This paper examines the nature of leadership in EU foreign policy. The Lisbon treaty reforms of the European Union involved a significant institutional delegation and centralisation to Brussels of the formal leadership functions in the field of foreign policy thereby ending the role played by the rotating national Presidency. This is puzzling given that theories of European integration discount that a significant delegation of leadership will happen in the high politics of foreign policy given its close association to sovereignty and statehood. In this paper, we set out to explore a paradox at the heart of EU foreign policy between the drive for leadership effectiveness (strategic action) and perceptions of legitimate leadership (appropriate behaviour). We propose that social role theory can provide an original analytical perspective from which to study the contested nature of leadership in EU foreign policy. Drawing on Goffmann (1961), we argue that the enactment of leadership is crucially shaped by the possibilities for role relations (a shared organizational reality) between leaders and followers. Based on survey and interview data, this paper investigates what leadership role expectations representatives of EU member states and EU institutions have and why.
