The process of building the identity of the European union in the world is constantly ongoing. The common foreign and security policy of the union conveys the purpose of the external actions of the EU, led by the foreign policy chief. Hence, the role that the union is ascribed by the foreign policy chief is of great interest to foreign policy analysis. The purpose of the study is to investigate the differences in role conception of the EU between two EU foreign policy chiefs: Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini. The study applies Holsti’s theory of national role conception, which was developed to suit leaders of countries. The study is an exploratory, comparative case study applying qualitative content analysis on official speeches. The quotes expressing different role conceptions were sorted into different role categories, followed by a comparison within each role category between the foreign policy chiefs. The result of the study indicates Ashton standing out by perceiving EU’s role to be an active actor in neighbourhood of the union, as well as the importance of economic aspects in EU’s external role. Mogherini is distinctive by emphasizing the importance of the EU ensuring the security of the union. The signification of this study’s result is proving Holsti’s theory being applicable beyond countries - this time on the EU. Demonstrating differences in role conception of the two foreign policy chiefs, also shows that the role that the union is ascribed by the foreign policy chief differs depending on who is holding the position in question. One out of many hypotheses that can be formulated in order to explain the demonstrated differences in role conception, is the leader’s background in countries with differing views of the EU. To test this hypothesis as well as formulating others, further research is welcome.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-434732 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Gårdmark, Cornelia |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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