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Discovering the Icebergs of EU Interregional Actorness in Asia: The EU “Unique” Regional Integration Model in the Eyes of China and India

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Global Power Europe - Vol. 2

Part of the book series: Global Power Shift ((GLOBAL))

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Abstract

The European Union (EU) seeks to differentiate itself from other international actors, such as its model for regional integration. In the process of defining itself, the EU mainly focuses on self-perception (Lucarelli, GARNET Working Paper: Research Report: The External Image of the European Union, 17, 27, 2007a). Recently, studies of external perception have been viewed as an essential missing element in the EU identity-building process. At the same time, the EU’s interregional actorness in Asia suffered lately from relevant weaknesses, reflected, for example, in the EU’s switch to bilateral negotiations following unsuccessful region-to-region negotiations to establish the Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN, as well as by the apparent fatigue within ASEM. This research tries to shed light on the EU’s efforts as an interregional actor in Asia, while being at the same time a global power in the making by analyzing the way in which two Asian emerging powers, China and India, perceive the EU’s regional integration, utilizing recent surveys conducted among the Chinese and Indian elites and media. The paper hereby establishes an important link between perceptions and their role in foreign policymaking.

As the Union develops as a strategic player, […] it must start listening to what the world thinks about it (Lynch 2005, p. 11)

This contribution is based on research within a postgraduate program at the College of Europe in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies, conducted simultaneously at the United Nations University and the Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies. On the same basis a shorter paper under the same title was presented at the First Euroacademia Global Conference “Europe Inside-Out: Europe and Europeaness Exposed to Plural Observers” in Vienna, Austria on 22–24 September 2011.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Recent publications in the Journal of Common Market Studies, the European Journal of International Relations or GARNET Research Project “The External Image of the European Union” directed by Sonia Lucarelli.

  2. 2.

    Here and after, a meaning of “elites” following Lucarelli (2007a, p. 33): “Political elites are significant players who give rise to global events and constitute an important factor in shaping the overall image of the EU around the world. This survey [… is] examining the main documents issued by political parties and governments in a sample of countries […] with the aim of providing an indicative outline of how the EU is perceived by political elites in those countries.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Halinin 6, 06-456, Ojrzen, Poland

    Róża Smolińska

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  1. Róża Smolińska
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Correspondence to Róża Smolińska .

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  1. , European Union Center, University of Miami, Memorial Drive 1000, Coral Gables, 33146, Florida, USA

    Astrid Boening

  2. Center for Global Studies, Institute for Political Science, Bonn University, Walter-Flex Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Jan-Frederik Kremer

  3. , Chair for International Politcs, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, Bochum, 44780, Germany

    Aukje van Loon

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Smolińska, R. (2013). Discovering the Icebergs of EU Interregional Actorness in Asia: The EU “Unique” Regional Integration Model in the Eyes of China and India. In: Boening, A., Kremer, JF., van Loon, A. (eds) Global Power Europe - Vol. 2. Global Power Shift. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32416-1_13

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