What does it mean to adopt a decentred perspective in EU foreign policy research?
The EU’s external action takes place in an increasingly complex, connected and contested world. Analysis and evaluation of European foreign policy require an in-depth understanding of the external context in which EU external action takes place.
It is therefore essential to complement the predominantly Europe- and Western-centred approach to the study of EU foreign policy with a de-centred (i.e. non-European and non-Western) perspective.
This video series presents a framework for adopting a decentred perspective to overcome eurocentrism in EU foreign policy analysis.
See also Keukeleire, S., & Lecocq, S. (2018). Operationalising the decentring agenda: Analysing European foreign policy in a non-European and post-western world. Cooperation and Conflict, 53(2), 277-295.
Video 1: Why decentring?
This first clip on "Decentring the analysis of European foreign policy" elaborates on the meaning of ‘decentring’ and argues its relevance for analyzing European foreign policy in, what the European Union’s Global Strategy and High Representative Federica Mogherini labeled as, an ‘increasingly connected, contested and complex world’.
VIDEO 2: How to decentre?
This clip presents the main features of an analytical framework which combines six decentring categories (time, space, polity, norms, language, and discipline) with three dimensions for decentring (provincializing, engagement, reconstruction; developed by Fisher Onar & Nicolaïdis, 2013). The video also points to some possible challenges and pitfalls encountered when adopting a decentred perspective.
Video 3: Temporal decentring
History matters! Temporal decentring sheds light on the lasting effects of certain historical experiences and benchmark dates, and how they may explain the local (lack of) receptivity to European foreign policy objectives.
Video 4: Spatial decentring
Spatial decentring calls for a full awareness of the spatial or geographic situation in other countries and regions when assessing the possibilities and challenges of European foreign policy towards them.
Video 5: Polity decentring
Polity decentring encourages scholars to take into account different kinds of authority or governance structures in other regions, by moving beyond predominant state and modernity biases. The legitimacy and effectiveness of ethnicity-based, religion-based, and warlordism-based ‘polities’ may be analysed, relative to those of authorities supported or promoted by European actors.
Video 6: Normative decentring
Normative decentring demands from scholars of European foreign policy to analyse this policy, not only on the basis of Europe’s normative frameworks (focused on human rights, rule of law, democracy, etc.), but also in relation to norms considered important in other parts of the world.
Video 7: Linguistic decentring
Linguistic decentring means reaching out for information expressed in other languages and implies analysing other regions and societies – and European foreign policy towards them – from within their linguistic frameworks and contexts.
Video 8: Disciplinary decentring
Disciplinary decentring means decentring on an epistemological and methodological level. It implies looking beyond traditional approaches – theories and methods – for analysing European foreign policy, through interdisciplinarity and by reaching out to scholars, data, literature and worldviews indigenous to the areas targeted by European foreign policy.
Video 9: Concluding remarks
This final video in the series on "Decentring the analysis of European foreign policy" makes some concluding remarks. It proposes avenues for further developing the decentring framework and calls upon scholars, students and practitioners to apply it in their research on EU external action.