This book focuses on the European Union as an important actor in international relations and international political economy. The EU negotiates international economic agreements, represents Europe in international organizations, and is a major trading bloc and currency area. To what extent and under what conditions the EU can use its considerable economic power to assert its interests in the international arena is a relevant question for students, researchers and practitioners alike. To explore this question, the textbook introduces the concept of "actorness" and presents an overview of the actorness debate and theories used to explain actorness. In addition, it includes three empirical chapters on trade, finance and climate policy that apply various concepts and theories to study European actorness in the respective policy areas.

Autorentext

Dr. Susanne Lütz is a Professor of International Politics at the FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany. Dr. Tobias Leeg is a Political Scientist and Trade Policy Advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Berlin, Gernany. Dr. Daniel Otto is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Media Didactics and Knowledge Management (Learning Lab), Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Dr. Vincent Woyames Dreher is a Political Scientist and works at the European Central Bank, currently in its Supervisory Policies Division, in Frankfurt, Germany.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Trade.- Money and Finance.- Climate Policy.- Conclusion.