Bulletin n. 1/2015
June 2015
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Austermann Frauke
    The European External Action Service and its Delegations: a diplomatic service of different speeds
    in Global Affairs , Volume 1, Issue 1 ,  2015 ,  51-57
    The EU Delegations are an integral part of the European External Action Service: since the Treaty of Lisbon they constitute the official diplomatic representation of the European Union abroad and are hence prototype “European embassies”. Despite these steps towards further political integration, the Treaty of Lisbon cannot streamline the differences across third states. The European External Action Service hence remains a diplomatic service of different speeds. But what third country characteristics accelerate or slow down the speed of creating a unified European voice towards a given country? This article summarizes the findings of the first comprehensive study of the EU's diplomatic representation. The results show that the EU can centralize diplomacy rather well in developing countries and – quite surprisingly – also in countries of strategic/security importance. Equally surprising is that the EU encounters difficulties centralizing diplomacy towards major economic partners. Finally, and counter-arguing the literature on Normative Power Europe, the EU cannot centralize diplomacy particularly well in countries where it (should be) inclined to diffuse its norms. Full text available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23340460.2015.986700
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