Conceptualizing the European Union as an International Actor: Narrowing the Theoretical Capability‐Expectations Gap

Abstract

This article identifies relevant explanatory concepts of European foreign policy (EFP) and organizes those concepts into a heuristically useful model that depicts the stimuli, processes and effects of EFP decision‐making. A cadre of scholars has worked on conceptualizing the European Union (EU) as an international actor, but explanations are still at the pretheoretical stage. Although theorists are developing new and reworking old explanatory concepts, these concepts are not linked in any meaningful way to an overall analytical model. The article begins on a sober note concerning the problems associated with conceptualizing the European Union external identity, but ends on a more sanguine one about the potential for progress not thought possible a short time ago. Scholars are developing explanatory concepts more balanced, rounded, finessed and nuanced than those of their predecessors, and they are moving beyond establishing the existence of EFP to assessing its outcomes.