Europe's Foreign and Security Policy: The
Institutionalization of Cooperation. By Michael E. Smith. New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 308p. $80.00 cloth, $28.99
paper.
Michael Smith asks and answers a question about the foreign policy of
the European Union: How do we explain its surprising growth and
development over the past 30 years despite the many obstacles? The
question is timely for scholars and practitioners. For practitioners,
the EU is beginning to matter more in international politics as it
finally begins to operationalize the European Security and Defense
Policy (ESDP) in the Balkans and Africa. For scholars, a theory of
European foreign policy has not enjoyed the attention paid by theorists
to internal economic integration (neofunctionalism), interstate
bargains struck at intergovernmental conferences (realism, liberal
intergovernmentalism), and the impact of ideas, preferences,
identities, and interests (constructivism) that influence
institutions.