The next seminar in the series Research seminar series in European and international politics will be held on Friday 3 May from 12:00 to 13:30, in Room 114, Gateway Building.
The seminar is entitled 'Multiple Actors in Framing the EU's External Policy: The Case of the EU Global Security Strategy'. The speaker is Ilze Ruse, Associate Professor, Riga Graduate School of Law.
Abstract
There is a strong correlation between the EU’s institutional architecture and the policy output. The more complex the institutional set-up, the more challenges it poses for achieving an ambitious and coherent policy output. This is particularly at stake in the situation when the EU has to handle numerous crises and respond to international security challenges. The Lisbon Treaty has introduced a new institutional architecture by adding complexity with multiple actors in the field of CFSP. The European External Action Service (EEAS) is in charge of EU’s foreign and security policy. At the same time it has to accommodate the interests of the EU Member States and those of the EU institutions in order to make the policy output credible and efficient.
By contributing to this volume with multidisciplinary approach, the paper applies the Principal-Agent (P-A) theory of Political Science that argues that the relationship between the Member States and the EEAS can be perceived as a delegation arrangement where the Member States (principal) sign a contract of delegation with the EEAS (agent) for fulfilling the mandate, yet purposely leaving a particular level of ‘discretion’ to the EEAS. The agent’s abuse of its empowered position may lead to ‘slippage’. To avoid this from happening, the Member States would employ various control measures to keep the agent adhering with the preferences of the principal. The hypothesis is tested by drawing on the case of the EU Global Security Strategy. The paper explores the means of control that the Member States use to keep their ownership in framing the new security strategy of the EU.
Keywords
Governance; External relations; European External Action Service; EU Global Security Strategy; Policy Delegation.
Governance; External relations; European External Action Service; EU Global Security Strategy; Policy Delegation.