Introduction: EU Actorness in Transition

This edited volume elaborates on the assumption that the European Union (EU) actorness might be shifting from normative to geopolitical and strategic focus. EU’s polycrisis and the international context marked by Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and overall geopolitical instability, have generated a new engagement and strategy for the EU to revisit its engagement toward global affairs. This change is fueled by shifting world order where power diffusion, transnational crises, and geopolitical turmoil erect new requirements for EU external actions. While “the birth of geopolitical Europe” is claimed to be on its way, yet academic literature remains ill-equipped to question geopolitical positioning of a supranational actor. This chapter aims to delve into the conceptual bottleneck to tackle hurdle generated by the current definition of EU actorness and geopolitics. It posits the basic assumption to think EU’s geopolitical actorness by addressing its requirements, limits, and strengths. It offers a research question that will be the common thread of the book. Ultimately, it presents conceptual, analytical, and empirical inputs of the edited book contributions. In doing so, it articulates their findings into a consistent and efficient structure.