A European External Action Service (EEAS) without a Common European Union Diplomatic Culture? A Sociological Analysis of the European Union’s Foreign Policy towards Iran

Abstract: This paper proposes a political sociological approach to the study of the European Union’s foreign policy and diplomacy, which may help unravel the intricacies of the European-level diplomacy “without the power” of the state-national sovereignty and the emerging challenges faced by the European External Action Service (EEAS). More specifically, the paper explores the European External Action Service’s involvement in the handling of Iran’s case, by looking at the encumberances encounterd by the EEAS regarding Iran’s nuclear program and human rights infringement acts. The paper demonstrates that there is a potentially delicate balance between a proper diplomatic breeding and a mostly bureaucratic, technocratic background in the European Union’s diplomatic core that may hinder the EEAS performance as a unified epistemic diplomatic body. The issue at stake is the level of European diplomatic embeddedness when assuming the persona of a European Union diplomat, meaning the creation of the European Union’s archetypical diplomatic figure and the internalization of the European Union diplomatic mission. The advances a Bourdieusean approach to diplomacy that focuses on the EEAS diplomatic practices in relation to the European Union’s diplomatic field, the creation of a European diplomatic habitus and sens practique, and the diplomatic capital and political resources that can count as valid currency for foreign policy exchanges. The concept of habitus offers an analytical purchase by examining the European Union’s diplomatic culture in its everyday practices, where interests and identities are constantly transformed into a bricolage (Michel de Certeau) diplomatic culture, i.e. how apparently powerless European Union diplomats make use of existing diplomatic constraints to create opportunities for a stronger European Union diplomatic standing. Key words: European External Action Service (EEAS), Bricolage Diplomatic Culture, European Union Diplomatic Field, Habitus, Political Capital, Diplomatic Practical Sense