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The foreign policy ambitions of the European Union: a relational theoretical approach

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dc.contributor.authorMarinova, Iren, author
dc.contributor.authorHarris, Peter, advisor
dc.contributor.authorStevis, Dimitris, committee member
dc.contributor.authorWeitzel, Daniel, committee member
dc.contributor.authorJohnson, Merrill, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-09T20:52:17Z
dc.date.available2024-09-09T20:52:17Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractWhat drives the European Union (EU) to develop leadership ambitions in some issue domains, such as climate change governance, but not in others? In this dissertation, I approach this question by focusing on the relational dynamics that constitute the EU. By situating my dissertation in the ontological premises of relationalism in International Relations as part of the "relational turn" in the discipline, I develop a theoretical approach and framework to capture and study the historical relational dynamics of power that make up the EU and exert driving effects for the foreign policy ambitions it sets for itself on the global stage. To demonstrate the value and applicability of my theoretical framework, I employ the case of the EU's leadership ambitions in the domain of global climate change governance. I identify two categories of relations that, separately and jointly, exert determining influence for its ambitions in this domain: 1) relations in the transatlantic space between the United States and the European project that developed during and since the inception of the latter; and 2) relations between the EU member states on the East-West axis that have long historical roots on the continent. The temporal range of the study encompasses the period from 1990 to 2015. I analyze the theorized relational dynamics and my argument in two empirical chapters that focus on each one of the relational categories separately and on subsequent parts of the temporal range. In the analysis of the first category, I employ qualitative counterfactual analysis to trace the transatlantic leadership transition between the United States and the EU that began in the 1990s and culminated with the American announcement of withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. Complemented by three shadow cases that represent different temporal and issue-domain foci, the counterfactual analysis reveals that the EU would not have been likely to develop and pursue its leadership ambitions in the same manner that it did had the United States not withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol. The analysis of the second category shifts the focus to the internal EU policy environment and the EU's foreign policy-making process by exploring the existence and extent of the theorized historical relational power dynamics among Eastern and Western EU member states in the expression of their national positions during the public deliberations in the Environment Council configuration of the Council of the EU through qualitative content analysis. The period at focus here is 2014-2015 for the purposes of capturing the dynamics prior to the Paris Agreement in 2015 and following the accession of all Central and Eastern European member states. Their positions are compared to the level of EU ambition expressed in the proposals under discussion at the given Council deliberation. The findings in this empirical chapter suggest that there is a clear alignment of Western interests with the ambitions of the EU, while the interests of Eastern member states are more rarely matched in the proposals, especially in the initial drafts, indicating that existing relational asymmetries along the East-West axis are present in and exert an effect on the EU's ambition-setting and climate foreign policy-making processes. This dissertation makes an important contribution to the study of the EU and its ambitions as an actor on the global stage and to the growing literature of relational approaches in the discipline of International Relations.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediumdoctoral dissertations
dc.identifierMarinova_colostate_0053A_18588.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/239303
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2020-
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectEuropean Union
dc.subjectrelationalism
dc.subjectforeign policy
dc.subjectclimate change
dc.titleThe foreign policy ambitions of the European Union: a relational theoretical approach
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplinePolitical Science
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

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