EU normative power and regionalism: Ideational diffusion and its limits

Abstract

The ideational impact captured by Manners’s notion of normative power Europe (NPE) appears most distinct and potentially most consequential in the realm of regionalism. However, empirical research on the topic has been hampered by the focus on EU actorness and methodological difficulties. Drawing on diffusion theory, this article develops conceptual, theoretical and methodological foundations for conceiving NPE as ideational diffusion. It argues that Europe’s ideational influence on regionalism can be fruitfully understood as the largely indirect process by which the EU experience travels to other regions through socialization and emulation. Yet, as structural conditions vary across regions, EU ideational diffusion rarely leads to similar or even comparable institutional practices and outcomes. A choice-orientated approach is proposed for examining these claims empirically, which focuses on specifying the underlying counterfactual: political decisions in regionalism would have been different in the absence of the EU. The article concludes by outlining the analytical and normative promise of the proposed recasting of Manners’s original concept.

Normative Power Europe and the Power of the Local

“…Note that our ‘power of the local’ argument is different from the more common argument that the Union's norms and practices need carriers to travel to other locales, and that ‘EU ideational diffusion often operates through local actors’ (Lenz, , p. 216; see also Finnemore and Sikkink, ; Grugel, ).…”

Unpacking Interests in Normative Power Europe

“…In order to break away from this over‐simplified account of socialization, some scholars recently returned to the problem of normative diffusion. For instance, Lenz contends that ‘Manner's normative power concept can be read as ideational diffusion which operates through socialization or emulation’ (Lenz, , p. 215; see also Rüland, ). He carefully builds a detailed account of how local actors promote European norms in the eyes of national leadership, thereby steadily socializing the latter to the former.…”

Russia’s Complex Engagement with European Union Norms: Sovereign Democracy versus Post-Westphalianism?

“…This does not mean that regional integration on the EU model is a norm (Lenz 2013)-one of the on-going debates in EU studies is precisely whether the EU is sui generis-but in its own policies the EU promotes regional integration using ethical arguments that it brings peace and prosperity, which is part of its own self-narrative. At the same time, many states in the world are seeking to build regional integration projects, looking to the EU as a successful model.…”