Divided power Europe: normative divergences among the EU ‘big three’

Abstract

The article challenges Ian Manners's ‘Normative Power Europe’ thesis by arguing that although the European Union (EU) promotes norms in the international arena, it is not different from other powers. Drawing on a large set of empirical data and making use of a new institutionalist framework, it discerns how major European powers – Russia, France, Germany, Britain and the EU – have worked to gain acceptance for their individual favoured normative yardstick in the realm of security. The article concludes that as a consequence of diverging logics of appropriateness in Europe, the EU should rather be regarded as a divided than as a strong normative power. As long as both the EU and its major member states hold strong individual normative ambitions, the Union risks becoming hampered from acting rapidly and concertedly in international crises.