A UACES Collaborative Research Network since 2009.

 

Overview
The UACES-funded research network brings together nationally-funded expert scholars conducing innovative research on the foreign policies of the EU’s individual member states.  The innovative dimension of the network is to bring all of this expertise on individual EU member states foreign policies together to facilitate comparative examination – and the exchange of methods of scientific enquiry – and to generate new empirical and theoretical insight.

 

The network takes an explicitly comparative approach to the study of EU member state foreign policy adjustment. The network is to examine member states of the EU to identify, and to compare and contrast, common and differential processes of foreign policy adjustment. The cross-national comparative research, as demonstrated by the existent literature on member states foreign policies, is limited and the project is intended to generate empirical and theoretical insight by drawing together country study specialists into a previously absent research network.

 

The network is intended to have a four-fold benefit:

• strengthening research excellence in Europe through the deepening of a European capacity for the analysis of the foreign policies of individual member states;
• enhancing the networking capacity of existing scholars in this area and facilitating the development of a new generation of transnationally-orientated researchers by significant participation of younger scholars and a focus on developing their research skills;
• the advancement of empirical knowledge through the exchange of knowledge between researchers engaged in the study of the analysis of European Union member state foreign policies;
• improving the communication of individual scholars capacity for knowledge exchange with practitioners and furthering the UACES objective of exchanging ideas on Europe.

The network brings together nationally-funded expert scholars carrying out cutting-edge research has four main objectives:

• To facilitate knowledge exchange on the extent to which existent theories of foreign policy making have explanatory purchase when applied to the examination of new member states of the European Union;
• To create a network to share expertise on the multilateral context in which these foreign policy negotiations are located, focusing on the dynamics between the EU institutions and the member states;
• To share expertise on the sources of influence on the foreign policy making of the member states of the European Union and to what extent there are comparable foreign policy adjustment processes;
• To facilitate a shared examination of the extent to which there are commonalties between the adjustment processes of the more recent member states and the more established member states of the EU.

Activities and outputs
Membership of the network is open to established scholars, practitioners and new-generation researchers.

The network operates an email listing to disseminate information about its activities and publication.

Activities include knowledge exchange workshops and web-based working paper series.

 

Workshop: Member states in EU foreign policy making: context and methods

Grimond Seminar Room 7, University of Kent

Wednesday, 15 July, 2009

 

10.00-10.30	Tea and coffee
10.30-11.15	Session One: Central European Foreign Policies in Transition: Poland Paper: Joanna Kaminska (Royal Holloway, University of London): Poland and the ENP's Eastern Dimension Chair: Richard Whitman, University of Bath Discussant: Dr Julie Smith, Fellow, Robinson College, University of Cambridge
11.15-11.30	Tea and Coffee
11.30-13.30	Session Two: Central and Eastern European Foreign Policies: Change and Continuity Paper: Simon Lightfoot (Senior Lecturer in European Politics, University of Leeds): The EU's Role in the Emergence of International Development Policies in Central and Eastern European states Paper: Liliana Pop (Researcher in the Institute for the Study of European Transformations, London Metropolitan): Romania's foreign policy after EU enlargement: a country in search of a role Chair: Amelia Hadfield, University of Kent Discussant: Dr Julie Smith, Fellow, Robinson College, University of Cambridge
13.30-14.30	Lunch (Grimond Foyer)
14.30-15.15	Session Three: National foreign policies: impact on EU external action Paper: Tomoyuki Hashimoto (Lecturer of International Relations, University of New York in Tirana, Albania): The Europeanization of Local Conflicts: The Case of the Slovene-Croatian Relationship Chair: Zeynep Arkan, PhD Candidate, Department of Politics/IR, University of Kent Discussant: Amelia Hadfield, University of Kent
15.15-15.30	Studying EU Foreign Policy: A Student's Perspective, Joseph Dutton, MA International Relations and European Studies, University of Kent
15.30-16.00	Conclusions: Richard G. Whitman, University of Bath and Amelia Hadfield, University of Kent

 

Workshop: Member states in EU foreign policy making: context and methods

Room 3W 4.7, University of Bath, Bath, UK
Wednesday, 27th May 2009

 

10.00-10.30	Tea and coffee
10.30-11.15	Session one: Conceptualising the member states in EU foreign policy making – traditions and perspectives Chair: Richard Whitman, University of Bath Papers: David Allen, University of Loughborough Geoffrey Edwards, Cambridge University (TBC) Discussant: Amelia Hadfield, University of Kent
11.15-11.30	Tea and Coffee
11.30-13.30	Session two: Perspectives on EU member states and foreign policy making: Policy-making and Processes Chair: Amelia Hadfield, University of Kent Papers: Apostolos Agnantopoulos, University of Birmingham Karolina Pomorska, University of Maastricht Discussant: Ana Juncos, University of Bristol
13.30-14.30	Lunch
14.30-16.30	Session three: New perspectives on EU member states and foreign policy making Chair: Richard Whitman, University of Bath Papers: Lisbeth Aggestam, University of Bath     Ben Tonra, University College Dublin Discussant: Ian Manners, DUPI
16.30-17.00	Conclusion

Network co-ordinators:
Dr Amelia Hadfield
Lecturer in European International Relations
University of Kent
Email: a.e.a.hadfield [at] kent.ac.uk

 

Professor Richard G. Whitman

Professor of Politics
Department of European Studies and Modern Languages
University of Bath

Email: r.g.whitman [a] bath.ac.uk