Is the EU a 'normative power'?

Alfonso Llanes, studied at Florida International University

Answered just now

Former High Representative Javier Solana, for Foreign and Security Policy recently commented: ‘The EU has responsibility to work for the “global common good’.” Ian Manners , from the Department of Politics and International Relations University of Kent at Canterbury has long argued that the EU is a “normative power and defines this as the way it has change the norms, standards and prescriptions of world politics away from bounded expectations of state-egocentricity.” In order to assess if the EU is a normative power, one must some of the EU’s actions and analyze whether the makeup of the EU multilateral state actors can perform as a cohesive unit of the body politic in the international forum.

In Issues such as of sovereignty and developments in its European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) Manners suggests it is receding from normative power. For instance the intervention of the EU about migration issues in third countries and to evaluate whether the EU is a normative power.

Manner places particular emphasis to the EU’s historical context, hybrid-polity and political-legal constitution. The EU’s member states have developed agreement on these principles that they are now legally binding commitments. Moreover,, Manners asserts that the EU will remain and continue to be a normative power for the foreseeable future. The EU’s normative power has the effect of diffusion by contagion, of informational sharing, procedural dissemination and its overall cultural influence. The EU therefore, advances its norms and values governing by example, instead of a doctrine of coercion fashioned in military power as it was done in the era of conquest and colonization.

To determine whether the EU is a normative power, it is necessary to put the organization in a historical context where a political-legal constitution makes it unique. The EU is inclined to act in this manner because of the lineage of its norms from the Roman Empire to colonization to periods of war, peace and of dispute settlement but with improving legislation by iteration. Moreover, the EU as a body-polity continues to improve legislation in areas such as the respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the protection of human rights from antagonist actors.

Helene Sjursen who is Scientific Coordinator of GLOBUS and Research Professor at ARENA Centre for European Studies writing in the Journal of European Public Policy makes the argument that “the EU is a humanitarian – normative, civilian, and civilizing – power has gained considerable attention. She echoes the ongoing discussions about the international system towards a post-Westphalian order. “Westphalia is a doctrine named after the Peace of Westphalia, signed in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War. “The major continental European states – the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, Sweden and the Dutch Republic – agreed to respect one another's territorial integrity.”

With this meaning in place, new members must comply with its constitutional norms which provide credence to the argument that the EU is a normative power. In addition, the EU’s support of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in contrast to the US’ opposition underlines it as a normative power according to Timothy J. Dunne who is a British scholar of international relations and Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland. However, Manners’ argues that the EU’s norms generally acknowledged by the United Nations is questionable. Multi-nationalism as is the case of the (UN) governing body is central to the European Security Strategy (ESS), which endorses the UN as the groundwork of a law-based international order. However, a key characteristic of Multi-nationalism is the norm of national sovereignty

As the European Union (EU) addresses international issues through its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), there has been a fundamental debate whether this activity could actually be considered EU’s foreign policy. Sjursen argues that due to the EU’s wide-ranging global involvement and its increased capabilities, it seems to be established that indeed, the EU has a foreign policy.

Finally, Sjursen, adds America, often considered as a symbol of liberty and justice, is experiencing a weakening of its international credibility, due to cases like prisoner abuses in Iraq.

In addition, the refusal by the U.S. government to sign the Kyoto protocol or to accept the International Criminal Court (ICC) undermines its role as a responsible superpower. Moreover, the election of Trump is making America weaker because of his dangerous stands and bravado's against smaller but treacherous states like North Korea, Iran, and Palestine. These policies have in fact diminished the U.S. in terms of its civilian, military and normative abilities, the International Community is increasingly turning to Europe to play a stronger role in international affairs and NATO as the normative military power in Europe.