United We Stand? The European Union's International Actorness in the Cases of the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto Protocol*

Abstract

Abstract In this article we examine the relationship between the institutional set‐up of the EU foreign policy‐making process and the international actorness of the EU in two particular cases: the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto Protocol. Whereas in both cases policy‐making is organized along intergovernmental lines, the EU has shown a relatively high degree of international actorness. We argue that this is the combined result of the considerable congruence of EU Member States' initial preferences and the social interactions between EU Member States, third countries and non‐state actors, through which preferences converged even further over time.