Decentring the analysis of EU foreign policy and external-internal legitimacy: (re-)introducing polity^*

* This contribution is part of the collection ‘Understanding Legitimacy in EU Foreign Policy’.

ABSTRACT

This article intends to further refine the multi-tiered debate on legitimacy in EU foreign policy by examining the external legitimacy of EU foreign policy within the wider context of the internal legitimacy of other polities in third countries, regions or societies. Through (re-)introducing and further developing the “polity” concept, this contribution presents a framework for analysing and comparing the (output) legitimacy of different authority structures within a given area. It calls upon scholars and practitioners to approach relevant polities in a decentred way, beyond state-centrism and before normative judgement about a polity’s nature (whether it is state-, ethnicity-, religion-, warlordism-based or a combination of these). The main argument is that, by gaining insight into the legitimacy of different kinds of polities in areas of interest to EU foreign policy, we gain insight into challenges and opportunities for the EU’s legitimacy and for the efficiency and effectiveness of its foreign policy.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• European foreign policy
• decentring
• legitimacy
• polity

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the comments on earlier drafts of this article provided by the editors and anonymous reviewers of Global Affairs and by discussants and participants in panels at the ANTERO Erasmus+ network workshops (London 2016; Dublin 2017).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sharon Lecocq is a researcher at Leuven International and European Studies (LINES), assistant to the Jean Monnet Chair in European Foreign Policy, and teaching assistant for the “Master of European Studies: Transnational and Global perspectives” (MAES) at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium).

Stephan Keukeleire is a Jean Monnet Professor in European Foreign Policy at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium), co-director of its interdisciplinary “Master of European Studies: Transnational and Global Perspectives” and “Master in European Politics and Policies”, and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges). He is the co-author of “The Foreign Policy of the European Union” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, with Tom Delreux) and co-editor of “The Diplomatic System of the European Union” (Routledge, 2016). He coordinates the specialized Online Resource Guide “Exploring EU Foreign Policy” (www.eufp.eu).

Notes

* This contribution is part of the collection ‘Understanding Legitimacy in EU Foreign Policy’.

1. For different takes on the concept, see Corry (2010, 2013) and for critical assessments, see Bruce and Voas (2004) and Roscoe (2004).

2. Italics by Ferguson and Mansbach (1996).

Additional information

Funding

This research benefitted from funding provided by the ERASMUS+ programme of the EU through the Jean Monnet Networks EUROMEC and ANTERO/NORTIA and the Jean Monnet Chair in European Foreign Policy at the University of Leuven, Belgium.