This article argues that a key to the influence of the EU in foreign policy is its consistent basis for the latter in terms of the legitmacy of human rights in current international affairs. Humanrights norms today carry both normative power in a public discourse on foreign policy, and they are...

The principal hypothesis in this paper is that a twofold change (in the referent object of security; and in the understanding and practice of the best means to achieve security) is taking place in European security and defence. In order to investigate the empirical relevance of this hypothesis,...

Diplomacy as a framework of principles, rules and organized patterns of behavior regulating interstate relations in the Westphalian system of states is challenged by the process of European integration. This paper conceptualizes diplomacy and its change using two new institutionalist...

This paper asks how we can make sense of the efforts in the late 1990s to strengthen the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the EU and build common institutional structures and shared capabilities in security and defence. Was it only a passing phenomenon, dependent on a particular and...

Why, how and when does an issue become a European interest and a European priority? Under what conditions does the EC/EU decide to launch a foreign policy initiative? When does a topic get on the EC/EU agenda of foreign affairs? In this paper the author raises the question of how, when and why...

This paper aims at exploring the impact that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, solemnly proclaimed in December 2000, might have on the relationships of the Union with applicant countries and with third states. Although not formally legally binding, it is argued that the...

Abstract: Reawakened from its decades-long slumber during the Cold War, the UN Security Council has become more active than ever before.  Increased UN activity, however, has not always spelled increased accountability.  The problem is particularly acute with regard to the UN Security...