Transnational networks and EU international cooperation: in pursuit of effectiveness

"This book provides a timely evaluation of the EU's ability to act internationally and coordinate policy in a time when it also seeks to meet shifting demands of international cooperation. These include global sustainable development, the challenge of multilateralism and the changing geopolitical order. Analysing the networks of officials and policy professionals in EU development policy, the book yields theoretical insights into dominant processes that characterise EU governance in international cooperation and assesses their role for policy coordination. Overall, this book concludes that EU policy coordination evades intergovernmental control and demonstrates how the agency of EU institutions depends on efforts of member state officials to defend their priorities and identities. Finally, it shows the need to better understand the EU as a collective international actor, beyond the widespread concern with institutional adjustments, which continuously fail to produce the intended outcomes. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European and EU politics, EU foreign policy, EU external relations and more broadly to international relations and international development"--

Intro -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Governing EU international cooperation -- The case of development -- Methodological considerations -- Outline of the book -- Notes -- References -- 1 Norms and networks for EU collective action -- Governing collective action -- In pursuit of effectiveness? -- EU policy norms -- Issue control -- Transnational organising -- Participation and power -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 2 Politics of collective action in development cooperation -- Common international cooperation -- Evolution of collective action -- Between efficiency and effectiveness -- Federating for effectiveness? -- Contestation and competition -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 3 Transnational agency and bureaucratic authority -- Common policymaking in crisis -- Transnational agency -- The case of joint programming -- Organising issue control -- Expertise and networks -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 4 Governmental control and consensus -- Paymaster and power -- Issue control and development policy -- Effectiveness and coordination -- Advocacy of EU coordination -- Contestation and limits of advocacy -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 5 Public-private entrepreneurship -- Awkward partners? -- Player(s) in international development -- Limits to European coordination -- Results, transparency, effectiveness -- Advocacy and transnational networks -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Conclusion -- EU governance and policy norms -- Analytical silos and power -- Transnational organising and foreign policy -- Where from here? -- Notes -- References -- Appendix: list of interviews -- Index.