EU Global Perceptions

An emergent multipolar world sets a new stage for international actors. The evolving shift of power in global governance – ‘from the West to the rest’ and from state to non-state actors – introduces a set of new powerful performers. At the same time, the EU’s volatile neighbours and on-going crises inside the Union challenge the EU’s reputation in the world. Our Section “EU Global Perceptions” asks questions about the EU’s response to the fundamental global shifts of power and numerous internal challenges and examines factors behind the successful externalization of the EU’s internal policies and identity in the world where multiple players have their own distinct policies and identities. Our Section will argue that comprehensive answers to these questions cannot be found if scholars look only at EU policies and identities projected by the Union – both to internal and external audiences. Thus, the Section invites its contributors to focus on the receivers of the EU messages and argue reception to be key to understanding the relative power of the Union in a changing world. In light of the ‘significant role of social-psychological, cultural and ideological forces in the daily conduct of international affairs’ (Movahedi, 1985), the Section sets to explore the images and perceptions of the EU in the eyes of different international partners. In changing multilateral settings, images are postulated to be an influential factor behind the behaviour and foreign policy choices of these actors. This approach rests on the premise that ‘reputation, the reflection of the reality of power in the mind of the observers can be as important as the reality of power itself. What others think about us is as important as what we actually are’ (Morgenthau, 1965). In this context, the Section asks: • How do different actors in the world perceive the EU to be challenged by the global shifts in the global governance regimes? • Do they perceive the EU as coping well with the changing distribution of power globally as well as with multiple internal crises? • Do they see the EU seeking compromise with diverse international actors – in bi- and multilateral settings? • How do the images change? • What narratives emerge about the EU around the world? • How do external narratives resonate (or not) with internal narratives produced by the EU? • What do the external images and narratives mean for EU policy choices? The Section invites contributions that innovatively link theorisation of images and perceptions in the field of international relations (e.g. image theory, role theory, strategic narrative theory) with established theoretical approaches in the field of EU foreign policy, diplomacy and international identity (e.g. capabilities-expectations gap; place branding; or Normative Power Europe) as well as theories in communication studies. The Section also invites its contributors to elaborate explanatory variables behind EU images and perceptions, with a special attention to the role of cultural filters and combination of local, EU-specific and global factors. Diverse methods in the studies of EU images are also in the focus. Ultimately, the Section will map how EU external perceptions reflect the relative capability of the EU – its power, ideas and institutions; in what way the EU is seen to represent opportunity for external partners (despite its most recent crises that damaged its image worldwide); and how external partners react when the EU projects its political culture of a normative power externally. In particular, the Section invites contributions that prioritise analytical focus on reception and systematic empirically-informed account for perceptions and images within it. These are argued to be a prerequisite for meaningful communication between the EU and the world. By prioritising the importance of communication between various international actors (close to the EU’s borders and far away from them), reception of norms and values, and framing of messages in various discourses in the age of global governance, the Section aims to contribute to EU foreign policy scholarship from a constructivist perspective. This approach offers an additional nuanced insight into the understanding of the balance of power in the world. Finally, the Section’s discussion is deemed to be relevant for the EU’s emerging diplomatic service as it seeks to establish mutually beneficial, less-Eurocentric relations between the EU and its multiple global partners. The Section will answer the key questions through a set of Panels: Panel 1: Theorising Perceptions: Strategic Narrative Theory and EU External Perceptions Chairs: Ben O’Loughlin and Alister Miskimmon (Royal Holloway, UK) Panel 2: EU Perceptions in the Asia Pacific Chairs: Natalia Chaban and Martin Holland (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) Panel 3: View from the Americas: EU Images and Perceptions in the North and South America Chair: Natalia Chaban Panel 4: Looking South: Southern Mediterranean Perceptions towards the EU Chair: Dr Sharon Pardo Panel 5: Eastern Neighbours: EU Perceptions in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia Chairs: Natalia Chaban and Michele Knodt Panel 6: Issue-Specific Perceptions: Images of the EU as a global energy actor Chair: Michele Knodt