Strategic Autonomy and European External Action: A Political and Institutional Perspective

Abstract

This article is based on the premise that changes and crises in the international order require a greater role for European external action. The article reviews recent debates on strategic autonomy, analyses the difficulties in advancing this goal and identifies different options for strengthening the EU's external role, in line with the logic of strategic autonomy. It concludes that strategic autonomy should be used by the EU to promote its status as an international power, but also to promote a different vision of power at the international level.

Keywords:

foreign policy, European defence, geopolitics, international power, cooperation, multilateralism

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