Social status, social closure and the idea of Europe as a ‘normative power’

Abstract

This article examines Ian Manners' idea of a 'normative power Europe'. While discussing moral and political forms of normative power, it calls particular attention to a sociological approach based on Weberian ideas about status and social closure. The article then compares the present-day 'normative power' of the EU with the earlier European 'standard of civilization', and argues that the contemporary EU's normative power rests on a more individualist and credentialist form of social closure. This may make it less vulnerable to criticisms of imperialism, but may also make it harder for the EU to retain its relatively privileged position in the generation of international norms and a coherent sense of its own identity.

The EU as a Normative Power and the Research on External Perceptions: The Missing Link

“…In an important contribution, Keene (forthcoming) draws on this approach to make the argument that the EU is a normative power today. His point of departure is that imperial European states in the 19th century had normative power.…”

“…According to Keene, ‘one reason for the relatively high prestige that attaches to the EU's “normative difference” in international relations today is that it still draws on the legacy created in the nineteenth century’ (Keene, forthcoming, p. 13). The EU is seen as ‘drawing on cultural capital that has gradually been accumulated over 200 years before its foundation’ (Keene, forthcoming, p. 14). However the EU's normative power today is also different from the 19th‐century European normative power.…”

“…However the EU's normative power today is also different from the 19th‐century European normative power. The Union's normative power today relies on the promotion of values such as human rights and liberty and competence in the economic, environmental or diplomatic field rather than symbolic indicators of identity and status (Keene, forthcoming, p. 15). As moral knowledge and technical competence can be acquired by other international actors, the exceptionalism that contributes to the EU being a normative power is fragile (Keene, forthcoming, pp.…”

“…Some recent work on NPE attempts to clarify the necessary assumptions of what power means in the debate about it. Among other things, it looks at the importance of the discursive or status context for whether the EU can be said to be a normative power (Forsberg, ; Keene, forthcoming; Larsen, forthcoming). One central argument in this literature is that the precondition for the EU to be a special normative power is that the outside world attributes a distinct role to the Union.…”

On the Social Status of the European Union

“…Instead, I ask: what social status is attributed to the EU in world politics? To answer this question I extend Keene's () recasting of normative power Europe (NPE) as a status management strategy for the EU to keep its privileged position in world politics. I argue that being an actor in world politics requires recognition.…”