Why the debate over the European Development Fund is a question of politics

The European Development Fund (EDF) is the main instrument through which the EU provides development aid to African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. However, there has been a long-running debate over whether the EDF should be formally integrated into the EU budget, or whether it should remain a separate fund financed by direct contributions from the EU's member states. Johanne Døhlie Saltnes argues that while integrating the EDF into the budget has been proposed on the basis of enhancing effectiveness, it would downgrade concerns voiced by the EU’s partners in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific and should therefore be viewed as a question of politics

Federica Mogherini has outlined an ambitious plan for EU foreign and security policy, but whether it is attainable remains to be seen

Federica Mogherini officially took over as the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on 1 November. Johanne Døhlie Saltnes and Tine Elisabeth Brøgger write on the strategy which has been outlined by Mogherini for her five year term. They note that while there are reasons to be optimistic about the substantive agenda and action plan she has proposed, the role of High Representative is inherently challenging as it requires manoeuvring within the tensions created by the existence of intergovernmental and supranational obligations in EU foreign policy

SMALL NORTH AND BIG SOUTH: THE OWNERSHIP-DONORSHIP NEXUS IN THE AMAZON FUND

The Amazon Fund is a Brazilian creation with the aim of raising funds to implement national strategies for the reduction of deforestation and sustainable development in the Legal Amazon. This article explains the governing structure of the Amazon Fund and argues that it is an example of an innovative instrument for sustainable development which to a large extent secures national ownership. The innovative elements include pay-for-performance funding, participatory governance and independent monitoring. The fund differentiates itself from traditional development aid by avoiding economic and political conditionalities, emphasizing recipient ownership and responsibility, yet it involves donations from the North to the South. The article further investigates the donors’ scope of influence, focussing on the largest donor, Norway. Notwithstanding the institutional safeguards from donor influence, the article shows that donors remain in power to withhold disbursements if breaches occur, which is illustrated by the example of the 2019 donor freeze of donations and funds use to new projects, and that donors use their partnership with Brazil to discuss how sustainable forest management contributes to the climate and to income generation for local peoples

Federica Mogherini’s first seven months in office: a balancing act between supranational and intergovernmental decision-making

Federica Mogherini took over as the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on 1 November 2014. Tine E. J. Brøgger and Johanne Døhlie Saltnes assess her first seven months in office, noting that while the period has been characterised by instability both within and outside Europe, she has managed to successfully balance a desire for the EU institutions to have greater involvement in foreign affairs with respect for the Member States’ leading role in specific areas such as the on-going standoff with Russia

Global Justice and Aid Effectiveness: Reforms of the European Union's Development Policy

In this paper, Johanne Døhlie Saltnes recasts the story of the like-minded’s intermediate resistance and subsequent acceptance of the EU’s aid effectiveness reforms from one of competing interests and identities to one of contestation over normative principles. The paper draws on the GLOBUS conception of justice as impartiality to conceptualise central elements of the EU’s development policy, and further on the concepts of justice as mutual recognition and justice as non-domination to understand the like-minded’s resistance to the EU’s approach. The paper further highlights the usefulness of applying a global justice perspective when studying the EU’s development policy, as it facilitates a move beyond so-called ‘idealist motivations’ for aid and creates analytical standards that nuance our understanding of the competing normative claims that donors make in their aid policies

The European Union’s human rights policy: is the EU’s use of the human rights clause inconsistent?

Recurrent claims of selective and inconsistent implementation of the European Union’s (EU) human rights clause questions the legitimacy basis of the Union’s human rights policy. If the EU’s actions do not match its rhetoric, it runs the risk of being accused of hypocrisy. This article contributes with novel empirical insights regarding the question of whether the EU delivers on its human rights policy. When assessing the EU’s use of the human rights clause scholarly literature has largely followed rationalist theory arguing that the EU’s foreign policy decisions are driven by economic interest or security considerations. I find that existing studies have used a biased selection of cases. A combination of theoretical assumptions and methodological choices appears to be guiding the selection process. Existing hypotheses are not sought falsified, as they are tested only on a set of cases where ‘interest’ of some sort is already known to exist. I find non-implementation of the clause also in countries where the EU has no such specific ‘interests’. Given these additional cases the account of the EU’s policy must be reconsidered

Norm collision in the EU’s external policies. The case of EU sanctions towards Rwanda

The European Union (EU) is the world’s biggest donor of aid to developing countries. The provision of EU aid is conditional on respect for human rights and democratic principles in the recipient countries. This article questions to what extent norms always yield to interests in decisions over whether to sanction breaches of human rights and democracy. Building on a theory that allows the simultaneous consideration of different norms, the article suggests that rather than interests being the determining factor when the EU takes decisions on implementing sanctions, the weighing of various norms and the choice to follow one of them can explain why sanctions have been avoided in certain cases in Rwanda. The article shows that this weighing of different norms plays an important role in foreign policy decisions and can have concrete consequences with regard to sanctions. In so doing, it advances the literature on the EU’s global role by developing a theoretical account of the evaluation process and the ultimate decision to act in accordance with one norm in particular

Resistance to EU integration? Norm collision in the coordination of development aid

This article contributes to the contemporary foreign policy debate about how norms influence policymakers’ behaviour. Hypotheses of norm-driven action are frequently dismissed when norms are inconsistently followed. However, values may collide, which might provide an explanation for such apparent inconsistencies. Drawing on recent constructivist literature on the contestation of norms, I discuss why integration in EU development policy was resisted. I ask if resistance was due to the wish to maintain national control over policies or if the so-called like-minded countries’ resistance was due to a conflict of normative concerns regarding how to best achieve coordination. The study contributes by developing an empirically relevant hypothesis of norm collision which lends itself well for theoretical generalisation. In addition, the article provides new empirical knowledge about EU development policy by identifying the tension between securing country ownership and donor involvement as a crucial factor contributing to resistance to EU integration. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/

Norm collision in the European Union's external policies. EU development policy revisited.

This thesis contributes to the debate regarding the EU’s inconsistent commitment to core values and principles. Whereas the EU has committed to conduct a value-based foreign policy, inter alia by promoting the respect for human rights abroad, values are not always followed consistently. The reason for such inconsistencies is often assumed to be that the EU sets its core values aside when they collide with the Union’s interests. This thesis re-examines this claim. Drawing on insights from recent constructivist research on the contestation of norms, the thesis argues that it is necessary to redirect the discussion on the characteristics of the EU’s external policies away from the stalemate of determining whether interests or normative concerns drive policies. Hypotheses of norm-driven action are often dismissed when norms are not followed consistently. However, just as ‘national interests’ come in different forms and may compete with each other, policy-makers may be confronted with different norms pointing them in different directions. The thesis contains three research articles that investigates whether norms always yield to interests in the EU’s development policy. The first article reflects on the researcher’s rolein determining the characteristics of an actor by discussing the methods we use to determine these characteristics. I identify a selection bias in the literature on the EU’s use of human rights sanctions that has resulted in interest-explanations being over-emphasised. The second article investigates why human rights sanctions were not invoked towards Rwanda in a number of episodes during the last decade. I find that EU policy-makers were confronted with a situation of norm collision. The concern for humanrights as well as free and fair elections collided with a concern over the negative impact a sanction could have on the social and economic conditions in the country. The main reason the EU did not sanction Rwanda should not be linked to interests but rather to norm collision and the choice to follow one of the colliding concerns. In the third article, I examine why the so-called like-minded member states were hesitant to participate in the EU’s common policy on donor coordination, despite coordination being an explicit goal for these countries. I find that the like-minded’s scepticism was connected to disagreements with other member states regarding substantive issues in the policy initiative, in particular regarding the extent to which the ownership-principle should be emphasised. Rather than seeking to maintain control over their policies for self-interested reasons, I find that these states argued over normative principles. But how can we account for the commitment to norms? This question has so far notfully been explored by second-generation constructivist scholars. In this thesis, I propose to do so by drawing on the concept of communicative rationality. Through the exchange of arguments, actors are able to assess the validity of normative claims and decide whether different values should be followed. The findings in this thesis could be interpreted in line with the idea of the EU as a value-based foreign policy actor. However, the thesis questions the assumption that a commitment to norms is a particular characteristic of the EU’s foreign policy. Norm evaluations are also an important factor in states’ policy-making processes. Hence, there is a need for a broader reconsideration of the basic assumptions underpinning analyses of foreign policy

A Break from the Past or Business as Usual? EU-ACP Relations at a Crossroad

Recent scholarly literature on the EU’s development policy has argued that the Union is using its provision of development cooperation to advance its geo-strategic interests. This paper investigates whether there has been an equivalent rupture with the EU’s core normative commitment, namely to conduct a human rights-based approach to development. Contrary to the hypothesis of change, I find that continuity characterises the EU’s mandate for a new partnership with the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of states. In fact, the EU’s commitment to a rights-based approach to development shaped the EU’s negotiating directives for a post-Cotonou agreement. In particular, the EU sought to make sure that human rights commitments in the self-standing EPA trade agreements were not lost, as these relied on references to the Cotonou-acquis. However, drawing on a concept of justice as impartiality, I also find that there are ambiguities to the EU’s rights-based approach. I find that national executives’ delegated authority to initiate and conduct dispute settlement on violations of the Cotonou-acquis comes at the cost of promoting individuals’ and civil society’s right to autonomy. Arguably, the EU’s political conditionality policy prioritises support to dutybearers (states) to uphold their obligations over the empowerment of rights-holders (individuals) to claim their rights