European Diplomatic Practices
On 22-23 January 2015, UI hosted a research workshop titled "European Diplomatic Practices: patterns, approaches and methods" as well as a public seminar with practitioners and academics on the topic of "The World 2015: Challenges to EU foreign and security policy."
The research workshop was funded by Riksbankens jubileumsfond and brought together around fifteen scholars from the fields of International Relations, Political Science and European studies to jointly explore how recent advancement on practice theory can be applied to the study of European diplomacy, and especially EU foreign and security policy.
The public seminar on the role of the European External Action Service (EEAS), current developments and future challenges, enjoyed a full house with guests Anna-Karin Eneström, Head of the Secretariat for Sweden's candidature to the Security Council 2017-18, Federica Bicchi, London School of Economics, and with UI research fellow Niklas Bremberg, at the Europe research programme.
A common theme discussed throughout the workshop was to what extent an analytical focus on practical understanding and ways-of-doing things, contrary to the at times formalistic analysis of institutional developments or policy narratives, contributes to the study of EU as a diplomatic actor. The presentations covered issues such as the use of social media by diplomats during the crisis in Ukraine, EU's responses to the Arab spring, the role of EEAS in counter-piracy cooperation in Gulf of Aden, as well as broader trends in diplomatic relations among states, non-state actors and international organizations in Europe and in other parts of the world.
The intended outcome of the workshop is a joint publication in an international peer-review journal.