The outcome of the UK's EU referendum will have far-reaching implications for its foreign policy and diplomacy and raises fundamental questions of how 'Brexit' will impact its relationships with Europe and the world. This is even more pertinent when looked at from the perspective of the UN where the UK has benefited considerably from its membership of the EU. This article presents the challenges and opportunities of Brexit for the UK's diplomacy, and influence, at the UN. First, we illustrate the importance of political and regional groups within the UN. Second, we analyse how the UK has worked within such groups, and above all the EU, in two cases: human rights and nuclear weapons issues. Finally, we reflect upon how Brexit is expected to impact UK diplomacy in a UN dominated by group politics, arguing that any rewiring of UK diplomatic channels must continue to account for EU positions.

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In this article explanation for the EU's negotiation performance in the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT RevCon) is offered. First examining how the EU has performed over the period 1995 to 2010, it conducts a systematic review of how EU performance has been shaped by a range of variables including the interests of its Member States, its own institutional capabilities, and the wider conditions of the international system. It argues that the major challenge for EU performance within the NPT has been its own negotiation positioning which, beset by limited ambitions, has confined the EU to always being a supporter of the NPT regime rather than a driver of it. Explanation for this can be seen not merely in the invariable challenge of trying to coordinate highly divergent energy and security Member State interests into a workable common position, the lack of EU competence in this field, but also by the difficult structural conditions within the negotiation environment. Taking these conditions into consideration it is suggested that the EU's limited ambition within the NPT may also be the most pragmatic positioning it can take. Resumen:En este artículo se ofrece una explicación de cómo se comporta la UE en las negociaciones en las Conferencias de Revisión del Tratado de No-Proliferación Nuclear (NPT RevCon). Examinando en primer lugar a la UE a lo largo del periodo de 1995 a 2010, se realiza una revisión sistemática de cómo el comportamiento de la UE se ha conformado a partir de un amplio abanico de variables, entre las cuales se encuentran los intereses de los Estados Miembros, sus propias capacidades institucionales, y condiciones más generales del sistema internacional. Se argumenta que el mayor desafío a que la UE se ha enfrentado en el TNP ha sido su propia postura negociadora, la cual, constreñida por ambiciones limitadas, ha reducido su papel al de mero apoyo del TNP, más que a asumir un rol director. Una explicación de ello puede encontrarse no únicamente en el constante desafío de tener que coordinar los intereses muy divergentes en materia de seguridad y defensa de sus Estados Miembros y plasmarlos en una posición común, sino también en la falta de competencia de la UE en este campo y también por las difíciles condiciones estructurales dentro del ambiente negociador. Tomando en consideración estas condiciones, se sugiere que la ambición limitada de la UE dentro del TNP puede resultar ser la postura más pragmática que pueda tomar.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Conferencia de Revisión del TNP, coherencia, negociaciones internas, desarme, disuasión nuclear, control de armamento nuclear, CFSP.

How is the global order changing, and why? The contemporary dynamics of the global political economy and global security in the twenty-first century are experiencing a series of fundamental transitions, which are challenging and transforming the existing global order. These dynamics are reshaping relations between and within different categories of actors such as states, club forums, international organizations, transnational policy communities, private sector agencies and corporations, and civil society organizations. At the same time, processes of global reordering have led to the emergence of new issue areas and policy problems that the existing landscape of national, regional, and global governance is struggling to effectively address.The Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR) at the University of Warwick has been home, since 2011, to a major EU funded research project on Global Reordering. With 16 partners from across the world, the project has focussed on how European interests, objectives, and modes of governance might influence the way in which a post-unipolar global order takes shape. Global Reordering seeks to build on this research agenda, and also expand it by moving beyond just a European focus towards a truly global perspective.Global Reordering invites manuscript submissions based on innovative empirical research that is theoretically-informed and is relevant for contemporary policy debates. Key areas include: changing modes of global governance and multipolarity; global public policy networks; emerging powers and multipolar alternatives; regions and regionalism; as well as regional and global leadership.

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