Combining soft power with the geopolitical approach – how difficult is for the EU to change its attitude?

After gradually evolving from an economic project to a political one, European Union leaders declare nowadays that it is time to go forward and to build a geopolitical actor on the international stage. This paper does make an account on the current stage of relevant geopolitical actors and how they view EU. In order to address this issue, EU have to focus more on its soft power instruments, like multilateralism and the promotion of democracy, rule of law and human rights, and also climate change, apart from hard power instruments like trade, security and defense, cybersecurity and data privacy.

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COMBINING SOFT POWER WITH THE GEOPOLITICAL APPROACH - HOW DIFFICULT IS FOR THE EU TO CHANGE ITS ATTITUDE?

STRATEGIES XXI - National Defence College ◽

10.53477/2668-5094-21-14 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (72) ◽

pp. 189-195

Author(s):

Radu CARP

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Soft Power ◽

Hard Power ◽

Union Leaders ◽

Current Stage ◽

The Eu

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The Rule of Law Framework in the European Union: Its Rationale, Origins, Role and International Ramifications

Defending Checks and Balances in EU Member States - Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht ◽

10.1007/978-3-662-62317-6_12 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 305-331

Author(s):

Artur Nowak-Far

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

The European Union ◽

Member States ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Eu Member States ◽

International Legal Order ◽

High Level ◽

The Eu

AbstractAt present, the European rule of law enforcement framework under Article 7 TEU (RLF) is vulnerable to unguaranteed, discretionary influences of the Member States. This vulnerability arises from its procedural format which requires high thresholds in decision-making with the effect that this procedure is prone to be terminated by the EU Member States likely to be scrutinized under it, if only they collude. Yet, the Framework may prove effective to correct serious breaches against human rights (in the context of ineffective rule of law standards). The European Commission is bound to pursue the RLF effectiveness for the sake of achieving relative uniformity of application of EU law (at large), and making the European Union a credible actor and co-creator of international legal order. The RLF is an important tool for the maintenance of relative stability of human rights and the rule of law in the EU despite natural divergence propensity resulting from the procedural autonomy of the EU Member States. By achieving this stability, the EU achieves significant political weight in international dialogue concerning human rights and the rule of law and preserves a high level of its global credibility in this context. Thus, RLF increases the EU’s effectiveness in promoting the European model of their identification and enforcement.

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EU peacebuilding’s new khaki: Exceptionalist militarism in the trading of good governed for military-capable states

Politics ◽

10.1177/0263395720947346 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 026339572094734

Author(s):

Marta Iñiguez de Heredia

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Good Governance ◽

International Order ◽

International Peace ◽

Peace And Security ◽

Liberal Peacebuilding ◽

The Eu

This article explores how European Union (EU) peacebuilding is being reconfigured. Whereas the EU was once a bulwark of liberal peacebuilding, promoting a rule of law–based international order, it is now downplaying the goal of good governance and placing military capacity as central for international peace and security. Several works have analysed these changes but have not theorised militarism, despite war-waging and war-preparation have marked EU peacebuilding’s direction. The article argues that EU peacebuilding continues to expose elements of liberal militarism since its origins but is now changing from what Mabee and Vucetic call a nation-statist to an exceptionalist militarism. This shift implies that peace has ceased to be served by the intervention of sovereignty with a discourse based on the link between order, good governance, and human rights and is now premised on the upholding of sovereignty, even if that means the suspension of rights. The research draws on thematic analysis of EU documents and interviews undertaken with EU and G5 Sahel officials and managers of EU-funded peacebuilding programmes. It also briefly analyses the case of the Sahel as an example of how the build-up of states’ military capacity is strengthening states’ capacity to override human rights and repressing dissent.

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Young People’s Engagement With the European Union

Zeitschrift für Psychologie ◽

10.1027/2151-2604/a000314 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 225 (4) ◽

pp. 313-323 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Dagmar Strohmeier ◽

Martyn Barrett ◽

Carmen Bora ◽

Simona C. S. Caravita ◽

Elisa Donghi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Young People ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Demographic Variables ◽

The European Union ◽

The Uk ◽

Future Vision ◽

The Eu

Abstract. This study investigated whether demographic variables, efficacy beliefs, visions, and worries are associated with four different forms of (dis)engagement with the European Union (EU): intended voting in the 2019 EU elections, nonconventional political engagement, psychological engagement, and the wish that one’s own country should leave the EU. The sample comprised 3,764 young people aged 16–25 years living in seven European countries: Albania, Austria, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the UK. Economic challenges, human rights, and the environment were the most important future visions; unemployment and poverty, climate change, civil unrests, and collapse of the EU were the most important future worries. The four forms of (dis)engagement with the EU were differentially associated with predictors, although internal efficacy and future vision of economic challenges predicted all forms. Implications for future EU policy are discussed.

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The “Thick” Rule of Law and Mutual Trust in the European Union

Baltic Yearbook of International Law Online ◽

10.1163/22115897_01801_002 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Juha Raitio

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Judicial Review ◽

Good Governance ◽

Mutual Trust ◽

The European Union ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Material Concept ◽

The Eu

The concept of the rule of law has lately become a topical and controversial issue. For example, the existence of effective judicial review is an inseparable part of the rule of law and some problems in this respect have been analysed. This article advocates for a thick concept of the rule of law. This refers to the idea that the rule of law has both material and formal content. The controversial part seems to be the question of material content and whether it obscures the essential meaning of the rule of law as a requirement of legality. However, the material aspect of the rule of law can be linked to the value-base of the European Union. For example, during its EU Presidency, Finland strongly emphasized the significance of the value base and the rule of law in Article 2 teu for the development of the EU. Democracy, the rule of law, and the actualisation of fundamental and human rights in particular are connected together, combined in a trinity where all the components form preconditions for the others. This stance is not a novelty in Finland, since Jyränki, for one, two decades ago already maintained that human rights protect the individual’s position and thus belong to the sphere of the material concept of the rule of law. I have employed the metaphor of a musical triangle. A triangle can only make a sound if all three of its corners are connected to each other, thereby connecting the sides of the triangle. Observance of the core values of the EU is a precondition for mutual trust between Member States, which in turn is necessary for a well-functioning European Union and good governance.

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The EU’s (strategic) use of human rights tools and instruments

The European Union and Human Rights ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198814191.003.0025 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 542-568

Author(s):

Manfred Nowak ◽

Karolina Podstawa

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Fundamental Rights ◽

Action Plans ◽

The European Union ◽

External Trade ◽

Double Standards ◽

Policy Setting ◽

The Eu

The European Union (EU) disposes of a comprehensive toolbox of instruments allowing it to implement its human rights commitments in internal and external policies. And yet, in this contentious policy setting, the use of human and fundamental rights tools gives rise to criticism ranging from allegations of double standards to its lack of effectiveness and the sham commitment to the use of these tools. The question arises as to the design of the overall architecture for the use of these tools, and whether their use collectively brings the EU closer to its goal of promoting and protecting human rights worldwide. This chapter attempts to uncover the existing practices, and challenges the strategic and organised manner of the pursuit of EU human and fundamental rights objectives within the limits of the existing toolbox and with the due exploitation of opportunities it offers. To this end, we will present a comprehensive oversight and typology of the human rights-related tools but also challenge their use. Finally, the contribution engages in the discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the toolbox, in particular in the context of their implementation, coherence, and effectiveness. The chapter draws from the broad range of experiences of the EU and Member States’ internal and external policies. In particular, it focuses on the 2015–19 rule of law crisis, the implementation of human rights strategies, and action plans in a variety of settings, and the gradual changes in the external trade-human rights nexus.

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Unia Europejska w świecie: soft power, hard power czy może smart power?

10.31338/1641-2478pe.3.17.4 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 78-94

Author(s):

Sławomir Niedźwiecki

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

International Relations ◽

Soft Power ◽

Policy Research ◽

The European Union ◽

Smart Power ◽

Hard Power ◽

The Eu

The main purpose of the article is to ask whether the European Union is a smart power actor. Most of the previous research has treated the EU as a soft power. This work is an analysis of the tools which the European Union uses in its foreign policy. Research has been conducted in the context of types of powers, which have been formulated by Joseph Nye: hard power, soft power and smart power. It was necessary to survey what instruments does the European Union use to have impact on other participants of international relations. Nowadays, a range of these tools is relatively developed, taking into account that the EU is an international organisation. In the conclusion, it is stated that the contemporary European Union should be treated as a soft power, but simultaneously it is an actor which attempts to become a smart power, and has relevant predispositions to it.

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The Non-Execution Clause in the Relationship between the European Union (EU) and the African, Carribean and Pacific States (ACP)

German Law Journal ◽

10.1017/s2071832200015583 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 3 (11) ◽

Author(s):

Moussounga Itsouhou Mbadinga

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Good Governance ◽

Community Support ◽

Essential Elements ◽

Development Aid ◽

The European Union ◽

Article 5 ◽

The Eu

It has became common for some States, international or regional organizations to establish a link between good governance, respect of human rights and the democratization of States. This idea is now a condition for development aid. Paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Lomé Convention between the European Community (EC) and African, Carribean and Pacific States (ACP) of 15 December 1989, revised at Maurice 4 November 1995, provides that the politics of development and cooperation are closely linked to the respect and the enjoyment of fundamental human rights, to the strengthening of the rule of law and good governance. In Paragraph 2, cooperation is established as an instrument for promoting the enjoyment of economic, social, politic and cultural rights. The democratic clause contained in Article 5 of the Lomé Convention, and for which the respect of human rights, democratic principles and rule of law are essential elements of this Convention, firstly favours the achievement of positive actions in this framework and dedicates these elements as topics of common interests and a matter of dialogue. The European Union has stressed its willingness to develop a positive approach to these essential elements, which are the bedrock of the EU-ACP relationship besides being fields of cooperation and Community support. For that purpose, the Cotonou Agreement signed on 23 June 2000 strengthens this approach in Paragraph 2 of Article 9. The EU clearly places these essential elements at the heart of its partnership and defines the shared values that underpin this kind of relationship. It is in the spirit of common commitment to the respect and promotion of universal values that this approach has been taken.

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Introduction

European Review ◽

10.1017/s1062798705000517 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 377-378

Author(s):

ERIK-JAN ZÜRCHER

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Market Economy ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

The European Union ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

History Of ◽

Accession Process ◽

The Hague ◽

The Eu

Turkey is about to start accession negotiations with the European Union. The question of whether Turkey qualified as a European country in terms of history and culture, was put on the European agenda by conservative European politicians in the mid-1990s and seemed to have been solved in Turkey's favour at the Helsinki summit of 1999, but it was hotly debated again throughout 2004. At the same time, a parallel debate developed among those who accepted Turkey's European credentials in principle (or felt they had to accept them). This was the debate about Turkey's state of preparedness and the degree to which the country fulfilled the so-called ‘Copenhagen Criteria’, which stipulated that candidates for membership of the EU should have a stable democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and a functioning market economy. In the end, as we know, the attempts of the ‘fundamentalist’ opposition to Turkey's candidature on the part of people like former Eurocommissioner Bolkestein, German CDU/CSU leaders Merkel and Stoiber or ex-president Giscard d'Estaing failed. Turkey's progress towards fulfilment of the Copenhagen Criteria was deemed sufficient by the European Commission, and on 17 December 2004 the momentous decision to start the accession process was taken unanimously at the summit in The Hague.Interest in the question of Turkey's candidature has meant that an extraordinary number of studies, reports, papers have appeared, analysing the current situation and drawing scenarios for the future. The authors of this Focus have not intended to add to this, or to investigate the chequered history of Turkish-European relations since the signing of the accession treaty in 1963.

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The Values of the European Union and their Protection under European Law

Contemporary Europe ◽

10.15211/soveurope720202737 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 27-37

Author(s):

Stanislav Kuvaldin ◽

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

European Law ◽

The European Union ◽

Member States ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

History Of ◽

National Governments ◽

The Eu

Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union provides for a mechanism for responding to violations by member states of the values of democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights proclaimed by the Union, as well as the introduction of sanctions against the violating state. Nevertheless, the EU structures are extremely cautious about this mechanism, despite the reasons for its use. The article analyzes the history of the appearance of Article 7 in European legislation and the first attempts of a pan-European influence on dubious decisions of the member states. Based on the example of Poland and Hungary in respect of which the possibility of applying sanctions under the Article 7 procedure is now being discussed, it is concluded that such an outcome is unlikely. It is shown that Article 7 was deliberately created in such a way as to limit the actions of pan-European structures, to leave decisions in the hands of national governments and to provide an opportunity to solve the problem through negotiations. It also shows the process of searching for alternative ways of influencing the violating states.

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