| In European studies, there are dozens of works dealing with the theoretical and empirical issue concerned with "Normative Power Europe" (NPE) theory over past decade. Many scholars have discussed the actorness of EU, EU foreign policy and the function of power and norms in IR by virtue of NPE. Based on the introduction of the construction and evolution of this concept, this dissertation is trying to analyze the NPE’s influence on normative IR theory generally and EU foreign policy studies specifically. Moreover, it discusses the theoretical problems and further studies concerned with NPE. Exp loring NPE’s normative connotation, this thesis argues that it would not merely rediscover the political philosophy of NPE, but also provide the new approach to understand of EU foreign policy and to comment EU’s external activites.There are seven parts consisting of this dissertation:Introducation, six Chapters and the Conclusion. In the Introduction, it presents the academic background and the meaningfulness of the dissertatioa In this part, the author generalizes the pros and cons of current works about NPE. The first chapter "From civilian power Europe to normative power Europe:a new approach to EU study" consists of two parts:The first one introduces the origin of NPE and what it means. It argues that what matters in this concept is NPE broaden the horizon of EU study:the issue is not only about the empirical question of what EU is; the scholars also turn their attention to EU’s normative questions. What EU should be, what kind of power EU should have become the focus of the discipline. The second part answers the question "why normative theories and normative questions matter in IR". By introducing what is normative theory, the main subjects of normative theory, what is norm, and what the means of norm are in virtue of different theories (rationalism, constructivism, post-modernism), it suggests that searching for normative theory would flourish ethical and normative questions related with NPE.The second chapter is "Divergence and Convergence:the historical evolution of norms in Europe". In this chapter, by anlysing the contested meanings of norm, the relation between norm and Europe identity, and the historical evolution of European norm peace, it criticizes the assumption that the homogeneity and the integrality is the nature of Europe norms conveyed by the concept of "normative power Europe". At last, it discusses the influence on future European integration produced by the social norms based on the concept of "Gemeinschaft" and "Gesellschaf".It contends that while the divergence of norms could be narrowed, it still survives. Advancement of human society is not entirely depended on the logic of "community", the logic of "society" also matters for promoting the harmoniousness.The third chapter "EU foreign policy study and NPE" discusses three inter-related theoretical issues about EUFP (EU foreign policy):firstly, how does the different way to conceptualize EUFP affect the research agenda? Secondly, what are there the approaches to EUFP with regard to the divergence of conception? Lastly, is there the possibility to constitute a general theory of EUFP? For answering these questions, this chapter analyses the different connotation between the conception of European foreign policy and conception of EU external policy in first section. Then in next section, it investigates the application of FPA (Foreign Policy Analysis) and systemic/structural theory to the works of EUFP. In last section, it discusses what the essential factors needed for constituting a general theory of EUFP and what the contribution NPE made to it.The fourth chapter is "The application of EU’s normative power I:The case study on EU’s enlargement policy 1997-2014".This chapter tests to what extent the normative power of EU has influenced on its foreign policy’s target actor, and what is the effect of this power. Applying a framework of Ingelhart’s modernization theory, it tests Manner’s proposition:EU as a normative power changes the norms of international politics. It suggests that the economic aid has improved the candidates’ norm condition to some extent, but EU’s aid is not the most important factor casusing that change. Compared with EU’s influence, the nation’s own political culture attributes to the main dynamics of the norm changing in the candidates. Thus, EU should not overstate its normative power’s effect.The fifth chapter "The application of EU’s normative power Ⅱ:The case study on global warming" analyses the role of EU in the issue of environmental protection and global climate changing, it analyses how EU has become the leader in the global climate governance and its features in this issue. The author contends that influenced by the culture of green politics, environmental protection and sustainable development has already become a basic social norm after 1970s. Since 1990s, especially in the era of Kyoto-process, EU’s norm on climate issue has become the principal of global climate governance; EU changed some countries’attitudes to this issue by political, economic bargaining and diplomatic action. However, in the era of post Kyoto-process, the international society denied the proposal of EU in Copenhagen climate summit, because EU overstates the universality of its norm and ignores the fact of some countries.The final chapter "Review NPE" introduces the main opinions from some nations on EU and its normative power, especially how Chinese scholars consider NPE. Upon this analysis, it discusses what we could learn from NPE in social research and how we might promote the diffusion of our norm, value and ideation in Chinese foreign affairs.In the conclusion, the author argues that NPE is the cognition of European scholars about the role and the developmental direction of EU in global politics. Moreover, NPE has also constructed an approach to explain EU’s foreign policy and external action. Rethinking this concept would evalue and criticize EU’s action in the world, and regenerate the normative theory and normative study in IR. |
PDF Full Text Request