Thomas Henökl

Unveiling the anatomy of autonomy: dissecting actor-level independence in the European External Action Service

ABSTRACT Formulating and implementing public policy in Europe has historically been a core task of national administrations. This study suggests how this role has become challenged in a least likely policy field – foreign affairs. The ambition is to reassess the autonomy of the European External Action Service (EEAS) by examining actor-level autonomy of EEAS staff, while also suggesting key determinants thereof. Two conditions of actor-level autonomy are empirically illuminated: bureaucratic structure and the geographical location of the EEAS. Benefiting from two novel data sets which include a survey and élite interviews of EEAS officials, two empirical observations are highlighted. First, despite being an embryonic organization embedded in a field of core state powers, EEAS officials demonstrate substantial actor-level autonomy. Second, the behavioural autonomy of EEAS staff reflects primarily the supply of organizational capacities inside the EEAS, but much less the geographical location of staff. Actor-level autonomy is thus not only profound, but largely supplied by in-house organizational factors.

Conceptualizing the European Diplomatic Space: A Framework for Analysis of the European External Action Service

Abstract The creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has a significant impact not only on European foreign policy-making, but also, more widely, on the transformation of the European political order, and represents a further step in the evolution of a European administrative space. Analysing the EEAS as an instance of European administrative space will inform on the shape of the Euro-polity, in that more independent European administrative capacities in area of core state-powers could be interpreted as an indicator for a shift of the EU’s political order. Based on direct observation, document analysis and expert interviews with EEAS officials, the paper presents a first overview of the outcomes of this capacity-building exercise, suggests a comprehensive conceptual framework for analysis and concludes that the EEAS can be seen as an instance of the European administrative space.

How do EU Foreign Policy-Makers Decide? Institutional Orientations within the European External Action Service

Four years after its formal establishment, the European External Action Service (EEAS) remains in a state of complex and overlapping areas of competence. There are interlocking layers of political and administrative governance, where the service has to interact with, and answer to, different national and intergovernmental political masters as well as supranational actors, notably the European Commission and the European Parliament. The formal political decision-making power with regard to the EU’s common foreign and security policy lies with the Council, whilst substantial competences, notably in the field of the European Neighbourhood (ENP) and trade policies, as well as development and cooperation, remain under the control of the European Commission. The EEAS’s autonomy and institutional orientation are both much debated and empirically unexplored. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, this article undertakes a behavioural analysis of EEAS decision-making. Empirical findings suggest that there are competing institutional logics at work among different groups of staff which affect their respective administrative decisional behaviour. Supranational recruits tend to be more community-minded, whereas officials with an intergovernmental background have a propensity to be more member state oriented.

From ‘Awkward Partner’ to ‘Awkward Partnership’? Explaining Norway’s Paradoxical Relations with the European Union

Norway is the only Nordic state to have rejected membership of the European Union four times. Applying the conceptual lens of ‘awkwardness’, as developed by Murray et al. (2014), it seems fair to consider the country as an awkward partner in the process of European integration. As a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), however, Norway has been tightly associated with the European Union ever since 1994, actively participating in a large number of EU policies and programs and effectively forging a close partnership that has in itself become increasingly ‘awkward’. This holds true despite the fact that successive Norwegian governments have recently started to embrace a generally more reserved attitude with regard to the EU, particularly in relation to the implementation of several EU directives. As a member of both Nordic and European cooperation, Norway aims at dissipating potential concerns for being perceived as awkward—despite the complexities created by its non-membership of the EU. We argue that Norwegian ‘awkwardness’ has resulted in an awkward’ relationship between Norway and the EU that is predominantly rooted in the domestic political sphere (relations between Norwegian political elites and the electorate, and among the political parties), although this has also been shaped by the EU’s incapacity to deal with a series of economic and political crises over the past few years.