This book provides a critical and updated analysis of the nature of the EU's strategic partnership diplomacy, and of the partnerships themselves, in times of power shift and contestation. It links with key aspects of the EU's Global Strategy; it brings together a strong list of experts who work within a clear framework for analysis; and it deals not only with the substance of the policy but also with the ways in which the policy as a whole has emerged, is conducted and might develop in the future. In offering an inclusive set of case studies and diverse perspectives, this book aims to advance both conceptualization and analysis of the implementation of the established EU partnerships. The book highlights the notion of strategic partnership as a foreign policy instrument to support EU external action in a context of multilevel change and crisis; its policy dimension as a gradually separated, but not separable policy within the Union's external action; the institutional component given the emergence of SPs as a sort of self-preserving institutional platform allowing for denser and deeper cooperation in various policy areas; and the implications for the EU's self-conception as an international actor with a global identity and role.
This timely collection is an important contribution to our understanding of the EU's international relations during the last quarter century. Strategic Partnerships have increasingly become the neglected child of the EU foreign policy family. This volume is thus of historic and contemporary relevance.
Martin Holland, Professor and Jean Monnet Chair ad personam, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
At a time when the EU is struggling to position itself in a rapidly changing world, this comprehensive study of Strategic Partnerships is a very welcome contribution to our understanding of EU global diplomacy.
Sophie Vanhoonacker, Professor of Administrative Governance, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
With its focus on Strategic Partnerships, this book provides analysts studying Europe's global role with overdue attention to an under-examined aspect of the EU's diplomacy. The volume's great strength is its comprehensiveness.
Richard Whitman, Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent, UK
This book aims to provide a critical analysis of the nature of the EU's strategic partnership diplomacy, and of the partnerships themselves, in the conditions of the 2020s. It links with key aspects of the EU's Global Strategy; it brings together a strong list of experts who work within a clear framework for analysis; and it deals not only with the substance of the policy but also with the ways in which the policy as a whole has emerged, is conducted and might develop in the future.
Laura C. Ferreira Pereira is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Minho, Portugal; and Visiting Professor of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Michael Smith is Honorary Professor in European Politics at the University of Warwick, and Emeritus Professor of European Politics at Loughborough University, UK.
