EU actorness in a multiplex world: Assesment of New Means for EU exercice of power.

In 2019, Ursula Von der Leyen mentioned her intention to lead a geopolitical commission. Since then, the concept of geopoliticization has received increased scholarly attention in research on the new features of European Union (EU) policy-making. However, particular analytical elements such as the one of strategic autonomy still escape the scope of current conceptual toolboxes. This panel aims to examine the shift of EU’s actorness from a normative focus to a strategic one. In exploring the geopolitical reasoning within the EU framework, the panel seeks to contribute to ongoing debates aiming to revisit the concept of actorness in light of new regional and global challenges.
Further research is much needed in this area, especially since the multipolarity framework did not manage to enable scholarly work beyond transatlantic ties. The West remains the dominant unit of analysis when it comes to EU strategic positioning, while the conceptual framework focusing on geostrategy remains ill-equipped to consider supranational networks as units for analysis. Moreover, new geopolitical turmoil such as the war in Ukraine urge further reflection on EU’s strategic capabilities in terms of geopolitical actorness. Yet, as global challenges are increasingly complexifying, researchers have to acknowledge growing fragmentation of global affairs when conceptualising and measuring actorness or its effectiveness.
This panel welcomes contributions considering EU strategies within complex world issues to draft key features of geopolitical actorness. Paper proposals can address different themes that could include (without being restricted to) topics such as: EU’s engagement to systemic rivalries; EU foreign policy in rising geostrategic regions (Western Balkans; Eastern Europe; Indo-Pacific, etc.); EU’s attempts to tackle power diffusion; EU capabilities to foster democratic governance; limits of EU strategic toolbox in the wake of complex challenges, recent developments regarding EU actorness in global politics and governance. The panel welcomes both conceptual and empirical contributions providing either specific case studies or comparative analysis to examine the extent to which EU’s geopolitical actorness is designed to tackle complex world challenges.