can be easily accessed and integrated to the teaching of undergraduate and graduate students world-wide and which will contribute to the professional development of early-career academics and a strengthening of EU studies in this field.

The translation of this distinctive research programme into innovative teaching serves several functions; it impacts on strengthening EU studies internationally in political science and international relations. The global dissemination of guest lectures, distribution of updated specialist reading lists, syllabus teaching units, a teaching handbook on EU Crisis Simulation gaming, and ‘how-to’ guides to teaching innovation will all serve to improve access and raise the profile of teaching EU foreign policy in ways that are easily adaptable and which require little in the way of specialist knowledge or technologies.

Second, it is hoped that this translation of research serves to assist in the professional development of early career scholars. The network offers unique added value through professional networking, an innovative 'research buddy' system, high profile outlets for working papers, blog posts, book reviews and participation in research publication proposals (edited collections and special journal editions).

Third, this translation of research offers added value to 100s of students at the participating institutions. In terms of pod casted guest lectures, lecturer exchanges, annual paper awards and the proposed EU Crisis Simulation game, students will profit from the collective research and teaching efforts of experienced leading scholars, the enthusiasm and innovation of early career scholars and the professional contribution of educational technologists and teaching and learning specialists.

Internal legitimacy

The first major research component of the project is to assess the internal legitimacy and accountability of the EU’s foreign policy, with a focus on both perception by the population and involvement of parliaments.  The project aims to go beyond the summary statistics of opinion polls to grasp the nuances of the (lack of) domestic support for the Union’s foreign policy and for the EU’s international roles, relating this to the presumed ethical or normative foundation of EU foreign policy. It will assess public support for different aspects of the EU’s foreign policy, both geographically and thematically. The project will evaluate to what extent public expectations about the EU’s foreign policy are mirrored in the EU’s actual policies, and how this affects the EU’s legitimacy. The project will also assess the mechanisms for accountability that operate in the field of EU foreign policy. This includes the role of parliaments at various levels (European Parliament and national parliaments) as well as their interactions, both in general and in specific foreign policy dossiers. To what extent are parliaments involved in EU foreign policy making (or can they be involved), and to what extent does this contribute to the (lack of) legitimacy of EU foreign policy?

External legitimacy

The second major research component of the project is to assess the external legitimacy and credibility of the EU’s foreign policy. This project will build upon existing research on the ‘external images’ of the EU, adding to it in several ways: through the analysis of thus far unexplored empirical material, but especially through the further theoretical and methodological elaboration of the topic. Theoretically, one important agenda for research lies in linking the concepts of ‘perceptions’ and ‘images’ to broader questions of the EU’s credibility and acceptance abroad, and how these impact upon the effectiveness of its foreign policy initiatives. The project also addresses the essential but understudied issue of 'trust' in foreign policy and international relations. Another crucial aspect in the analysis of the EU’s external legitimacy is the introduction of a comparative perspective, to assess to what extent there is something distinct about the EU’s global role, setting it apart from other global actors. To what extent are other international players/powers perceived of as more legitimate and credible than the EU; how may their legitimacy and credibility be accounted for; and what does this mean for the EU’s future foreign policy? These competing players/powers may include major powers (such as the US, China and Russia) but also middle-powers (such as Turkey, Qatar, Saudi-Arabia) and religious or other movements and networks (Islamic movements in the Mediterranean area) as well as small states (Norway). These and other cases will be considered as possible studies.

Both EU documents and academic literature have recently pointed to the need to overcome European navel-gazing in the assessment of EU foreign policy. Methodologically, the network aims to facilitate the construction of a methodology for realizing an ‘outside-in approach’ to the analysis of and teaching on EU foreign policy. Such an approach looks at the EU’s foreign policy from the perspective of the target/partner country or region, rather than from a Brussels-centric, Euro-centric or even Western-centric point of view. Such an outside-in approach is essential if scholars, students and practitioners want to seriously assess and understand the EU’s challenges in terms of external legitimacy, credibility and trust.

Coherence, effectiveness and success

The third and final component of the research project will build on the work produced in the first two: on internal and external legitimacy. It will consider and evaluate the extent to which these aspects of legitimacy interact with the EU’s coherence, effectiveness and success across a wide range of policy areas (such as policies towards North Africa and the Middle East, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, etc), in a variety of venues (principally multilateral organisations such as the United Nations or the G20), and on a variety of topics such as conflict prevention, crisis management, human rights policy, and diplomacy and soft power. The project will first conceptualise the notions of effectiveness, coherence and success, based on an extensive literature review of current debates regarding those notions. It will then focus on research questions including: To what extent does EU success or effectiveness depend on external and internal perceptions that EU policy is legitimate? Are EU representations considered legitimate by the member states, as well as by third countries and other international organisations, and does this affect the EU’s influence? To what extent is the norm-based order supported by the EU shared by other players outside the EU? How does coherence affect the EU’s legitimacy and its effectiveness? Is a more coherent and unified EU likely to be more effective – or could it spark resistance and contestation? This project would thus further a new research agenda linking legitimacy issues with EU influence and issues of justice more generally, building on and furthering the burgeoning literature on such questions.

ANTERO's web site is now hosted alongside the KU Leuven 'Exploring EU Foreign Policy' project at www.eufp.eu/antero while colleagues can follow the activities and respond to the various calls for partners through the busy twitter feed @ANTERO_ERASMUS. The network's first plenary meeting is scheduled for early December at the University of Kent's Brussels campus. Between now and then keep an eye out for opportunities to engage, participate and shape this exciting new research and teaching initiative.

Ben Tonra

UCD School of Politics and International Relations

University College Dublin