Towards a decentring turn in European foreign policy analysis

The core argument of this paper is that the analysis of European foreign policy is severely constrained by the neglect of the ‘foreign’ in European foreign policy. This ‘foreign’ aspect not only refers to what is situated outside European borders, but also to what is different or unknown. The paper explains how this is the result of a “Eurocentric paradigm” and its related ontological and epistemological assumptions. This paradigm permeates most research on European foreign policy, resulting in simplifications and distortions in data and findings, largely independent of the theoretical choices that are made, or whether the research approach is explanatory or interpretative. In order to overcome these shortcomings of the Eurocentric paradigm, we argue for pursuing a decentring approach to European foreign policy analysis. Decentring implies that European foreign policy is analysed both from a critical European perspective (‘self-reflection’) and from the perspective and context of the region, country or society towards which this policy is directed (‘learning’), in order to identify opportunities for a more inclusive European foreign policy analysis (‘recalibration’).