Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations^*

Abstract

In the past few years decision‐making processes and the normative underpinnings of EU external relations have become subject to intense debate in the European institutions, member states and the wider public. Previous research suggests that there is variation in the extent to which individual domains of EU external relations are politicized and contested. This special issue aims to theorize further and investigate empirically this, using the example of European development policy and its relations with other external policies. We introduce two new mechanisms that drive politicization dynamics. We argue that politicization can be diffused horizontally from one policy field to another, which we call horizontal politicization. We also investigate how the politicization of EU external policies in third countries occurs and influences politicization dynamics in the EU, which we call outside‐in politicization. The introduction to the special issue presents our theoretical approach and summarizes the key findings from the special issue.

Shielded against risk? European donor co‐ordination in Palestine

“…The emerging literature on politicization in Europe (see Schimmelfennig, 2020) and European foreign and trade policy (Barbé & Morillas, 2019;Costa, 2019;Gheyle & De Ville, 2019) could provide useful guidance for this endeavour, not only for identifying different types of contestation and politicization across European donors but also for comparative analysis of the (f)actors that lead to more or less contestation and politicization. While we know that politicization of European aid varies significantly across EU member states, research into what form this takes and how it develops is still in its infancy (Hackenesch et al, 2021).…”

“…Hence, they do not consider such risks as an incentive for co-ordination in terms of risk shielding, but instead as something that fails to happen because of diverse domestic preferences. Similarly, an entire special issue of the Journal of Common Market Studies is devoted to the politicization of European aid (Hackenesch et al, 2021). Again, however, domestic contestation is not theorized in terms of stimulating European development co-ordination.…”

“…Hence while the main added value of this research is an empirical one—analysing the successfulness of four hitherto undocumented cases of co‐ordination based on semi‐structured interviews with 74 stakeholders during field visits to Palestine in 2017 and 2019—we inductively arrive at theoretical building blocks that should be tested, refined and elaborated in further research. As we may expect that European development policy will become increasingly “politicized” (Hackenesch et al, 2021), engaging in such an exercise would appear all the more necessary for both academics and practitioners.…”

Who Called Team Europe? The European Union’s Development Policy Response During the First Wave of COVID-19

“…The EU’s “neighbourhood” and the African continent have been viewed increasingly as loci of emerging crises. Since 2015/16, in the wake of a high influx of migrants, EU development cooperation with these countries has increasingly emphasized efforts to address assumed “root causes” of migration and a related focus on job creation (see also Hackenesch et al, 2021 ). In doing so, the EU has moved away from emphasizing developing-country benefits as the aim of development cooperation towards the pursuit of “mutual benefit”, presenting its self-interest as a donor and development cooperation recipients’ needs as two legitimate and simultaneously attainable goals of development cooperation (Keijzer and Lundsgaarde, 2018 ; Mawdsley, 2018 ).…”

“…208 TFEU)—development policy has been gradually instrumentalized for other policy objectives related to trade and investment promotion, security, and migration (Bergmann et al, 2019 ). This instrumentalization has happened in a period during which the EU’s development policy debate has been characterized by increasing levels of politicization (Hackenesch et al, 2021 ). In light of instrumental tendencies of EU development policy coming to the fore in times of crises, this article explores whether similar patterns can be observed in EU development policy debates concerning the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.…”