Theorizing Normative Power in European Union-Israeli/Palestinian Relations: Focus of this Special Issue

Abstract

This article provides a theoretical perspective on the question of how EU-Israeli/Palestinian relations should be conceived 50 years after the occupation. The article sets out how a critical social theory of normative power could be seen as a way both of analyzing and changing these relations. According to Craig Calhoun, critical social theory should be seen as an ‘interpenetrating body of work which demands and produces critique… [that] depends on some manner of historical understanding and analysis.’ The normative power approach represents a critical social theory in that it seeks to be explanatory, practical, and normative, all at the same time. The article suggests how these criteria may be applied to the study of EU-Israeli/Palestinian relations and their consequences, 50 years after the occupation.

Key words:

• European Union
• Israel
• Normative power
• Occupation
• Palestine

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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3 Ian Manners (2011) The European Union’s Normative Power: Critical Perspectives and Perspectives on the Critical, in: Richard G. Whitman (ed.) Normative Power Europe: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives (London: Palgrave), p. 230.

4 Craig Calhoun (1995) Critical Social Theory: Culture, History, and the Challenge of Difference (Oxford: Blackwell), p. 35.

5 I. Manners (2007) Another Europe is Possible: Critical Perspectives on European Union Politics, in: Knud Erik Jørgensen, Mark A. Pollack & Ben Rosamond (eds) Handbook of European Union Politics, pp. 77–95 (London: Sage Publications); I. Manners (2016) A Critical Copenhagen Reflection on the European Union as a Global Actor, in: Anja K. Franck & Fredrik Söderbaum (eds) The EU as a Global Actor: ‘A Force for Good’ in the World?, pp. 75–90 (Gothenburg: Centre for European Research, CERGU).

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