EU(ropeans) in the Indo-Pacific — a hard test for actorness?

This paper examines and compares the role of the European Union and three of its member states with recently published Indo-Pacific strategies (France, Germany and the Netherlands) as actors in the Indo-Pacific region. In doing so, it seeks to advance the literature on EU’s actorness and power in an era of multipolarity and growing strategic competition. The paper’s contributions are two-fold. First, on the theoretical front, it proposes a model to study actorness that better incorporates systemic factors. Second, on the empirical front, it provides a detailed analysis of the EU and select member states’ Indo-Pacific strategies, with specific reference to the systemic factors, capabilities, and their relation to one another, as well as other key regional actors. In particular, it focuses on: (1) the phenomenon of Brusselisation and the work of the so-called “geopolitical Commission”; (2) the extent of cohesion in the stated goals and strategies between the EU and its member states; and (3) the perceptions of other major actors in the Indo-Pacific, particularly in the context of transplanting the facets of transatlantic cooperation to this region.