Can international organizations construct and deploy an effective strategic narrative? The European Union has relied on a strategic narrative from its inception to the present day (Miskimmon et al., 2013; Manners and Murray, 2016). This narrative been used to build support within Europe for deeper integration and to forge influence internationally. The narrative has shifted from a grand strategic vision of the people of Europe to a narrative of strategic calculation in the post-Cold War period. The formation, projection and reception of the EU strategic narrative is complicated by the hybrid nature of the institution - reflecting both supranational and intergovernmental aspects, complicating efforts to speak with a single voice in international affairs. This paper argues that the EU has in recent years lost a vision for a shared narrative of European integration, thus hampering the EU's strategic impact. This has been most clearly witnessed in EU crisis management in which diverging and occasionally conflicting narratives have emerged. However, the case of China offers the EU a way forward. The European tour of President Xi Jinping in October 2015 saw positive meetings with Commission leaders as well as national heads of state. China and the EU are foreign policy actors in development. Their emergence is changing international order. The EU has signalled that, in its view, China is a competitor and challenger to the post-WWII international order. The problem is how to forge order together in a way meaningful to all sides, for ‘emerging powers lack a key ingredient of lasting cooperation: a common system of values or interests to bind them into a cohesive force’ (EEAS, 2015: 10). This paper evaluates their respective strategic narratives that present how they view this new international order, how they view their emergent identities as international players, and how they press strategic narratives in the policy areas they interact in. Narrative alignment here will determine the scope for conflict but also cooperation.
