Strategic Autonomy and the EU as a Global Actor: The Evolution, Debate and Theory of a Contested Term

Helwig, Niklas; Sinkkonen, Ville

doi:10.54648/eerr2022009

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, SA has been compared with similar notions. In particular, the relationship between SA and strategic sovereignty has been interpreted in different ways [11,[16][17][18][19], while academics have taken more similar views on what the 'open' component adds to SA. This adjective indeed highlights that the twin aims of achieving SA and preserving an open economy are not incompatible, although characterised by an inherent tension [20].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Strategic Autonomy in the EU Green Transition

Paleari

2024

Sustainability

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The European Green Deal (EGD) is the cornerstone of a strategic package (EGD Strategic Framework; EGDSF), which aims to make the EU a climate-neutral and competitive economy by 2050. The green transition planned by the EGD has been affected by relevant external shocks, which have highlighted Europe’s vulnerabilities in key strategic sectors. In this context, EU strategic autonomy (SA) has increasingly become a recurring element of the EGDSF. This article aims to provide a better understanding of the role of SA within the EGDSF and investigate whether it supports the EGD’s environmental ambitions. Based on an in-depth qualitative analysis of the EGDSF, it examines the specific purposes that, via SA, the EU wants to achieve and provides a categorisation of the related implementation measures. It emerges that SA objectives embedded into the EGDSF have been shaped in support of EGD goals but that some trade-offs may arise depending on the implementation measures selected to meet the former. In particular, current measures that promote self-sufficiency and the extension of environmental requirements to foreign businesses/products accessing the EU market raise some environmental, economic, and social concerns, which can be partly addressed through a stronger and more comprehensive EGD external dimension.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Strategic Autonomy in the EU Green Transition

Paleari

2024

Sustainability

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“…A separate category of works analyzing Europe's positions in US-Chinese technology competition is represented by analyses of the prospects for building the EU's strategic autonomy (i.e., Bartels, Kelner & Optenhögel, 2017;Drent, 2018;García Pérez, 2019;Grevi, 2020;Grevi, 2021;Helwig, 2021;Howorth, 2017;Schüller & Schüler-Zhou, 2020;Terlikowski, 2021;Zieliński, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Union at the Dawn of Technological Cold War

Gajewski

2023

TIS

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The purpose of the study was to construct a picture of the EU’s global position in a world defined by the US-Chinese technological Cold War. Morphological analysis has been used to enable a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the technological and social domains. Structured interviews were also used to support the analytical process. The results of the exploration showed a picture of the EU’s multi-level technological weakness compared to competing powers. While the EU is not a weak entity, its future international position will depend on the creation of its own technological capabilities and on cooperation with the United States. Both lines of action are subject to multiple risks. Firstly, some aggressive technological developments (such as the plans to place microchips production in Europe) can generate more problems than diversification. Secondly, the EU must extend its work on high-tech (primarily AI) beyond the logic of market regulation and focus on their geopolitical and military dimension. It must also be ready for possible obstacles in cooperation with the United States. The alternative to this track, as the analysis shows, is the technological, and hence the political and economic peripheral status, where two technological superpowers – the United States and authoritarian China will compete. The most negative result for the EU is the status of “digital colony”. The paper aspires to be a part of the effort to fill the existing void in the scientific output of Polish social sciences, regarding exploration of the geopolitical dimension of technological progress, especially its impact on EU’s position in the new power distribution model, which will be the result of the rivalry between the US and China.

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“…However, there is also a growing scholarship that interprets ESA in a more distanced manner, with the use of conceptual tools of social sciences. Helwig and Sinkkonen conducted a preliminary analysis of ESA RIE 17 '23 through the lenses of main theories of International Relations (Helwig, Sinkkonen, 2022) and Helwing used social constructivism to analyse "the ideational process that pushes the strategic autonomy narrative to the forefront" (Helwig, 2022, p. 22). This article draws from that research as well as their observation that the "'strategic autonomy' is the term of choice that EU and Member-State representatives use in order to describe the Union's response to global challenges" (Helwig, Sinkkonen, 2022, p. 1).…”

Section: Defining European Strategic Autonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualizing European Strategic Autonomy

Rekowski

2023

10.14746/rie

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Since the Global Strategy of 2016 which presented European Strategic Autonomy (ESA) a global “ambition” of the European Union, the concept of ESA became increasingly embedded in the EU policymaking. However, its meaning remains elusive due to a plurality of competing definitions and interpretations. The aim of this article is to show and analyse how the concept of European Strategic Autonomy is being defined and to verify the hypothesis: despite many competing conceptualizations of ESA, a common understanding of the notion is emerging in the EU. It traces how the concept of ESA is received and evolves in relation to European think-tanks and EU institutions. The research behind this article is based on an extensive review of academic literature, think-tank publications and official EU documents, as well as interviews conducted with EU officials and members of the European think-tank community.

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Strategic Autonomy and the EU as a Global Actor: The Evolution, Debate and Theory of a Contested Term

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

The Role of Strategic Autonomy in the EU Green Transition

The Role of Strategic Autonomy in the EU Green Transition

European Union at the Dawn of Technological Cold War

Conceptualizing European Strategic Autonomy

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