By 2008, what is commonly known as the EU's `capability—expectations gap' has narrowed considerably. While the EU has made notable improvements in terms of its resource availability, as well as the instruments at its disposal, a gap between what the EU member-states are expected to do in the world and what they are actually able to agree upon persists. This article argues that the primary reason why the European Union is unable to deliver the foreign and security policies expected is a lack of decisionmaking procedures capable of overcoming dissent. Repeated attempts to surmount the drawbacks of consensus policymaking have only marginally improved the consistency and effectiveness of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). These efforts are assessed by applying consensus as a `conceptual lens' through which to select and assess information. The real-world impact of the lack of cohesiveness, the capacity to make assertive collective decisions and stick to them, is illustrated by Europe's handling of the crisis in the Sudanese province of Darfur in the period 2003—08. The main finding of the article is that as long as the consensus—expectations gap exists, the EU is likely to remain a partial and inconsistent foreign policy actor.

No abstract

With the creation of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP), the EU has entered the realm of power politics. Although the ambition to become a great power has been frequently reiterated, the EU has often failed to deliver stated policy objectives. This article has two broad goals. One is to outline the strategic behavioural patterns of small powers. The lack of scholarly attention to these states -the largest group in the international system -is a major omission from the International Relations canon. The other is to see how EU patterns of behaviour, exemplified in attempts to build up capacities for military intervention, overlap with those of a small power. The article argues that the concept of a small power best captures the reality of the EU as a strategic actor. Consequently, the EU is more comparable to other small powers such as Sweden or Argentina rather than to great powers such as China or Russia.

No abstract

No abstract