The European Union as an Inadvertent Great Power: EU Actorness and the Ukraine Crisis

Abstract

We examine how the EU can act as a great power in its own right even in the absence of military capability and how its institutional structure conditions this ability. We first theorize EU great power politics. Based on theories of corporate action, the EU constitutes a strong market power in its own right and a weak security power. While it is institutionally ill‐equipped to purposefully mobilize its market power to pursue high‐politics goals, its communitarized external relations may inadvertently challenge important security interests of other great powers. Second, we show that the EU acted as an inadvertent great power vis‐à‐vis Russia in its Ukraine policy which was primarily driven by the supranational decision‐making apparatus and low‐politics considerations, but engendered a bipolar power struggle with Russia over Ukraine. The risks inherent in EU inadvertent great power politics are deeply engrained in the EU's institutional structure and therefore difficult to mitigate.

Russia and Europe: Between Integration and Diplomacy

“…Russia has always been challenged by a complicated internal arrangement of modern europe, where supranational and interstate elements are combined, with the latter prevailing, (Gehring, urbanski and oberthür, 2017). despite the advanced level and large scale of integration, the european union remains an association of sovereign states.…”

“…however, the main issue for the present analysis is not the dramatic events in ukraine, but its position in the context of relations between Russia and the european union. In this sense, the clash of the interests of the players around a particular geopolitical entity is nothing more than a derivative of Russia's and europe's efforts to find their own place in the changing world and instruments to use for such global selfpositioning (urnov, 2014;Gehring, urbanski and oberthür, 2017). had Russia failed to turn to more structured forms of cooperation with its neighbors (eaeu) in the early 2010s, the ukrainian authorities would have been able to comfortably sign an enhanced Partnership agreement with the eu, and at the same time continue to develop relations with Russia.…”

Liberal Intergovernmentalism, Illiberalism and the Potential Superpower of the European Union

“…We have entered a period in global politics that is less favourable to the EU's brand of international power. They have also offered aid, trade and support to Ukraine; indeed, scholars argue that the EU's resolve, and thus power, has been amplified by competition with Russia over Ukraine (Gehring et al, 2017). 96-99).…”

Unified in response to rising powers? China, Russia and EU-US relations

“…Auer 2015, MacFarlane and Menon 2014). Gehring et al (2017) have claimed that the EU acted as a great power in the security crisis over Ukraine, albeit inadvertently. Their argument is that the EU 'unintentionally challenges major security interests of other great powers' through its 'communitarized external action based on low-politics strategies' (ibid, 728).…”