TY - JOUR

T1 - The Identity/Policy Nexus in European Foreign Policy

AU - Hebel, Kai

AU - Lenz, Tobias

PY - 2016/4/20

Y1 - 2016/4/20

N2 - This article analyses the relationship between identity and foreign policy in the European Union (EU) – a linkage that we term the ‘identity/policy nexus’. Our principal argument is that the collective identity of the EU exerts a systematic yet contingent influence on its foreign policy. We develop this argument in three steps. First, we observe that much of the existing literature under-specifies how identity translates into foreign policy, resulting in a problematic tendency to essentialize the nexus. To remedy this weakness, we propose an inductive approach that empirically traces the political processes constituting the nexus. Second, to facilitate such analysis, we introduce a novel heuristic framework. The framework delineates two translation processes – identity construction and identity operationalization – both of which are conditioned by the political dynamics of the supranational space in which the processes unfold. Finally, we apply this framework to the time period between 1962 and 1975. We observe that the operation of the nexus was characterized by a high degree of contingency. This finding, we suggest, validates an inductive approach to the study of the nexus.

AB - This article analyses the relationship between identity and foreign policy in the European Union (EU) – a linkage that we term the ‘identity/policy nexus’. Our principal argument is that the collective identity of the EU exerts a systematic yet contingent influence on its foreign policy. We develop this argument in three steps. First, we observe that much of the existing literature under-specifies how identity translates into foreign policy, resulting in a problematic tendency to essentialize the nexus. To remedy this weakness, we propose an inductive approach that empirically traces the political processes constituting the nexus. Second, to facilitate such analysis, we introduce a novel heuristic framework. The framework delineates two translation processes – identity construction and identity operationalization – both of which are conditioned by the political dynamics of the supranational space in which the processes unfold. Finally, we apply this framework to the time period between 1962 and 1975. We observe that the operation of the nexus was characterized by a high degree of contingency. This finding, we suggest, validates an inductive approach to the study of the nexus.

KW - Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe

KW - contingency

KW - EU foreign policy

KW - European Community

KW - identity

KW - process analysis

KW - Politics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84958935461&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/13501763.2015.1047398

DO - 10.1080/13501763.2015.1047398

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84958935461

VL - 23

SP - 473

EP - 491

JO - Journal of European Public Policy

JF - Journal of European Public Policy

SN - 1350-1763

IS - 4

ER -