CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Redei, Lorinc |
|---|---|
| Title | Normative Parliamentarians: The European Parliament's Role in the EU's Foreign Policy Process |
| Summary | According to the European Union (EU) Treaties, the European Parliament (EP) has few formal powers to influence the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Yet the Parliament still devotes a surprisingly large amount of time and resources to foreign policy issues. This dissertation seeks to explain the role of the EP in the EU’s foreign policy process through a role theoretical approach to the Parliament’s actions. It argues that the Parliament plays a dual role: an institutional role through which it exerts parliamentary control over the EU’s CFSP actors; and an international role through which it engages directly with the outside world through parliamentary diplomacy. By examining two instances of the EU’s relations with actors of contested sovereignty in its neighborhood (Kosovo and the Palestinian Territories), the dissertation finds that the EP played different institutional roles in each. In the case of Kosovo, it tried to influence other EU actors by behaving as a precedent-setter, trying to instill the norm of Kosovo’s sovereignty in EU structures. In the case of the Palestinian territories, the EP acted as a public debate forum, providing a space for contesting views about EU policies towards the Hamas-led government, without reaching a consensus on a policy preference. At the same time, the Parliament showed a coherent international role conception over both of these cases of contested sovereignty: that of a normative power. This normative understanding of the EU’s role in the world leads the EP to approach foreign policy issues through the prism of promoting fundamental democratic rights. Most importantly, the Parliament’s institutional and international role performances are mutually reinforcing. The ability of the EP to conduct parliamentary diplomacy is useful in its parliamentary control functions over CFSP actors, while its democratic oversight of the EU’s foreign policy is what gives the EU the international legitimacy to act as a normative power in the world. |
| Supervisor | Roe, Paul |
| Department | International Relations PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/iphrel01.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University