ABSTRACT
There has been an increase in interest in recent years in (broadly defined) critical theories of, or approaches to, the process of European integration (Bieler and Morton 2001; van Apeldoorn, Overbeek and Ryner 2003; Manners 2006a; Bailey 2006; Hoskyns 2004; Cafruny and Ryner 2009). While this is to be welcomed, critical theories are less prevalent in the literature focusing specifically on the European Union’s (EU) role in global governance. The present chapter aims, therefore, to present an initial overview of the way that critical theories have been applied to the EU’s external relations, and in so doing to suggest further areas of research and analysis that might provide interesting insights into the question of the EU’s position within the world. As such, the present chapter might be viewed as part of a more general endeavour ‘to ensure that the study of the EU maintains its innovative and challenging character’ (Warleigh-Lack, Chapter 1 of this volume). The chapter begins with a discussion of what we mean by critical theories. It then proceeds to provide an overview of how different critical theories have provided useful insights into the EU’s external relations, particularly focusing on recent discussions of Eastern European enlargement and the EU’s development policy. The chapter concludes with an overview of the merits of critical theories, as applied to EU external relations.
