Serena Kelly

Images of the EU Beyond its Borders: Issue‐Specific and Regional Perceptions of European Union Power and Leadership

This article systematically investigates both regional and issue‐specific variation in external perceptions of the European Union (EU) as a global power and an international leader. While most studies on EU external perceptions focus on a one‐dimensional vision of EU leadership and/or great‐powerness, it is argued here that these perceptions are highly issue‐specific, multilayered and differentiating. This study draws on data collected through elite interviews in three regions: the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa. The findings make a contribution to the debate on the perception of third states on the international role of the EU.

Perceptions of ‘Normative Power Europe’ in the Shadow of the Eurozone Debt Crisis: Public Perspectives on European Integration from the Asia Pacific

The study argues that a key aspect of the productive dialogue between the sender and receiver of norms and values is the cultural filter, represented in this analysis through a continuum of perceptions. Specifically, this chapter is interested in the reception of what is arguably one of the European Union’s (EU) most successful norms—regional integration. By investigating images of the EU as a model of (or at least a reference for) regional integration in the Asia-Pacific, this chapter notes potential factors shaping perceptions and proposes a multi-level understanding of those factors and how they may affect the reception of normative messages sent by the EU. This chapter explores external public perceptions of the EU using data derived from public opinion survey (10,000 respondents) conducted in 2012 in ten Asia-Pacific countries contrasting these findings with surveys conducted in those countries pre-2012. Tracing the dynamics of the spontaneous images of the EU as a global referent for regional integration, this analysis offers unique comparative longitudinal insights into the international norm diffusion of the EU.

En‘vision’ing Europe's crisis: Intertextuality in news coverage of the Eurozone crisis in Chinese, Indian and Russian press

Abstract European political communication studies are marked by a lack of attention to the visual. Yet there is a need to go beyond strictly textual analyses towards an understanding that visual images also play an important role in constructing a European Union (EU) identity both within and outside the Unions borders. This analysis explores the relationship between visual and textual imagery of the EU in international news discourses; a comprehensive intertextual approach which remains an under-researched perspective in studies of visual imagery in general. The study focuses on the intertextual imagery of the EU and its economic crisis in three ‘emerging’ powers; China, India and Russia. The three states are among the main poles in a multi-polar world – an emerging order characterized by power shifts and increased interdependence. In this new global design, the ‘emerging’ powers compete with the EU and USA, and contemplate their own responses to the EUs economic crisis, as well as calculate its effects. This study explores those responses as presented in the leading business papers of each country and asks how the relationship between the visual and textual imagery of the EU contributes to raising visibility and creating cognitive and emotional responses to its on-going crisis.

Tracing the Evolution of EU Images Using a Case‐Study of Australia and New Zealand

Positioned within the multidisciplinary scholarly fields of political psychology, our analysis follows an interdisciplinary approach, linking the study of EU images (from international relations (IR), political science and EU Studies) to the notion of conceptual metaphors (cognitive linguistics). Our research uses a novel empirical tool – a four-tiered model of conceptual metaphors (Zhabotynska, 2011) to assess how meanings are formed in the construction of EU images in third countries. Using a case-study of Australian and New Zealand elites, the paper contributes to EU foreign policy scholarship through the description of a systematic algorithm for tracing the ‘mapping of emotions’ towards the EU from beyond its borders. Metaphors are understood as a cognitive device for translating emotions, but empirical analysis of emotions is nascent in IR studies. Assessing EU external images over time in an empirically-informed and systematic way is a further novel contribution from this body of research.

Images of European Integration in Asia

This chapter critically analyses the extent to which the EU’s unique experience of regionalism has been appreciated outside its borders. In particular, it explores external reflections of the European project, taking into consideration Asian elites’ reaction. Three levels of Asian regional integration are considered, where a regional organisation is: absent, Northeast Asia; weak, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC); well established, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The chapter draws on the perceptions of European integration held among 283 Asian policy- and decision-makers from the three regions: Northeast Asia (China, Japan and South Korea), South Asia (India), and Southeast Asia (Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). While the study demonstrates that informed elites in Southeast, Northeast and South Asia have expressed an appreciation and recognition of the values of European integration, the findings also indicate that perceptions of the EU as an example of regional integration worthy of consideration differ depending on the regionalism situation in each case.

A Payer or Player? EU Developmental Action in the Pacific

In a globalising world concerned with issues such as an enduring economic crisis, rising food prices and political turmoil in the Middle East and Northern Africa, developing countries from other parts of the world may be concerned about being forgotten (Phillips, 2008). Yet, these countries continue to rely on the good-will of others to support their livelihoods. The European Union (EU) is the world development leader. Its development assistance reaches beyond providing monetary support, encompassing the espousal of its values and norms beyond its borders. Yet, historically the EU’s development policy around the world has been criticised as being incoherent and inconsistent (Bretherton and Vogler, 2006; Holland, 2002, p. 1). Although much has been written about EU development policy, little attention has been focused on perceptions of the EU as a development actor. Yet, understanding EU imagery beyond its borders is important for its policy delivery and provides legitimacy for the EU both abroad and at home. Furthermore, understanding this aspect of EU development policy may contribute to a wider understanding of whether EU development policy is actually perceived as being incoherent and inconsistent. Using one case study, the Pacific component of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (PACP) grouping, this chapter bridges this gap through providing an insight into how the EU is viewed as a development actor utilising a three-tiered methodology — interviews with prominent elites, newspaper analysis and a public opinion survey.

Narrative alignment and misalignment:: NATO as a global actor as seen from Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT In the wake of the Afghan missions, this article assesses the appetite in Australia and New Zealand for an ongoing relationship with NATO. Australia and New Zealand share many commonalities in their cultural, political, and economic profiles. Yet their identities in the realm of defense and security differ subtly, which has important implications for the reception of NATO’s strategic narratives in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Drawing on strategic narrative theory (SNT), we assess perceptions of NATO in Australia and New Zealand. By collecting and analyzing empirical data from political, academic, and military elites, we find that there is a keen desire for an on-going partnership with NATO, particularly in maintaining interoperability and in the area of “emerging security challenges.” Although the findings were mostly positive for NATO, New Zealand elites were more reticent about NATO involvement than those in Australia, where elites saw NATO and the Global Partnership as a potentially useful – if under-utilized – asset in areas of non-traditional security cooperation.

New Zealand Elite Perceptions on the EU: A Longitudinal Analysis

Abstract Since the end of the cold war, the European Union’s (EU’s) global aspirations and capabilities have grown. This shift has seen the EU becoming an increasingly integral part of the international arena, both economically and politically. However, there has been a notable geopolitical shift in recent years towards the growing importance of Asia. New Zealand, geographically distant but traditionally culturally aligned with the EU, the nation that has traditionally enjoyed close economic, political and social relations with the EU but is increasingly focused on Asia, presents a unique perspective on this perceived realignment of power. This paper offers a unique perspective on the effectiveness of the EU’s international outreach. Using international relations’ ‘small state theory’ as an analytical tool, the paper draws on a series of longitudinal elite interviews conducted with New Zealand’s political, economic, civil society and media elites over a decade. The paper qualitatively and quantitatively assesses whether the EU remains perceived as a relevant, important global actor in the eyes of New Zealand’s elite. The paper makes a number of observations. Firstly, as a small state, New Zealand’s foreign policy focus has tended to be preoccupied with economics and this preoccupation has meant a notable shift away from Europe. Second, although over the course of the interviews negative discussions about the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy decreased, on the other hand there was increasingly less discussion about the EU’s potential and a more concerted discussion about the importance of Asia to the New Zealand’s economy and future. There are a number of reasons to account for this changing perception towards the EU,however, the internal friction currently facing the European Union and eurozone was consistently noted. Finally, although over time the interviewed elites believed that the EU’s importance is diminishing, this acknowledgement was often made with regret.