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 [...]

Originally published in 2005. This comprehensive volume examines the issue of Europe-making related to the post EU/NATO enlargement and the post 9/11 situation. Dual enlargement and the War on Terrorism are raising important questions for various actors in Europe, in particular what these developments will mean for the future of regional cooperation and the development of a regional subjectivity. Such concerns have been further compounded by America's distinction between 'New Europe' and 'Old Europe'. The volume analyzes at both policy and conceptual levels how the dual enlargement and the War on Terrorism will impact on regional cooperation in northern Europe. It examines how events in northern Europe have helped shape the nature of European space, borders and governance, including how the EU, the US and Russia have each highlighted northern Europe as a special case to be utilized and learnt from in dealing with problems elsewhere in Europe and globally. Presenting original articles, the volume will appeal to scholars of regional politics as well as security, international relations theory and geopolitics.

This book describes, analyses, explains and compares the role performance of different presidencies. The expert and international authors ask why member states have different approaches and play the role differently, prioritising different functions and using a variety of strategies to realise their aspirations. The book consists of three parts i) describes the functions of the presidency, ii) compares nine different presidencies and iii) a concluding section comparing media images, and summaries looking at member state characteristics and behaviour.

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