'Our size fits all' : normative power Europe and the Mediterranean
By: BICCHI, Federica
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ArticlePublisher: Oxfordshire : Routeldge, March 2006Journal of European Public Policy 13, 2, p. 286-303Abstract: The article focuses on the normative connotation of European foreign policy and makes three points. First, through the criteria of inclusiveness and reflexivity, it draws a distinction between 'normative power Europe' and Europe as a 'civilizing power'. Second, the article puts forward a sociological institutionalist interpretation of the EU as a 'civilizing power'. It suggests that much of the EU's action can be characterized as an unreflexive attempt to promote its own model because institutions tend to export institutional isomorphism as a default option. Third, the article shows the utility of a sociological institutionalist analysis by examining the case of the EU's promotion of regionalism in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
The article focuses on the normative connotation of European foreign policy and makes three points. First, through the criteria of inclusiveness and reflexivity, it draws a distinction between 'normative power Europe' and Europe as a 'civilizing power'. Second, the article puts forward a sociological institutionalist interpretation of the EU as a 'civilizing power'. It suggests that much of the EU's action can be characterized as an unreflexive attempt to promote its own model because institutions tend to export institutional isomorphism as a default option. Third, the article shows the utility of a sociological institutionalist analysis by examining the case of the EU's promotion of regionalism in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
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