This collected volume of essays focuses on two complementary themes: firstly, the theoretical approaches to the study of European Political Cooperation; and secondly, the empirical analysis of EPC activity. The volume does not argue one particular approach to the study of EPC, but rather presents competing, and often conflicting, theoretical perspectives. At the empirical level, a future research agenda is suggested and it is argued that EPC research should become comparative in nature.

Diplomacy? by Gianni Bonvinci.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book reviews a variety of approaches to the study of the European Union’s foreign policy. Much analysis of EU foreign policy contains theoretical assumptions about the nature of the EU and its member states, their inter-relationships, the international system in which they operate and the nature of European integration. Such assumptions, when not discussed openly, often curtail debate. This book opens up this field of enquiry so students, observers and analysts of EU foreign policy can review a range of tools and theoretical templates from which the development and the trajectory of the EU’s foreign policy can be studied. Situated at the interface between European studies and international relations, the book outlines how the EU relates to the rest of the world, explaining its effort towards creating a credible, effective and principled foreign, security and defence policy.

Rethinking the European Union draws together contributors from across Europe to reflect upon methods of conceptualising the European Union within both changing global and European contexts. The book takes the themes of institutions, interests and identities as its organising framework within which each contributor offers a distinctive commentary on the EU. The outcome is a text that goes beyond an exploration of the existing methods of conceptualising the European integration process and reflects upon the nature of the EU itself.