The Concept of Awkward Powers in Foreign Relations

Abstract

This paper addresses a specific phenomenon concerning power concepts in‎ Canadian and EU foreign policies. As is widely known, the liberal-democratic ‎platform has dominated global relations after the end of the Cold War. Implemented ‎power approaches are studied from theoretical perspectives of liberalism/‎constructivism standpoints and their realist critique. Canada has been ‎presented mostly as a middle power in international relations trying to find‎ its specific role as a mediator and balancer among superpowers. On the other ‎hand, the EU is classified predominantly as a normative power with tendencies ‎to act as a great power from some point of view. In the paper, we analyse ‎both entities through the recent concept of ‘awkward power’, whereby states ‎have a so-called “dubious character”, acting in-between the potential of great‎ and middle powers.‎