Explaining Euro-paralysis

Résumé du livre

Jan Zielonka analyzes the apparent failure of the European Union to create a common foreign and security policy (CFSP). He argues that European paralysis is basically caused by democracy and identity problems. Common policies do not work because they do not really enjoy genuine public legitimacy. Europeans do not have a high degree of natural affinity with these policies and they virtually have no control over them. Traditional foreign policy concerns such as power, institutions and national interested were found less crucial in explaining the CFSP failures. What can be done? The union should make some basic strategic choices about its purpose, functions and territory. One choice suggested in the book is to opt for a civilian power model for the Union, the other is to define the borders of the Union. The 1997 treaty of Amsterdam has only reaffirmed the long-standing ambiguity about the Union's geographic reach and purpose. The book argues that such ambiguity has proved to be a grave liability for the Union.