The European Union, a Sustainable Development Normative soon to be Global Power? Evidences from the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit

Résumé du document

Over the last decade, the European Union (EU) clearly came out as a Sustainable Development (SD) worldwide challenger. Is the Union's SD internal commitment enough to predispose it to become a global power in this field? Building on Ian Manners' concept of "Normative Power"(NP), we will first clarify why EU's internal commitment to SD alongside with its international ability to diffuse SD norms makes it a NP in this field.

We will then provide an explanation of EU's struggle to reach the SD global power status. The concept of "Normative Power" originates in Ian Manners' intention to "understand the shaping of the EU's role on the international stage away from traditional concerns over whether the EU should be a civilian or military power". Because the EU relies before all on normative basis, it is predisposed "to act in a normative way in world politics".

The originality of Manner's concept is that it "is built on the crucial observation that the most important factor shaping the international role of the EU is not what it does or what it says, but what it is". "What it is" referring to the primary and secondary law (respectively seminal and additional EU treaties, and unilateral acts and agreements) which found EU's very existence.

What is more important is that, Manners considers EU's normative basis as a catalyst of its vocation to extend its norms on a wider scale. In short, not only does Manners assert EU's internal policies but also shapes its actions at the international stage, and he also suggests that the mere existence of this communication norm prompts the Union to extend its geographical scope.

Tags: European Union, sustainable Development, global power, geographical scope, internal policies.

Extraits

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[...] The European Union, a Sustainable Development Normative soon to be Global Power? Evidences from the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit “Sustainable development is a fundamental and overarching objective of the European Union, aiming to continuously improve the quality of life and wellbeing for present and future generations, by linking economic development, protection of the environment and social justice”[1]. Over the last decade, the European Union clearly came out as a Sustainable Development worldwide challenger. Is the Union's SD internal commitment enough to predispose it to become a Global power in this field? [...]

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[...] The 2002 World Sustainable Development Summit (WSSD), in which the EU was granted “full participant status”[9], provided evidences about the Union's ability to spread its norms overseas. During the negotiation rounds, the 2001 brand new European SD Strategy enabled EU leaders to display ambitious goals. Not only did they appear as “pushers” of European SD norms, but EU's SD past year initiatives also did much to win over numerous non-state actors' appraisal. Backing EU's championing initiatives[10], these actors somehow empowered the Union with further leading capabilities, especially in the environment field in which Member State easily reach consensus. [...]