Europeanisation of National Foreign Policy: The Case of Britain Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang PhD candidate School of Global, Urban and Social Sciences The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Organisation of the presentation 1. Understanding Europeanisation 2. Defining Europeanisation of Foreign Policy 3. Europeanisation of Foreign Policy: The Case of Britain 4. Concluding remarks

Understanding Europeanisation ‘Europeanisation’: a ‘hotly contested’ term. General agreement: Europeanisation as a force for change in politics, policies and polities of the EU. However, a consensus on consistent measurement and analysis of such changes has not been reached.

Understanding Europeanisation In the early studies: Europeanisation is mainly perceived as a ‘bottom-up’ process. From the late 1990s: More research has placed emphasis on exploring the impacts of European integration on member states and how they adapt to Europe: Europeanisation is mainly viewed as a ‘top-down’ process.

Understanding Europeanisation The recent years have witnessed the scholars’ efforts to explore the conceptual linkage between the bottom-up and top-down dimensions. A widely-accepted definition: ‘Europeanization denotes a complex interactive ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ process in which domestic polities, politics and public policies are shaped by European integration and in which domestic actors use European integration to shape the domestic arena.’ (Dyson and Goetz, 2003).

Defining Europeanisation of Foreign Policy In their work ‘The Foreign Policy of the European Union’ Keukelire & MacNaughtan describe that ‘the relationship and interacting processes of foreign policy on the national level and foreign policy on the EU level are often labelled as ‘Europeanisation.’ (Keukelire & MacNaughtan 2008, p.142)

Defining Europeanisation of Foreign Policy National Adaptation-(Downloading/Top-Down) Member States are subject to influences and stimuli from the EU. Outcomes: Changes of national institutions, processes, ideas and policies due to practices, rules, objectives and norms adopted or prescribed at the EU level.

Defining Europeanisation of Foreign Policy National Projection-(Uploading/Bottom-Up) Member States seek to influence EU foreign policy and the foreign policies of other Member States. Outcomes: Exporting of national policy preferences, policy models and ideas onto the EU level.

Europeanisation of Foreign Policy: The Case of Britain National adaptation is manifested mainly in some alterations in British foreign policy stance and the reorganization of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Europeanisation of Foreign Policy: The Case of Britain In parallel, national projection has been critically implemented by British government to reduce the cost of downloading. As a powerful nation-state in the EU, the exporting of British policy preferences to the EU level has been carried out through launching initiatives in European foreign and defence policy.

Concluding Remarks Europeanisation has been increasingly understood as a ‘circular process’ in which ‘member states are not passive recipients of pressures from the EU; they also try to project national policy preferences upwards.

Concluding Remarks The perception of Europeanisation as ‘a two-way relationship’ constitutes a foundation to explore how foreign policy is Europeanised.

Concluding Remarks Regarding the foreign policy sphere, Britain has proved itself to be a member state capable of both exporting its concerns to the EU level and responding to top-down pressures.