A collection of essays that surveys the development and structure of the European Union's constitutional regime for foreign affairs.

Presenting the first comprehensive account of foreign policy objectives as a growing part of European constitutional law, this book examines the nature, functions, and potential of these objectives by approaching EU external relations law through both comparative constitutional analysis and international relations theory.

A lively debate on the constitutionalisation of the international legal order has emerged in recent years. A similar debate has also taken place within the European Union. This book complements that debate, exploring the underlying realities that the moves towards constitutionalism seek to address. It does this by focusing on the substantive interconnections that the EU has developed over the years with the rest of the world, and assesses the practical impact these have both in the development of its legal order as well as in the international community. Based on papers delivered at the bi-annual EU/International Law Forum organised by the University of Bristol in March 2009, this collection of essays examines policy areas of economic governance (trade, financial services, migration, environment), political governance (human rights, criminal law, responses to financing terrorism), security governance (counter-terrorism, use of force, non-proliferation), and the issue of the emergence of European and global values. How are these areas shaped by the interaction between EU law and other legal orders and polities? In what ways does the EU impact on other transnational legal systems? And how are its own rules and principles shaped by such systems? These questions are addressed in the light of the specific legal and political context within which the EU pursues its policies by interacting with the rest of the world.

This edited collection appraises the role, self-perception, reasoning and impact of the European Court of Justice on the development of European Union (EU) external relations law. Against the background of the recent recasting of the EU Treaties by the Treaty of Lisbon and at a time when questions arise over the character of the Court's judicial reasoning and the effect of international legal obligations in its case law, it discusses the contribution of the Court to the formation of the EU as an international actor and the development of EU external relations law, and the constitutional challenges the Court faces in this context. To what extent does the position of the Court contribute to a specific conception of the EU? How does the EU's constitutional order, as interpreted by the Court, shape its external relations? The Court still has only limited jurisdiction over the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy: why has this decision been taken, and what are its implications? And what is the Court's own view of the relationship between court(s) and foreign policy, and of its own relationship with other international courts? The contributions to this volume show that the Court's influence over EU external relations derives first from its ability to shape and define the external competence of the EU and resulting constraints on the Member States, and second from its insistence on the autonomy of the EU legal order and its role as 'gatekeeper' to the entry and effect of international law into the EU system. It has not - in the external domain - overtly exerted influence through shaping substantive policy, as it has, for example, in relation to the internal market. Nevertheless the rather 'legalised' nature of EU external relations and the significance of the EU's international legal commitments mean that the role of the Court of Justice is more central than that of a national court with respect to the foreign policy of a nation state. And of course its decisions can nonetheless be highly political.

"Explores European foreign policy and the degree of European Union success in proposing itself as a valid international actor, drawing from the expertise of scholars and practitioners in many disciplines. Addresses issues past and present, theoretical and practice-oriented, and country- and region-specific"-- Provided by publisher.

This book reappraises the constitutional fundamentals of EU foreign relations law. The essays in the book examine and reassess the basic principles of EU foreign relations law that have emerged over 50 years of incremental Treaty-based and judicial development and explore the particular character of the EU's "external constitution". They have been written against a background of change and debate: the deliberation over the character of the appropriate constitutional framework which has surrounded the drafting of the Constitutional and Reform Treaties, the increasingly cross-pillar nature of much EU external action, and renewed interest in the accountability of foreign relations policy and practice to democratic and judicial review within and without the EU. This collection will be of interest not only to EU foreign relations law specialists but also to those concerned with broader constitutional issues within EU law. In exploring the legal context in which the EU seeks to develop an international identity, and to structure and execute policies at the international level, the collection will also interest those working in international relations.

The emergence of a common security and foreign policy has been one of the most contentious issues accompanying the integration of the European Union. In this book, Michael Smith examines the specific ways foreign policy cooperation has been institutionalized in the EU, the way institutional development affects cooperative outcomes in foreign policy, and how those outcomes lead to new institutional reforms. Smith explains the evolution and performance of the institutional procedures of the EU using a unique analytical framework, supported by extensive empirical evidence drawn from interviews, case studies, official documents and secondary sources. His perceptive and well-informed analysis covers the entire history of EU foreign policy cooperation, from its origins in the late 1960s up to the start of the 2003 constitutional convention. Demonstrating the importance and extent of EU foreign/security policy, the book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and policy-makers.