United in Adversity? The Europeanisation of EU Concertation Practices in a More Divided UN Security Council

Abstract:

From China’s and Russia’s assertiveness to Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policies, the 2010s have seen a return of geopolitics that challenges the European Union (EU) to its core.

In this context, this paper investigates how the resurgence of geopolitical adversity has impacted EU concertation in a forum where foreign policy integration had long seemed impossible: the UN Security Council (UNSC). Drawing on a series of over 40 interviews, amongst other sources, it argues that increased geopolitical rivalries have fostered partial Europeanisation processes in the UNSC, as evidenced by the strengthening of institutionalised concertation practices and the construction and diffusion of new cooperation formats such as EU8 joint statements.

This development being constrained by enduring limits to cooperation and the odds of Brexit, this paper identifies policy recommendations to further advance Europeanisation processes in the UNSC, while circumstances continue to favour EU cooperation in New York

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