A Europa da defesa : o fim do limbo

O presente artigo tem por objectivo examinar a sucessão de iniciativas europeias, levadas a cabo nos últimos cinquenta anos, tendentes à emergência de uma dimensão de integração nos domínios da segurança e defesa. Partindo da identificação das raízes históricas da aspiração da defesa comum nos primórdios do processo de construção europeia, assim como, do seu retumbante fracasso, este estudo procura aferir as circunstâncias político-diplomáticas que condicionaram o ressurgimento daquela ambição em 1992, no quadro da Política Externa e de Segurança Comum, e o seu subsequente reforço no âmbito da Política Europeia de Segurança e Defesa. O principal argumento deste estudo compagina-se com a ideia de que durante a primeira década do pós-Guerra Fria, por acção de inesperadas forças históricas e da convergência de vontade política, a questão da defesa europeia comum saiu irreversivelmente do seu estado de limbo histórico para integrar a psique dos líderes europeus e o topo da agenda comunitári

The European Union’s partnership policy towards Brazil: more than meets the eye

Published online: 27 Nov 2015This article focuses on the evolving nature of the foreign policy of the European Union (EU) towards Brazil, which gained momentum and became more dynamic and denser after the establishment of a formal strategic partnership (SP) in 2007. It provides a historical overview of the institutional relations between Brussels and Brasília, before proceeding with an analysis of the main drivers behind this novel development. The study goes on to offer a critical examination of the implementation of the EU–Brazil SP by casting light on both its major achievements and the challenges it has faced. It concludes that the establishment of a formal strategic partnership with Brazil has contributed to the strengthening of the EU’s globally oriented partnership policy and ultimately to the incremental empowerment of the EU necessary to the assertion of its values, objectives and interests on the international stage.This article is part of a research project entitled 'The Strategic Partnerships of the European Union as an Instrument of Global Action: Rationale and Implications' (PTDC/CPJ-CPO/11325/2009), funded by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) and coordinated by Laura C Ferreira-Pereira. The author wishes to express her thanks to Joao Mourato Pinto for his assistance in the bibliographical researching of the topic. She would also like to thank Gelson Fonseca Junior, Janina Onuki, Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva, Sergio Fausto, Alena Vysotskayaa G Vieira and three anonymous referees for insightful comments on an earlier draft of this work. Finally, the author gratefully acknowledges the insightful comments made by former high-ranking diplomats and Brazilian foreign policy experts during interviews conducted under conditions of anonymity

EU-Brazil relations as a developing field of study: state-of-the-art and perspectives on future Research

[Excerpt] Brazil’s recent rise in the political, economic and trade spheres has prompted the European Union (EU) to recalibrate its traditional relations with the country so as to match the former’s status as a twenty-first century ‘emerging power’ with international ambitions whilst circumventing the protracted EU–Mercosur free trade agreement.(undefined

The mainstreaming of security and defense in the European Union post-2016: building resilience in challenging times

Security and defense issues have been at the top of the European Union’s agenda since British voters opted in favor of Brexit in June 2016. This trend started with the launch of a new strategic document, the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy, which emphasized the need for deepened cooperation and coordination. This chapter provides a detailed process tracing of the major initiatives undertaken after the Brexit referendum in the realm of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), demonstrating the rising relevance ascribed to the security and defense dimension and the revitalization of the idea of a European Union of Security and Defense. It also scrutinizes the major challenges underpinning the eventual deepening of the CSDP within the post-Brexit EU. The chapter concludes that the European integration process has entered a new phase characterized by a security and defense turn, or the mainstreaming of security and defense, as part of a resilience-building strategy to cope with the uncertainties arising from the prospective withdrawal of the UK from the EU and the Trump Administration’s erratic foreign policy.This study was conducted at the Research Center in Political Science (UID/CPO/0758/2019), University of Minho/University of Évora, and was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national fund

Portugal in the European Union: chronicling a transformative journey

This chapter chronicles and discusses in a critical way the milestones of over 35 years of Portugal’s European integration, which mirror the growing pains and gains of a transformative journey that has become an integral part the country’s national identity. Taking stock of the international literature, it begins with a tour d’horizon highlighting the major issues and insights regarding Portugal’s experience in the European Union (EU). This historic overview provides the necessary background for shedding particular light upon the Portuguese Presidencies of the EU Council which, taken as a whole, evince the evolutionary Europeanization pathway that has led the country to embrace an ever-integrated political EU. The incremental support shown by Portuguese authorities to task expansion within the realm of security and defence stands out as a paradigmatic example of this. Before its concluding remarks, this chapter offers a view of future avenues and challenges for the field of research

Portugal’s strategic response to Brexit: enduring Europeanisation?

Portugal is an often neglected country in the literature on small European states and one which is significantly exposed to the effects of Brexit. While being a core EU member, Portugal has a historic alliance with the United Kingdom, sharing with it an Atlanticist outlook. Drawing on the literature on small states, New Institutionalism and Europeanisation, this article deals with the effects of Brexit on Portugal’s European strategy. More specifically, it examines the country’s coping strategies vis-à-vis Brexit, the underlying drivers of these diplomatic responses, as well as their implications for the Europeanisation of Portuguese foreign policy. It is argued that Portugal has hedged its bets to balance a firm EU commitment, the protection of important ties with the UK and a strong NATO engagement. In so doing, the country has exhibited an enduring but limited foreign policy Europeanisation, even more cautiously pragmatic than in the past.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [SFRH/BPD/99579/2014, UIDB/CPO/00758/2020]

Hedging its bets? Portugal’s diplomatic strategies for a post-Brexit Europe

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union has deeply impacted politics in the continent. While affecting all European countries, the strategic challenges raised by Brexit have been particularly acute for smaller EU members due to their vulnerability and greater dependence on the Union. This article explores the diplomatic strategies smaller EU member states have pursued to meet the challenges stemming from Brexit. Drawing on the theoretical literature on small states it focuses on the case of Portugal, an under-researched country, which, as a core EU member sharing a historical alliance with Britain, is significantly exposed to the effects of Brexit. In an empirically grounded way, the analysis shows that Portugal has been hedging its bets to balance a steady EU commitment with the protection of relevant links with the UK. Like other smaller EU countries, the new context of increased uncertainty led to the adoption of more proactive and sophisticated diplomatic strategies. The study provides evidence of the novel political dynamics in Europe spurred by Brexit and highlights the importance of international institutions, such as the EU, for small countries. These results contribute to the literature on contemporary Portuguese foreign policy and small European states’ diplomacy.The authors wish to acknowledge comments received on earlier versions of this article at the Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais, Lisbon, May 2019; ‘Europe as a Global Actor’ International Conference, Lisbon May 2019; UACES Annual Conference, Lisbon, September 2019. This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT); under Grant UIDB/CPO/00758/2020; and under Grant SFRH/BPD/99579/2014

Small EU member states and Brexit: introduction

This Special Issue seeks to provide a better understanding of the strategic responses to Brexit from small EU member states. To this end, it links different streams of research and presents innovative inquiries into how ten states positioned themselves in the face of the British exit and with what foreign policy ramifications. More specifically, the collection examines the different countries’ coping strategies vis-à-vis Brexit, the underlying drivers of these responses, as well as their implications for patterns of national foreign policy Europeanization. After presenting the rationale and aims of the collection, this introductory article outlines the comparative framework used by the different contributors in their country studies. It then offers an overview of the main research findings derived from the individual articles. Subsequently, it summarises the comparative findings, with all contributions pointing to significant ‘sheltering’ within the EU, while ‘hedging’ strategies receive greater visibility for the countries most directly affected by Brexit. The overall results also evince a limited Brexit impact upon the foreign policy Europeanization of the countries examined. Finally, this introduction offers a reflection on the main conceptual and empirical ‘pay-offs’ of this Special Issue, closing with some avenues for future research

Brazil’s quest for autonomy in Asia: the role of strategic partnerships with China and Japan

This article aims at examining the strategic partnerships Brazil developed with China and Japan, between 2003 and 2020, and assessing how these privileged rapports contributed to the country’s quest for autonomy. This will be made through the lenses of Pragmatic Institutionalism and against the backdrop of major developments in global and regional governance that impacted on the Brazilian autonomist project.This study was conducted at the Research Center in Political Science (UIDB/CPO/00758/2020), University of Minho/University of Evora and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds. The authors would like to thank Joao Mourato Pinto and Livia Grault for their valuable comments on earlier drafts

The soft power of China and the European Union in the context of the belt and road initiative and global strategy

Soft power has emerged as a topic of growing interest in Chinese foreign policy and its expression gained new salience when it was anchored within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This article proposes a comparative analysis of the soft power of China and the European Union (EU) in the context of the BRI and Global Strategy of June 2016. Drawing on the role theory, this study seeks to fill a gap in previous scholarly works, focusing on the soft power dynamics underlying the China–EU relationship, which do not incorporate the BRI as an increasingly influential soft power tool in Chinese foreign policy. It concludes that the BRI and Global Strategy have infused China’s and EU’s soft power, respectively, with innovating aspects; and despite the emergence of some common ground as a result of that, differences between the two actors regarding role conception, role expectation and role performance remain noticeable.The authors acknowledges that this study was conducted at the Research Center in Political Science (UIDB/CPO/00758/2020), University of Minho/University of Evora, and was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds