The Perils of Performance: EU Foreign Policy and the Problem of Legitimization
The Perils of Performance: EU Foreign Policy and the Problem of Legitimization

Summary/Abstract: This article argues that an important feature of contemporary EU foreign policy is the problem of legitimization. The article develops an account of EU foreign policy, from EPC in the 1970s to CFSP and the ESDP today, focusing on its function as a source of “damage limitation”. The article then goes on to look at the emergence of pan-European legitimizing strategies for EU foreign policy, concentrating on the EU‘s “performance legitimacy”. The article identifies a disjuncture between the emphasis on the external effectiveness of EU foreign policy found in this legitimizing strategy and the internal functionality of EU foreign policy encapsulated in “damage limitation”. The article finds that relations between EU member states continue to trump their collective endeavour to act in the world. The article concludes that the limit of what the EU is able to achieve in international affairs should be located in the political sociology of the EU itself. Legitimacy provides a useful conceptual prism through which these internal limits and external actions can be connected.

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