A liberal grand strategy in a realist world? Power, purpose and the EU’s changing global role

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Researcher: Michael E. Smith
Publisher: Journal of European Public Policy

The European Union (EU) is one of the most unusual global political actors, and it inspires numerous scholarly debates about its power and purpose. One of the most important such debates involves the role of material versus non-material/ideational power resources – or hard versus soft power – in understanding the EU’s ‘actorness’. Given the increasingly wide range of EU policy competencies, and the increasingly complex  demands placed on the EU, this article embeds this debate in the larger context of grand strategy. It first argues that the EU’s efforts as a global actor do conform to three basic components of grand strategy: physical security; economic prosperity; and value projection. Second, it analyses the content of the EU’s grand strategic goals at three levels of analysis: intra-EU; regional (or neighbourhood); and global. Finally, it analyses the EU’s implementation of its (largely liberal) strategic goals, particularly in terms of how they might compete with those of other global actors, such as the United States (US).

Strategi induk liberal dalam dunia realis? Kewenangan, tujuan dan perubahan peran global Uni Eropa

Uni Eropa (EU) adalah salah satu pelaku politik global yang unik, dan keberadaannya memberikan inspirasi munculnya sejumlah perdebatan para ahli tentang kewenangan dan tujuannya. Salah satu perdebatan yang paling penting ialah benturan peran sumber daya material dengan sumber daya non-material/ideasional - atau kewenangan keras melawan kewenangan lunak - di dalam memahami 'kepelakuan' yang ditunjukkan oleh EU. Dengan semakin luasnya kompetensi kebijakan EU, dan semakin kompleksnya tuntutan yang dibebankan kepada EU, penelitian ini membahas perdebatan yang terjadi dalam konteks 'grand strategy' (strategi induk) yang lebih luas. Argumen pertama berhubungan dengan usaha-usaha Uni Eropa sebagai pemeran global yang benar-benar sejalan dengan tiga komponen dasar dari strategi induk, yakni keamanan fisik (physical security); kesejahteraan ekonomi (economic prosperity); dan proyeksi nilai (value projection). Kedua, penelitian menganalisis tentang muatan dari sasaran-sasaran strategi induk Uni Eropa pada tiga level analisis: intra-EU; regional (atau negara tetangga); dan global. Terakhir, penelitian berusaha menganalisis implementasi sasaran-sasaran strategis (yang sebagian besar bersifat liberal) yang dimiliki oleh EU, khususnya dalam hal bagaimana Uni Eropa dapat bersaing dengan para pelaku global lainnya, misalnya Amerika Serikat

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