CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Hertlik, Dominik |
|---|---|
| Title | The Impact of China's Rise on EU Foreign Policy Cohesion |
| Summary | China’s rise and the consequences resulting from it have an effect on countries around the world. Its increasingly close cooperation with countries in Central and Eastern Europe (as well as Greece) has led to numerous EU member states (EUMS) pursuing foreign policies that are oftentimes more aligned with the interests of the Chinese leadership than the overall EU’s interests and values. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the EU is susceptible to such interference as its decisions are based on unanimity. Building up on this, this thesis argues that even though previous literature suggests that normative socialisation processes within CFSP policymaking and the consequent primacy of consensus seeking during negotiations have made the use of vetoes virtually insignificant, due to the increasing political and economic influence of China on some EUMS the importance of vetoes is rising again. Benefits of maintaining amicable relations to China might appear so attractive to some EUMS that in the light of China’s rise they are once again more prone to vetoing certain EU-level decisions critical of Beijing. The benefits held out in prospect vary and can be mostly economic, but also of political or ideological use. Costs of vetoing (besides from the reputational loss) seem to be virtually non-existent. Overall, while individual EUMS might benefit economically or politically, there is a risk that this development diminishes the overall role of the EU as normative power. This analysis looks into four concrete China-policy related issues that were negotiated in the CFSP framework and – applying a method developed by Schimmelfennig & Thomas – tests whether preconditions for normative socialisation processes were met (which makes vetoes highly unlikely). Since this holds true for all cases, the second part of the analysis focuses on the relations between the three vetoing countries Hungary, Greece and Croatia with China and it seeks to find explanations for why these states decided to use their veto power instead of demonstrating an ability to compromise during negotiations. |
| Supervisor | Izsak, Daniel |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/hertlik_dominik.pdf |
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