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West European Politics
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National and European
Foreign Policies: Towards
Europeanization
Roy H. Ginsberg
a
a
Skidmore College
Available online: 16 Apr 2012
To cite this article: Roy H. Ginsberg (2012): National and European Foreign Policies:
Towards Europeanization, West European Politics, 35:3, 697-698
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2012.666428
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theory. The contributions here are more heterogeneous than in the rst part:
dierent case studies and specic conceptual frames based on classic sociologists
such as Weber, Durkheim and Bourdieu aim at developing a new interpretation of
classical research objects. The authors show the black holes and the questions that
remain to be analysed by sociological approaches to European integration: studies of
European policies should be more historically grounded whilst taking existing power
structures extremely seriously. This part gives the impression that mainstream
political science already did a great job in explaining European integration, but that
there are still other interpretations out there that need to be taken into account. This
endeavour is particularly convincing when the authors insist on the inuence of the
specic forms of actor networks in Brussels and Strasbourg, or that of cognitive
elds or frames on actors rationality and interests.
Although it is not entirely clear in all chapters what precisely sociological
approaches add to existing political science approaches, the excellent introduction
and a number of extremely well framed chapters are convincing when pleading the
cause for a distinct approach in the study of the emerging European society. The
volume is an inspiring read and should be compulsory for everyone interested in
European integration.
Sabine Saurugger
Institut detudes politiques de Grenoble
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2012.666427
National and European Foreign Policies: Towards Europeanization
Edited by Reuben Wong and Christopher Hill
Routledge, London, 2011, 304 pp., 85.00, ISBN 9780415610841 (hbk)
European Union foreign policy the existence of it is mystifying. How can a group
of states have common foreign policies when such policies are the preserve of states?
How do states and their collective bodies inuence each other? What are the causes
and eects of what drives and brakes EU foreign policy-making? Hill and
Wong professor and student, now colleagues oer responses with an impressive
assemblage of analysts to evaluate 10 member states foreign policies in relation to
the EU foreign policy system. Their core conceptual concern is foreign policy
Europeanization a nonlinear process by which national foreign policies inuence
and are inuenced by EU foreign policy.
The editors nd that all national foreign policies have been Europeanised to
varying degrees. None is resistant to the inuences of common processes/procedures.
None discards the inuence of shared values. At times, national foreign policies are
uploaded to the EU where national interests aect collective policy choices; at other
times, EU foreign policies are downloaded to the national level where EU interests
aect national policy choices. Crossloading occurs as domestic and international
phenomena/actors inuence foreign policy decisions in ways more horizontal than
vertical.
The volume demonstrates more convergence and coordination of national foreign
policies than is generally recognised, but the range of Europeanisation varies by
state. For some, foreign policy Europeanisation is primarily about process and
instrument; for others, it is about joint action. The authors conclude that, in a
circular relationship between national and EU foreign policy preferences, states react
individually to propositions discussed collectively. Mutations in national positions
occur that in the absence of the EU context would not likely have occurred. The
volume focuses on overall patterns of convergence using counterfactual reasoning.
Book Reviews 697
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On methodology which countries to showcase is an editorial choice, but the
omission of Sweden and the Netherlands is stark given their contributions to EU
crisis management operations/capabilities. The 10 well-executed country studies are
descriptive essays structured to respond to the central question: to what extent does
Europeanisation of national foreign policies result in uploading preferences to and/
or downloading preferences from the EU level? Country studies are not case studies
since they do not feature in-depth analyses of single instances of Europeanisation.
However, the volumes strength rests on the suggested template for evaluating
Europeanisation by selective countries. Others can build on the template to probe
more deeply. Such analysis would help explain why Germany opposed a UN request
for EU deployment of a military crisis management operation to the DRC for
humanitarian purposes in 2006 (uploading), but then consented, over its initial
objections, to EU deployment of a similar operation to Chad in 20082009
(downloading).
On conceptualisation this reviewer applauds the application of the concept of
Europeanisation to EU foreign policy studies because it identies a nuanced
process of change that is not blinded or straightjacketed by neofunctional and
intergovernmental perspectives. That said, there could have been more precision up
front about the concept as a cause and eect of EU foreign policy action. The
editors begin by introducing Europeanisation as a dependent variable, a
phenomenon that is aected by or contingent on the ideas of European integration
broadly and directives emanating from EU and national actors specically. It is
clear that by the end of the book the editors conclude that Europeanisation is also
(a) an independent variable with the EU foreign policy system imposing signicant
constraints on member states foreign policy calculations/orientations and
oering useful opportunities; and (b) an intervening variable in that other
international and domestic factors aect national foreign policies via EU mediation
or through outside expectations that member states will behave in a European way.
Europeanisation is seen as a circular process of cause, eect, and process. Although
it lacks parsimony in its explanatory reach it is silent on the endgame of the
process Europeanisation oers an objective analytical framework revealing new
insights into the interplay among domestic, national, European, and international
phenomena.
On theory this volume implicitly provides important insights into (a) the values,
norms, identities, and geocultural and shared experiences of national and EU foreign
policy principals squarely a social constructivist perspective; and (b) the interplay
between member state principals and EU agents squarely a rational choice
institutionalist perspective. Indeed, the volume is peppered with examples of how
principals rationally seek to reduce their foreign policy transaction costs by taking
joint actions implemented by EU agents. Since Europeanisation is such a central
concern of constructivist and institutionalist perspectives and literatures, the
contributors should have brought theory more plainly into focus.
In demonstrating the need to evaluate Europeanisation from the perspective of
non-EU actors, this volume will stimulate new scholarship on Europeanisation in its
global manifestations. The ndings challenge the Kagans, Mearsheimers, Kupchans,
and other critics of the EU as an international actor. The sceptics have to square
their assumptions with the fact that EU foreign policy exists, in all its unevenness,
and does so because it is in the interests of its member states. Building on and lling
gaps in previous works on Europeanisation, this volume is a must-read as it takes its
place in the canon on EU foreign policy studies.
Roy H. Ginsberg
Skidmore College
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2012.666428
698 Book Reviews
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