This cutting-edge book explores the practices and socialization of the everyday foreign policy making in the European Union (EU), focusing on the individuals who shape and implement the Common Foreign and Security Policy despite a growing dissension among member states. The authors provide theoretically informed analyses based on up-to-date empirical material from the Political and Security Committee, Council working groups, the European External Action Service, EU delegations, military and civilian missions and operations and EU member state embassies. They illustrate the ways in which European foreign policy is shaped through the daily work of diplomats, exploring the communities of practice that are formed in the process of policy-making in the EU. Combining socialization and practice approaches, the book offers an innovative take on the motivations behind integration at a time of European discord. Providing a unique inside account of diplomatic practices and the coordination of EU foreign policy, this insightful book is crucial reading for students of political science and international relations at all levels seeking to better understand the minutiae of formulating and coordinating EU foreign and security policy. Its empirical analyses will also benefit scholars and researchers interested in European integration and socialization in international organizations, as well as practitioners, such as diplomats and European civil servants.

The electoral success of secessionist parties in Catalonia and Scotland over the last decade, together with Brexit and the support for Eurosceptic parties in many EU member states, have prompted a rethink of many taken-for-granted notions about politics in Spain, the UK and the EU. Secessionist parties in Catalonia and Scotland often combine calls for independence with support for the EU, but independence for Catalonia might entail the loss of EU membership. In the UK, Scotland voted for the UK to remain in the EU, yet it was forced to leave the Union along with the rest of the country: what effect has Brexit had on Scottish independence claims? Through comparing Catalonia and Scotland, this short volume aims to contribute to debates on, and advance knowledge of, visions of independence and integration, how they interrelate in Europe's emergent political order, and what they entail for European integration and democracy in the EU.

This book aims to show practice approaches at work in the fields of European diplomacy and security broadly conceived. It sets out to provide readers with a hands-on sense of where research on social practices and European diplomacy, security and foreign policy currently stands. The book reviews how practice approaches have evolved in International Relations (IR) and brings together an unique set of contributions which highlights how insights from practice approaches can be applied to advance research on a number of key issues in these fields. While the debate about practices in IR goes beyond the case of diplomacy, the latter has become a showcase for the former and this book continues the debate on practices and diplomacy by zooming in on the European Union. Examples of issues covered include the evolution of EU-NATO relations seen from the perspective of communities of practice, burden sharing as an anchoring practice for European states' involvement in crisis management operations, the practical knowledge shaping the EU's responses to the Arab Uprisings, agency as accomplished in and through EU counter-piracy practices and the political resistance to Israeli occupation and the non-official recognition of Palestine performed by EU diplomats. Thus, by focusing on specific practices and analytical mechanisms that contribute to understand the transformations of European diplomacy, security and foreign policy, this book provides essential readings to anyone interested in innovative ways to grasp the contemporary challenges that face the EU and its member states. The chapters originally published as a special issue of European Security.

This book explores how the European Union responds to the ongoing challenges to the liberal international order. These challenges arise both within the EU itself and beyond its borders, and put into question the values of free trade and liberal democracy. The book's interdisciplinary approach brings together scholars from economics, law, and political science to provide a comprehensive analysis of how shifts in the international order affect the global position of the EU in dimensions such as foreign and security policy, trade, migration, populism, rule of law, and climate change. All chapters include policy recommendations which make the book particularly useful for decision makers and policy advisors, besides researchers and students, as well as for anyone interested in the future of the EU.

This book contributes to the ongoing debate in IR on the role of security communities and formulates a new mechanism-based analytical framework. It argues that the question we need to ask is how security communities work at a time when armed conflicts among states have become significantly less frequent compared to other non-military threats and trans-boundary risks (e.g. terrorism and the adverse effects of climate change). Drawing upon recent advances in practice theory, the book suggests that the emergence and spread of cooperative security practices, ranging from multilateral diplomacy to crisis management, are as important for understanding how security communities work as more traditional confidence-building measures. Using the EU, Spain and Morocco as an in-depth case study, this volume reveals that through the institutionalization of multilateral venues, the EU has provided cooperative frameworks that otherwise would not have been available, and that the de-territorialized notion of security threats has created a new rationale for practical cooperation between Spanish and Moroccan diplomats, armed forces and civilian authorities. Within the broader context, this book provides a mechanism-based framework for studying regional organizations as security community-building institutions, and by utilizing that framework it shows how practice theory can be applied in empirical research to generate novel and thought-provoking results of relevance for the broader field of IR. This book will be of much interest to students of multilateral diplomacy, European Politics, foreign policy, security studies and IR in general.

Reassesses the democratic quality of European integration Advances the understanding of what twenty-first century democracy in Europe is and what it can be Presents new perspectives on under-explored dilemmas related to specific aspects of democracy in the context of European integration and against the background of political shifts in Europe in recent decades Provides an alternative to 'grand theory' approaches to EU democracy and scholarly debates on the EU's 'democratic deficit' Includes chapters by leading scholars in the field, that supply new perspectives on democratic dilemmas from the point of view of in-depth engagements with key aspects of European democracy Bringing together leading and emerging scholars on European politics, this collection explores how dilemmas associated with key democratic concepts can be understood in relation to the EU. The book renews our understanding of EU democracy in ways that are more attentive to the multiple fault lines and cleavages that structure this political order. It focuses on a set of democratic dilemmas inherent to EU democracy, including representation, deliberation, sovereignty, citizenship, democratic contestation and market, to provide discussions on the specific tensions and trade-offs associated to a particular concept. The book engages in the theoretical groundwork necessary for assessing and analysing the specific dilemmas that arise when translating democratic concepts into concrete institutional designs in the European setting.

This book aims to show practice approaches at work in the fields of European diplomacy and security broadly conceived. It sets out to provide readers with a hands-on sense of where research on social practices and European diplomacy, security and foreign policy currently stands. The book reviews how practice approaches have evolved in International Relations (IR) and brings together an unique set of contributions which highlights how insights from practice approaches can be applied to advance research on a number of key issues in these fields. While the debate about practices in IR goes beyond the case of diplomacy, the latter has become a showcase for the former and this book continues the debate on practices and diplomacy by zooming in on the European Union. Examples of issues covered include the evolution of EU-NATO relations seen from the perspective of communities of practice, burden sharing as an anchoring practice for European states' involvement in crisis management operations, the practical knowledge shaping the EU's responses to the Arab Uprisings, agency as accomplished in and through EU counter-piracy practices and the political resistance to Israeli occupation and the non-official recognition of Palestine performed by EU diplomats. Thus, by focusing on specific practices and analytical mechanisms that contribute to understand the transformations of European diplomacy, security and foreign policy, this book provides essential readings to anyone interested in innovative ways to grasp the contemporary challenges that face the EU and its member states. The chapters originally published as a special issue of European Security.

This book explores how the European Union responds to the ongoing challenges to the liberal international order. These challenges arise both within the EU itself and beyond its borders, and put into question the values of free trade and liberal democracy. The book's interdisciplinary approach brings together scholars from economics, law, and political science to provide a comprehensive analysis of how shifts in the international order affect the global position of the EU in dimensions such as foreign and security policy, trade, migration, populism, rule of law, and climate change. All chapters include policy recommendations which make the book particularly useful for decision makers and policy advisors, besides researchers and students, as well as for anyone interested in the future of the EU.

This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective on trust in the EU from the vantage point of political science, law and economics. It applies insights from a number of different dimensions - political institutions, legal convergence in criminal and civil law, social trust, digitalization, the diffusion of political values and norms, monetary convergence and the legitimacy of political systems - to approach the highly complex issue of trust in the EU in a clear-sighted, relevant and insightful manner. Written by renowned experts in the field, the style is accessible and reader-friendly, yet concise, knowledgeable and thought-provoking. The individual chapters combine up-to-date research findings with reflections on on-going political debates and offer useful, concrete ideas on what steps the EU could take to address the challenge of trust. The book provides the reader with invaluable insights into how trust, or rather the lack of trust, poses a challenge to the future of the social, economic and political developments in the EU. It is a must-read for policy-makers, students and interested members of the public who feel concerned by the future of Europe.

This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective on trust in the EU from the vantage point of political science, law and economics. It applies insights from a number of different dimensions - political institutions, legal convergence in criminal and civil law, social trust, digitalization, the diffusion of political values and norms, monetary convergence and the legitimacy of political systems - to approach the highly complex issue of trust in the EU in a clear-sighted, relevant and insightful manner. Written by renowned experts in the field, the style is accessible and reader-friendly, yet concise, knowledgeable and thought-provoking. The individual chapters combine up-to-date research findings with reflections on on-going political debates and offer useful, concrete ideas on what steps the EU could take to address the challenge of trust. The book provides the reader with invaluable insights into how trust, or rather the lack of trust, poses a challenge to the future of the social, economic and political developments in the EU. It is a must-read for policy-makers, students and interested members of the public who feel concerned by the future of Europe.