Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: It has been maintained that the European Union can best be considered a political system. Following this argument, foreign policy making in the EU should also be approached from a systemic perspective. Roughly, three main sources of foreign policy can be identified: the Common Foreign and Security Policy under Pillar II, external relations of the EU under Pillar I, and national foreign policies of the member states. The Northern Dimension policy is an interesting case in point because in various ways it touches upon all three areas. Thus, officially, the Northern Dimension is an EU external relations policy and is therefore located within the responsibility of the Commission. However, it has been adopted as a response to an initiative of one member state, Finland, and it can safely be argued that essentially national foreign policy interests formed the base for this advance by Finland. Furthermore, it has also been suggested that the Northern Dimension can be considered a type of security policy, at least from the point of view of an extended, post-modernist, security policy agenda. Not only for this reason is the Northern Dimension innovative and challenging for the EU. It is also meant to work and achieve its goals without any new institutional arrangements or additional money being spent. Indeed, these two aspects have widely been considered the main reasons for the relatively quick adoption of the initiative as an EU policy. At the same time, however, they have been the cause for substantial criticism and allegations that the initiative offers little to the Union beyond its rhetoric. This paper will explore whether there is any basis to such claims. It will be argued that so far the Northern Dimension has indeed been rather poor in substance, at least when taking as a base for judgment the Action Plan it is guided by. Nevertheless, the initiative has considerable potential by virtue of how it is supposed to work. This is not to say that concrete outcomes won t have to be achieved as well, but the way they might be reached is what could make the Northern Dimension act as a model for the EU s external relations. Before looking at the propositions on its functioning, however, I will review the objectives of the Northern Dimension policy, thus summarizing the rhetoric about the initiative. In the main part of the work, I will first regard the most salient criticisms against the Northern Dimension, above all the alleged [...]

In this 2006 book, Jonas Tallberg offers a novel perspective on some of the most fundamental questions about international cooperation and European Union politics. Offering the first systematic theoretical and empirical exploration of the influence wielded by chairmen of multilateral negotiations, Tallberg develops a rationalist theory of formal leadership and demonstrates its explanatory power through carefully selected case studies of EU negotiations. He shows that the rotating Presidency of the EU constitutes a power platform that grants governments unique opportunities to shape the outcomes of negotiations. His provocative analysis establishes that Presidencies, while performing vital functions for the EU, simultaneously exploit their privileged political position to favour national interests. Extending the scope of the analysis to international negotiations on trade, security and the environment, Tallberg further demonstrates that the influence of the EU Presidency is not an isolated occurrence but the expression of a general phenomenon in world politics - the power of the chair.

A fully documented text which addresses a key issue of EU decision-making which is surfacing again in proposed institutional reforms. It looks at the role of smaller states, deals with the important criteria of distribution and redistribution of EU budgetary expenditures in the key areas of agriculture and structural funds and explains how smaller states promote their interest more effectively than larger states. It focuses on the administrations of small states, their relations with the Commission and their negotiation tactics in the Council. This is the first attempt to empirically test Peter Katzenstein’s thesis on the role of smaller states in international relations by making important recommendations on how the core assumptions of Katzenstein need to be modified, especially when applied to the EU context. This work is a good supplementary text book for courses on European studies, comparative politics and international relations. It is particularly suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students.

In the contemporary policy debate on the EU's neighborhood, grand designs are transforming into more pragmatic considerations. This book examines regional cooperation among the countries of northern Europe, emphasizing the pitfalls and successes of engaging Russia. Drawing from the experiences of northern partnerships, the authors assess prospects for collaborating on energy, transportation, the environment, and public health. They conclude that practical regional cooperation with Russia can prove highly relevant not only for developing the EU's northern policy but also for working with Russia in general.

This book explains how the internal dynamics of transition have influenced the relationship between Russia and the EU. Taking an holistic approach, the authors present a balanced analysis exploring EU, Russian and US perspectives on the Russian-EU relationship and examine a range of political, economic, business and security issues including the Northern dimension of Russian-EU relations, the Chechen situation, Russian domestic economic policy, trade, the business environment, energy and EU technical assistance. They also address such questions as: * Will bilateral relations be achieved with a Western or Russian model? * Who is the main driver of Russian-EU relations? * Is Russia converging with the EU in terms of business, culture, legal environment and systems? * Does the Russian-EU link provide a new model for EU external relations?