A contested European Union in a fragmenting international order (COURAGE)

Grant number: PID2023-147735NB-I00

COURAGE will contribute to a better understanding of how the EU is rethinking its international role in the face of the geopolitical shift in international politics. The liberal international order, i.e. the set of rules, institutions and power relations that have defined the last decades of international political and economic relations, is undergoing major transformations. While the end point of these changes is yet to be defined, the situation is marked by the return of competition between the great powers in a multipolar world (the US, China, the EU and Russia), further facilitated by the growing ambitions of the many regional powers (India, Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, to name but a few). So far this has not implied a generalised and complete breakdown of order. The picture is much more diverse and includes, in different thematic or geographical areas, a wide range of options, ranging from successful efforts to maintain order, to the mobilisation of some of its norms or institutions in order to compete for power, but also outright contestation of those norms and attempts to establish rival orders.

COURAGE has a multidisciplinary team, including researchers in international relations, European studies, law and economics, which will systematically address three dimensions of how EU foreign policy is responding to these new international realities: politics, policies and partners (the 3Ps). First, different actors (states, EU institutions, political parties, social groups) with different worldviews have put forward different proposals on how the EU should respond to the fragmentation of the international order. And this is taking place in a context in which the contestation of international norms and institutions (and of the EU itself) has given impetus to the internal contestation of the EU's foreign policy. Secondly, the EU is taking decisions that represent major shifts from the usual parameters of its foreign policy. Finally, the project will pay attention to the role and agency of partners, i.e. the evolution of relations with the EU and the perspectives on the EU of other key powers on which the EU must rely to promote its preferences and prospects.

We are therefore interested in exploring and explaining: a) changes in the degree of politicisation of the debate about the EU's international role (Politics); b) changes in the policies that shape this role, including the perception that continuity may hide a lack of decision-making capacity (Policies); and c) changes in the EU's alliances, whether with states, regional or international organisations (Partners). To this end, COURAGE will systematically examine four issue domains: (a) security, defence and arms control; (b) economics, trade and technology; (c) climate, energy and natural resources; (d) human rights and borders.