Previous research has described EU foreign policy as becoming mediatized, referring to a process where the communication of politics is being adjusted to changes in the media landscape. When more information is available to the citizens through a variety of media, political actors have to compete for the citizens' attention. Political actors are then using 'media logic', using tactics such as storytelling, simplifying and emphasising conflicts and differences, at the expense of 'political logic'. Political logic represents the use of traditional political values, institutions and consensus-building. The EU's communications about China can be seen as a disputed case, as a use of media logic could be helpful in uniting the member states in a common strategy towards China, as this has been a challenge for the EU. It could also, however, be avoided by the EU, as it could lead to the EU harming their relationship with China, as well as the economic interests of the member states. The results show that between the years 2016-2020, media logic is increasingly used, as well as becoming more polarising and visualising with time. This could be a result of the EU-China relationship becoming strained by conflicts with China on human rights issues, but also be a part of a communication strategy where the EU attempts to unite the member states, as well as gain legitimacy for its foreign policy.

The establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS) was the latest organisational innovation aimed at bridging the disjuncture between EU external relations and foreign policy structures. Almost immediately after its creation, it attracted wide-spread criticism of its functioning by the very same actors who had created it. This thesis develops a three-stage bureaucratic-institutionalist framework in order to explore the political contestation of this new organisation and its impact on the organisation and functioning of the EEAS. Inception, establishment and consolidation are the three phases of the organisation s life cycle under scrutiny. The thesis begins with the inception of the EEAS during the Convention on the Future of Europe from 2002-2003. Through the lens of rational choice historical institutionalism it analyses the positions of various actors in the Convention and the options that were considered during this phase. It then shows how disagreements between integrationist and more sceptical groups led to a vague compromise on the EEAS and its organisational design. The thesis continues with an analysis of the establishment phase, i.e. the negotiation process leading to the EEAS decision of 2010, throughout which the political conflict continued between the EU institutions on central design elements of the service such as status, scope and staffing. Theoretically, this conflict is captured through the politics of Eurocratic structure approach. In the final consolidation phase, the EEAS started to operate as a new administrative actor, but was heavily influenced by political and bureaucratic contestation. Bureaucracy theory helps to predict the organisational behaviour of the EEAS to a degree, but the thesis shows how the organisation was also shaped by bureaucratic politics between EU institutions and member states. The thesis concludes that a bureaucratic-institutionalist approach explains why the EEAS is a strongly contested bureaucracy and how the processes of contestation at the EU level hindered institutional design throughout the organisation s life cycle of inception, establishment and consolidation. It reveals limitations of this approach, such as the persistence of actors, the weight of decision precedent and the permeability of organisational development phases.

The European Union (EU) deployed its first police mission in 2003. Since then, the EU has deployed thirty-four missions around the world. Considering the great financial burden to the EU budget and the budget of contributing Member States (MS), as well as the fact that the realm of defence is one of the most overdue areas of the European integration project, this thesis asks the general but multifaceted question of where EU missions come from. To address this question the thesis explores the historic origins of EU missions, conceptualises them in view of the conceptual and theoretical developments in the literature and policy practice, and develops a model for the analysis of the decision-making process behind the deployment of EU missions. The model is tested on three case studies, namely the three EU missions deployed in the Horn of Africa European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Atalanta, European Union Training Mission (EUTM) Somalia and European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP) Nestor. The findings of the analysis reveal a gradual evolution of EU crisis management after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the establishment of the European External Action Service. The analysis indicates that EUNAVFOR Atalanta was primarily deployed due to French impetus at the level of the Political and Security Committee (PSC), but also due to a convincing call of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to the international community to act against the significant increase of piracy activity in the Gulf of Aden in 2008. The EUTM Somalia mission was primarily deployed due to a convincing strategy from the strategic planners at the EEAS, as well as the commitment of the United States (US) to a partnership with the EU to train recruits of the Somali Security Forces (SSF). Finally, the analysis of the third case study reveals even greater impact from the strategic planners at the EEAS and the acceptance at all levels of the EU s Comprehensive Approach to crisis management, and in particular due to the influential Strategic Framework for the Horn of Africa document. The overall interpretation of the findings conclude that the foreign policy of the EU is a moving target, constantly changing, as is exemplified by both the historic overview and the analysis of the three case studies, and that the analysts of EU foreign policy must remain open to these changes when choosing modes of studying EU foreign policy.

The thesis is devoted to analysing the EU's communication with Southern Neighbours (SNs), namely Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The purpose of the study is to identify what the EU's communications disclose about its role as Hard, Soft, Normative or Transformative Power in the region. The literature describes the actorness of the EU in the world by all four forms of power. However, the competition between these concepts inside the official discourse of the EU Delegations (EUDs) has been less investigated. Data for the current research comes from the content of the country-specific statements and press releases that appeared on the EUDs' websites from June 2016 to March 2021. The methodology is a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The work reveals that the EU appeals to its Transformative Power more often in comparison to the other concepts of power in its communications to the three SNs in focus. Moreover, the thesis critically assesses external perceptions of the EU based on 2016 and 2020 opinion polls. It unfolds the problems of the current communication strategy of the EU with SNs. This review is followed by recommendations for possible improvement of the efficiency of the EU's power representation on the international stage. The thesis attempts to add to the discussion...

The aim of this thesis is to critically assess the diplomatic performance of the European Union (EU) in its neighbourhood, namely in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus after the inauguration of the European External Action Service (EEAS). The Lisbon Treaty announced the need for a stronger, more efficient, more coherent EU in world politics. This implied, inter alia, that in third countries, the former Commission representations have been transformed into Union Delegations that represent the EU. Besides this, the Treaty changes opened an opportunity for coordination between national and EU level diplomacy in order to obtain a more effective collective effort. These changes where focused on EU s overall performance, which has been a salient issue on the agenda of European policy-makers. The issue of the EU s performance in the wider Eastern Europe remains poignant, not least because of current developments in its neighbourhood (such as the crisis in Ukraine, Moldova s downturn in its democratization efforts or the inclusion of Belarus on the list of most repressive countries in the world). While the Brussels-based part of the EEAS has captured the attention of both academic and non-academic literature, this thesis turns its focus to the performance and diplomatic practice of the EU in third countries, i.e Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. When talking about European diplomatic performance abroad, a key focus in the thesis is on practices through which the details of everyday practices that form and shape the performance of any actor is explored. In order to do so, the investigation conducted for this research is guided by three assumptions on the use of EU diplomacy in overcoming its foreign policy dilemmas. Looking at performance, then, implies examining EU diplomatic practices against pre-set goals; evaluating the cooperation between member-states (MS) embassies and Union Delegations towards formulating and implementing a common approach ; and, conducting a screening of diplomatic capabilities on the ground. Findings show that the EU delegations represent the EU as a whole, became communication hubs on the ground and took the lead on cooperation with the EU MS embassies. Empirical evidence revealed that, in practice, the Delegations continued to conduct aid-driven diplomacy, as a legacy from the former Commission representations. And, that the coexistence of national and EU diplomacy was marked, at times, by MS opting out of the common approach in favour of parallel actions. While the Delegations in these countries have grown in size and, most importantly, have diplomats as staff members; the development of the Delegations also came with an intra- and inter-institutional tension on the ground that echoed Brussels institutional dynamics. Lastly, a comparative evaluation of EU diplomatic performance in Eastern Europe more generally uncovered multistakeholder diplomacy, burden-sharing, bloc diplomacy, unilateral diplomatic actions and interest-driven diplomacy as key drivers and dividers in EU s attempt to address its foreign policy dilemmas.

Following the events that saw Russia operating in the Ukrainian information space as well as on the ground, concern for hybrid threats and targeted propaganda campaigns has grown in the world and especially in Europe. Allegations of foreign involvement in electoral campaigns within liberal democracies have drawn even more attention to the matter and have hastened plans of action to fight hybrid threats in the European Union and the Eastern Partnership. In theregion, one of the priorities at all levels of governance is to counteract foreign-sourced propaganda campaigns that make use of disinformation. These disinformation-fighting strategies include the strategical use of fact-checking practices. Fact-checkingas a branch of journalism, though, has great potential for being weaponised and used as a vehicle for institutional propaganda, especially when absorbed within the domain of strategic communication. This research offers a case study of EUvsDisinfo, the fact-checking project started by the European External Action Service, to explore its weaknesses as a fact-checking organisation and deconstruct its activity in terms of propaganda analysis. The research employs mixed qualitative methods to show how the project falls short of its ideal role and its function as a fact-checker. Without any value judgement, EUvsDisinfo is exposed as a potential platform for the dissemination of hegemonic narratives or (counter)propaganda in the West and in particular in the European Union. The case study is meant to be a way of developing research on the possible existence of institutional (counter)propaganda in liberal democracies, which is heavily underresearched in present times.

Le Service Européen pour l'Action Extérieure (SEAE ou Service) est une des innovations les plus importantes introduites par le Traité de Lisbonne. Il est également l'une des plus controversées, étant donné l'importance symbolique du premier service diplomatique métanational. Cette analyse vise à démontrer que le SEAE ne sert ni à mettre en place, ni à démonter une politique étrangère monolithique pour toute l'Union. Il devrait plutôt chercher à promouvoir l'harmonie entre les différentes actions externes qui existent déjà. Le Service, en d'autres termes, est l'expression d'une nouvelle approche de l'intégration européenne, qui ne propose pas la renonciation aux compétences des États Membres, mais vise à coordonner les politiques des institutions de l'UE et de ses membres, afin d'assurer leur cohérence. / The European External Action Service (EEAS or Service) is one of the most significant innovations introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. It is also one of the most debated, given the symbolic importance attached to this unprecedented non-national diplomatic service. This analysis intends to demonstrate that the EEAS is not a champion of the traditional approaches to European integration. The Service is functional neither to set up, nor to dismantle, a monolithic foreign policy of the Union, but it should rather seek to promote harmony between the different external actions that already exist. In other words, the Service is the expression of a novel approach to European integration, which does not postulate the renounce to the Member States' sovereignty, but rather seeks the coordination of the different European external actions.

This study is an attempt to understand strategy-making in the European Union (EU). By targeting the strategy-making process of the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS), the stydy aims to reveal the legal provisions and the in-practice procedures of strategy-making in the area of EU foreign policy. The thesis presents two theories, liberal intergovernmentalism and neofunctionalism, from which it constructs two contrasting ideal types of policy-making. By applying the theoretical ideal types on the targeted case, that is the strategy-making process of the EUGS, the study reflects on the relationships between Member states and the EU, as well as on the inter-institutional dynamics that would come to characterize the progress and development of the EUGS.  Despite difficulties in rejecting any of the theoretical ideal types, the study finds the policy-formulation of the EUGS to be more coherent with the neofunctional ideal type than that of liberal intergovernmentalism. This is due to the central role of the European External Action Service (EEAS) which would come to conduct an innovative policy-formulation phase of the strategy and to the lack of bargaining between the Member States on the textual provisions of the strategy. The neofunctional ideal type does yet fall short in explaining for the EUGS as an initial concept and partly for the implementation of the strategy, favoring a liberal intergovernmental interpretation of how the instruments of the EUGS would come to be initiated. The study also reflects on if the experience of making the EUGS may provide for an argument to review the presumed centrality of Member States being the ultimate drivers of EU foreign policy.

The main topic of this master thesis is instruments of the EU external representation specifically in case of the European Neighborhood Policy. As the theoretical part this thesis uses forming the external united position of the European countries after the World War II through the key documents adopted in the framework of the European integration, ending with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty that creates the contemporary instruments for the external representation of the EU. The research question of this thesis is whether in the context of the European Neighborhood Policy is the united position of the EU Member States. The case study of the European Neighborhood Policy combines elements of both quantitative and qualitative research.