Shaping the EU as an External Actor: Slovakia’s Shifting Role Conceptions
Shaping the EU as an External Actor: Slovakia’s Shifting Role Conceptions

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on a case study of Slovakia’s contributions to the design and workings of the Union’s external relations and argues that enlargement need not undermine the EU’s ability to carry out effective foreign and security policy. While external relations are traditionally characterized by the balancing of state interests, Slovakia’s political leaders have not confined themselves to defending national interests, but in the case of strategic decisions on the EU’s foreign and security policy design, they have behaved in line with a supranational role conception. However, the specific substance and details of the conduct of the EU’s foreign policy still remains a great question mark in the enlarged Union, since interests and capacities in the sphere of external relations differ across member states.

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