The European Union as a global regulator? Context and comparison

Liberal Intergovernmentalism, Illiberalism and the Potential Superpower of the European Union

“…Since gaining access to the single market is very valuable for non-members, and since member states generally speak with one voice on matters of trade, the EU is often described as a 'market power' (Damro, 2012). Moreover, the EU has become a formidable 'regulatory power': it has developed standards across a variety of policy areas that now must be followed by anyone wishing to enter the internal market (Bradford, 2012;Newman and Posner, 2011;Young, 2015). 1 Until 2014, the EU actually outranked all other countries in GDP.…”

“…We cannot assess the EU's superpower status by cataloguing its accomplishments, misfires and inactions on the global stage; some of this influence also depends on the difficulty of the issue at hand (Young, 2015). EU members have not been able to agree on a common response to some recent crises (Iraq, Syria) but have brokered deals (Iran, climate change) and launched joint interventions in others (Mali, Libya).…”

Putting the EU in its place: policy strategies and the global regulatory context

“…Thus, while not making predictions about EU influence over specific outcomes per se (that is, when it will be able to achieve its goal of being a rule-maker, a rule-blocker, or a rule-taker [Young 2015a]), the contribution looks to the global regulatory context to deduce scope conditions under which the EU can (or cannot) be expected to adopt different policy strategies. Such strategies are the means by which the EU attempts to realize its preferences, given a particular regulatory context (Frieden 1999).…”

“…Alternatively, high institutional density in concert with parity in regulatory capacity can constrain such rule projection strategies, creating incentives for the EU to move to more negotiated interactions with regulatory partners. The analytic exercise helps identify both sources of and constraints on potential EU behavior as the polity engages in the politics of global regulation (Young 2015a). Given the collection's focus on the role of the EU in influencing global regulation, we limit our empirical illustrations to examples that involve the European polity.…”

“…The first concerns the tendency to focus on a limited set of possible EU goals and strategies (Müller et al 2014;Young, 2015a). Civilian power approaches tend to emphasize EU efforts to win foreign conformity with its models and standards or to gain first-mover advantages; whereas, normative arguments tend to emphasize diffusion processes.…”