The functions of ‘strategic partnership’ in European Union foreign policy discourse^*

Abstract

'Strategic partnership' is a frequently used term in the vocabulary of international politics. However, there is a lack of theoretical problematization of the nature and meaning of this concept in the academic literature. Analysts frequently take it to be either a descriptive term or a meaningless instrument of political rhetoric. This leads to analyses that insist on evaluating the appropriateness of the use of this term and distinguishing between 'real strategic partnerships' and the rest. This article proposes an alternative pluralist theoretical framework to assess the functions of 'strategic partnership' in European Union foreign policy discourse. It argues that 'strategic partnership' is a meaningful concept that must be analysed on the levels of systemic foreign policy conceptualization and bilateral interaction of units. The paper turns to a language-based approach to discuss three functions of 'strategic partnership': (i) as a label and mechanism of differentiation and hierarchization, (ii) as a normative instrument to advance a 'structural foreign policy' and (iii) as a constitutive speech and positioning act.